and coming back all hours even when most of them had to be up before sunrise. Lijah was the worst of it, for a hawker keeps his own hours. I could not stand the thought that he liked a drink from time to time. Neither my Dadus or my Adolphus ever drank and I knew’d not how it had begun, this habit of his.
‘That horse has done enough work for one day and you’ve enough to keep you busy round here,’ I said sharply.
He turned and snarled, ‘Leave it, Dei!’ before snatching his coat and hat from the peg and striding off.
I was ashamed that he should talk to me like that in front of Adolphus.
Adolphus did his best. ‘Shall I go after him?’ he asked, knowing what I would say.
‘You’re not well,’ I snapped, and turned away, and then felt bad that I had been unpleasant to Adolphus only on account of Lijah being unpleasant to me.
*
I heard him come back later. He was bumping around beneath the vardo, where he always slept in summer. It was black as black outside, so I knew’d it was late. Once, he had come back so lathered he had forgot to tether Kit but that horse never wandered off. It had more sense than the lot of us. I turned beneath the eider, enough to make the vardo ’s boards creak so Lijah below would hear me and know I was awake. Next to me, Adolphus was breathing softly.
In the morning, at first light, I was woked up by Lijah whistling to himself. By the time I had got down from the wagon, he had blow’d on the embers of the fire and got it flaring up and was heating the kettle. He grinned at me and clapped his hands together. ‘I reckon you’d like a cup of tea before you’re off to strip another of those cherry trees, wouldn’t you, Dei?’
Perhaps he isn’t such a bad lad after all, I thought to myself.
*
He stayed cheerful all the rest of that month. And though he went off to town drinking a lot he was never sore and silent in the mornings like he had been before. He made a whole pile of cutting boards and they were stacking up but he said he had a few other things to be getting on with before he hired the knife-grinding barrow. We started to talk about where we should move on to once the harvest was done. In years before, we had stuck around that site for a while and just earned the rent by other means, but someof us weren’t so sure that Childer would be on for letting us do that again, so the talk was all of whether we could persuade him round or not.
That was how come Delender Lee said to me one day by the stream, in front of a whole bunch of other women, ‘Course, Clementina, what we need is for your Lijah to put in a good word for us in high places and we’ll all be fine, won’t we?’
I looked at her. One of the other women muttered, ‘Low places, more like …’ and there was a whole load of smirking and looking down went on.
That was the worst of it. If they had all burst out laughing out loud I could have laughed too and pretended I knew all about it. But the fact that they looked down and just glanced at each other meant not only did they know, they knew that I didn’t.
I gathered up my wet things and threw them into the tub even though I was only halfway through. I picked up the tub and left without a word. I suppose I should have just ignored it but I couldn’t carry on washing clothes with them after that. I felt their gazes on my back, and their exchanged looks as I climbed back up the rise to walk back to the camp, and as I crossed the field I had to bite my lip to stop my eyes watering with shame.
*
I knew I had to tackle Lijah. For what sort of mother would I have been if I had just ignored it and let him make himself a laughing stock? I must do it right away, I thought, before I lose my nerve.
I dumped the tub down behind the vardo and found him where I knew’d he’d be, a-sitting on the step. Afterwards I thought, he knew before I spoke to him what it was about on account of how he didn’t greet me. He had probably been expecting it.
I stood
‘That horse has done enough work for one day and you’ve enough to keep you busy round here,’ I said sharply.
He turned and snarled, ‘Leave it, Dei!’ before snatching his coat and hat from the peg and striding off.
I was ashamed that he should talk to me like that in front of Adolphus.
Adolphus did his best. ‘Shall I go after him?’ he asked, knowing what I would say.
‘You’re not well,’ I snapped, and turned away, and then felt bad that I had been unpleasant to Adolphus only on account of Lijah being unpleasant to me.
*
I heard him come back later. He was bumping around beneath the vardo, where he always slept in summer. It was black as black outside, so I knew’d it was late. Once, he had come back so lathered he had forgot to tether Kit but that horse never wandered off. It had more sense than the lot of us. I turned beneath the eider, enough to make the vardo ’s boards creak so Lijah below would hear me and know I was awake. Next to me, Adolphus was breathing softly.
In the morning, at first light, I was woked up by Lijah whistling to himself. By the time I had got down from the wagon, he had blow’d on the embers of the fire and got it flaring up and was heating the kettle. He grinned at me and clapped his hands together. ‘I reckon you’d like a cup of tea before you’re off to strip another of those cherry trees, wouldn’t you, Dei?’
Perhaps he isn’t such a bad lad after all, I thought to myself.
*
He stayed cheerful all the rest of that month. And though he went off to town drinking a lot he was never sore and silent in the mornings like he had been before. He made a whole pile of cutting boards and they were stacking up but he said he had a few other things to be getting on with before he hired the knife-grinding barrow. We started to talk about where we should move on to once the harvest was done. In years before, we had stuck around that site for a while and just earned the rent by other means, but someof us weren’t so sure that Childer would be on for letting us do that again, so the talk was all of whether we could persuade him round or not.
That was how come Delender Lee said to me one day by the stream, in front of a whole bunch of other women, ‘Course, Clementina, what we need is for your Lijah to put in a good word for us in high places and we’ll all be fine, won’t we?’
I looked at her. One of the other women muttered, ‘Low places, more like …’ and there was a whole load of smirking and looking down went on.
That was the worst of it. If they had all burst out laughing out loud I could have laughed too and pretended I knew all about it. But the fact that they looked down and just glanced at each other meant not only did they know, they knew that I didn’t.
I gathered up my wet things and threw them into the tub even though I was only halfway through. I picked up the tub and left without a word. I suppose I should have just ignored it but I couldn’t carry on washing clothes with them after that. I felt their gazes on my back, and their exchanged looks as I climbed back up the rise to walk back to the camp, and as I crossed the field I had to bite my lip to stop my eyes watering with shame.
*
I knew I had to tackle Lijah. For what sort of mother would I have been if I had just ignored it and let him make himself a laughing stock? I must do it right away, I thought, before I lose my nerve.
I dumped the tub down behind the vardo and found him where I knew’d he’d be, a-sitting on the step. Afterwards I thought, he knew before I spoke to him what it was about on account of how he didn’t greet me. He had probably been expecting it.
I stood
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