Crystal's Song by Millie Gray Page B

off her … when she told him she was in the pudding club!” said Fred.
    “And there’s no way his wife back in Toronto will let him change his mind!” added Andy who had taken the letter from Fred.
    George McIntyre started to laugh before spluttering, “Oh Billy, do tell us. Do! Did she willingly invite him in to deflower her or did he have to dig a tunnel first?”

9
    The school room was, as usual, being decorated for the festive season. While Senga was helping Mrs Carruthers put the finishing touches to the tree, she suddenly asked, “Do you think this will be our last Christmas here, Miss?”
    “Well things are going a lot better for us in the war, but I think it might be a while yet before it’s all over.”
    “You know, Miss, I still cannae believe I’m here in this braw hoose. I mean, it’s like a fairytale, living in this castle, so it is.” Mrs Carruthers smiled because she, like the children, was sometimes overawed by the grandeur of the Craigs and its surroundings. “See, when I get back to Hermitage Park School and tell them about this place, nobody’s going to believe me. They’ll think it’s another of my dreams.”
    “Dreams, Senga? What do you dream about?”
    “Well, Miss, I’d love to be like my sister Tess, and get a good job. She’s working in the Store Chemist in Newhaven now. Comes home smelling of nice things. And if a bath cube gets broken in the shop she gets to take it hame.” Senga became wistful. “And when Johnny leaves here in April he’s going to be an apprentice joiner in Henry Robb’s.”
    “Henry Robb’s?”
    “Aye, ye ken, the shipbuilding place in Leith.”
    “That’s fine for your brother and sister but we know that you’re a clever girl and you could be doing much better for yourself than serving in a shop.”
    Senga sighed. “You maybe think I’m clever, Miss, but when I get back to Hermitage Park that Miss Irvine will haul me into her duffers’ class. I know she will.”
    A loud hammering at the front door prevented Mrs Carruthers from answering directly, but turning away from Senga she called out over her shoulder, “You’re no duffer, Senga, so stop thinking like that or you really will end up becoming one. Now I must go. That will be the new boy I was telling you about.”
    Senga remembered Mrs Carruthers telling them that some European refugee children who were bilingual (which Senga thought was the name of the country they came from) were being sent to the Craigs and that everybody must be nice to them and help them settle in.
    A few minutes later Mrs Carruthers returned with a woman dressed in a Red Cross uniform and a young boy about Elsie’s age.
    “Hello,” said Senga enthusiastically, having taken an immediate liking to him.
    The boy smiled and replied, “I’m Robert and I’m a Jew.”
    “Are you?” Senga was quick to respond. “I’m Senga and I’m a Glass!”

10
    Patsy had spent some time making herself look respectable. Dark coat, new lisle thread stockings, and shoes that not only were sensible but looked sensible; hair tied back and no make-up – not even her precious lipstick. All this was to impress the nuns, whom Father O’Riley had contacted on her behalf. Those nuns, judged to be saints by Patsy, were the ones who would be looking after Dinah while she gave birth – probably within the next two weeks. They’d also arrange for the baby to be immediately baptised and then adopted. They did know, however, that after the birth Patsy would take Dinah home, and accept full responsibility thereafter for Dinah’s moral behaviour!
    With bowed head, Patsy made her way down Restalrig Road towards Dinah’s home in Restalrig Circus, congratulating herself on having saved her daughter’s soul. The baby would obviously go to a couple who wanted a child. God, she knew, worked in mysterious ways and, because it was all His will, everything would end up just fine.
    At the start of the pregnancy, it had been quite an ordeal keeping