three children. It was white and firm with taut muscles. The only scar of any kind Carol had was a curious curved pit on her back just below the left shoulder blade. She told Barry how she had come by it.
âMy dad did that when I was a kid. He was always belting us up, me and Maureen. I reckon we deserved it, kids can be a real pain in the arse. He went a bit too far that time though, didnât he? That was his belt buckle done that, cut right through to the bone.â
Barry had been horribly shocked. He would have liked to have got hold of Knapwell, wherever he was â he had walked out on his family when Carol was ten â and cut him to his bones with a steel buckle. He loved Carol even more for her generosity of spirit, her ability to forgive. Though how she could say any child deserved that, he didnât understand. Carol didnât like children much, he was forced to admit that. It was her misfortune really that she had had three of her own. Sometimes Barry worried that she might not want any more when he and she were married.
The Isadoros were having Jason for the whole weekend and maybe they would keep him over the Monday. Beatie Isadoroâs youngest was about his age, a khaki-skinned fat girl with red kinky hair. Beatie was an Irishwoman from County Mayo but her husband was Jamaican and they had produced some interesting colour combinations among their seven children. Because she had plenty of room in her two adjacent houses, Beatie ran a kind of unofficial nursery and the older girls were expected to help when they werenât at school. Beatie wasnât registered with the council as a childminder or anything like that, but that was rather an advantage since it meant she didnât charge as much as a registered childminder would have. To Barry the houses seemed full of kids, twenty or thirty of them, though there probably were not so many as that. He paid up, six pounds for the two days, which he thought exorbitant but Carol said was cheap at the price.
Karen and Stephanie and Nathan Isadoro were watching a film on the video,
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
. Barry was squeamish and didnât look. There was a little fair-haired boy strapped in a pushchair and screaming his head off. No one took any notice of him and the video viewers didnât even turn their heads. The Isadorosâ home always had a curious smell about it â a mixture of pimento, babiesâ napkins and hot chocolate.
Barry collected Tanya and Ryan and took them back to Summerskill Road. Carol was ready by then, wearing the tweed culottes Mrs Fylemon had given her, and a cream wool polo-neck sweater that showed off her figure. She had made up her face in a very clever way so that it looked luminous and glowing and not really made up at all. Her hair was in soft floppy curls and a true natural gold. Barry knew for a fact she didnât tint it. They all went shopping at Brent Cross and had lunch in a hamburger place and then to the cinema to see a space fantasy film. Barry organized all that. Before he had come to live with her, Carol often hadnât bothered to take the kids out, she had told him. It had all got on top of her and she hadnât been able to cope.He had more or less taken charge of the children insofar as they needed to be taken charge of. He thought they liked him.
Waiting for the bus home, Barry hoped people would look at them and think Carol was his wife and the kids his. He was young enough to hope that. Carol would catch sight of herself in shop windows and make a face because Ryan came nearly up to her shoulder, and she would say to Barry, âI must have been off my nut having him so young. Do you realize I could be a bloody grandmother before Iâm forty?â
It made Barry laugh to think of Carol being a grandmother. He put his arms round her and started kissing her there in the street and forgot about the kids watching them.
Next day they had to go back to Four Winds. Tanya
âMy dad did that when I was a kid. He was always belting us up, me and Maureen. I reckon we deserved it, kids can be a real pain in the arse. He went a bit too far that time though, didnât he? That was his belt buckle done that, cut right through to the bone.â
Barry had been horribly shocked. He would have liked to have got hold of Knapwell, wherever he was â he had walked out on his family when Carol was ten â and cut him to his bones with a steel buckle. He loved Carol even more for her generosity of spirit, her ability to forgive. Though how she could say any child deserved that, he didnât understand. Carol didnât like children much, he was forced to admit that. It was her misfortune really that she had had three of her own. Sometimes Barry worried that she might not want any more when he and she were married.
The Isadoros were having Jason for the whole weekend and maybe they would keep him over the Monday. Beatie Isadoroâs youngest was about his age, a khaki-skinned fat girl with red kinky hair. Beatie was an Irishwoman from County Mayo but her husband was Jamaican and they had produced some interesting colour combinations among their seven children. Because she had plenty of room in her two adjacent houses, Beatie ran a kind of unofficial nursery and the older girls were expected to help when they werenât at school. Beatie wasnât registered with the council as a childminder or anything like that, but that was rather an advantage since it meant she didnât charge as much as a registered childminder would have. To Barry the houses seemed full of kids, twenty or thirty of them, though there probably were not so many as that. He paid up, six pounds for the two days, which he thought exorbitant but Carol said was cheap at the price.
Karen and Stephanie and Nathan Isadoro were watching a film on the video,
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
. Barry was squeamish and didnât look. There was a little fair-haired boy strapped in a pushchair and screaming his head off. No one took any notice of him and the video viewers didnât even turn their heads. The Isadorosâ home always had a curious smell about it â a mixture of pimento, babiesâ napkins and hot chocolate.
Barry collected Tanya and Ryan and took them back to Summerskill Road. Carol was ready by then, wearing the tweed culottes Mrs Fylemon had given her, and a cream wool polo-neck sweater that showed off her figure. She had made up her face in a very clever way so that it looked luminous and glowing and not really made up at all. Her hair was in soft floppy curls and a true natural gold. Barry knew for a fact she didnât tint it. They all went shopping at Brent Cross and had lunch in a hamburger place and then to the cinema to see a space fantasy film. Barry organized all that. Before he had come to live with her, Carol often hadnât bothered to take the kids out, she had told him. It had all got on top of her and she hadnât been able to cope.He had more or less taken charge of the children insofar as they needed to be taken charge of. He thought they liked him.
Waiting for the bus home, Barry hoped people would look at them and think Carol was his wife and the kids his. He was young enough to hope that. Carol would catch sight of herself in shop windows and make a face because Ryan came nearly up to her shoulder, and she would say to Barry, âI must have been off my nut having him so young. Do you realize I could be a bloody grandmother before Iâm forty?â
It made Barry laugh to think of Carol being a grandmother. He put his arms round her and started kissing her there in the street and forgot about the kids watching them.
Next day they had to go back to Four Winds. Tanya
Similar Books
![Of Being Yours[another way 2]](https://fs.collectorofbookboyfriends.com/458893/thumbs/152x264/of-being-yoursanother-way-2.jpg)
