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CHAPTER SIX
Summer 1961.
‘That’s what my mum says anyway, ’ the girl said, looking down
from the fork in the sycamore tree. ‘I’m her one and only. I’m
special. ’
‘I can ’t see anything special about you. You’ve got freckles. ’
‘Well they’re special freckles, ’ the girl said, and stuck out her
tongue.
‘They’re not freckles. They’re the black spot, ’ a voice came from
further up in the tree, the speaker hidden by the thick broad-leaved
foliage.
‘They are not spots, ’ the girl slung back.
‘Not spots. The black spot. If you get one of them, you’re dead.
Pirates come and cut you up with cutlasses. ’
‘M y mum says they ’re freckles. They ’re a sign of beauty. ’
‘Beauty? Ha! ’ The boy at the bottom ofthe tree was busily carving
his initials into the dark green, moss-covered bark on the shadow
side ofthe tree. His tongue was sticking out on one side of his mouth
as he worked carefully and intently.
‘Anyway, I’m my mum’s one and only, ’ the boy said as he leaned
back to admire his handiwork. ‘So you’re not the only one. ’
‘Not the only one and only. Hey, that’s poetry. ’ From the fork in
the tree high above, Nicky Ryan held on with both hands, arcing his
body back and forward, making the leaves shimmer and shake.
He let out a yell that was supposed to sound like Johnny
Weismuller, but just sounded like a small boy yelling.
‘Oh stop that racket, ’ Barbara Foster said. She too sat in a fork,
the place where a large, thick bough stuck out almost straight from
the trunk. ‘My dad ’ll hear you. ’
‘Oh, then there ’ll be big trouble. Heap big trouble, ’ Colin
Blackwood said from his base position, still working his Shejfeld
penknife into the bark.
‘I’m not supposed to be just the one, ’ Nicky Ryan said. He was
starting to climb down the tree, moving carefully. ‘I mean, my mum
was supposed to have more. But they died. Before they were born. ’
‘Miscarried, ’ the girl said, knowledgeably. ‘That’s what they call
75

it when a baby dies before it’s born. That’s what my dad says. Mrs
Bell had a miscarriage, and my dad says she should try for another
one as soon as possible. I heard him telling my mum. ’
‘How do you try for another one?’ Colin asked. ‘I thought you
just got them. ’
Barbara started to laugh, a high—pitched peal of tinkly laughter
that almost shook her off her perch.
‘Don’t be so daft. Where do you think they come from?’
‘From heaven, of course. My mum says that’s where all babies
come from, and you get a guardian angel sent down with you to look
after you. ’
Barbara started quaking with laughter again. Up above, Nicky
Ryan called down: ‘What’s so funny?’
‘He thinks babies come from heaven. ’
‘Well, where do you think they come from? Colin called up from
below.
‘Inside your mum ’s belly. That’s where. ’
‘How do they get in there, then?’
‘Your dad puts you in there, stupid. ’
‘Well, where does my dad get me from, smartypants?’
Nicky had reached Barbara ’s forked seat. She rolled her eyes up
in exasperation.
‘It’s sex. They have to do sex. ’
‘What the hell is sex? ’
‘Don’t say hell. 1t’s a bad word, my mum says, ’ Barbara scolded.
‘Sex is like mating. ’
‘What like cows and bulls? ’
‘Something like that. lt’s all in one of my dad ’s books. The man
puts his penis into the woman ’s virginia. ’
‘What’s a penis?’ Colin yelled up from below.
‘What’s a virginia? ’ Nicky said from beside her.
‘Don’t you boys know anything?’
Nicky looked blankly at her. She giggled. ‘It’s your thingy, ’ she
said.
‘My thingy? A virginia?’
‘No, a penis. A woman’s got a virginia. ’
Nicky could feel himself beginning to blush in his ignorance.
‘Why do they call it that?’
‘It’s just a name, stupid. A medical name.’
‘Hey, why ’s it called a penis? ’ Colin shouted up at the top of his
voice.
‘Ssh, ’ Barbara hissed down. ‘M y dad ’ll hear you and I ’ll get called
tn.
76

