UPEARLY 1957

A GIRL IN LONDON IN 1957 IS ANXIOUS IN THE SILENT EARLY MORNING

Enid wakes up
to a sun lit window
and silence
no raised voices

no screams
no slaps of hand
on flesh or thumps
she sits up

and listens carefully
still silence
she creeps out of bed
and walks to the door

and waits nervously
in case her father
pushes open the door
and catches her there

and says something cruel
but she opens the door
and there's no one there
the passageway is

still and quiet
she walks along
the passageway on tiptoe
to the toilet

and goes in
and locks the door
and sits down
never been this quiet

she muses wondering
if her parents have left
her behind and gone off
on the holiday her dad

had spoken about
the day before
or maybe he's murdered
her mother in one

of his dark moods
and has done a bunk
as Benny says
she sits anxiously

the bruises on her thigh
have almost gone
she looks and sees
she gets up

and unlocks the door
and peeps into the passageway
and waits
nothing just silence

she walks into the kitchen/ bathroom
and washes her hands and face
in the sink with cold water
and the red bar of soap

and dries herself
on the towel
behind the door
still no one comes

she gets a glass
from the cupboard
and a cereal bowl
and pours some Corn Flakes

into the bowl and puts in milk
and water in the glass
from the tap and goes
with them both into

the sitting room
and sits at the table
by the window
she eats and looks

out the window
the coal trucks
and horse drawn wagons
in the coal wharf

are being filled up
by coal men
she listens for voices or sounds
nothing

have they left me behind?
she muses
looking back into the room
or is mum laying dead

in her bedroom
and her dad gone?
she thinks eating
the Corn Flakes

Benny would go
and knock on the door
and say something
but she's too nervous

in case her dad belts her
for going into the room
as he did a few times
in the past

she sips from the glass
and swallows the water
then there's a sound
of a door opening

and footsteps
she cringes and stares
at the doorway
her mother pokes her head in

and says
I thought I heard you
moving about
you all right?

her mother says
yes I got some breakfast
Enid says
are you all right?

she asks her mum
yes I'm all right
her mother says
and walks off

along the passageway
and Enid hears
the toilet door lock
and a voice

singing softly
in the air
and all Enid can do
is sit and stare.