The Girls from See Saw Lane Read Free Page A

away and started to flick through the bargain records in the rack by the counter. He didn’t seem in the least bit interested in the conversation. Ralph might have changed but Elton was exactly the same; arrogant and kind of pompous.
    Mary must have given up on me. She came over to stand by us. She squeezed in between me and Elton and gazed up at him like a lovesick puppy. He didn’t take a blind bit of notice of her; he just continued looking through the records.
    I didn’t know what else to say and I was beginning to feel a bit stupid just standing there.
    â€˜Aren’t you going to get a record?’ Elton asked Ralph.
    â€˜In a minute,’ Ralph answered. There was a red rash creeping up from the collar of his shirt and making its way up his neck. Suddenly he blurted out: ‘Fancy a coffee?’
    â€˜There’s a good cafe opposite the Palace Pier,’ said Mary. She was speaking very fast and in a very high voice, and her smile was nearly splitting her face. ‘It’s called Dells . They’ve got a jukebox and a football table.’
    â€˜And they do really good coffees,’ I said. I needed a drink. My mouth felt like the bottom of a baby’s pram, all fluff and biscuits.
    â€˜Great,’ said Ralph. He glanced at Elton, who was still ignoring us. ‘Why don’t we meet you there in about twenty minutes? That all right with you, Elton?’
    Elton looked at me and Mary as if he’d only just noticed us. ‘Don’t mind,’ he said, in a bored sort of voice.
    Beside me I could sense Mary nearly fainting with excitement.
    â€˜That’s settled then,’ said Ralph. ‘See you in twenty minutes.’
    Me and Mary paid for our records and the hip boy put them in paper bags and passed them back to us, and all the time I was really conscious of Ralph watching, and it was strange, because it was only old Ralph Bennett. It wasn’t like he was somebody new and yet, in a strange sort of way, it was. I was quite relieved when Mary and I went out of the shop and headed to the cafe.

Mary’s Diary
    Dear Diary,
    Me and Dottie could have gone to the record shop any day but we went today. I call that fate it was definitely meant to be. I have been waiting for this moment all my life
    Oh Elton, Elton, Elton
    Mary Pickles
    loves
    Elton Briggs
    She really does!!!!!
    Love Mary Pickles
    Aged seventeen.

M e and Mary hadn’t seen Elton and Ralph since we’d left school two years ago and now here they were in our record shop.
    â€˜I think I’m going to faint,’ said Mary, going all dramatic.
    â€˜Well, don’t faint all over me,’ I said.
    â€˜Did you see the way he looked at me?’
    â€˜I did actually. He looked at you as if you’d just crawled out from under the same log that I’d crawled out from.’
    â€˜Elton always looks like that, he’s just really cool.’
    â€˜Positively arctic,’ I said.
    â€˜Dottie, this is really important to me. This could be the most important day of my life.’
    I smiled. ‘Yes, I suppose it could.’
    â€˜I want to run.’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜I want to run and run and run.’
    â€˜Couldn’t we just walk fast?’
    â€˜Oh you, Dottie Perks.’
    â€˜Oh you, Mary Pickles.’
    â€˜I’ve never forgotten Elton, you know.’
    â€˜Well I can see that now, but I kind of hoped you had. You haven’t exactly gone on about him since we left school.’
    â€˜That’s because I knew you didn’t like him.’
    â€˜I don’t know him. All I know is that he was always upsetting you.’
    â€˜That’s part of being in love, Dottie. You always hurt the one you love.’
    â€˜Is that a fact?’
    â€˜Well, that’s what Clarence Frogmore Henry said.’
    â€˜Who the heck’s Clarence Frogmore Henry?’
    â€˜He’s the bloke that sang the song.’
    â€˜Well, I don’t