Songbird by Josephine Cox Page B

having seen how she took charge of the situation, she realized that there was more to the girl than she had previously thought.
    A few minutes later, on arriving at their destination, the cabbie stopped exactly where Ellen had instructed. “That’ll be three pounds, if you please.”
    “I’ll have to give you an IOU,” Ellen admitted. “Neither of us have got a penny to our names. You see, we had to leave in a hurry and all our stuff is back in Soho.”
    Realizing the awkward situation they were in, Maddy slipped off her watch, and handed it to the driver. “This will more than cover the fare,” she said.
    “Look, lady, the fare is three pounds — hard cash and no messing.” From the tone of his voice, the man was ready for trouble. “I don’t work for trinkets.”
    Leaning forward so as to see his face, Ellen put on her sweetest smile. “Like I said, we got caught up in a brawl, and left our purses behind. It happens, as I’m sure you understand.”
    Straining his neck, he looked from her to Maddy. “Working girls, are you?” He winked.
    “If you like,” Ellen enticed him.
    Maddy was shocked. “NO!” Tugging at Ellen to come away, she told the cabbie, “We’re not prostitutes! It’s just like she said — we got caught up in a fight, and now we just want to get home.”
    He glared at them through the mirror. “You must think I was born yesterday,” he said, and gave a snort. “You’ve only got to look at the state of you to know you’re lying.” Gesturing at Maddy’s torn dress, and Ellen’s tousled hair, he sneered, “Picked up a dodgy punter, did you, girls?”
    Maddy touched him on the shoulder. “Please, just look at the watch. It’s worth a lot more than three pounds.”
    Something in the timbre of her voice made him examine the watch under the light. He was pleasantly surprised. With a gold and silver plaited strap, it boasted the prettiest diamond in the center of the dial. “Stolen, is it?” He knew enough to realize that the watch was good.
    “No way! It’s my own watch.” In a softer voice, Maddy entreated him to look on the back.
    He scanned the engraving.
To Maddy. Happy sixteenth birthday from Daddy.
    The driver chuckled nastily. “Sugar daddy, was it?”
    “If you don’t want it,” Maddy said angrily, “just give it back!”
    “Whoa! Whoa! Take it easy.” He began to believe her story. “What’s your name?
    “Maddy… Maddy for short.”
    “So what’s the inscription on the back?”
    Realizing he was testing her, Maddy correctly repeated it.
    “Mmm. I still can’t be sure if it’s stolen. I mean, you could have just memorized it.”
    “Like I said, it’s my watch, given to me by my father on my sixteenth birthday.” Choked with memories, she could say no more.
    “Okay. But if your father gave it to you, why would you want to let it go?”
    “Because I pay my debts, that’s why.”
    Maddy recalled the very day her father gave her that watch. Less than a year later, he was taken ill and died soon after; the shock of which killed her mother. Being an only child, Maddy had been left to fend for herself.
    Unable to afford the rent on their two-bedroomed flat in Kilburn, North London, she had sold the bits of furniture for knockdown prices to a local secondhand shop, and started a series of live-in jobs at West End pubs, clubs and hotels. Her musical career had started very slowly in just these places. She’d be washing up one minute, and performing the next. It had been a long and often lonely journey through life, until she met Alice and fell in love with the monster she had now left behind.
    “Get out, the pair of you!” the driver said resignedly.
    As they climbed out, so did he. Seeking Maddy’s attention, he handed her the watch. “Here you are, love. I can see this watch means a lot to you.” He had noticed how tearful she was when handing it over. “We’ll forget the fare. You keep the watch, and don’t go offering it to strangers.”
    Taken