The Ashton Road Gang Chapter 5. May Part 2.

For the next ten days we saw nothing of Mrs. Blaggard. I overheard Mum and Stew’s mother talking about how bad tempered the old woman was becoming. "It’s probably because the lads don’t go anywhere near her house any more, she’s got nothing to complain about," said Stew’s Mum.

The following day we were playing cricket on Andy’s Bank when Mrs. Blaggard came marching across the middle. We had rules for this situation. You could not be out to any bowl while she was on the Bank. Usually, we just stood still until she had gone out of sight. She snarled at me as she went past. I kept my face straight and did not listen. The last time I told my Mum the word Mrs. Blaggard used I had to wash my mouth out with soap. The game did not restart as we waited for her to return from the corner shop.

There was quite a step down from the pavement on to the Bank.

Mrs Blaggard came round the corner and stepped down. She then appeared to just sit down on the edge of the pavement. We waited for her to get up and go. When she stayed where she was, I was a bit puzzled and not certain what to do. We cautiously approached her.

"Are you all right missus?" asked Simon nervously.

"I can’t stand up," she replied. "Give us a hand."

She was too heavy for us and she could not help herself and was obviously in pain.

"I’ll go and get my Dad, he’ll know what to do." I said.

I knew there was something wrong, she had not sworn at us once. When I returned with my father, quite a little crowd had gathered. An Ambulance was called and Mrs. Blaggard went off in it, on a stretcher. We shrugged and went back to our game.

Next morning my Dad came back from the Newsagents and told me. "Mrs. Blaggard has broken her hip."

"You don’t break your hip just sitting down like that," I protested.

"When you get older your bones break more easily," explained Dad.

The next news we had of Mrs. Blaggard was when my Mum told Mary and me that the old lady had caught pneumonia. She died a few days later.

Her daughter came to sell up the house. She came up to the Bank where we were playing. "Are you the lads who tried to help Mrs. Blaggard?" She asked.

We nodded.

"I just wanted to say thank-you," she said and then she knocked us flat with, "Mother was very fond of you lot you know. She was always telling us of the daft tricks you got up to. They made her laugh."

"But she was always moaning at us," protested Stew.

"Oh aye," said her daughter, "She liked a good moan. That’s probably why she liked you."

That was beyond me.

"Anyway," she went on, "Before she died, she asked me to give you all something for trying to help her," and with that she gave us all half-a-crown each.

We were all absolutely flabbergasted. We just about managed to express our gratitude.

After she had gone Bob summed up our feelings exactly. "I’ll never understand grown-ups, as long as I live!"