Perry Scrimshaw's Rite of Passage Read Online Free PDF

spare, anything at-’
    ‘ - I got pie
scraps. But it’ll be thruppence for the lot.’
    Perry could explain about the
tin if need be, he was good for the money providing she didn’t want
it now. He followed the woman through into a hallway. It was chilly
and smelt of mildew and fish. It would have to do, just for a
night.
    He followed her into the
kitchen. At the table, a boy, he guessed a year younger than
himself, was scraping out a tin into his mouth.
    ‘ Your lad?’
Perry asked.
    The boy dropped the knife and
blinked at him.
    ‘ Blimey no!
That’s just Joel,’ she grabbed the tin off him and handed it to
Perry.
    ‘ Hey Ma! I was
eating that,’ Joel protested.
    ‘ Ma’s what all
the boys call me,’ she explained. It was a much smaller space than
at Donnegan’s, how many boys were there?
    ‘ Well then,’
she nodded to the tin, ‘have at it. My bed’s upstairs. Come up when
you’re ready.’
    ‘ Oh Miss,’
Perry was taken aback at her kindness, ‘I couldn’t kick you out of
your own bed!’
    She gave him an odd look. ‘You
ain’t.’
    The silence hung for a second
or two and was broken by Joel.
    ‘ Ha!’ he looked
from Ma to Perry. ‘He didn’t come here for that! He just wanted somewhere to
sleep is all Ma.’
    Perry, sudden understanding
flooding his mind, flushed with embarrassment.
    ‘ The floor’ll
do me.’
    Ma looked miffed, ‘suit
yourself, that’ll be tuppence then.’
    ‘ On my word
you’ll have it on the morrow.’
    She scowled, weighing up the
likelihood of him paying against the hassle of throwing him
out.
    ‘ Fine but let
me warn you. You cheat Ma, you live to regret it.’
    There was enough to regret
about the day already, and he didn’t plan on adding this to his
growing list. Ma went upstairs and he was relieved to be left alone
with the boy. In the flickering light it was hard to gauge his
features. Joel had small dark eyes and a straight shock of black
hair that put him in mind of a scarecrow. He was a wiry lad,
thinner than Perry, but on the whole seemed a darn side more normal
than Ma.
    ‘ Go on,’ Perry
motioned to the pie scraps, ‘let’s share. No point both of us going
hungry.’
    ‘ Cheers,’ Joel
set upon the food again. Joel chiselled a thick bit of crust from
the corner of the tin and offered it up.
    He took it with a nod and
popped it in his mouth and chewed. It was crunchy, burnt and soggy
all at the same time. Certainly not the best thing he’d ever eaten,
but he was so hungry he didn’t really care.
    ‘ Good?’
    Perry nodded, ‘It’s alright.
Did Ma cook it?’
    ‘ Bought it more
like, she’s hopeless,’ Joel was shaking his head disapprovingly, ‘a
bleedin’ nightmare. Lucky escape you had there.’
    Perry licked his fingers, ‘You
don’t know the half of it.’
     
    The following day brought a
great many steamships on the morning tide; Royal Mail, North German
Lloyd and Brazil & River Plate Company had all their charges
docked, nodding with the swell. Pulleys hefted bales of cargo over
the gunnels and eased them gently onto the jetties. Carriers
swarmed around the quay; dockers, blackened coal-porters,
corn-runners, shipping agents, and messenger boys everywhere,
wriggling like maggots over rotten meat.
    At the foot of the bell tower
steps, a small crowd gathered awaiting the end of the church
service. An inky paperboy rested on the stone balustrades, cap
pulled casually over his eyes as he kipped. Perry and Joel sat on a
stone post, their feet dangling down, poring over the front
page.
    ‘ What’s it say,
what’s it say?’ asked Joel.
    ‘ It’s
con-ta-gious.’
    ‘ What does that
mean?’
    ‘ It’s a type of
illness, you know like consumption,’ Perry mumbled and read
on.
    ‘ The Sick’s
what everyone’s calling it, no feller going to call it con-
whatever it is…’
    Perry stopped listening, his
eyes danced from line to line until he saw it. He felt the blood
drain from his face.
    ‘ What is
it?’
    Perry’s jaw went