The Father's House Read Free

reached the little lane that led between the houses to South Hill, she turned and looked back. Number 3 Mortimor Road glared at her from the other side of the common, and she pulled a face at it. She was glad she was here and not there.
    Nearly three doors down South Hill, temptation raised its serpent’s head again. Two temptations already this morning, and she’d only left the house a quarter of an hour ago. The Magnifico must be testing her. This time it was the lollipop lady – a delightfully smiling lollipop lady – surrounded by children and mothers and two or three teenagers. They mingled together as though they belonged. There must be something very comfortable about belonging. It surely couldn’t do any harm to go over at the zebra crossing instead of at the lights down by the Underground station. The lollipop lady stepped out into the middle of the road and held up her hand. All traffic stopped. What an amazing feeling it must be to have such power, just one little woman against all the buses and taxis and cars of London!
    As Lucy approached the crossing, her joy in her newly found freedom was replaced by an overwhelming shyness. These strangers knew each other and chatted together. They would stare at her and wonder why she had pushed herself among them. She knew that they were to be pitied, for they were doomed to suffer the fire of the melting flesh. Even so, she longed to be among them – as long as she didn’t have to actually touch them. Luckily the thought of the fire reminded her that she too would suffer that fate if she built up a record of too many sins, and she pulled back.
    The lollipop lady called out, “Come on, love, or you’ll miss your chance.” She didn’t reply because she had been told not to speak to anyone and that kind strangers were up to no good, but as she shook her head she couldn’t help smiling back.
    At that moment she was knocked sideways as a boy shot out of the gate of number 38 South Hill and took a flying leap, landing on the zebra crossing with both feet.
    Lucy was mortified. She had been touched, no – actually shoved aside – by a non-follower. What if the taint, the corruption, was catching? She felt dirty.
    â€œGeorge! What do you think you’re doing?” A woman with a pushchair emerged from the gateway at number 38. “Don’t be so rude!”
    â€œSorry!” shouted George from the middle of the zebra crossing, tossing his ginger curls and giving Lucy a cheerful wave.
    â€œI do apologise, love,” said the woman. “He’s so rough sometimes. He’s got too much energy for his own good – and for everyone else’s good too.”
    Lucy was surprised. Never in her life had anyone apologised to her. She had always thought it was something children did to grown-ups. She felt embarrassed, so she just smiled and nodded. Perhaps the incident had been a warning to her from the Magnifico for having been tempted. Thank goodness she hadn’t succumbed. She made her way down the rest of the hill towards the tube station and waited patiently for the lights to change so she could cross. Children and aunts from the Drax and Copse communes were still coming down the High Street to her right, so she wasn’t late. There, on the other side of the road, just a few yards up, stood her school, tall and wide, red and glowering. Apart from a number 10 next to the door frame there was nothing to distinguish it from the other big houses on that side of the road. The Magnifico’s school was anonymous.
    Children were climbing the steps to the door as Lucy approached. Some of the aunts were turning away having fulfilled their escort duties and enjoyed their morning chats. For the first time Lucy started to wonder why Aunt Sarah was going to be too busy to bring her ever again. It must be something momentous because, as the two temptations had demonstrated, the risk of being influenced by the vice