After school
I walk with Helen
to her place
and she shows me
Bettered Betty
(her doll)
she'd said
that morning
that her Betty
was unwell
and had a cold
and her mother
had kept it in
the warm kitchen
sitting by the stove
see she's still there
Helen says
her mother is busy
with a copper load
of washing
the steam rising up
be careful
her mother says
don't want you
getting scalded
so she passes
Betty to her daughter
and shoos her away
and we go in
the sitting room
and sit down
with her holding the doll
see she's better
Helen says
holding her
out to me
feel her head
it's warmer now
she says
I touch the doll's head
yes it is
I say
putting fingers
to the doll's forehead
the doll's good eye
stares sat me coldly
ok now come
to my flat
and I can show you
the gun
my old man
bought me
from this cheap shop
before tea?
Helen asks
sure we have time
I say
best ask Mum first
she says
and goes off
and I look around
her sitting room
there's a small TV set
on a cabinet
a brown sofa
two armchairs
and a table
and four chairs
by the window
which lets in light
onto the cruet set
and HP sauce bottle
Helen's kid brother
is on the sofa sleeping
wrapped in
a blue blanket
I can go now
Helens says
returning with her doll
tucked under arm
ok
I say
looking at Helen's
thick lens glasses
and her large eyes
peering at me
like some owl
Mum says
we can go
but must go now
before tea
so we walk
out and off
and she pats
Betty's back
which makes her
(pretending)
cough.
Sep 26, 2015
Sep 26, 2015 at 2:25 AM UTC
After school
I walk with Helen
to her place
and she shows me
Bettered Betty
(her doll)
she'd said
that morning
that her Betty
was unwell
and had a cold
and her mother
had kept it in
the warm kitchen
sitting by the stove
see she's still there
Helen says
her mother is busy
with a copper load
of washing
the steam rising up
be careful
her mother says
don't want you
getting scalded
so she passes
Betty to her daughter
and shoos her away
and we go in
the sitting room
and sit down
with her holding the doll
see she's better
Helen says
holding her
out to me
feel her head
it's warmer now
she says
I touch the doll's head
yes it is
I say
putting fingers
to the doll's forehead
the doll's good eye
stares sat me coldly
ok now come
to my flat
and I can show you
the gun
my old man
bought me
from this cheap shop
before tea?
Helen asks
sure we have time
I say
best ask Mum first
she says
and goes off
and I look around
her sitting room
there's a small TV set
on a cabinet
a brown sofa
two armchairs
and a table
and four chairs
by the window
which lets in light
onto the cruet set
and HP sauce bottle
Helen's kid brother
is on the sofa sleeping
wrapped in
a blue blanket
I can go now
Helens says
returning with her doll
tucked under arm
ok
I say
looking at Helen's
thick lens glasses
and her large eyes
peering at me
like some owl
Mum says
we can go
but must go now
before tea
so we walk
out and off
and she pats
Betty's back
which makes her
(pretending)
cough.
A BOY AND GIRL IN LONDON IN 1955.
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