Ann Troup - The Silent Girls

To her surprise the girl had remained exactly where Edie had left her, looking pale and weak. ‘I thought you might have done a runner,’ she said.

‘Nowhere to run to.’ the girl answered blandly.

Edie dressed and taped the cut above her eye, fed her two analgesics and dampened the flannel with cold water so that the girl could hold it against her eye. ‘Reckon you can make it downstairs? I brought you some food.’

A faint flicker of enthusiasm wafted across the girl’s battered face. ‘Food would be good, I haven’t eaten since yesterday.’

When the girl was at the table, drinking down her soup with a vigour that belied her fragile state, Edie decided that it was time for answers. The girl’s plight had brought out her sympathies, but she wanted to know who this young woman was and why she had walked into Dolly’s house broken and bleeding. ‘So, now you are patched up, fed and watered – are you going to tell me what happened and why you came here?’

The girl mopped up the last trickle of soup with a crust of bread and swallowed it whole. ‘Got kicked out of my gaff, had nowhere else to go – I figured Dolly would bail me out for the night. She sometimes would, depended on what mood she was in.’

Edie nodded. ‘What happened to your face?’

The girl shrugged. ‘Got smacked by that bastard Johnno, reckoned I was losing him business.’

Edie didn’t say a word, just looked at the girl in confusion.

The girl sighed. ‘Not very streetwise, are you? One of the girls said I could kip on her sofa for a few nights, Johnno didn’t like it – I gobbed off at him and he gave me a smack. Best to get out of the way when he’s on the warpath.’

Edie’s mind did somersaults and the girl must have noticed the mixed bag of reactions flit across her face.

‘I’m not a tom if that’s what you’re thinking, I’ve had me moments but I don’t charge for it, and I’m not doing drugs either. Some of the girls are mates, they help out.’

‘So this Johnno is a pimp?’

The girl laughed ‘He’s a bastard, that’s what he is.’

Edie thought about the girls across the square and what their lives must be driven by, just a constant reel of unnamed men, drugs and money. ‘Where are your family, your parents?’

The girl snorted. ‘The woman who gave birth to me is currently shacked up with bloke number forty-two, and the bloke who donated the sperm is somewhere round here… so I’m told. I wish I knew who he was, I’d give the bastard a right piece of my mind!’

‘Do you have a name?’

‘Sophie – do you?’

‘Edie.’

The girl laughed, ‘Jesus, your mum must have hated you more than mine did me! Edie, short for Edith – right?’

Edie felt herself begin to blush, then she saw the humour. ‘Something like that, yeah.’

‘So, Edie, what’s the deal with this place?’ Sophie looked around the kitchen. ‘I can see you’ve cleaned it up, you moving in?’

‘No, clearing it out before it’s sold.’

Sophie nodded and hiccupped. ‘Fair enough, I wouldn’t want to live here either if I had the choice. Reckon it’s worth much?’

Edie felt herself bristle. Being quizzed by this stranger with attitude didn’t sit well. ‘I’ve no idea, I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.’

Sophie held her hands up. ‘Sorry, none of my business eh?’

Edie folded her arms. ‘Not really, no.’

Sophie looked down at her empty bowl then gently touched the dressing on her forehead. ‘Guess that’s my cue to fuck off then. Cheers for the soup and stuff.’ She reached across the table to retrieve her pungent backpack.

‘Where will you go?’

Sophie shrugged. ‘Dunno, best get off the square though, Johnno sees me again he’s going to give me worse than a black eye.’

Edie looked at her, she was thin, grubby, pale and devoid of anything that marked her out as a functional human being. On a whim she said, ‘You can stay here if you want, just for tonight anyway – just don’t steal anything and don’t let anyone else in.’

Sophie’s hand paused on the strap of her backpack. ‘I don’t nick – and besides, if you can find anything in this gaff worth my while you’re better than me. I’ll stay for tonight.’ she said it as though it was she doing Edie the favour. ‘Got any more of those tablets, me face is killing me.’

