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“Mum.” Barry tried to shake her awake. He was meant to be at school an hour ago, but Eddie was at school, and his father was at work, and without his mum, there would be no one left to take care of Evie. “I have to go to school, they’ll send someone.”
“Let mummy sleep, Bart.” She rolled over, hiding under the blankets.
There was no getting through to her sometimes.
Barry sighed, accepting the fact that he wouldn’t be making it to school today, or likely even tomorrow, so he left his parents’ bedroom, closing the door for his mum, and went back downstairs where Evie was sat on the kitchen floor.
“Are you hungry, Evie?” Barry grabbed the last of the bread and whatever he could scrounge off his father’s breakfast plate, then put it all on a slice of toast that he cut in half to share with Evie. She was hardly a year old, so she wouldn’t really say anything back, but he was quite hungry himself, so he figured she must be.
After they ate, he cleaned up all the dishes from breakfast, keeping an eye on Evie to make sure she didn’t get into anything she wasn’t supposed to. She had a knack for finding sharp things, so Barry didn’t like the idea of leaving her to her own devices.
He picked her up the best he could, taking her upstairs to get dressed. “It’s cold today, yeah?” He had to run out and get groceries, as well as a few other errands his mum normally would have handled. She had handled them when he was younger, but she seemed to be passing them off to him now that he was old enough.
They both dressed warm, and then Barry took her back down and set her in the pram so they could walk to the store. They’d found it tossed out in the street with a broken wheel, but a broken wheel was nothing to their dad, so it was fixed up and made into a pram for Evie, since she was the only one still small enough to use it.
Barry pushed it all the way to the grocer, then parked it outside. “I’ll be back, Evie.” He got up on his toes so he could kiss her cheek, then he went inside. It was tempting for a child to buy all the treats he could afford, but he knew if he did he’d pay for it in more ways than one.
He asked for the things his mum always asked for when they were out together, smacking down a couple of coins on the counter. Mr. Scott behind the counter counted them, then grabbed what was asked for, and before he could finish, Barry put down the ration book as well.
“Bacon and butter, too, please.” He peeked over the counter, interested in watching Mr. Scott’s hands. They moved so fast.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” He grabbed the rations from behind the counter, putting them next to everything else.
“Me mum’s sick. I have to look after Evie.”
He packaged up the food all nice in a brown paper bag, putting the change inside so Barry wouldn’t lose it. “Take her to Mrs. Thomas, then! You should be in school, else you’ll end up like your father.”
“I don’t like Mrs. Thomas.” Barry grabbed the bag. It was half his size, but he was strong enough to carry it. “She’s mean.”
“She’s only mean to rotten little boys. Evie there’s an angel compared to you and your brother.”
Barry stuck out his tongue in protest, but then Mr. Scott threatened to hit him so he ran out the door with his haul before he got caught. He chucked the groceries in the pram, making sure he didn’t squish Evie, and then he pushed it all back home.
He made it halfway down the street he lived on before he remembered what else he had to do. He backed up a few houses, then knocked on the door of Mrs. Schaffer. She came to the door quickly, as if she had been expecting someone, but she looked a bit surprised to see it was Barry.
“Hello, Miss.” He smiled at her. She was the nice old lady in the neighbourhood who helped whenever she could-- not like Mrs. Thomas. “My mum dropped off something here last week, yeah?”
“Oh! Yes. Come on in, Bart.” She welcomed him in, going to put on the kettle.
Barry pushed the pram in, sitting on the sofa in the front room. He thought of her as his granny, even though they weren’t related by blood. His granny on his dad’s side he didn’t really like, and his granny on his mum’s side he’d never met, but Mrs. Schaffer helped raise him, and he liked her.
“Have you eaten, lad? You look thinner.” She brought over tea, setting it down in front of him along with some biscuits.
“Yes, ma’am.” He kicked his feet a bit as he ate one. It was better than breakfast by miles. “Me dad says I’m growing again.”
