Cathy Sharp - The Orphans of Halfpenny Street

Michelle felt the sting of tears. Her throat was tight and for a moment she felt overwhelmed by a deep sadness that threatened to undo her, but she fought it back. Jake’s struggle was ended and his pathetic little life was over. The awful thing was that he’d had such a rotten one. With parents who starved and beat him, he’d never had a chance, and yet he hadn’t been bitter. Instead, he’d loved his little sister and wanted to protect her – had wanted to grow up to be a nurse so that he could help sick people.

‘Why?’ Michelle asked of no one in particular. There were plenty of bad people in the world; why, if a soul had been needed, couldn’t it have been one of them instead of that innocent boy?

She shook her head and jumped out of the rapidly cooling water. It was time she got ready for the dance that evening. Sally and Alice were coming back here to start with and they would catch the bus to meet up with the men outside the dance hall. Keith had wanted to pay for all the girls to go in, but Sally said that wasn’t fair on him, because apprentices didn’t have much money to spare so they’d agreed that everyone would buy their own tickets at the door.

Michelle looked through her wardrobe, settling on a pale blue dress with white spots that had a halter strap and a sweetheart neckline, adding a little white bolero with capped sleeves. The skirt was gored and because of the restrictions during the war it didn’t have the fashionable fullness she would have liked, but it finished below her knees and suited her well. Her white leather shoes were almost new and hadn’t yet needed to be cleaned with whitening, though after this evening they probably would. You never knew who you would end up with as a partner in the progressive barn dance; sometimes you got lucky and they danced well, but half of the young men who filled the popular dance hall seemed to have two left feet.

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