Abomination Read Free Page A

wide-brimmed hat, and the woman was in a shapeless brown thing they’d be ashamed to hang in a charity shop. She wore a beat-up old hat that looked like a rat had crawled on to her head and died. Martha was in brown too, walking between her folks with her head down. If my parents looked like that, I’d walk with my head down. I waved as we zoomed past, but I know she didn’t see me because I asked her, Monday morning.
    Well, I felt sorry for her. Plus I wanted to know where she’d been off to at five o’clock Sunday afternoon. It was just before the nine o’clock buzzer. She was standing by herself as usual, near the staffroom window. I drifted over there, trying to make it look accidental. I’d nothing against her myself but I didn’t want it to look like I was seeking her company.
    ‘Hi.’
    ‘Oh . . . hello, Scott.’ She blushed. First time I’d seen her in colour.
    ‘Didn’t see me yesterday, did you?’
    ‘Yesterday? Where?’
    ‘Wentworth Road. Teatime. You were walking down. We drove past.’
    ‘Oh.’ She shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t see you.’
    ‘I waved.’
    ‘Did you? Thanks, but I’m afraid I didn’t notice.’
    ‘You don’t have to thank me; it was just a wave. Were those your folks?’
    ‘Yes. Mother and Father. We were on our way to church.’
    ‘Ah-ha. Which church is that, then?’
    ‘You won’t know it. It’s the Church of the Righteous on Hustler Street, but it doesn’t look like a church. No spire or anything.’
    ‘Right. What happens there – anything good?’
    ‘I . . . don’t know what you mean. It’s a church. You know what happens at church.’
    ‘No, I don’t. I’ve never been. I suppose it’s kind of like a school assembly, isn’t it?’
    ‘Well, it’s a bit more . . . serious than that. And longer.’
    ‘But you see friends there?’
    She shrugged. ‘Sort of. They don’t bother with me much because I’m not allowed to invite anybody home.’
    ‘Why’s that?’
    ‘Because . . . my father says so.’
    ‘Do you always do what your father tells you?’
    ‘Well, yes – don’t you ?’
    ‘Not always. Have you brothers, Martha? Or sisters?’
    ‘No, there’s only me.’ She frowned. ‘Why are you asking me all these questions, Scott?’
    ‘Oh, I was wondering, that’s all. I’ll see you later, OK?’
    I’d stood with her longer than I’d meant to. I moved on and she called after me, ‘Yes, Scott. Later.’ I didn’t look back.

9. Martha
     
    ‘You’re looking happy, Martha. Have you had a good day at school?’
    ‘Yes, Father.’ It’s half past six. We’re eating dinner. It’s liver but for once I don’t mind.
    ‘Did you win a House Point?’ asks Mother. ‘No.’
    ‘Then what?’
    ‘The new boy. Scott. He talked to me. Asked me things.’
    ‘What sort of things, Martha?’ Father’s tone is sharp.
    ‘Oh – things about me. He saw us yesterday in Wentworth Road and waved. I didn’t see him.’
    ‘What did he ask you, child?’
    ‘I don’t remember exactly. If you were my folks. Where we were going. If I had sisters or brothers.’
    ‘And how did you answer that?’
    ‘I said there was only me.’
    ‘Good. Now listen to me, Martha.’ He sets down his knife and fork. He’s about to spoil it all. I know he is. ‘To have a friend is a pleasant thing. Mother and I want you to have lots of friends, but you must understand that we of the Righteous are different from other people – so different that they often find us strange. If you let yourself become too fond of this boy, you will be badly hurt when he finds he can’t relate to your way of life and drops you.’
    A lump comes to my throat. Does my father think I’m not badly hurt already? Can’t he see I just want to be like everybody else? I shake my head. ‘I’m not fond of him, Father. He talked to me, that’s all. Please say I can be his friend if he’ll let me.’
    He sighs, shaking his head. ‘I’m only trying to shield you from unhappiness,