A man who cried (5 page)

”Perhaps your son would like to come aboard?”

When she turned towards Dick his face lighted up and he looked from her to his father and said,

”Oh, can I, Dad ?”

Again there was a pause; then his father said, ”How’s he going to get off?”

”Oh, we can drop him off at the bank beyond the lock; and you too. You could step aboard from

the top of the lock and we could put you off wherever you wanted.”

Dick found his father’s eyes tight on him, and he knew that it was touch and go about his

decision; but then he said, ”I can see no harm in that.”

It was lovely, exciting standing in the cockpit of the boat, and yet at the same time a little

frightening. The girl stood by the wheel but she didn’t speak to him, and his dad and the lady

stood on the bank and they didn’t speak to each other, until all of a sudden the lady became

excited and cried, ”Look!” - she was pointing towards the lock - ”that lot’s gone through and

we’ll be able to get in with those two smaller craft ahead; we’d better take up

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the anchors and get ready. Put your baggage . . . luggage aboard.’

When he saw his father, grim faced, pull the pieces of bent iron from out of the grassy bank he

felt uneasy; but when Abel, holding the two ropes in his hands now, nodded to him and smiled, a

spurt of happiness shot through him. It was the first time in weeks he had seen his father smile

like that.

The woman and girl were already aboard, and now the woman, looking up at his father, cried, ”I

won’t start the engine, I’ll leave things to you; as soon as the gates open pull her along.” But his father didn’t answer, he was looking towards the lock.

Now the girl spoke to him for the first time, ”Come to the front,” she said; ”you can stand and

look over the top.”

He followed her down steep steps and into a cabin, with padded seats along each side, then up

through a hole in the roof; and there he was standing at the front of the boat.

”Do you want to sit on top of the cabin?”

He shook his head and clung to the handrail. -

”How old are you?”

”Seven.”

”What’s your name?”

”Dickie.”

”Seven.” He watched her turn her head away and look across the river, then add under her breath,

”You would be.” Looking at him again she said, ”I’m nearly fifteen.”

He did not know what to say to this, but he felt she was blaming him in some strange way for

being only seven.

When the boat began to move slowly away from the bank he shivered with excitement and

looked at her and smiled, and she said, ”Is it your first trip on a boat?”

”Yes . . . no ; I once went on a boat trip from the beach at Hastings, but I was sick although we

weren’t out very long. But . . . but this is different, it’s smooth. I wouldn’t mind being on this

boat and goin’ a long trip.”

He watched her jerk her chin upwards now and look towards his father who was pulling the boat

into the lock, and what she said was, ”Don’t worry, you will”; and on this she scrambled through

the hole and disappeared.

He was so puzzled by her remark that he only vaguely took in the actions of the man now

pushing against a great black wooden lever, and not until well after the lock gates had clanged

did he

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H-r’VRWnmrtr”!

bring his full attention back to the boat and the fact that it was sinking. Startled, he jumped down through the hole and, scrambled through the cabin and he went on hands and knees up the further

steps into the cockpit, and there was surprised to see the lady and the girl standing quite calmly

looking upwards to where his father was disappearing.

”It’s all right ; don’t look so scared.” The lady patted his head. ”How . . . how will he get in ?”

”He’ll jump on to the roof.” ”He’ll be drowned.”

”No, no, he won’t.” Again she patted his head. He looked in horror at the green slime dripping

down the black walls and he had the desire to shout for help when he saw his father throw the

ropes down, then lower himself over the wall and drop on to the cabin top with only a slight

thud.

”There! he didn’t even have any need to jump, did he, because he’s so tall.” The lady was at the

wheel now and she didn’t speak again until she had steered the boat through the open lock gates,

and when he saw the flat stretch of water ahead and the tree-lined banks he turned, a wide smile

lighting up his face, and looked to • where his father was standing now at the other side of the

cockpit, and he said, ”Isn’t it bonny, Dad ?” ’Yes, very bonny.’

