Across the road
from the underground station
next to the Christian tabernacle
you sat with Helen
on the standing wall
of a bombed out house
she clutched her doll
Battered Betty
looking around her
I've never been
on this bomb site before
she said
the people who lived here
must have been really scared
if they heard the siren in time
they may have got out
but some didn't of course
you said
trying to imagine
what the houses looked like
before the bombing
how the gardens
may have been well kept
may have had vegetables
and flowers growing
in the small beds
at the back of the house
a lady my mum knew
got blown up
and all they found
was her hand
with her wedding ring
still there
Helen said
******** up her nose
making her thick lens glasses
move on her nose
my mum said
she and her stepfather
used to hide
under the large oak table
in the kitchen
if they got caught out
by the bombing
you said
and Mum said her stepfather's bottom
was sticking out
at one end of the table
Helen laughed
you liked it when she laughed
it made dimples in her cheeks
and her eyes lit up
behind her glasses
best not tell Mum
I've been on the bomb site
Helen said
she said they're dangerous places
they are
you said
but hell what would life be
without a bit of danger?
what does your dad say
when you tell him
you've been on the bomb sites?
she asked
rocking Battered Betty
in her arms
nothing much
except not to wear
my best clothes on there
is that all?
she said
yes pretty much
you said
what about your mum?
you looked at her
her hair tied in two pigtails
her eyes large
beyond the lens
she says be careful
not to climb
you said
but you do
Helen said
you did it just now
to get up here
yes I know that
and you know that
but my mum needn't
you said
banging the back
of your shoes
on the wall gently
don't you tell
your mum everything
you do?
she asked
I do
you frowned
I try not to worry her
you said
doesn't she asked
what you've done or been?
yes but I needn't
tell her everything
you said
she has enough worries
without me adding to them
I think it best
I imagine other places
or things done
to keep her
from worrying
Helen shook her head
you have a strange
sense of truth
she said
holding Betty tight
to her chest
her chin resting
on the doll's head
how about an ice cream
at Baldy's?
you said
Baldy's?
she said
where is Baldy's?
the grocer shop
before you get
to the railway bridge
down Rockingham Street
you said
the owner is as bald as a coot
she laughed
ok
she said
and so you both
climbed down
from the wall
and walked down
and along
to the subway
and on to the shop
to get ice creams
she smiling
with her battered doll
you with your cowboy
shooting dreams.