The Camberwell Raid by Mary Jane Staples

Incident’lly, Cassie, we’d better change places.’
    ‘What for?’ asked Cassie. ‘I like it up here.’
    ‘Yes, but the point is, Cassie, with you up there and me down here, it’s takin’ me mind off me work,’ said Freddy.
    ‘What d’you mean?’ asked Cassie, an old apron over her dress.
    ‘Well, from down here, Cassie, your frock looks a bit short,’ said Freddy. ‘If you get my meaning.’
    ‘Freddy Brown, you’re blessed-well lookin’, you libertine,’ said Cassie.
    ‘Libber what?’ said Freddy, scraping away.
    ‘Yes, I read it in a book,’ said Cassie, ‘and it means sort of licentious.’
    ‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ said Freddy.
    ‘Well, you shouldn’t be lookin’,’ declared Cassie.
    ‘Bless me, I ain’t been, not on purpose, just accidental now and again,’ said Freddy, ‘but I’m still nearly blind. I’ll say this much, Cassie, you’ve got a lovely pair of tent pegs from down here.’
    Cassie descended the stepladder, rolled up an old newspaper and walloped him with it.
    ‘Take that,’ she said.
    Freddy, straightening up, said, ‘Was it my fault you were up there and I was down here?’
    ‘I like it up there, not on my knees,’ said Cassie. ‘Freddy, stop looking, it’s not nice.’
    ‘Can I help it if I like your legs?’ said Freddy. ‘Funny about that, really, likin’ girls’ legs.’
    ‘Excuse me,’ said Cassie, ‘but if I catch you likin’ someone else’s, I’ll ask me dad to chop yours off.’
    ‘Ruin me football, that will,’ said Freddy.
    Cassie laughed.
    ‘Freddy, I like you likin’ mine,’ she said.
    ‘All right, get up that ladder again, Cassie.’
    ‘Not likely, not till you’ve got your head down,’ said Cassie. ‘Freddy, fifty pounds all at once and a bank account, just think of it,’ she said.
    ‘It makes me feel rich,’ said Freddy, and dug into his pocket. He came up with a silver threepenny-bit and put it into her hand. ‘There, all yours, Cassie, I don’t mind splashin’ out just now.’
    ‘Wait a bit,’ said Cassie, ‘what’s it for?’
    ‘For showin’ me your legs,’ said Freddy.
    Cassie shrieked, then hugged him.
    ‘Oh, I do like you, Freddy,’ she said.
    ‘Don’t mention it, Cassie, just get up that ladder again,’ said Freddy.
    At suppertime, Rosie remembered something.
    ‘Tim, I saw Pam Willis this afternoon,’ she said.
    ‘Who?’ asked Tim.
    ‘Pam Willis, from down the road,’ said Rosie. ‘She asked after you, and if you’d like to meet her in her doorway when you weren’t busy.’
    ‘Ah,’ said Mr Finch.
    ‘H’m,’ said Boots.
    ‘What’s that h’m for?’ asked Chinese Lady.
    ‘Oh, it’s just one of Daddy’s usual h’ms,’ said Rosie. ‘Tim, should you have girls asking after you when you’re not yet fourteen?’
    Tim eyed his elder sister with a grin.
    ‘I’m on to you, Rosie, don’t think I’m not,’ he said.
    ‘Ah, perhaps Tim is starting quick,’ said Eloise, ‘like French boys do.’
    ‘Startin’ what quick?’ asked Emily.
    ‘Kissing,’ said Eloise.
    ‘Not with young girls, I hope,’ said Chinese Lady. ‘I never minded any of my sons socializing early, it helps young people to mix proper, but I never encouraged any kissin’ of young girls not old enough for it.’
    ‘Who’s looking at me?’ asked Tim. ‘I’ve not been socializing with Pam Willis. Crikey, she’s only twelve.’
    ‘But she sent you her love, Tim,’ said Rosie.
    ‘She did what?’ asked Chinese Lady.
    ‘Well, more or less,’ said Rosie.
    ‘More or less sounds about right at her age,’ said Boots.
    ‘Boots, kindly don’t say things like that,’ said Chinese Lady.
    ‘Why not, Nana?’ asked Rosie.
    ‘I don’t trust him when he says things that don’t make sense,’ said Chinese Lady.
    ‘Perhaps he does not mind Tim starting quick,’ said Eloise.
    ‘Well, he should,’ said Chinese Lady, who had come to feel, gratefully, that Eloise wasn’t as Frenchified as she