”It’s a beautiful stretch of the river this. Have you ever been to Cambridge before ?”

His father didn’t look at the lady as he said, ”Yes, many years ago, but I’ve never been on the

river.” ”Do you like boats ?”

”I’ve yet to find that out.” He kept his gaze fixed ahead. ”Put the kettle on, Daphne.” ”You can

make tea here ?”

The lady laughed. ”Yes, dear, we can make tea and have a roast dinner or anything you like. Go

and look at the galley.” She nodded to where another set of steps led downwards and after

glancing at his father he went down them and his mouth fell into a gape, and his eyes widened as

he saw the neat stove and the sink. ”Eeh! it’s nice, like a real kitchen.”

When the kettle whistled he hunched his shoulders and laughed aloud, and for the first time the

girl smiled at him and said, ”You’re a funny kid. Here; take this tin of biscuits up aloft.”

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He had a job to manage the stairs with the biscuit tin held in the curve of one arm and when he

emerged from the galley on all fours the lady was saying, ”Surely if you were making for

Huntingdon, following the river would have taken you the long way round ?”

”I didn’t intend to follow the river, I lost my bearings back there and a bit of me temper besides.”

The lady laughed before she said, ”Through the generosity of those girls ?”

”Aye, yes, you could say that.”

”Are you in a hurry?” :

”In one way, yes, I’m in a hurry to find work.” ,.;,

”I’ve engaged this boat for a fortnight, I ... I could employ you for that time.”

Dick rose from his knees and he was holding the biscuit tin in both hands now as he stared from

his father to the lady, then back to his father again. The lady was offering him a job and he

wasn’t jumping at it, he was looking straight ahead. When his father spoke his voice sounded

tight. ”You don’t need a crew on a boat like this.”

”Oh yes, I do.” She had turned and looked at him. ”There are a number of locks between here

and Huntingdon and some are dreadful to get through, it’s a man’s work. I ... I felt a bit nervous

about taking the boat out at all but Daphne wanted to come.” Her voice now had almost sunk to a

whisper as she went ’ on, ”I can give you three pounds a week and your food and . . . and I’m

sure the child would love it. Has . . . has his mother been long dead?” Her head swung quickly

round now as she added, ”That’s silly of me; I’m assuming that she is . . .”

”Here, take this tray, will you ?”

Dick watched his father bend down and take the tray of tea from the girl’s hand but as she was

about to step on to the deck her mother said to her, ”Bring the fruit cake up too, Daphne, I’m

feeling peckish.”

The girl had hardly disappeared before the lady turned to his father again and said, ”Well, what

about it?”

”I’ll go as far as Huntingdon with you; you can pay me what you think I’m worth by then.”

”Fair enough.” She pursed her lips slightly, then smiled at him. ”What’s your name?”

”Abel Mason.”

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f

”Abel. Old fashioned name that, isn’t it?”

”I’m an old fashioned man.”
Ê

”Oh!” I

Dick watched the lady swing the wheel right round as they

turned a bend in the river, and she swung it back again before she

again said, ”Oh.” Then when her daughter appeared on deck and

put a pkte holding a fruit loaf none too gently down on the seat,

her mother spoke to her without looking at her. ”Mr Mason is

going to crew for us as far as Huntingdon,” she said.

The girl stood for a moment looking over the side of the boat; then crossing the cockpit she

pushed past Dick and went down into the saloon, and her muttered words came up to him as she

said, ”That doesn’t surprise me in the least.”

.- ’•’»**

%

:f^

50

This was the third night out, their progress had been very slow The lady, Dick felt, hadn’t been in

a hurry to get anywhere. He sensed she was happy just lying on top of the boat with hardly any

clothes on. He also sensed an unease in his father. Last night they had been berthed in a little bay near a public house and the lady had done her best to persuade him to go for a drink, but he

wouldn’t, and so she had gone by herself, leaving them alone with Daphne.

He liked Daphne; she was different when her mother wasn’t there. He thought she didn’t like her

mother, and he could understand that for he knew how it felt not to like your mother.

