Two Strangers by Beryl Matthews

her head in amusement. ‘He’s practically moved in here.’
    ‘He likes the company – and Flo’s cooking. And I don’t blame him. That house of his is much too large for one man. And although he never admitted it, I think he’s been lonely there since his wife died four years ago.’
    Vicki nodded. ‘I expect he has. I’ll go round early in the morning.’
    They decided to go to the station straight away. Even though it was Sunday, they were still hoping they might be able to gain some kind of clue to the man’s identity.
    As soon as they stepped on to the station platform, Vicki stopped, crying out in despair. ‘Oh, no!’
    Harry swore under his breath when he saw what she was looking at. He caught hold of her shoulders to steady her as she swayed alarmingly with distress.
    ‘That’s where I stood! We’ve got to do something.’ She struggled to get away from Harry’s firm grip.
    ‘Easy, Vicki. We’ll help him.’

    She looked up at Harry, tears brimming from her eyes. ‘He’s so young – younger than I was. Can we do something for him?’
    ‘We’ll talk to him first. You never know, his family might have sent him out to beg for them. It does happen.’
    ‘I know what goes on, Harry, but that is not the case with him.’ She shook her head, walking towards the youngster. ‘I know the signs too well. That boy is hungry and alone.’
    ‘Spare a penny, mister?’ the urchin asked, looking at Harry. ‘I ain’t ’ad nuffin’ to eat for two days.’
    ‘Come with us to the station cafe, young man, and we’ll buy you breakfast.’
    ‘Cor, thanks, mister.’ The boy ambled along with them, wiping his grubby hands on equally dirty trousers.
    Vicki watched, noting every detail. She had tried to keep herself clean, but she’d had the outhouse Bill had managed to open for her. This boy obviously had nowhere to wash. Where on earth was he sleeping? From the look of him, he could only be around twelve years of age. It was hard to tell, but if that was right, then he was tall for his age. He was about her height, painfully thin and seemed to be all arms and legs.
    ‘Do you want anything, Vicki?’ Harry asked as they found themselves a table.
    ‘Just tea, please.’
    The boy was still trying to clean his hands, so he obviously cared about his dirty state. There was a half-empty glass of water on the table, and Vicki took a clean handkerchief from her bag, moistened it in the water and then handed it to him. Smiling, she said, ‘Here, wipe that over your hands. What’s your name?’
    ‘Dave,’ he told her, scrubbing his hands with the wet cloth. He grimaced. ‘Sorry, miss, but I’m filthy. I wanted to go to the public baths, but any money I get goes on food.’
    ‘I know exactly the situation you’re in. Not long ago, I was homeless, starving and begging on this station, like you.’
    Dave opened his eyes wide, staring at her in disbelief. ‘You was?’
    She nodded, and he lent forward eagerly. ‘How did you get like you are now? I mean, you’re a real lady. Posh, like.’
    ‘I was lucky.’
    Dave sighed. ‘I could do with a bit of that luck.’

    ‘The food won’t be long,’ Harry told them as he came back to the table and sat down. ‘Tell us how you got into this mess, young man.’
    ‘Well, me dad was killed in the war, and me mum met this other bloke, but he didn’t want kids around him, so they sent me to my mum’s sister and her old man. They didn’t want nothing to do with kids really, but I think Mum’s new man gave them some money. The man is a brute. He would beat me for no reason at all, so I left.’ He pulled up his sleeves to show vivid bruises. ‘I got these all over me. Well, I couldn’t take no more of that. I had to leave.’ Dave looked at them imploringly. ‘I couldn’t do nuffin’ else, could I? He’d ’ave bloody well killed me if I hadn’t!’
    ‘Won’t they come looking for you?’ Harry asked.
    ‘Nah, I ’spect they’re glad to be shot of me.’