A Mother's Duty by June Francis Page A

Kitty wondered why he had taken to the road. There was little of the vagrant about him. He was strong, quick-witted, well-mannered, clear-eyed and with no smell of drink on his breath. He fascinated her. She wanted to question him further about himself and the way he lived but she held back.
    After their meal she showed him the chair with its back-to-front leg and when he had sorted that out and still appeared willing to be of help she handed him some newspapers and a bottle of vinegar and asked him to clean the front windows. He was still at work when she realised Ben would be coming out of school in five minutes and went to meet him.
    She hurried up the Mount, thinking of the man she had left behind. He really could be useful to her but she was not sure how to handle him. He was different to anyone she had met before. She knew she would have to take things slowly, although if he planned on leaving Liverpool she did not see how she could do that.
    By the time she reached the school gates there was only a trickle of children coming out. She waited a while but when there was still no sign of Ben she turned her footsteps homeward, thinking how once again she had fallen down on her responsibilities towards her youngest son and all because she had got too interested in a man who seemed to have no sense of responsibility at all.

Chapter Three
    Ben had returned home by a different route to Kitty and arrived at the hotel to find John cleaning the basement window. ‘Who are you?’ demanded the boy, pausing at the top of the area steps.
    ‘Don’t you remember me, laddie?’ John tossed the used newspapers into a bucket and came up the steps. ‘I’ll have to be going. You tell your mother that Mr McLeod will be back for that meal she promised him.’
    Ben nodded and trotted beside him as he went indoors. ‘Have you come in place of Jimmy and Horace?’
    ‘Who’s Horace?’ asked John, making for the kitchen.
    ‘Annie’s uncle and he was useless and had a fat tummy. Teddy said he liked his drink too much and he didn’t do the jobs properly so Ma got rid of him. Are you here for a trial p-pe-riod?’ Ben stumbled over the word.
    ‘Your mother might think so,’ said John dryly, washing his hands at the sink.
    The boy stared at him and then crowed with laughter. ‘I know you! You’re the man with the monkey!’
    John smiled faintly, ‘You’re spot on, laddie. Now I’ve got to be off to get changed and fetch my fiddle and Joey, or I won’t be catching the first-house queues.’ As he dried his hands Annie entered the kitchen. They nodded at each other as she took potatoes from a box.
    Ben said earnestly, ‘Can I come with you? I won’t be any trouble. Just let me see the monkey.’
    ‘You’ll be Ben. How old are you?’ said John, hanging up the towel. ‘And tell me, what time do you have your evening meal?’
    ‘I’m seven. And after the guests. We have what’s left over.’ Ben sighed. ‘Generally Ma’s here now and I have a buttie.’ He followed him out of the kitchen and onto the pavement.
    John halted and looked down at Ben. ‘This is as far as you go. Tell your mother to keep my food in the oven. I’ll be back about half nine.’
    ‘But I want to come with you and see the monkey,’ pleaded Ben. ‘Did you say his name’s Joey? I like that name. It sounds right for a monkey.’
    ‘I’m thinking it would be more than my life’s worth to take you with me. Maybe I’ll take you to see him in the morning.’
    ‘But I want to see him now.’
    ‘I said no, laddie.’ The tone of John’s voice brooked no argument.
    Ben sighed and sat on the step, oblivious to its chill, and watched him go down the hill. After several minutes he rose and followed him. Teddy, whose school was only round the corner from the hotel, was playing marbles in the gutter with a couple of his mates but Ben did not speak to him and his brother did not look up as he passed.
    The boy trotted in John’s wake across the centre of