Jazz Baby Read Online Free PDF

throat. Then the piercing blue eye blurred and darkness swirled.
    â€˜Bugger off. I’ve got nothing to say to you.’ Ted’s words bounced around inside his skull as his footsteps retreated.

Chapter 5
    Dolly pulled the blankets up and buried her head under the pillow, trying to force her mind to settle and sleep to come. She failed. Pushing the cotton blanket away she swung her legs to the floor and listened to the muted sounds wafting out into the lean-to.
    Ragtime, played on a piano, vied with the dull rumble of conversation. A shriek of hilarity sounded and the thunder of footsteps up the stairs and then the slam of a door. The gentle splash of rain against the window gave her a sense of security and she wrapped her arms tightly around her body and squeezed, excitement still bubbling inside her. Less than twenty-four hours ago she’d clambered into Alf’s Model T in Wollombi for the trip to the train station at Cessnock. Now she sat in her room in Sydney, albeit shared with Alice and Rosa, on her own bed with a full tummy and a grin that refused to stop creeping across her face.
    She yawned and flopped back on the narrow bed, staring up at the pressed tin ceiling, following the intricate patterns. Jack had been the only unexpected occurrence; the rest of her plan had gone like clockwork. For a moment she thought she’d been mistaken when she’d walked into the room and seen Jack, although she’d know his voice anywhere. Dolly-girl. The name hardly suited her anymore. It belonged to her childhood, to a time before her Ma died. She sighed. So many people gone. Seeing Jack was almost as good as seeing Ted. Maybe she’d be able to spend a bit of time with him and she could ask about everything that happened after he and Ted had signed up. That’s if she could get him past the ridiculous idea she shouldn’t be working at Mrs Mack’s. Jack would have to realise she’d grown up and was capable of making her own decisions. Maybe even see her in a different light, look at her the way he looked at Cynthia: as a woman, the way she’d always dreamt he would.
    Snuggling back under the blanket, Dolly sighed and yawned again. Tomorrow Mrs Mack would tell her what her duties entailed and she’d start earning some real money. The first thing she was going to do was go out and buy a step-in and a petticoat and then she wouldn’t feel as though everyone could see straight through to her bare skin. What she wouldn’t give for a frock like the one Cynthia wore with the low back and the little beads that rattled when she walked.
    Hands grasped her shoulders and Dolly leapt up. ‘No, leave me alone…please don’t.’
    â€˜Don’t shout. You’ll wake everyone up. It’s me, Alice. It’s time to get up.’ Alice let go of her and stepped back, and her face came into focus. ‘Calm down. No one’s going to hurt you. You need to get downstairs and see Mrs Mack. She’ll be in the kitchen. It’s six o’clock in the morning and she’ll be going to bed soon.’
    As the pounding in Dolly’s heart settled she looked around the room trying to remember where she was. Seeing her suitcase on the floor beside the bed Alice’s words began to make sense. Get up, get dressed, get downstairs and find out what she had to do. Of course she would be up before all the other girls. They’d all worked late. She hadn’t heard Alice come into the room and she hadn’t even met Rosa. She glanced at the lump in the other bed. It seemed only the devil could wake Rosa.
    Dolly shrugged into her clothes and pulled her tangled black hair back into some semblance of a bun at the nape of her neck.
    â€˜I’m going back to sleep now. Close the door on the way out and try not to make a noise or you’ll cop it from the other girls,’ Alice mumbled, burying her face in her pillow.
    The door clicked shut and with one hand