Death to Pay by Derek Fee Page B

that she wasn’t smiling like she usually did when they were together. She loved Ma more than anything else in the world. She loved sitting on Ma’s knee with Ma’s arms around her. She wondered where they were going. The last time they had made a trip like this was when Ma went to see the doctor. Ma had been crying when she came out of the doctor’s office, but she said that she wasn’t sick or anything. Ma had only been sad and that had gone away quickly. She felt Ma jump a little, and they started to cross the street. They were moving fast now. Ma was pulling her along, and her little legs were moving as fast as they could but she could barely keep up the pace that Ma was setting. They had almost reached the corner of the street when the big man caught up with them. He pulled at Ma’s arm, and she had to stop. The little girl was happy for the rest. She was beginning to get very tired. She looked up into the big man’s face. He was ugly and had no hair on his head. He looked like he was angry with Ma. He had hold of Ma’s arm, and she was trying to break away from him but the man was bigger and fatter than Ma. All the time that Ma and the man were talking loud Ma was gripping her hand tighter and tighter. She was beginning to get afraid and she whimpered a little. When she made the crying noise, the man and Ma both looked down at her. Ma smiled, but it was a funny smile not like the one Ma had when they played together or when Ma stroked her hair. The big fat man smiled too, but the smile made his face even uglier. She wanted to tell the fat man that she didn’t like him, and that he should leave her Ma alone. But she was afraid that he would hit her. Ma never hit her but her teacher sometimes hit the children and made them cry.  Ma and the man started talking again, and then they began walking down the road in the same direction they had been going.  Ma was still holding on to her hand and the big man was holding Ma by the elbow. They turned a corner, and the man pointed at a car. She had never been in a car because Ma didn’t own one, and when they went to the doctor they’d taken the bus. The little girl suddenly got very excited at the thought that they were going to go in a car. They stopped beside the big black car, and she saw that Ma didn’t want to go in the car. The big man opened the back door of the car. Ma was still holding her hand, and the big man made her let go so he could put the little girl into the back seat of the car. Ma looked at her. There were tears in her eyes. The fat man opened the front door, and pushed Ma into the seat. The little girl wanted to shout out ‘Leave my Ma alone’, but she was still afraid. The big man went quickly to the other side of the car and got in. He started the engine, and they began to move off.  She felt lonely in the back of the car. Why didn’t Ma sit beside her? There was more room in the back than in the front. The little girl looked out the window at the people walking along the street. This was way more fun than the bus. She wanted to wave at the people on the street. The children at the school would be jealous of her now. Lots of them had never been in a car. They didn’t drive for a long time until they stopped. Ma was crying now, and the little girl started crying too although she didn’t know why. The big man took the little girl out of the back seat, and Ma got out of the car slowly like she didn’t want to. There was a group of women standing in front of the building they stopped beside. As soon as Ma got out of the car, two women came forward and held her by the arms. There was a big woman with yellow hair telling the other women what to do. They took Ma and brought her into the big building. The little girl started to cry.
    ‘It’ll be alright, dearie,’ the woman with the yellow hair said. ‘Nancy’ll take you away for a wee ice cream. You’d like that wouldn’t you?’
    The little girl stopped crying. She nodded, and took the