When Wishes Come True by Joan Jonker

refuse by making her daughter the excuse because she had no intention of telling him about Amelia. On the tram journey home, she’d made her plans very carefully. She would take things slowly, charm him into wanting more than she would give him at first. She needed him to become besotted by her, to desire her so much he would do anything for her. But all her dreams and desires would come to nought if he knew where she lived, and that she had a seven-year-old daughter. So she had to lead a double life, and for that she would need help.
    ‘I’m surprised at your being scared, Amelia, but we’ll have to find a way around it. What time does Miss Bessie get in from work?’
    A smile crossed the girl’s pretty face when she saw a glimmer of hope, but she quickly hid it for fear it would displease her mother. ‘I’m not sure because she sometimes goes in at seven in the morning and finishes at four o’clock. I think she told me it depended on whether they have an urgent order to finish or not. I’m not sure what she meant by that, and I didn’t like asking.’
    ‘I wonder if she would be kind enough to mind you for two hours every night, if I were to pay her a shilling?’
    The girl’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. ‘A whole shilling! That’s a lot of money, Mother. I’m sure Miss Bessie wouldn’t ask you for that much just to let me sit in her house for two hours each night. I could pay her back by running messages for her, or helping her with the dishes.’
    ‘I think we should ask her first before we discuss it any further. She could possibly refuse point blank. If so, I would have to reconsider the situation.’ Evelyn shook her head as though to dismiss the possibility of being turned down. She knew Miss Maudsley had a soft spot for Amelia, and it was to this she would appeal. ‘I heard the front door closing a few minutes ago so I know she’s home. If you will go to the chip shop for a pennyworth of chips and a pennyworth of scallops, I’ll slip out the back way and put my request to her.’
    Amelia jumped from her chair and stood by the table waiting to be given the two pennies. Chips and scallops, that was a rare treat. Being offered a promotion must have made her mother very happy. As soon as she had the two coins in her hand, she skipped out of the door and down the street. She could hear the other children out playing, but tonight she didn’t envy them. And all the way to the chip shop she kept on praying that Miss Bessie would agree to mind her each day until her mother got home from work. If she had to choose between having a nice meal from the chip shop tonight, or Miss Bessie agreeing to what she was now being asked, then Amelia would starve tonight and live on the thought of the pleasure she’d have every night thereafter. For in their neighbour, she knew she had found someone who really liked her and would enjoy her company. And she wouldn’t have to watch every word that came out of her mouth in that house, or be afraid to laugh out loud. Oh, it would be lovely.
    As Evelyn walked up next door’s yard, the smell of bacon frying wafted towards her. But although it made her empty stomach rumble, she wasn’t jealous. In the not-too-distant future she would enjoy food only the rich could afford, things which Miss Maudsley and her cronies had probably never heard of. But of course she mustn’t say anything to annoy her neighbour, she needed her now.
    When Bessie opened the door she showed no surprise, she’d seen her neighbour pass the window. She wasn’t particularly pleased to see Evelyn. She’d not long got in from work and was longing to sit down and eat the bacon, the smell of which was making her mouth water. She was wearing a floral wrap-around pinny that almost reached the floor, and which she’d been promising herself for months that she’d put a hem on to save her tripping herself up. But she wasn’t a snob and didn’t care whether her neighbour wrinkled her nose at the