Page 10 of Kiss Me at Christmas
“They are well scary!” Isabel was defensive.
“If you’re five,” said Billy.
“I think Leo’s right,” Harriet joined in. “If you try to imagine you’ve never heard of Scrooge before and then read it with fresh eyes like the people did in 1843, it would have been frightening. I wonder how many people that Christmas felt a bit nervous after reading it, how many unquestioningly supported the idea of workhouses thinking it would never happen to them. I like to imagine it made a few people change their ideas.”
“That’s because you’re an optimist, miss,” said Ricco.
“Did you know Dickens was sent to work in a workhouse as a twelve-year-old boy?”
“You are really geeking out, aren’t you?” Carly said, but Harriet only grinned and continued.
“But doesn’t that make you admire him even more? His dad went to debtor’s prison, and Charles had to work ten hours a day to try and pay off the family’s debts. How old is Sid, Billy?”
“Ten,” Billy replied.
“Almost the same age as Dickens was. Can you imagine Sid working ten-hour days in a factory?” she asked.
Billy picked at a loose thread on his jeans. “Sid can barely put his own socks on. He’d be a liability.”
“Precisely. Because he’s a child, he has no business being forced to work in a dingy, overcrowded factory. Dickens wanted to shake people up, make them see the wrongness of what was going on right under their noses. He was an activist, and this book was his banner.”
Isabel had been playing with the badges showcasingvarious causes that were pinned to her jacket, but now she perked up.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Maybe if Cornell told us this stuff, we’d be more interested in going to his classes,” added Ricco.
“You could find this stuff out for yourselves; it’s called independent learning. It’s what you’re supposed to be doing for your Extended Project Qualification.”
This received groans.
“Why don’t you become a teacher if you like this stuff so much?” asked Billy.
“Because someone has to keep you lot on the straight and narrow.”
These were bright kids, but poverty—which in Harriet’s opinion was the tenth circle of hell—was like a boulder dropped into water from a great height, the ripples of which reached down through generations. Once you were in it, it was a near impossible cycle to break, and the world was smaller for them than it was for other kids their age.
She thought about Maisy and her extended exchange trip. How, before she’d gone out and got drunk last night, she’d called Pete and they’d pooled their money to send extra funds out to their daughter to see her through the holidays. Harriet had never been rich, and, on her salary, she wasn’t likely to be, but God willing, Maisy would never experience the kind of hardships faced by the famous five.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” said Carly, who was as self-sufficient as she was self-destructive. What that girl didn’t know about bad choices wasn’t worth knowing.
“No, you don’t. But I do have a duty of care toward you, making sure you are safe and helping you to get themost out of school. Neither of which are possible when you’re hiding out in an abandoned theater. And on that note, it’s time to come back to campus.”
The famous five mumbled and grumbled but began to retrieve their bags all the same.
The double doors at the back of the theater slammed open with a smack and everyone jumped and turned toward the noise. Two police officers stood in the doorway.
Oh, bugger!
“We’ve received a complaint that there are trespassers on this property. Can I ask you all to accompany my colleague and me down to the station, please,” said the taller of the two.
Harriet pushed her shoulders back and addressed the officer. “Hello, Officer, we were just leaving, as I think you can probably see. Is it really necessary to take us to the station? I promise we won’t come back.”
“I’m afraid that’s not up to me, Ms…. ?”
“Smith.”
“It’s out of our hands, Ms. Smith. There has been a complaint, and the owner of the building has asked that steps be taken.”