Edie found herself smiling as she tossed the rest of the paracetamol across the table. There was something about this tattered human that appealed to her on a fundamental level. ‘Here, don’t take too many and for Christ’s sake have a bath, you stink. I’ll be back in the morning.’ She stood to leave.

The girl picked up the pills and turned the pack in her hands. ‘You’re a gobby cow Edie, but you’re all right I reckon. I’ll kip on the sofa, them rooms upstairs give me the right creeps – funny fucker your aunt Dolly.’

Edie had to agree on both counts.

It was only as she slipped in to Lena’s kitchen, in a vain attempt to be quiet, that she began to question the wisdom of leaving a complete stranger of dubious origin and even more dubious morals alone in a house that she was responsible for. What harm could it do? There was nothing worth stealing and in her heart of hearts she felt sorry for the girl. Sophie couldn’t be much more than twenty by the looks of her, and even if she did steal something, good luck to her – it would be one less piece of junk that Edie had to deal with.

She put her hand against the teapot – it was hot and stung her fingers, which meant that Lena had woken up. With a feeling of trepidation that she couldn’t really fathom, Edie stuck her head around the sitting room door and spied Lena wearing her nightdress and dressing gown and perched on the edge of her chair. ‘Hi Lena, would you like a cup of tea?’

‘Just made it, let it brew. Where’ve you been?’

Edie felt like a school kid caught out in the midst of some nefarious act. ‘Next door…’ she hesitated, ‘umm, a friend of Dolly’s turned up, I said she could stay the night.’

Lena turned and gave her the full benefit of her scrutiny. ‘Oh aye, who would this friend be then?’

‘A young girl called Sophie, she looked to be homeless and had been in some sort of accident.’ Edie didn’t feel like elaborating on the nature of Sophie’s ‘accident’.

Lena narrowed her eyes. ‘That skanky kid, always hanging around the square and cosying up with the prozzies? What do you think you’re doing, letting scum like that stay next door?’

Grateful as Edie was for Lena’s hospitality and kindness, this critique of her decision rankled. ‘She was in a mess and had nowhere else to go, I couldn’t just throw her out on the street.’

Lena pulled her dressing gown across her chest and pulled a face. ‘Huh! Street’s the best place for the likes of her! You’ll regret it, she’ll have that place stripped clean before you know it, mark my words.’

Edie thought that Sophie stripping the place clean might be rather helpful, but didn’t say so. ‘Well it’s done now and if she can find anything worth having she’s welcome to it. Shall I pour that tea?’

Lena looked horrified for a moment, then seemed to collect herself, huffed and waved an acquiescent hand. ‘I’ll have a drop of brandy in mine, always do before bedtime. It calms my nerves.’

For Edie, bedtime couldn’t come soon enough. Lena’s attitude towards her actions had been unsettling yet understandable. Meeting with anyone’s disapproval had always been difficult for Edie and she was distinctly uncomfortable at the thought that she’d met with Lena’s. Yet the woman had been kind and Edie wasn’t in a position to argue, she felt beholden enough because of Lena’s hospitality. Perhaps tomorrow she would buy some bedding and move back next door. Lena was right, letting the street girl stay had been an entirely irrational decision. She sloshed a large measure of brandy into Lena’s tea by way of reparation and took it to the woman who had been so kind. Lena took it and sipped in silence. Looking at Lena with rollers in her hair contained by a chiffon scarf and hunched in her dressing gown with a look of pinched concern clouding her face, Edie was reminded of Mrs Tiggywinkle. With Lena’s veiny feet protruding out from under her nightie, and the firmly wrinkled brow, Edie saw the version that Stephen King might have written, had he been struck to anthropomorphise a hedgehog. The thought of it made her want to snort with laughter and she had to bite her tongue to avoid the disrespect.