Missing Person (38 page)

Boots poured himself a beer on arrival home and took it into the garden to stand and muse. Rosie, learning from Emily how the vote had gone, came out to stand beside him.

‘Daddy, you lost,’ she said, and felt upset for him.

‘It’s not fatal, poppet.’

‘But you’re disappointed, aren’t you?’

‘I don’t think so. Life’s not always about winning, Rosie. You have to lose sometimes. If you didn’t, if you always won, you’d begin to think you were God. And what would that do for you? Make you think you could never be bowled out at cricket. And what would happen if your own daughter did bowl you out? Thunder and lightning.’

Rosie laughed. Looking at him she thought he seemed at peace with everything, that he wasn’t even thinking about the argument he’d lost with Uncle Sammy, that his mind was on something else.

‘Penny for them, please, Daddy.’

‘Is it worth double a penny, Rosie, to let you know I think myself a very favoured bloke in my family, my friends and everything else I have?’

‘Bless you, Daddy, you’re the best ever.’

‘Well, bless you too, poppet,’ said Boots, ‘and you owe me tuppence for my thoughts.’

‘Oh, do I, Daddy?’ said Rosie.

‘I’ll settle for a penny,’ said Boots.

‘Crikey,’ said Rosie, ‘now we’ve both made a profit again.’

Sunday afternoon.

‘Freddy, Freddy?’ Cassie, having made use of the latchcord, danced into the Brown family’s house. ‘You there, Freddy?’

‘Unfortunately, yes,’ said Freddy.

Into the kitchen danced Cassie, beaming and alive.

‘Freddy, what d’you think? I know now why Cecil ’asn’t ever said much. It’s because he was broody.’

‘Broody?’

‘Yes,’ said Cassie in delight, ‘he’s just laid an egg.’

Collapse of Freddy.

Mary Jane Staples
was born, bred and educated in Walworth, and is the author of many bestselling novels, including the ever-popular cockney sagas featuring the Adams family.

Down Lambeth Way

Our Emily

King of Camberwell

On Mother Brown's Doorstep

A Family Affair

Pride of Walworth

Echoes of Yesterday

The Young Ones

The Camberwell Raid

The Last Summer

The Family at War

Fire Over London

Churchill's People

Bright Day, Dark Night

Tomorrow is Another Day

The Way Ahead

Year of Victory

The Homecoming

Sons and Daughters

Appointment at the Palace

Changing Times

Spreading Wings

Family Fortunes

A Girl Next Door

Ups and Downs

Out of the Shadows

A Sign of the Times

The Soldier's Girl

 

Two for Three Farthings

The Lodger

Rising Summer

The Pearly Queen

Sergeant Joe

The Trap

The Ghost of Whitechapel

Escape to London

The Price of Freedom

A Wartime Marriage

Katernia's Secret

The Summer Day is Done

The Longest Winter

Natasha's Dream

Nurse Anna's War

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MISSING PERSON
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552142304
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9780552163699

First publication in Great Britain

PRINTING HISTORY
Corgi edition published 1994

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Copyright © Mary Jane Staples 1994

The right of Mary Jane Staples to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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