Johnny Swanson (10 page)

The doctor was caught up with chit-chat, but he understood Johnny’s sign language, and Johnny returned to tell Mrs Langford that her husband wouldn’t be long.

Mrs Langford pulled Johnny to one side and whispered to him. ‘About the other day,’ she said. ‘That advertisement and what my husband was talking about. You understand, don’t you – whatever happens, whoever asks you, however much you feel like boasting’ – she squeezed his arm so tightly that he couldn’t doubt her seriousness – ‘
not a word.
’

‘Of course.’

‘I mean it, Johnny. I’m depending on you. Now get back to your mother. She needs you, today of all days.’

Johnny could see that his mother was exhausted, and sadder than he had ever known her. She walked towards the memorial, took off one glove, and stroked the letters that made up her dead husband’s name. This wasn’t the moment for Johnny to reveal that he could make their lives more comfortable. He would have to wait until he could explain what he had been doing in a way that wouldn’t make Winnie angry. But he was happy, because in his heart he knew things were about to get better.

But then, suddenly, they got very much worse.

T
he very next evening, Johnny got home from his paper round to find his mother on her hands and knees, sorting out the cupboard under the sink. It was always a bad sign. Whenever Winnie was worried or upset, she would take refuge in unnecessary cleaning.

‘What’s wrong, Mum?’ he asked.

‘Nothing,’ she said unconvincingly. She turned and knocked over her bucket of soap suds. Johnny grabbed the mop and soaked up the water before any harm was done, but Winnie was already in tears.

Johnny pulled out a chair and sat her down at the table. ‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ he said. ‘Now, what is it?’

‘Oh, I’m probably just being silly,’ said Winnie, blowing her nose. ‘It’s the Langfords. They’ve disappeared. When I got to their house this morning the door was locked and the shutters were closed. I rang the bell. I knocked. There was nobody there.’

‘Well, they haven’t cancelled their newspapers. I delivered them as usual, morning and evening.’

‘Did you notice anything?’

‘No. I just put the papers through the letter box.’ Johnny didn’t mention that he liked to get up and down that hill as fast as possible since all the trouble with Miss Dangerfield. ‘Maybe they’ve just gone to visit friends or something?’

‘But I’m sure they would have told me. I was there yesterday afternoon, remember? They didn’t say anything about going away. In fact, Mrs Langford suggested I should leave my basket and my apron there, since I’d be back again so soon. That’s one of the things I’m worried about. I need my basket. I need my apron. I need my money too. They should pay me on Friday. What if they’re not back by then?’

‘They probably will be. And anyway, we’ll manage,’ said Johnny, tempted to tell her about the secret hoard of cash upstairs. ‘I bet you’ll go round in the morning and everything will be just as it should be.’

‘Well, let’s hope so. I’m sorry, Johnny. It’s just with the worry about the rent and everything …’ She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. ‘Oh my! Look at the time. I’d better get going or I’ll be late for the pub. There’s some cheese on the windowsill for your tea. Will you be all right?’

‘Of course. I’ve got lots of homework to do,’ said
Johnny, who wanted to get cracking on his latest brainwave.
(Send 2/6 for the Secret of Living to the Year 2000. Full refund guaranteed in the event of failure.)

‘You’re such a good boy – working so hard. Now don’t be afraid to turn the light up. We’re not so poor that we can’t afford a drop of oil. I won’t have you ruining your eyes in the dark.’

‘Don’t worry about me, Mum. I’ll be fine. You run along, and I’ll come with you in the morning to see what’s going on at the doctor’s. I bet everything will be back to normal.’

But the next morning the Langfords’ house was still locked up. Before the evening paper round, Johnny wrote a note to Olwen’s parents, wishing them well and asking how to contact her in Wales. He even enclosed a stamped addressed envelope for their reply. He chose a box of toffees for the doctor to take to the sanatorium with the note. Since it was early closing day Hutch was busy in the stockroom, so Johnny put the money for the sweets under the cash register and set off to deliver the papers.

Johnny knocked on the Langfords’ door, hoping that the doctor would be back, so he could pass over the present for Olwen’s parents. There was no answer,
and the shutters were still closed. He posted the newspaper through the letter box. It was too high for him to look through, so he couldn’t tell whether the previous day’s papers had been picked up. Johnny wondered where the Langfords could have gone, but then another thought struck him. What if they were inside, locked in? Suppose they were sick, or even dead? He clambered onto a window ledge, and tried to climb the drainpipe to look in upstairs. The pipe wobbled and pulled away from the wall. As he struggled to keep his balance, he felt a sharp blow across his back. It was Miss Dangerfield’s walking stick.