“Ah, you do look a bit taller, don’t you.” She pinched his cheek, then turned her attention to Evie. “And darling little Evelyn. She’s almost as tall as you are.”
“Is not!”
She laughed, picking Evie up and going to sit on the sofa with her in her lap. “So, why aren’t you in school today?”
“Umm…” Barry looked at his lap, bringing his fingers to his mouth. He’d picked up a nasty habit of biting his nails, though Mrs. Schaffer might have been the only one not to berate him for it. “Mum’s not feeling well. Evie’s too little to look after herself, so I thought I’d do it.”
Mrs. Schaffer pat his head, and he felt a little better. “You’re a good lad, Bart. Why don’t you take some biscuits home for her? I made too many to eat me-self.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mm-hmm.” She got up, putting Evie back in the pram before heading to the kitchen. Barry grabbed another biscuit off the tray while her back was turned, shoving it in his mouth, though it seemed she might have caught him. “And yes, you and Evie can have some. Eddie, too.”
“Thank you.” He spoke with his mouth full as he got up, taking the bundle of neatly wrapped biscuits from Mrs. Schaffer and putting them in the pram next to Evie. “What about the thing me mum dropped off?”
“Ah! I almost forgot.” She rushed off to grab something from the other room, then brought it back, placing it in Barry’s hands. “Five pairs of socks, and two coats.”
“All this? For how much?”
“Nothing, dear. Just run on home, yeah?”
Barry nodded, piling even more in the pram with Evie. It hardly all fit, but he made sure her head was poking out before he pushed it back outside. “Thank you!”
“Tell your mum I said hello!”
“I will!”
Barry waved goodbye, then head off down the street back home.
He hadn’t realised how cold home was until just now, being at Mrs. Schaffer’s where it was warm and cosy, and she always had the fire on. If he wanted that same comfort in his own home, he’d have to start the fire himself, which usually wouldn’t be an issue, except that his father usually took the matches with him to work.
He sighed, taking the groceries first and putting them on the kitchen table, then piling up all the clothes and the biscuits on his arms so he could carry them up to his mum. “Mum! I’m back.”
“Bart, please. Mummy’s head hurts.” She groaned from underneath the blankets, and it looked like she hadn’t moved at all since he left.
“Sorry, mum.” He sat on the edge of the bed, putting everything down next to him. “I went by Mrs. Schaffer’s today.”
“Why?”
“Um…” He looked beside him at the coats and socks. “I dunno. She had some stuff for you.”
“She’s an evil cunt.”
Barry frowned. “No she’s not.” He grabbed the biscuits, opening up the bundle to show his mum. “She made us biscuits, see?”
His mum came out from under the blankets, sitting up to inspect them. Then, she slapped them out of Barry’s hands, knocking them to the floor. “Don’t eat them. Knowing her, she probably poisoned them.”
Barry dropped to the floor, scrambling to pick them up and put them back in the bundle. “I already ate some.”
“Oh, god!” She grabbed his shoulders, shocking him into a frozen state. “Don’t leave me with him!”
“Mummy, you’re scaring me.” His eyes stung with tears, but he could not pull himself away.
She let go of him, running to the kitchen. He didn’t know she could move that fast. Not when she was like this. She came back with a bottle of ipecac syrup and a glass of water. She put the syrup into his mouth, and he swallowed as a reflex, even though it tasted horrible, and then when she pressed the glass against his lips, he drank it all, trying to wash it down.
She had done this many times before, so he just waited, trying to catch his breath. Her hands had an iron grip on his arms, and after a few minutes, she took him to the privy outside, practically dragging him. She held him there until he threw up, and kept holding him there until he was completely done and nothing else would come up.
Barry shook like a leaf, both from the vomiting, and the cold, but his mum took him back inside and wrapped him in blankets. “My poor baby…”
“Mummy.” He reached out a hand to her, and she kneeled in front of him. He couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, so he sobbed before her. “I’m sorry, Mummy.”
“It’s alright, baby. You’re safe, now.” She hugged him tightly, and he cried into her shoulder, wishing he had just gone to school today.