The Grace Girls Read Free Page A

daughter of Mona and Pat Grace – Fintan’s brother – and the only girl after four boys.
    ‘Hopefully it’s not about the flamin’ dog-house again,’ Fintan said under his breath.
    ‘Shhh . . .’ Sophie hissed. ‘Don’t let her hear you.’
    There was a slight tap on the kitchen door and, unrehearsed, all four chorused in unison, ‘Come in!’
    ‘It’s only me and Whiskey,’ a high-pitched voice soun ded as the door slowly opened, and the small, grinning face appeared wrapped in a knitted red pixie-hat with what looked like two little ears at the corners. She wore a green duffle coat and red gloves that matched the hat. ‘I came round to see if ye wanted any messages or if ye had any empty ginger bottles ye wanted taking to the shop?’
    ‘It’s too dark for you to be out,’ Fintan told his niece. ‘Does your mother know you’re out of the house?’ He finished the last few forkfuls of his meal now.
    ‘Did ye not notice?’ Lily said, grinning broadly and ignoring his question. She stepped into the kitchen now, still holding on to the dog lead. She pushed the door to, leaving a small space for the lead to run through but not enough room to allow the dog to squeeze inside the house. She tapped the top of her pixie. ‘It’s snowin’!’
    ‘Is it?’ Heather said, getting to her feet to look out of the window. ‘I can’t see anything.’
    ‘Och, it’s just a wee flurry,’ Lily said, her eyes dancing, ‘but it’s definitely snowin’. You can see it on our garden at the front.’
    ‘A wee flurry ?’ Kirsty said, imitating her young cousin. She loved teasing her, although it was always done in a good-natured way that the little girl enjoyed. ‘That’s a very posh word. Where did ye get that one from?’
    ‘Out of a book,’ Lily stated, her eyebrows shooting up. ‘Where d’you think?’
    Her gaze now shifted over to the corner where Sophie kept the empty bottles. She grinned. There were two: an Irn Bru and an American Cream Soda bottle.
    ‘I still don’t think you should be out at this time of night,’ Fintan repeated. ‘Who let you out?’
    ‘Och, I just said I was taking the dog for a wee walk to the corner,’ the little girl said, folding her arms now. She shook her red pixie head like a wise old woman. ‘Dogs need walkin’ two or three times a day – and there’s not a single person in that house who would bother takin’ him out, if it wasn’t for me. Them lads are absolutely useless – especially our Patrick. My mammy’s always tellin’ him that he’s nothing but a lazy bizzim.’
    ‘Was your mother in?’ Sophie cut in, not wishing to encourage the girl to be telling tales from home.
    ‘At the chapel,’ she said, her eyes sliding back to the bottles that she would get threepence each on. ‘There’s a funeral on in the morning – that crabbit old fella that goes into the library – and she needed to go and sort the flowers into the vases.’
    ‘I knew damn fine she wasn’t in,’ Fintan said, smiling and raising his eyebrows. ‘She wouldn’t let you out on your own in the dark, especially on a school night. It’s your bed you should be heading off to, never mind gallivanting around the streets.’
    ‘Och, it’s perfectly safe, and I’m not a bit tired,’ Lily said, waving a small gloved hand dismissively. ‘Anyway, I know every single person around this place and they all know me.’
    ‘Come on,’ Fintan said resignedly, pushing his plate away and standing up, ‘I’ll walk the pair of ye around to the shop and then back home. I could do with a packet of Woodbines.’
    ‘Will you carry the bottles?’ Lily asked, grinning with delight. She stretched her red gloves further up her wrists and pulled the sleeves of her coat down over them.
    ‘Do you think I came up the Clyde on a banana skin?’ her uncle said, his brows deepening in a mock-serious frown.
    Lily went into peals of laughter as she always did when her uncle teased her.
    ‘What about your