All the houses on the estate looked exactly the same except for the colour of the doors. Some were green and some were blue, ours was blue. We’d only moved here yesterday. Uncle Fred had loaded all our stuff onto a barrow, then Daddy had lifted me and Brenda up on top of the furniture. We’d clung on for dear life as the barrow rumbled through the streets. Our old house was in Carlton Hill and the street was made of cobbles; it was a wonder me and Brenda had any teeth left by the time we got to See Saw Lane. If I’d known about the boy next door, I would have walked and not turned up sitting on top of a chest of drawers.
As we’d turned into See Saw Lane I’d felt a bubble of excitement in my tummy.
‘This is See Saw Lane, Brenda,’ I’d said. ‘This is where we are going to live.’
‘This is a very special day, isn’t it, Maureen?’
I’d put my arm around her shoulder. ‘Very special,’ I’d said, smiling down at her.
There were some kids playing in the street. One of them stuck their tongue out at us as we passed.
‘Charming,’ I’d said.
‘Charming,’ said Brenda.
We’d eventually stopped outside number fifteen. Daddy had helped me and Brenda down off the chest of drawers. We’d stood on the pavement and stared up at the house.
‘It’s very beautiful,’ whispered Brenda. ‘Are we really going to live here, Maureen?’
‘This is our new home,’ I’d said. ‘It belongs to us and we are going to live here forever.’
‘Don’t you want to go inside and explore?’ Daddy had said, lifting bits of furniture down onto the pavement.
‘I’m just putting it into my heart,’ Brenda had said very seriously.
My little sister came out with the strangest things but it was just the way she was and we all loved her for it. ‘Is it in your heart now?’ I’d said gently. ‘Shall we go inside?’
Brenda had nodded and I’d taken her hand in mine. ‘Come on then.’
We’d walked up the path; the blue front door was open and we went inside.
We stood in the little hallway. There were doors leading off it and a staircase in front of us. Brenda’s eyes were like two saucers as she’d gazed around her. ‘It is perfectly beautiful, Maureen,’ she’d said.
‘Yes, it is,’ I’d answered. ‘Perfectly beautiful.’
Daddy and Uncle Fred were struggling through the door with our old brown couch.
‘Is this as far as you’ve got?’ said Daddy, smiling at us.
Brenda had looked up at him. ‘I want to remember everything, Dada,’ she’d said.
‘And you will, my love,’ he’d said. ‘We will all remember this day.’
‘Because it’s special?’ said Brenda.
‘Because it’s special,’ said Daddy.
Uncle Fred had put the couch down with a thump. Sweat was running down his big fat face and he was glaring at us. ‘We’ll be all bloody day at this rate,’ he’d said.
Daddy winked at us. ‘Best get on.’
‘Best had,’ I’d said, grinning at him.
Mum had come into the hallway. ‘Come and see my beautiful kitchen, girls.’
We’d followed her through a door at the end of the hallway. The room we entered was twice the size of the kitchen we’d had in Carlton Hill.
Mum was running her hand lovingly over a shiny new cooker and smiling at us. She looked so happy I thought my heart would burst. My mum deserved a nice big kitchen and a lovely new cooker. I’d suddenly felt like crying and I didn’t know why. Brenda noticed that my eyes were full of tears.
‘It’s the beautifulness of it all, Maureen,’ she’d said very wisely. ‘Beautifulness can make you cry sometimes, don’t you think?’
‘I think you’re right, Brenda,’ I’d said, wiping my eyes.
‘This isn’t a day for crying,’ said Mum. ‘This is a happy day.’
‘Yes, but happiness can take you like that, can’t it?’ said Brenda.
Mum and I had looked at each other and shaken our heads.
She had walked across to Brenda, knelt down in front of her and took her face in her hands. ‘Promise me you’ll never change, my baby girl,’ she’d said.
‘I’ll try not to,’ said Brenda.
Mum had taken her coat from a hook on the wall. ‘Now I have to go to work.’
But I didn’t want her to go to work. I wanted her to stay here in her beautiful kitchen. ‘Do you have to?’
‘I do indeed, otherwise my ladies would have to clean their own houses and that wouldn’t do, would it now?’
‘Why wouldn’t it?’ said Brenda.
‘Because they haven’t got the hands for it.’
‘Do rich ladies have different hands then?’ said Brenda.
Mum had spread her hands out in front of her. ‘I think that they probably do, love.’
‘Imagine that,’ said Brenda.
‘But I’ll be back in time for tea. Now, why don’t you both explore upstairs? Me and your daddy will have the front bedroom and you can fight over the other two.’
We’d kissed Mum goodbye and raced up the stairs two at a time. Mum and Daddy’s room looked out over the street, another room looked out at the side of next door’s house. The third bedroom looked out over the back garden and this was the one that I wanted.
‘Bagsy this one,’ I’d said.
‘OK,’ said Brenda. ‘I don’t mind which room I have, because they are all very lovely.’
‘Thanks, Bren.’
I looked down at the long back garden. It had a proper lawn and a little path leading down to a wooden shed. In Carlton Hill we’d only ever had a yard and the only shed we’d had was a dirty old coal-hole. There was a beautiful big tree with thick branches that hung over the fence into the garden next door. I’d stood at the window, looking out over all the gardens of all the houses in See Saw Lane and I’d felt something wonderful was about to happen. I’d felt suddenly as if my life was about to change.