Ingrid's mother
was found not guilty
of the ******
of her husband
and released.

Benny heard
from his mother about it
from the local paper.

Ingrid was living
with her sister
miles away.

Benny had only seen her
once since she went away.

Will they move back?
He asked his mother.

Don't suppose they will,
she replied,
probably move elsewhere.

Benny sighed:
he liked Ingrid;
he befriended her
when others wouldn't.

Her old man
had been a bully and abuser,
and Benny wasn't saddened
when someone
cut his throat outside
the public house
and left him there.

At least her mother
was free now;
he hadn't thought
she had done it.

He walked upstairs
to the flat
where they used to live;
it was empty now;
he assumed another family
would move in there.

He looked over balcony
at the Square below:
the milkman
was delivering milk
from his horse-drawn cart;
kids played
on the pram sheds
or played skip-rope
or rode bikes
round the block.

He missed Ingrid;
he guessed she went
to another school;
he wondered who
befriended her now.

He watched the horse
stop and feed
from a nose-bag,
while the milkman
delivered the milk
to doors below.