Chapter six
Winnie’s mother moves out
One day, between Verloc’s visit to the Embassy and the
Greenwich bombing, Winnie's mother moved out. She had managed to get a little
charity cottage from the people that her husband had worked for. Winnie was so
surprised when she heard the news that she stopped cleaning the back room and
stared at her mother.
‘Why did you want to do that, mother? Weren’t you
comfortable enough here?’
The old woman explained how ‘poor daddy's friends’ had
helped her to get the house. When the story was finished, Winnie left the room. Her mother was glad that there were
no more questions. The day before she left Brett Street, she said to Winnie:
‘Everything I leave here is yours now, my dear.’ She left nothing for Stevie
because she thought it was best if the boy had to depend on Verloc. If Stevie
had nothing. they could not leave him to look after himself.
###################
On the day that she left, an old cab, pulled by an even
older horse, came to take Winnie’s mother to her new house. The two women got
into the cab and Stevie climbed onto the box next to the driver.
They started their journey through the grey streets. The
horse was old and thin and it went very slowly, although the driver whipped it
from time to time.
Up on the box, Stevie was worried. ‘You m-m-mustn’t
w-w-whip,‘ he said, stuttering, to the driver. ‘It h-h-hurts.’
The driver looked at him, and he whipped the horse again;
not because he was a bad man, but because it was what he usually did and he saw
nothingwrong in it.
It was all too much for Stevie. Suddenly, he stood up and,
stuttering more than ever. he jumped down from the box. There were shouts from
the people in the street as the angry driver stopped his cab suddenly. Winnie
put her head out of the window and her mother shouted, ‘Is the boy hurt?'
Stevie was not hurt, but he was excited. ‘We're t—t-too
heavy.’ he stuttered.
‘Stevie! Get up on the box now, and don’t try to get down
again.’
Winnie's voice shook a little.
'No. I in-m-must w-w-walk.‘
‘Mr Verloc won’t be happy at all about this, Stevie.’
The name of Winnie’s husband calmed Stevie down a little.
Unhappily, he climbed up again onto the box.
'Don’t do that again, do you hear?’ said the driver. He did
not speak too angrily because he was beginning to realize that Stevie was not
the same as other young men.
The cab continued on its way and for a while, the only sound
was that of the horse’s feet on the hard road. Inside the cab Winnie said;
‘You’ve done what you wanted. mother, but do you think you'll be happy?’
The old woman tried to be optimistic and said; ‘I know
you'll visit me as often as you can, won’t you dear?’
‘Of course,’ said Winnie.
‘And I must see that poor boy every Sunday.’ She thought of
the journey that Stevie now had to make to get to her cottage from the shop and
all her optimistic thoughts disappeared. He had to take two buses! It was going
to be too difficult for him! She started to cry.
‘Don’t cry, mother. I can’t come myself every week, but l'll
make sure that he doesn't get lost.’
‘Here you are!’ said the driver.
The cab had stopped outside one of a group of little low
cottages. The old woman got out with a key in her hand and Winnie paid the
driver. Stevie helped his mother to take her things into the house. Then he
came out and stared with a worried look at the horse. The driver spoke to him.
‘Don’t worry about the horse, son. What about me, eh? I work
until three or four in the morning. I get cold and hungry. And .I’ve got a wife
and four children at home. This isn’t an easy world.’
‘Bad!’ agreed Stevie. He felt sorry for the horse, and for
the driver with the wife and four children at home, too. He hated the
unfairness of it all.
The driver walked away pulling his horse and cab after him.
Stevie watched them go with his mouth open. He was sorry and angry at the same
time. When he felt like this, he did not know what to do. Winnie came out of
the house and took his arm. She did not really understand her brother’s
feelings but she knew that she must make him think of something else.
‘Now Stevie, you must look after me when we cross the road,
and you get onto the bus first, like a good brother.’
This worked well. Being a good brother was the most
important thing in the world to Stevie.
They walked down the poor, badly-lit street. The old horse
with its cab was standing with its head down outside a pub.
'Poor thing,’ said Winnie without thinking.
'Poor! Poor!’ agreed Stevie. ‘The driver is poor. too. He
told me himself.'
‘Come on Stevie. You can't help that.’
Stevie thought for a while. ‘Bad world for poor people.’
‘Nobody can help that.’
She looked at him with great affection. ‘Quick, Stevie. Stop
that green bus.’ Stevie, feeling important, lifted up his arm. The bus stopped
and they got on.
##############
An hour later they arrived home. Verloc was there, reading
the newspaper. He stared heavily at his wife but said nothing and showed no
interest in what they had done that day.
At supper-time, Winnie called to her husband as usual,
‘Adolf’, and without a word Verloc came to the table where he ate in silence.
Winnie noticed the empty place where her mother usually sat and realized that
she missed her very much. She looked at her husband. ‘Are you going out
tonight?’
Verloc shook his head but two minutes later he got up and
left. He did not know who he could find to plant a bomb at Greenwich
Observatory, but the streets and the crowded bars held no answers for him.
Feeling worse than before, he finally returned home. where he locked the front
door and went straight upstairs.
Winnie was already in bed but she was not sleeping. Verloc’s
heavy silence was beginning to worry her. As usual when she was worried she
talked about something else.
‘Mother's done what she wanted to do. But I don’t understand
it. I don’t know what I am going to do to make Stevie feel happy. He’ll be
worried about her for days.’
Verloc got into bed. He really wanted to tell his wife
everything about his problems with the Embassy, but instead he said: ‘I am
going abroad tomorrow. I’ll be away for a week, or perhaps two. Will you be all
right?’
Winnie said, ‘I shall manage with Stevie’s help.’
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