MORNING SERIAL
THE moment was broken by the young matron from the boys’ block, just entering, who said that it was dreadful for the little girl, she was sure she had been bullied, which was horrible, and nothing to do with Jews. All the new ones were bullied, stripped and doused in cold baths, dive-bombed in their sleep, their undergarments thrown out of the window and their tuck taken. Children could be so cruel and also sly, making it hard to intervene.
‘She is no doubt hiding somewhere and will be found,’ prophesied Mrs Meier. ‘And a great fuss made of her. Quite rightly, Mr Quantz, for don’t we read in the Bible of the prodigal son?’
‘Pardon my obtuseness,’ said Michael. ‘But in what respect has this child been prodigal?’
‘Well, obviously, in dirtiness. Pigsty behaviour. There you are, all ready for ironing.’ She folded the pink-checked gingham dress with punctilious attention to alignment of sleeves and waistband, and laid it beside her, patting it, smiling lugubriously at Michael. ‘I must now go and inspect the girls’ beds and lockers, it is time, and I always do my duty to the best of my ability, on which Mr Patterson has been good enough to congratulate me, not that as a Christian one should boast. I merely mention it to reassure you, Mr Quantz, of my correctness in all things to do with my profession. In case you had any doubts, and I make no distinction between Protestant or Catholic,
Gentile or Jew, or even, if there were any niggers here, niggers and white men, just to set your mind at rest. I am widowed and alone in the world. The Poles have my house and estates. The Russians have killed my husband and sons. But duty,’ she asserted, standing tall on her high heels, ‘duty is my all.’
It was an old stale tune. Its singsong came out from behind the stricken, stupid eyes like peepholes in her baggy face, with an odd edge, so that Michael seemed to see the child in the woman, learning by rote a rubric devised to serve in place of knowledge.
> The Element of Water by Stevie Davies is published by Parthian in the Library of Wales series www.parthianbooks.com
CONTINUES TOMORROW