They were all in bed now, and it was very dark in their cabin, and stuffy. The two bunks on

which he and his father lay formed a V in the bows of the boat, and his father had to lie with his

knees up because his bunk wasn’t long enough for him. And he was muttering again in his sleep.

Twice last night he had shouted out Mrs Alice’s name, then had sat up with a start and bumped

his head. After that he had got out of his bunk and sat on the edge of it, and although he couldn’t

see his father he knew that he was leaning forward with his head in his hands because of the

short muffled cough he gave.

It was very hot. He wished he could get to sleep but he couldn’t because he was worried. He

couldn’t put his finger on exactly what was worrying him except that it was to do with the lady

and his father.

He was on the verge of dropping into sleep when he was made vitally aware of two things. The

first startled him, it was his father’s voice calling louder than usual ”Alice! Oh Alice! Alice!

Your poor face, Alice. Alice ! Alice !” The second thing he became aware of was that the door

had opened and the lady had entered

3i

the cabin. If he hadn’t heard her he would have smelt her for she seemed to him always to be

wrapped round in a mist of scent,,

”Wake up! Wake up!”

”Wha’IWhat! . . . What do you want? What’s the matter?”

”Nothing, nothing. I ... I heard you crying out in your sleep.”

In the short silence that followed, Dick remained still and taut. How could she have heard his dad

call out in his sleep ? She slept at the other end of the boat and she had come in almost at the

same time as he had cried out.

”I’m sorry if I disturbed you. There’s nothing to worry about.” His voice was low and throaty.

”But I am worried about you. You are very troubled, aren’t you ? I’ve heard you each night since

you came aboard. You must have cared for your wife very much.”

There was silence. Then her voice began again, very low now, hardly audible. ”I know how you

feel; I felt the same after losing my husband, but. . . but life must go on.”

”Don’t-sit-down-there.” The muffled words were strung together. . .,., ...-..,-,,
•>-.,
•

”Don’t be silly.” ,1 :.< -. , ,..«;•.•

”Get by... get out!” .-•;.-- ,---•• ; ;: -•

”You’re being stuffy.”

”You’re aware there’s a child in that bunk, aren’t you ?” His father’s voice was merely a hissing

whisper, and hers too was a whisper as she replied, ”Children sleep through anything, especially

on this river.”

”Go on, leave me for a minute, I’ll come outside. There’s something I want to say and it’s better

said now.”

There was another moment’s silence before he heard her leave the cabin; then he knew that his

father was scrambling into his clothes.

When a few minutes later he was alone he sat up in the bunk. It seemed to him the two of them

were still in the cabin, so clearly could he hear them speaking; but this, he realized, was because

they weren’t whispering so low now. It was the lady talking and rapidly, ”You’re looking a gift

horse in the mouth, do you know that ? We could get along well together, I’ve ... I’ve grown fond

of you. Yes, yes, I have in this very short time. You’re the kind of man I suppose any woman

would grow fond of.”

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*

”Stop it, will you? Please.”

”No, no I won’t. You wanted to talk, so do I, and I’ll have my say first. So it’s like this. I’m not rich but I’ve got enough to be independent - he left me comfortable. I could set you up in

anything you like. You should think of this. And the boy there. What life is it for a child of that

age tramping the roads ? And only a fool would be going northwards looking for work. By your

own admission you’re not going to relatives or anyone who could help you, so, Abel, what about

it ? ... No, no, don’t say anything, not yet; just let’s try it out, eh? You’re lonely, so am I, we can help each other. I could make you forget. Oh yes. Yes, I’m sure of that; I could make you forget

your wife, or whoever she was. One doesn’t usually go on about a wife, you know, as you’ve

done about this Alice. And the boy. Well, when I asked him if his mother was dead he couldn’t

answer me. But I don’t mind; I don’t mind in the least; your past means nothing to me but your

future does. ... Oh Abel!”

”Take your hands off me!”

”Don’t speak to me like that. I’m offering you ...”