‘Got you! You little burglar,’ she said as he dropped to the ground.

Johnny tried to explain. ‘I’m not breaking in, Miss Dangerfield. I’m not a thief. I’m worried about the Langfords. There’s no sign of them. I thought they might be trapped inside.’

‘Trapped inside? Don’t give me that! You know they’re not there. You wanted to get in and steal something while they’re away.’

‘Are they away?’ said Johnny.

‘That’s no more any of my business than it’s any of yours.’

‘But it is my business in a way,’ said Johnny. ‘They haven’t cancelled their papers.’

She prodded him with her stick. ‘Now get up. And talking of papers, get on with delivering them. Have you got mine?’

Johnny opened his bag to get Miss Dangerfield’s copy of the
Evening Echo
. She spotted the toffees nestling alongside. ‘And how do you explain these?’ she asked, grabbing the box. ‘Where did you get them? Stolen from Mr Hutchinson’s shop, I shouldn’t wonder!’

‘No. I paid for them. I was bringing them to Dr Langford.’

‘What! You were giving the doctor a present? Credit me with some intelligence!’

‘No, they’re not for him. They’re for a friend. Well, for her parents actually.’

‘Oh, really? And what’s the name of these people?’

Johnny realized he’d never known Olwen’s surname. ‘I’m not sure—’

‘Ha! You’re not sure. You’re giving a box of expensive sweets to people you don’t know! You expect me to believe that?’ She steered him towards the gate, bashing his legs with her cane. ‘Come with me. I’m taking you back to the shop.’

‘But—’

‘Silence! You can explain yourself to Mr Hutchinson. He’s got a telephone down there, hasn’t he? I may even ask him to call the police.’

She marched Johnny down the hill, and battered on the door of the shop. Hutch unlocked it and let her in. Miss Dangerfield slammed the box of toffees down on the counter.

‘Proof!’ she cried. ‘I tried to tell you the other day. I said this boy was up to no good, and I was right. I caught him climbing into the doctor’s house, and now this. He’s been stealing from you as well.’

Hutch picked up the box and looked up to the shelf. There was indeed a gap in the display.

‘But I paid for them, Hutch!’ Johnny croaked through the tears he had been fighting all the way to the shop. ‘I tried to tell her. I paid for them. They’re mine.’

Miss Dangerfield looked at Hutch. ‘Is that true? Did you sell them to him?’

Hutch fumbled with the box. ‘To be honest, I don’t remember doing that.’

‘It’s a police matter,’ said Miss Dangerfield. ‘The boy should be locked up.’

Johnny, still crying, was trying to explain. ‘You were
in the stockroom,’ he sniffed. ‘I had to go on the paper round, so I took them—’

‘What did I tell you!’ cried Miss Dangerfield.

‘I took them, but I put the money under the till. It’s probably still there now.’

‘A likely story!’ scoffed Miss Dangerfield as Hutch ran his hand along the counter and found the two-shilling piece.

‘Here it is!’ he said with relief.

‘Ha!’ said Miss Dangerfield. ‘A trick. The boy’s even more devious than I thought.’

Hutch took control. He opened the shop door. ‘Thank you, madam, I’m sure you were only trying to help, but I will deal with things from here. Leave the boy with me, and I will talk to him.’

‘You should sack him. Don’t forget, I saw him breaking into the Langfords’—’

‘I will ask him about that too,’ said Hutch in a polite, but firm, tone. ‘Goodnight, now, Miss Dangerfield. I really must close the shop.’

She left, mumbling complaints, and Hutch bolted the door. Johnny expected him to laugh about the old woman, but he was furious.

‘After all I’ve done for you! After all that. She says she caught you red-handed. You were trying to break in.’

‘I wasn’t. I was trying to have a look to see if something had happened to the Langfords. Their house is all locked up.’

‘So? Maybe they’ve gone away for a few days.’

‘Why didn’t they say they were going?’

‘How should I know?

‘Suppose they’re locked in? Suppose they’re sick or something?’

Hutch was getting exasperated. ‘Don’t be daft. He’s a doctor. And they’ve got a telephone. What are the chances of them being stranded inside their own house? You’re just letting your imagination run away with you. Miss Dangerfield was right about one thing. It’s none of your business.’ He took a deep breath. He looked stern. ‘Now, I’ve promised her I’ll deal with the matter.’

