Tom All Alone 16 (i)

As time went on, Tom began to feel more settled at school. He got to know a few of the other children in class, but Barry was still his main friend. Another boy called Colin started joining them at playtime. He was from another class, but didn't have any friends. Then there was an Indian boy called Sanjay, who had started school later than the others because his family had just moved there from somewhere else. He had goofy teeth and wore glasses a bit like Barry's.

"Where did you live before, Sanjay?" Tom asked him.

"In Edmonton."

"Where's that?"

"It's in north London. It's a long way from here."

"Why did you move?"

"Because my dad changed his job."

"What does your dad do?"

"He's a car mechanic. He fixes cars when they go wrong."

"He must be clever, then."

"Yes, he is."

"Has he got a car?"

"Yes. He's got a Vauxhall Viva HA De Luxe Eleven-Hundred."

Their mouths dropped open.

"Is it fast?" Barry asked

"Yes. It's got a fifty-four horsepower engine and my dad said it can go to a hundred miles an hour. He can't do that, though, 'cos it's against the law."

Tom had no idea what any of that meant. He imagined fifty-four little horses under the bonnet.

"What colour is it?"

"Blue. It's brand new, too. He only bought it last week."

They were all impressed by this. Barry's dad didn't have a car. Nor did Colin's dad - although Colin said his dad wasn't there anyway. He lived with him mum and sister, and his mum couldn't drive a car.

Tom used to wonder about it. He noticed that more and more people in the road had cars now. Even Patrick's dad had got a small car. It was called a Ford Anglia and it had sharp edges at the back, where the indicators were, a bit like on the Batmobile.

"Why can't we have a car, mum?"

"Because cars cost a lot of money. There are more important things."

"But other people have got cars."

"That's because they can afford them. We can't. That's why we use buses and trains."

"Why can't we afford one?"

"I just said. Because they cost a lot of money."

"How much?"

"Lots of money. More than we've got."

"But I thought dad changed his job to get more money."

"But we've got other things to spend that on."

"What things?"

"Food. And your clothes and things like that. You wouldn't like it if you didn't have any food, would you."

He thought about that.

"Can we have one one day?"

"Wait and see. Now, stop asking questions about it."

 

One evening, Tom and Russell and nan were sitting watching the telly while mum and dad were talking in the back kitchen. Suddenly there was a huge crash from down there, making them all jump. Even Bobby scampered off under the sideboard. Tom thought mum and dad must be having another argument.

"What the deuce?" nan said, getting up.

She opened the door just as dad came out of the kitchen and clumped down the stairs. They heard him go out the front door.

Nan went down to the kitchen, with Russell and Tom following behind.

"Cath?"

"Don't come in," mum shouted. "There's broken glass everywhere."

They stopped outside the door and looked in. The kitchen floor was covered in glass shards. Mum was standing by the window, looking out. Tom saw then that one of the window panes was smashed. Nan gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

"What's happened now?"

"Someone threw a stone through the window," mum said. "Dan was sitting there and it just missed his head. He's gone to try and catch 'em."

Tom saw the stone on the lino now. It was as big as one of his toy cars. It looked like it had something chalked on it. He wanted to see, but mum picked it up and kept it in her hand.

"Blessed hooligans!" nan hissed. "Did you see who it was?"

"No. He thought he saw someone running over by the flats."

Nan got the broom out of the kitchen cupboard.

"You boys get back upstairs," she said. "Don't want you cutting your feet open"

Mum started to sob.

 

Dad didn't catch whoever it was. When he came back, he cut up a piece of cardboard and taped it in the window frame, covering the hole.

That night, when mum was putting Tom to bed, he asked her about it.

"Why did someone smash the window, mum?"

"It was just some vandals, that's all. They've got nothing better to do."

"But why?"

"I don't know why. They just like to make trouble."

She smoothed his hair out of his face as he laid down.

"Don't worry about it. Just get to sleep. God bless."

"God bless," he said.

When she had gone, he lay in the semi-darkness looking up at the window, wondering if the vandals might come back and smash that, too. He felt worried about it now. Their house had always been safe. But now people were throwing stones at it and breaking the windows.

Later, when Russell came to bed, he roused up.

"Why did someone throw a stone through the window, Russell?"

"I don't know, do I."

"Mum said it just missed dad. Do you think they were trying to hit dad?"

"Why would they do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe they don't like him."

"Don't be stupid."

"It's not stupid. You don't throw stones at people if you like them."

"Perhaps he upset someone, then. Just go to sleep.

He closed his eyes again. It was darker now. Soon, he thought, the pub would be closing and he'd hear the noises in the street.

Had dad upset someone, like Russell said? Maybe that's why he was in a funny mood sometimes. Maybe that's why mum and dad were arguing a lot.

 

Next morning as he ate his breakfast, Tom sat looking at the square of cardboard in the window. The room was duller where it blocked the light, and he couldn't see out to the road at the back. He liked to watch the people walking along the back road. Like the man over the flats who went out on crutches because he only had one leg. He used to walk up and around the corner by the Half Moon, then come back a few minutes later with a newpaper under his arm and a cigarette in his mouth. Tom always knew he was coming because he could hear the tap - tap - tap of his crutches on the pavement. He always made Tom think of Long John Silver, even though he didn't look like a pirate. He wondered why he didn't get a wooden leg, like Long John Silver. He wondered if the man always had to buy a pair of shoes and a pair of socks, and if so what he did with the ones he didn't need. And then the dustmen when they came - how they laid a plate down on the step there so that they could roll the big round bins from the flats over it to the lorry. He loved watching the forks on the lorry hook the bins and lift them, then tip them up so all the rubbish could fall into the back. Now, though, he couldn't see anything. The cardboard blocked it all.

Mum was sitting at the table with a cup of tea - holding it between her hands and taking small sips because it was hot. The steam from it rose into her eyes as she looked at the cardboard, too.

"When are we going to get a new window, mum?"

"I don't know. When we can find some glass to go in it."

"When will that be?"

"Soon. When we've got the money."

"Do windows cost a lot of money?"

She put her cup down on the saucer and looked at him.

"Yes, they do."

"Do they cost as much as cars?"

She stared at him, shaking her head. He looked for her smile, but it wasn't there.

"Just eat your breakfast, Tom."

(continued)  https://www.abctales.com/story/harryc/tom-all-alone-16-ii