Lydia
wants to go
out skipping
her skip-rope
but there's rain
coming down
outside of
her window
Gloria
her sister
is snoring
on the bed
behind her
her boyfriend
(Gloria's)
is asleep
beside her
mouth open
in a wide
oval shape
her brother
Hem is out
getting wet
good job too
she muses
watching rain
pouring down
she wonders
if Benny
is outside
(he's the boy
in the flat
whom she likes
both of them
9 years old)
she goes out
from her room
passes down
the passage
and opens
the front door
and looks out
at the rain
the milkman
shelters out
in the door
of the man
with the large
boxer dog
LYDIA
Benny calls
out to her
from the high
balcony
of the flats
where he lives
she sees him
he's waving
come on up
he bellows
I'll get wet
if I come
she replies
go along
by the side
up the stairs
he tells her
she hadn't
thought of that
so she runs
by the flats
by her own
up the stairs
and along
the narrow
balcony
where Benny
is waiting
watching rain
falling down
what you doing?
she asks him
nothing much
he replies
what about
playing chess
in the flat?
he asks her
don't know how
she replies
what about
Ludo then?
seems boring
can't we play
something else?
she asks him
you can be
Mrs Earp
the wife of
Wyatt Earp
Benny says
and help me
shoot badmen
in gun fights
she agrees
and they go
in the flat
where his mum
is making
mincemeat pie
just playing
at cowboys
Benny says
to his mum
his mother
nods her head
smiling at
Lydia
the small thin
girl who looks
underfed
with dull hair
flowing down
from her head.
Aug 18, 2015
Aug 18, 2015 at 12:14 PM UTC
Lydia
wants to go
out skipping
her skip-rope
but there's rain
coming down
outside of
her window
Gloria
her sister
is snoring
on the bed
behind her
her boyfriend
(Gloria's)
is asleep
beside her
mouth open
in a wide
oval shape
her brother
Hem is out
getting wet
good job too
she muses
watching rain
pouring down
she wonders
if Benny
is outside
(he's the boy
in the flat
whom she likes
both of them
9 years old)
she goes out
from her room
passes down
the passage
and opens
the front door
and looks out
at the rain
the milkman
shelters out
in the door
of the man
with the large
boxer dog
LYDIA
Benny calls
out to her
from the high
balcony
of the flats
where he lives
she sees him
he's waving
come on up
he bellows
I'll get wet
if I come
she replies
go along
by the side
up the stairs
he tells her
she hadn't
thought of that
so she runs
by the flats
by her own
up the stairs
and along
the narrow
balcony
where Benny
is waiting
watching rain
falling down
what you doing?
she asks him
nothing much
he replies
what about
playing chess
in the flat?
he asks her
don't know how
she replies
what about
Ludo then?
seems boring
can't we play
something else?
she asks him
you can be
Mrs Earp
the wife of
Wyatt Earp
Benny says
and help me
shoot badmen
in gun fights
she agrees
and they go
in the flat
where his mum
is making
mincemeat pie
just playing
at cowboys
Benny says
to his mum
his mother
nods her head
smiling at
Lydia
the small thin
girl who looks
underfed
with dull hair
flowing down
from her head.
A BOY AND GIRL IN LONDON IN 1958
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