Johnny Swanson - Eleanor Updale [36]
‘Someone else! Someone else who also has a son called Johnny who delivers Hutch’s papers for him? Oh, and who also, I hear, sends letters for this Auntie Ada, and deals with all her money.’
Johnny stuttered out the beginning of a limp explanation: ‘It’s not … I haven’t … It’s just …’
His mother kept talking. ‘I just stood there. What could I say? Thank goodness it was raining. In the end I rushed away, pretending I was cold. How could you, Johnny? How could you lie like that?’ She didn’t wait for an explanation, but carried on. ‘Do you think for one minute that I would have stayed in this town if I’d had family somewhere else? Do you think I would have let old Mr Bennett put me in this cheap house if I’d had relatives to help me pay my own way properly? Oh, I wish I’d had a sister – or anyone to help me out when your dad was gone. Now everyone will think I was turned out by my own family. They’ll think you’re a …’ She paused and wiped some spittle from her mouth. ‘They’ll think I had you without being married at all. They’ll think that’s why I’m on my own.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Johnny weakly. ‘I was trying to help.’
‘Help? How does it help to invent an extra person? What were you trying to do? Did you make up this story to get Hutch to give you all that food you’ve been bringing home from the shop?’
‘No!’ Johnny was outraged at the idea that he’d been begging for charity. ‘Not that. Hutch hasn’t …’ He was about to tell her that he’d been buying the extra food. But then he realized that would mean revealing another lie – about the adverts and the money he’d been making. Instead, he tried to explain how the myth of Ada had come about. ‘It just got out of hand. I needed a postal order—’
‘A postal order? What would you need a postal order for?’
How could Johnny explain it all? How could he tell her about sending off for the Secret of Instant Height? About stealing from the Peace Mug? About telling Hutch that the money was for Auntie Ada’s ticket to visit them? How could he account for all the other postal orders, or admit that, for more than three months, he had been placing trick advertisements in newspapers all over the country?
His mother kept on at him. ‘What does a postal order have to do with this “Auntie Ada”?’
‘It’s just … It’s just … It’s just I said to Hutch that we needed to send her some money, so she could get a train and come to stay, because she was ill. And stamps for the letter. He wouldn’t have opened the post office specially if it was just for me.’
‘Opened up specially? What on earth did you need the post office for anyway? You’re a child, Johnny! Children don’t need postal orders and stamps. What were you up to?’
Johnny decided to tell part of the truth. ‘I needed to place an advertisement,’ he said.
‘A what? You? You needed to place an advertisement?’
‘A personal message. I’ve seen them in the papers. It’s how people get in touch with each other when they don’t have an address.’
‘But why would you want to send a personal message?’ She changed her voice to make ‘personal message’ sound la-di-dah.
‘To find the Langfords,’ said Johnny. ‘I asked them to contact us. Langford. Contact Swanson. Worried. It cost me a shilling.’
‘A shilling of your own money?’
Johnny, his heart pounding with guilt, stood still, staring at his feet, letting her believe it was.
‘And you told Hutch it was for this auntie – this Ada?’
‘Yes,’ muttered Johnny, still not looking up.
Winnie thumped the table. ‘Well, you shouldn’t have. You mustn’t tell lies, Johnny. I’ve always told you that. It only leads to trouble.’ She was still cross, but she was calming down. ‘First thing tomorrow you’re going to put this right. You’re going to tell Hutch what you’ve done, and you’re going to apologize. Do you understand?’
Johnny sniffed. ‘Yes,’ he said, though he had no idea how he would find the words to untangle everything. ‘I was only trying to help. I thought if the Langfords came back you could get your wages and have your job with them again. I’m sorry.’
Winnie picked up the knife and fork she had set on the table for