Читать книгу That Stranger Next Door - Goldie Alexander - Страница 6

Ruth

All weekend I kept an eye on next door. But when the blinds remained drawn and no one came out, I wondered if the woman might have left.

But why move into a flat and then not live in it?

It was all very mysterious.

Sunday afternoons, once a month, Mamma always visited Mrs King. She didn't get home until well after five, and she looked exhausted.

I asked, 'Why go when you don't enjoy it?'

'Our family owes our being here to her husband,' she replied slowly, hanging her coat on the hallstand. 'Without his guarantee, we would have been sent back to certain death.'

'But aren't her politics different from ours?'

Mamma turned and said ruefully, 'They certainly are. She went on and on how the Russians and the Chinese are all wicked and that's why our boys are fighting in Korea now, and how our unions are all run by communists.'

'Is that true?'

'Not at all.' Mamma's face turned fierce. 'Some unions are dominated by Irish Catholic members. Lots of people get socialism and communism confused.

'You know Ruth, after living through two world wars and the Depression, I believe unions are there to look after poor people and workers.'

She would have said more, lots more, only my grandfather came into the hall wanting his glass of tea. Zeida sipped it Russian style, weak and black. If I didn't make it exactly right, he'd accuse me of being lazy. I wasn't lazy, just sick of running errands for him when he never, ever, thanked me.

I thought about telling him to get it himself but then he'd hold it against me for months, if not years. So I filled the strainer with leaves and poured boiling water through them into a glass and handed him the jar of sugar cubes. Of course he knew what I was thinking, but for once I didn't get ticked off.

Then I took my book onto the back landing where I could watch who came in and out.

A blind shot up. I saw a woman- no, two women. One was tall and thin. I recognised her as the woman who left in the car with those two men. The other was about my height, five-six, full bodied with light brown hair worn flat on her head, curling around her ears. She wore a white blouse and a grey suit buttoned up in front.

Then a little wind sprang up. I heard snatches of conversation but they weren't speaking English. One phrase leapt out from the others, however: Sah-dee-tsah.

Because Mamma and Papa often spoke Russian when they didn't want me to understand, I knew this meant 'please sit down'.

So that stranger next door was Russian.

Who was she?