Sing as We Go by Margaret Dickinson Page B

you go out?’
    ‘Partly,’ Kathy said, realizing she’d said too much. It had been Morry’s proposal and her father’s anger at her refusal that had precipitated Kathy’s flight, but she didn’t want to confide that much to Stella. The chatterbox might let something slip in front of Amy and Kathy had no wish to hurt her friend’s feelings and certainly not dear old Morry’s. Sometimes she regretted that she couldn’t feel for him what everyone wanted her to. Life would have been so much simpler. But now that she’d met Tony Kendall, she knew she’d been right.
    ‘Anyway, can you come with us?’
    ‘After all that – yes, I can.’
    Kathy squeezed Stella’s arm. ‘Great! We’ll have a lovely time.’
    Kathy and Amy waited outside the cinema for half an hour.
    ‘Isn’t Stella coming? I thought she’d’ve left work with you,’ Amy said, hopping from one foot to the other. ‘Oh, do let’s go inside. I’m freezing!’
    ‘I don’t know what can have happened to her. Miss Foster came for her about ten minutes before closing time. Said there was a message for her in the office and I haven’t seen her since. I do hope nothing’s wrong, but, you’re right, we’d better go inside. She knows where we are.’
    The two girls sat in the back row of the cinema among the courting couples feeling as if they were playing gooseberry. ‘But we’ll be able to see if Stella comes in late,’ Amy suggested as they chose their seats.
    Later, as they walked home through the dark streets, Amy said, ‘I wonder what happened to your friend from work?’
    Kathy gave a very unladylike snort of wry laughter. ‘Her father. I’d bet my last penny that somehow he stopped her coming at the very last minute. I wouldn’t put it past him to drive into the city on his tractor and carry her off home.’
    ‘Poor thing.’ Amy tucked her arm through Kathy’s. ‘She’ll end up doing what you’ve done. Leaving home.’
    ‘Maybe,’ Kathy said, abstractedly.
    They walked another few yards.
    ‘What’s up, Kathy? There’s something on your mind. I can tell. Is it Aunt Jemima? Getting on your nerves, is she? ’Cos I can’t say I blame you if she is. She’s a dear, but I don’t think I could live with her for long. Her pernickety ways would drive me potty.’
    ‘No, no,’ Kathy said at once. ‘She’s been very kind to me and I like living there, but . . .’ Her voice trailed away.
    ‘But?’ Amy prompted.
    Kathy took a deep breath. She hated not confiding in Amy – her best friend in all the world. She felt a stab of guilt that already Tony had become more important to her than Amy and, even worse, more important than being totally honest at all times. It was something she’d prided herself on always being. She might have many faults, but being untruthful was not one of them. Until now. Until Tony. She didn’t enjoy deceiving Aunt Jemima and, even more, she hated not telling Amy. But she just daren’t confide in her. If you told just one person – and particularly Amy – then a secret was no longer a secret. Although Amy was lovable in every way, she’d never been able to keep a confidence. The only thing that assuaged Kathy’s guilt was that she knew Amy herself would cheerfully acknowledge her own failing and had been heard to remark many times, ‘If it’s a secret, then please don’t tell me.’
    ‘But I think I’m intruding on her peace and quiet. I – I ought to look for a place of my own as soon as I can afford it.’
    Amy chuckled. ‘Well, we could do just what we liked then, when I come to stay. Stay out all night, if we wanted to. We wouldn’t have to trot home like obedient children as soon as the pictures finished. I bet she’s watching the clock this very minute and calculating just how long it takes for us to walk home from town. Ooh, wouldn’t I love to be an hour late home. Just once.’
    Kathy laughed. ‘But we won’t be, will we?’
    Amy gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘No, we won’t.