The Crocodile Bird
Page 33
Jane Spurdell made coffee. They sat in her living room, which was a mess, but a nice mess with books on shelves and piled on tables and even on the floor.
“I want to study the law but I’ve a long way to go, I know that. I’ve got to get”—she couldn’t remember the names of the examinations—“oh, GC Levels or something. And I want to find my mother and go and see her. I’ve got a thousand pounds and a caravan to live in.”
“The law sounds a good idea. Why not?” Jane Spurdell said. “You can use my phone if you want to phone your mother.” She looked a little wary. “I’m not sure about the caravan, I mean if you came to ask me if you could park it here, I’d have to think about that one.”
“No, I’ve got it on a place where they’ll make me move and when I can’t they’ll move me and find me somewhere to live. They have to.” Liza finished her coffee. She was warm now and feeling strong. “I came to ask you one thing I know you can do for me.”
“Yes?”
Liza didn’t want to face it that for a moment she had sounded like her father. She said in a rush, “Please, can you arrange for me to go to school?”
It was relief that Jane felt. Liza could tell that. Whatever she had expected it hadn’t been that. She had anticipated begging, requests for money, time, attention—even, perhaps, affection.
“Yes, of course I can,” she said, relief beaming in her smile. “Nothing easier. It’s not difficult. You can start somewhere in January. I only wish more people were like you. Is that all?”
Liza gave a great sigh. She was going to be all right and she wasn’t going to burst into tears of relief or make confessions. A good time was beginning and she was going to think of that and be a Stoic.
“That’s all I want. To go to school.” She held out her cup. “And please may I have another cup of coffee?”
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copyright © 1993 by Kingsmarkham Enterprises Ltd.
cover design by Jaya Miceli
ISBN: 978-1-4532-1103-8
This edition published in 2010 by Open Road Integrated Media
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