‘No!’ Johnny’s nose began to run. ‘No! Don’t sack me, Hutch. Please.’ He looked at Hutch with desperate pleading in his streaming eyes.

Hutch was calming down. ‘I’m not going to sack you, but I’m taking you off that part of the paper round, and I’m knocking sixpence off your pay. I’ll deliver Miss Dangerfield’s papers myself until the Langfords get back and all this blows over. You keep away from there.’

‘All right,’ said Johnny.

Hutch handed him the box. ‘You’d better take these. But remember, you’re not going to have so much money in future. You certainly won’t be able to spend it on fancy sweets.’

‘They weren’t for me,’ said Johnny, and he explained about Olwen’s family at the sanatorium, and how the sweets had been a present.

Hutch’s mood softened. ‘And you paid for them out of your own money?’

Johnny sniffed. ‘Yes,’ he said, letting Hutch believe he had been saving up his wages.

‘Well, that’s very good of you, Johnny,’ said Hutch, handing over his handkerchief so that Johnny could dry his eyes. ‘I’m impressed. I think Miss Dangerfield has misjudged you, and if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s people making false accusations. But you keep away from her – and from the Langfords’ house until they get back. She might go straight to the police next time, and trouble with the police is the last thing your family needs at the moment.’ Hutch put the toffees back on the shelf, and gave Johnny his two shillings. ‘Charity begins at home, son,’ he said. ‘Give this to your mother, if you feel you can spare it. Now, get off home, and don’t be late tomorrow.’

Johnny was almost exhausted with relief, but he ran home, hoping to catch Winnie before she left on her long walk to the pub. He met her as she was closing the front door, and he walked with her, trying to explain what had happened before she heard about it from Miss Dangerfield. Winnie understood how horrible it was for Johnny, being accused of something he hadn’t done, and why he’d wanted to see in through the Langfords’ upstairs windows, but she was angry with him for climbing and breaking the drainpipe.

‘It was a stupid thing to do,’ she said. ‘Dangerous too. That house looks good, but everything’s starting to fall apart. If you wanted to look in upstairs, you should have gone up a tree or something.’

‘I still could,’ said Johnny, inspired by Winnie’s throwaway remark.

‘But you can’t risk being seen by Mrs Dangerfield. She’d be back at the post office complaining about you all over again.’

‘Not if you come with me. She wouldn’t dare tell me off if you were there.’ Johnny was getting excited about his plan. ‘Come on. You want to know what’s inside too, don’t you? Let’s go together.’

‘What, now?’ said Winnie, startled. ‘But it’s dark.
And it will still be dark before you go to school in the morning.’

‘All right then – later tomorrow. When it’s light. I’ll get out of school at dinner time. Meet me at the Langfords’ and I’ll climb a tree in the garden and tell you what I see.’

‘I’m not sure,’ said Winnie. ‘I’ll sleep on it.’

She did, and in the end her concern over her basket, her apron, and whether she would ever get her wages over-rode her natural caution. Johnny climbed an old pear tree. He’d hardly had time to steady himself before he heard the sound of a sash window opening. But the noise was coming from over the road.

‘You boy!’ shouted Miss Dangerfield. ‘You, boy, get away from there!’

‘Oh no,’ said Winnie, quivering with fear. ‘You’d better come down, Johnny. She’s seen you.’

‘Just a minute, Mum,’ said Johnny. ‘I’m up here now. I might as well carry on. You pretend you’re angry with me, and I’ll stay up here till I’ve had a good look.’

So Winnie started shouting at Johnny while he clambered through the branches, looking into the Langfords’ house. He tried to sound as if he was
answering back rudely, but he was really giving Winnie a running commentary on what he could see. They made a good team, but all Johnny had to report on was a row of empty bedrooms and a tidy study.

‘Well, that was a waste of time,’ said Winnie as they strode back towards the gate. ‘I feel terrible now. That was really wrong, looking in someone’s windows. We’ll just have to accept that the Langfords have taken off without paying me. Maybe they’ll explain it all if they ever come back, but until then, Hutch wants you to stay away from here, and so do I. Promise me you will.’

‘All right. I promise.’

‘Good boy,’ said Winnie, taking his hand. ‘We’ll just put all this behind us.’

Miss Dangerfield was still watching from an upstairs room, muttering to herself about ‘that Swanson woman’. It seemed that she was just as bad as her nasty little son.