‘Well, why is it called that?’
‘Because you pee with it, ’ Barbara said briskly.
‘I don’t believe all that, ’ Colin said. ‘M y mum says I come from
heaven. ’
‘Well, I wouldn ’t have been an only child if my mother hadn ’t
whatchyacalled it. ’
‘Miscarried. ’
‘Right. She said they would have been boys. Big brothers. That
would have been great. Huh? No getting duffed up by Fraser
Ballantyne and Charlie Beaton. Great stuff ’
‘Well, we’re all one and onlies, ’ Colin said. ‘The only one and
onlies. ’ His voice broke out of speech into song: ‘Only the lonelies,
the one and the onlies, ’ badly imitating a song that had been in the
charts that summer.
‘Oh shut up Collie,’ Nick said, sliding down the trunk, his
bumpers making little scrape marks on the thin covering of moss.
‘Look. ‘1’ve done my name,’ Colin said proudly, grinning.
‘That’ll be there forever. ’
‘Nah, it’s not deep enough. That’ll grow over. You’ve got to go
right through the bark.’
‘It’s all right. 1’ll betchya a pound it’ll still be here next year. ’ "
‘Right, you ’re on, sucker, ’ Nick licked his thumb and Colin did
the same and they rubbed the spit together, sealing the bet.
‘Hey, do you believe all that?’ Colin asked.
‘All what? ’
‘All that stuff about babies? ’
‘I dunno}
‘Do you think your dad would do that? ’
Nick had never thought about it. He’d heard some of the older
boys talking about that sort of thing, but they called it by another
word. A word worse than hcl], even worse than bloody and that was
a no—pocket-money-for-a-week-my-lad word. In a small town like
Arden, thatsort of thing was only a playground rumour that nobody
knew too much about. Everybody knew about cows and bulls. But
they were animals.
He thought about it for a bit, trying to imagine the mechanics of it,
and thought about the problem of getting it into a virginia, of which
he had only a half·glimpsed impression gleaned from an infant at
school who’d lifted her skirt and dropped her panties and wee’d
behind the tree at the far end ofthe small playground. Nick had done
a double—take when he saw what was missing, and eventually came
to the carefully thought-out conclusion that this was the big
du‘ference.
77

‘No. I don ’t think so. ’
‘Mine neither, ’ Colin said. ‘Especially my mum. Even if she
catches me scratching down there she gives me a clip round the ear. ’
Babs came swinging lightly down from the lowest branch, the one
that was smooth worn from the hands and feet that had been
climbing it all summer and the summer before that. She wiped her
forearm across her snub nose boyishly and grinned at them,
standing at ease in her jeans with the big patch on the knee, her feet
planted wide apart. Her hair was a short-cut, fair tangle, and her
eyes sparkled from their welter of freckles.
‘Well, it’s true. That’s how they do it. Everybody. Just you ask if
you don ’t believe me. ’
‘Not me, ’ Colin said. ‘M y mum would leather me. She doesn ’t like
that kind of talk. ’
‘I ’ve just had a thought, ’ Babs said. ‘There’s only three of us in the
class. ’
‘What’s that got to do with it? ’ Nick asked. He was just a week past
his tenth birthday, small and lightly built, with straight brown hair
that fell in a fringe over his eyes. His jeans were those dark blue
denims that were just miniature replicas of men ’s working jeans,
even down to the ruler pocket on the leg, where Nick kept his own
penknife, even though it took ages to get the thing out once it had
slipped down the long pocket and banged against his knee.
‘I’m not talking about that, silly, ’ Babs said. ‘I mean, only
children, there ’s only the three of us in our class. Everybody else has
brothers and sisters. ’
‘Lucky us, ’ Colin said sincerely. ‘Billy Kerr’s got three big sisters
and they ’re always bossing him about. ’
‘I would have liked big brothers,’ Nick said, with a touch of
wisg‘ulness.
‘Sisters!’ Colin stuck to his theme. ‘Who needs sisters? They’re
just girls. All they want to do is dress up and play with stupid dolls. ’
‘1’m not stupid, stupid, ’ Babs rounded on him, and Colin took a
step back.
‘l didn ’t mean you, Babs, honestly, ’ Colin said earnestly. ‘You’re
not a girl. ’
Nick laughed out loud.
Colin ’s face went red: ‘Well, you are a girl, but you’re not like a
girl. ’
Barbara almost visibly swelled with pride at this.
‘You’re one of us, Babs, ’ Colin assured her.
‘One ofthe one and onlies, ’ Nicky chipped in. ‘The only one and
onlies.’
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‘That’s what we are. Who needs brothers and sisters?’
‘Not me, ’ Colin said, stoutly.
‘Nor me, ’ Nicky said, although he had always wondered what
those missing big brothers — those miscarricd big brothers — would
have been like.
‘And me neither, ’ Barbara concluded, grabbing their hands and
placing them on top of hers.
‘We’re special. ’
. 79