A Waltz for Matilda Read Online Free PDF Page B

note.
    ‘Oh,’ said Matilda.
    Mr Gotobed scratched his white beard. Matilda hoped he didn’t have fleas. Or worse. The men smelled like they’d never had a bath in their lives or washed their clothes. ‘We didn’t go on strike round here, ‘cause old Drinkwater didn’t cut our pay. But when your dad started a local branch of the union a year ago, the old bast—’
    ‘Biscuit,’ said Matilda firmly. Aunt Ann had warned her that men were inclined to swear if you didn’t watch them.
    ‘The old, er,
biscuit
said he’d sack any man what joined. He weren’t having no boss on his place but him. So we went on strike, the lot of us. Mr O’Reilly here has come to address us —’
    ‘That means to talk at us,’ put in Curry and Rice.
    ‘A man has a right to free speech.’ That was Bluey.
    Matilda nodded, to seem polite. None of it made sense, except that she’d see her father soon. And maybe … ‘Will — will there be food at the meeting?’
    Mr Gotobed looked at her, as though she’d said something that actually sank in. ‘You hungry, girly?’
    She nodded. There’d been a dining car, but she had only one and sixpence left, and that was for emergencies. The other second-class passengers had brought food with them. The fat woman had given her a couple of the children’s rusks, but apart from the guard’s biscuits that had been her only food all day.
    Mr Gotobed scratched his hair. ‘Give you a drop o’ grog if you want.’ He offered her the stone jug.
    ‘No, thank you,’ said Matilda politely. Aunt Ann said that the devil was in spirituous liquors, and anyone who drank them.These men didn’t seem to have the devil in them, but she still didn’t want to risk it.
    ‘Girl’s got a right to eat,’ said Bluey. He cupped his hands over his mouth. ‘Hey, ma!’ he yelled to the elegant woman waiting on the other side of the tracks. ‘You got anythin’ to eat? This girl’s half starved.’
    For a moment Matilda thought the woman wasn’t going to answer. Then to her surprise she nodded. ‘There are the remains of our luncheon in the basket. You are welcome to them if you want.’
    ‘Good on yer, lady.’ Bluey swung himself down from the wagon and stepped across the rails. He opened the wicker basket at the woman’s feet, then piled the contents into his shirt. ‘You don’t want a lift too, do yous?’
    ‘No, thank you, my good man. My half-brother, Mr Drinkwater, should be here any moment.’
    Bluey’s face flushed with anger as well as drink. ‘You related to that old bast—’ he glanced over at Matilda,
‘biscuit?
I should throw this stuff down in the dust and trample on it.’
    ‘And then the child will stay hungry.’ The woman’s voice was calm. ‘If you men wish to dream up new laws for the country, I suggest you learn to think before you act.’
    ‘A man has a right to —’
    ‘Did I say you hadn’t? Now good day to you.’
    She turned away.
    Good for her, thought Matilda. She was stuck up, and hadn’t even smiled at her. But in a way she reminded her of Aunt Ann and Mrs Dawkins: women who met the world face on.
    Bluey brought the food over the train line, muttering under his breath. He passed the bundle up before he levered himself into the cart.
    Matilda took it eagerly. A whole chicken, wrapped in greaseproof paper, with only a few slices and two wings gone. She hadn’t eaten chicken since the Christmas before last! Thin-sliced bread and butter, still soft and fresh, what must be most of a tin of digestive biscuits, three hunks of dark moist fruitcake, an apple, an orange … how much had someone packed for one woman and a girl to eat?
    She spread out her shawl to hold it all, with the cake and the chicken on the paper so as not to get fat stains on the cloth.
    ‘Would any of you like some too?’
    Curry and Rice waved the jug. ‘We’re right, girly. You tuck in. Let’s get the horses movin’,’ he added. ‘We’ll never get Mr O’Reilly to the meetin’ if we