Across a Summer Sea Read Online Free PDF Page A

her daughter. Hetty Price was really pulling out all the stops. It wasn’t fair. It really wasn’t. But why did Hetty have to flaunt it all? She longed to tell the child about the things she planned to buy tomorrow but she couldn’t spoil the surprise. To her horror she heard the back-yard door open. Surely to God it wasn’t that late? Frank must have finished early and here she was with no table set, no meal ready, a pathetic fire in the range and Katie in tears.  
    ‘Dry your eyes, luv, here’s your da,’ she hissed before turning to face her husband. ‘Frank, luv, you’re very early. I didn’t expect you so soon. I’m a bit behind.’  
    ‘I can see that. What’s wrong with her?’ These days there always seemed to be some drama going on when he got home from work. And he was cold, tired and hungry and in no mood for hysterics from the kids. He took off his coat and cap and sat down. Mary did try, he’d give her that. Usually his meal was ready and the place was always fairly tidy, but she seemed to have little time for him these days. If it wasn’t the kids it was the neighbours and the hardships of their lives, as if their own lives were ones of comfort and plenty.  
    ‘Oh, nothing much. Millie Price has been boasting about all the things she’s getting and what they’re going to eat at Christmas.’  
    The neighbours again! he thought irritably. Not ‘Are you tired, Frank? Has it been a hard day?’  
    ‘That woman’s a fool where money is concerned,’ he said sourly. ‘Is there no coal? That’s a poor excuse for a fire.’ He stretched out his numbed hands to the feeble warmth and then sighed. ‘I know it’s hard to heat these houses decently in winter, Mary, but can’t Tommy have gone out and found a few bits of wood? It’s freezing in here.’  
    ‘He’s gone to McShane’s for some coal. He won’t be long now and then we’ll soon have the place warmed up,’ she answered, trying to cheer him up. At least he wasn’t blaming her entirely. ‘Did you . . . er . . . get paid?’ she asked hesitantly.  
    ‘I did. What there is of it and only a half-day expected tomorrow.’ And he knew she would already have that money earmarked. Didn’t she realise that they just weren’t in a position to splash out at Christmas?  
    Mary’s heart sank. What was he saying? That he didn’t have much to give her? She’d banked on that money. ‘Well, never mind, luv, we’ll manage on whatever you’ve got.’  
    Lizzie had sidled up to his chair and was holding out the windmill, smiling and nodding at him.  
    ‘Where did she get this? I thought you had no money? Isn’t that what you told me this morning?’  
    ‘It didn’t cost anything, Frank. I got it from the rag-and-bone merchant in exchange for an old jumper.’  
    He felt annoyance rising in him. There she went again, not thinking sensibly. Probably some of the other kids, like Bert Price’s, had been running out after the rag-and-bone man with armfuls of stuff to exchange for junk like that windmill and Katie had come crying to her that they didn’t get anything, and she’d taken notice of the child and given stuff away when they had nothing to spare. ‘Not my jumper, I hope!’  
    ‘Oh, Frank, it was in a terrible state. Full of holes that I couldn’t possibly darn. It was only fit for the rag bag.’  
    ‘And you swapped it for that ? It would have done me for work. It would have been an extra layer to keep out the cold.’  
    ‘It was just for . . . well, for a bit of a treat for Katie and Lizzie. They don’t get much.’  
    He lost his temper. ‘They get more than I ever got as a kid! You spoil them, Mary! You don’t think ! I won’t have it! I work damned hard for all of you and I won’t have you giving things away.’  
    Mary was stung. ‘I work hard too, Frank!’  
    ‘What have you been doing all day? Jangling?’  
    Mary pressed her lips together angrily as Tommy, followed by Maggie, appeared in