Barefoot and Lost (35 page)

     ‘Will I always eat here?’

     ‘Yes
Phillip
that will be one of your chores. Each evening, at dinner time, you will collect from the kitchen two meals, one for each of us and bring them here. After our meal is over you will wash and dry the dishes then, on your way to class each morning, deliver them back to the kitchen. Our breakfast consists of porridge a
nd toast which I will prepare.
However, some mornings I have an early start and won’t be here, so I will teach you how to make porridge and use the toaster. Once again it will be your job to clean up. Lunchtime will always be a sandwich, which I will collect.’

     ‘I know, it is my job to clean up.’

     ‘Well done
Phillip
, you learn fast. Having you staying here with me is somewhat of an inconvenience, I am used to being on my own, in my own space, so therefore, the least disruption I have, the better it is.

     ‘I won’t make a mess; you will hardly know I’m here.’

     ‘That is good, it is always better to start off on the right foot don’t you think; do you want tea?’

     ‘Yes please, do I have to make it?’ With a smile and a sort of cockeyed look,

     ‘No, I can manage that; it is only another cup of water in the pot.’

     ‘Being here for two months, what will I do if I can’t mix with the other boys?’

     ‘
Phillip
, you made your choice when you refused to play by their rules and brought bar room politics into play.’

     ‘Bateman was bullying me; I won’t stand for it that is why I hit him.’

     ‘I know, I must admit that I have felt like
hitting him myself, but I like
to do it in a quiet way, like today, it gave me great satisfaction to tweak his nose a little harder than I should, to see if it was broken, my, he did squeal. By the way how is your bruise I will take a look when we finish our lunch?’

     ‘Its okay a little sore, but it is not too bad.’

     ‘As to what you can do; study you will get a lot of work to do outside of lesson time. Read that is always good at filling time, do you play chess?’

     ‘Yes, but I’m not very good.’

     ‘Excellent, then I will teach you. What about Monopoly, have you ever played that?’

     ‘No, what’s that?’

     ‘It’s a board game and great
fun;
I can see I am going to enjoy your stay as my house guest.’  

     ‘I hope so, The Superintendent said you had your own swimming pool here, when will I be able to swim?’

     ‘Not here, I’m afraid you are not allowed to mix. The pool is in constant use outside of lesson time.’

     ‘Hell, I really messed it up didn’t I?’

     ‘You certainly did, perhaps you have learnt a lesson, always think of the consequences before you lash out.’

     ‘I’ll try’

     ‘Phil how do you come to be in this situation,
you have a London accent
and
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
obviously not local.’

    
‘Well it is a long story; my mum got killed by a bomb’

     ‘I’m going to have to stop you there, if it’s a long story we haven’t time, save it for tonight after dinner’

     I did
the washing up while Mrs. B read a newspaper, Monty has replaced the paper in her lap and I’m about to do so
me school work
.

    
‘Isn’t this cosy
’
,
she says with a sigh, stroking Monty,
who
is purring so loud he sounds like a motorbike; ‘Phil,
how about
tell
ing
me your long story
now, I’m dying to know’

    
‘Well as I said mum was killed, our house was blown away, we had nowhere to live so Gran, and I moved to
Hastings
. To a guest house called Gosford House
in
Devonshire Road
,
it is
owned by June and
Reg Milligan,
they gave
Gran
a job
the
re as a cook
.
B
efore the war it was a
guest house for holidays
, but
when we moved there it had
twenty eight guests who we
re all working for the Ministry of Defe
nc
e. Two of the lady guests wo
r
e
uniforms
,
the one called Olive is
an officer
in the Navy
,
Olive
is very tall
,
and very pretty. The other lady wa
sn’t very friendly
at first;
she is
a
Captain in the Army
she
wa
s
al
ways in a rush and never spo
k
e
to me
. Then at the Christmas party she told me her name was Joan
, when I got to know her
I found out she was really very nice, she even taught me to dance.
Two
of the men were soldiers, two we
re airmen and one wa
s a sail
or,
they are all officers,
another
wa
s an American Army lieutenant
. T
he rest of the guests just wo
r
e
ordinary clothes.

    
Our bedro
om wa
s right at the top of the house
, eighty two
stairs
from where we lived in the basement to the top
.
I
think that is what killed Gran
,
having to climb them every night after working so hard.’

     ‘Oh Phil your Gran is dead’

     ‘Yes she died July
the twenty fifth, the same night I won the County under twelve breast stroke championship, I also broke the record. I think Gran was so excited
,
and what with having to climb the stairs she had a heart attack.

     ‘Oh Phil I’m so sorry, you must have been so happy and then to have that happen it must have been terrible’

     ‘I
t
was, I cried for days and still feel sad when I think of her’

    
‘It will get better, time is a great healer’

     ‘It’s not fair Mrs. Bainbridge,
Gran and I were
so happy,
she loved her job and I was having a great time taking
Mr. Milligan
’s
Labrador dog called Jet
for walks
, I met Michael when I was walking Jet one day, Michael is or rather was a Jew, he died a couple of weeks ago from polio. Before he became sick we did everything together, I spent more time at his house than I did at ours. His foster dad
Pop and Tess his wife are lovely people I wish they could foster me now they haven’t got Michael.’ Pop
is a school teacher, he taught me to swim’

     ‘What, a swimming teacher?’

     ‘No a history teacher,
he
also taught me to play chess
,
    

    
‘
That is g
reat I love chess;
as I said
we will have to play a few games while you are here
and see if I can improve your game
’

     ‘
Thanks I would like that
, anyway because I learnt to swim, I joined the swimming club; that is where I met Superintendent Langdon, he is captain of the club
.

   
‘And that would be why you want to use the pool’

     ‘Yes,
I need to train,
there must be sometime when it is not in use, what about when the other boys are in bed
.
’

     ‘Phil that is not possible, for two reasons, one; you will not be allowed to swim unsupervised
and two: wh
en the others are in bed
you
are
as well
’

     ‘Just a thought, anyway when Gran died the council wouldn’t let June or Pop foster me so I was sent to a children’s home. The first night I was there a house father molested me,
Lion, an older boy, his real name was Lionel, tried to protect me, he then ran away and ended up murdered, I wrote to Pop,
telling him all about it. H
e told
the police
and they
closed the home, the ones that murdered Lion tried to kidnap me and that is why I am
hiding
here.’

     ‘
My God Phil, what a story, that must have been very traumatic for you, would you like to talk about it
’

     ‘Well not too bad really, but I’m sorry Mrs. Bainbridge I’m not allowed to talk about it
while the investigation is going on.
’

     ‘I understand, I won’t press you, One thing I do not understand, you are a very intelligent boy and appear to be kind and sensitive
and therefore it seems out of character for you to settle problems with your fists’

     ‘
That’s right I don’t like fighting but you see w
hen I first came to
H
astings
I was bullied at school. I
t started by some boys calling me Phyllis, saying I was a girl. Then they started beating me up, so I joined the Police boys club and learnt to box. The main bully Keith Smith,
also joined the club
, one morning Keith tried to beat me up
,
Chalky
,
the
boxing
coach
and Superintendent Langdon,
arranged a boxing match between
me and Keith, and I beat him, so when Bateman bullied me I thought I could
do the same to him, I’m not really a ruffian.’

‘Well Phil I am certainly pleased to hear that, now I know a little more about you I’m sure
we
will  get along just fine’