The Girl From Penny Lane Read Online Free PDF Page A

her apparel and her cleanliness. There was little she could say, since her dress was indeed a shirt and she knew herself to be very dirty. Curiosity getting the better of her, however, she added, ‘What’s it like up there, above the shop? What does you do? Are you learnin’ to mek ’ats? Ow d’you get a job like that, eh?’
    But Sophia, whilst apparently thinking her own nosiness justified, drew back in offended astonishment at Kitty’s questions.
    ‘That’s none of your business,’ she said sharply. ‘You need brains and a good ’pearance to work in a nice shop like this. And boots.’
    Kitty had filled her lungs for a quick – and insulting – retort when Miss Hughes came thumping down the stairs again. She had a thick slice of bread and jam in one hand and a tin mug of milk in the other. She put them down on the counter, breathing hard.
    ‘Lord, but it’s hot,’ she remarked. ‘Drink that, child, then eat the butty as you go. You want to get home before dusk.’
    Kitty was thirsty and drank the milk at a draught, with murmured thanks, but had only just sunk her teeth into the bread when the shop door opened once more and Miss Hughes made violent shooing motions and began to brush the crumbs Kitty was making off the counter. She drew herself up and smiled brightly across the top of Kitty’s head whilst hissing, ‘Off with you!’ under her breath.
    Kitty glanced at the handsome old lady with crimped grey hair, and at her companion, a stringy girl in her twenties, and then made for the door, with the bread and jam resting on top of the enormous box. She would get herself to the tram stop with all possible speed and eat her food in comfort once she was there.
    She might not have caught a tram from here before, but she had often wished she could, watching enviously as the huge Oceanics whisked by full of rich people. That girl, the one from Penny Lane, would undoubtedly have caught a tram, lucky thing, and would be home by now. But Kitty was lucky too, with a penny in her hand for a ride and food to eat.
    Kitty reached the tram stop just after a vehicle had picked up the waiting passengers, so she put her box down on the pavement, sat on top of it, and began to eat the bread and jam. Presently one or two other people came up, and Kitty thought gleefully that the tram would soon be here and then she could get rid of the heavy box. She felt no curiosity over the contents; trimmings were trimmings, after all, but for the first time in her life she wondered just how much money her mother was paid for all that close work. After all, if the girl from Penny Lane was right, when she left home she would have a vested interest in how much one could earn for sewing work.
    The envelope, however, was comfortably wedged against her ribs; to get it out and start trying to open it, or even to feel for the size of the coins in front of the people gathered at the stop would be a silly sort of thing to do. Instead, she finished off her bread and jam with deep contentment, wiped her sticky hands on the dusty pavement and got to her feet just as the tram came whooshing down upon them.
    ‘Move along there,’ the conductor shouted jovially. ‘Want an ’and wi’ that thumpin’ great box, chuck?’
    ‘Sounds as if ’e’s ’ad a skinful, dinnertime,’ someone behind Kitty muttered as the conductor heaved the box aboard, but Kitty was just grateful for the man’s strong hand, and watched him stow the trimmings under the seat, wishing everyone was as kind. This was turning out to be a really good day, despite the long and tiring walk.
    The tram was full and at every stop there seemed to be people jostling to get aboard, so it took longer than Kitty had anticipated to reach the Black Dog on the corner of Vauxhall Road and Burlington Street, but they got there at last and Kitty climbed down, hoping that someone who knew her was watching. It was not every day that she caught a tram. The conductor handed her down her box,