Jonesy and I have the beds by the window as we got in the room first and called them. Once we called them, that was that. We also dived on them so they immediately became ours. Shona and Eldrey are on the far side of the room. Mary and Pam are in the middle. It has been the six of us in this room for the last two years.
Shona and Eldrey came from Cottage 11 when the houseparents left and they thought there were too many kids in there for their replacements. At first we didn’t like them because we didn’t know them, it had just been Pam, Mary, me and Jonesy before that, but after a while we found out they were friendly.
Out of the six of us obviously Jonesy is the chatty one, but Shona can be quite chatty and bossy too. She can be argumentative and she won’t back down if she thinks she’s right. If Jonesy isn’t about, she’s the first one to say something.
Her family situation is quite strange. Her sister and her were taken away from their family for their own safety. Apparently, the dad was very, very bad and used to beat them but also used to interfere with them. She never really talks about it, but she has once mentioned it to me. Her sister is two years older, but she didn’t come here, she went to another home, which doesn’t make sense. There are a lot of siblings in the Homes. I wish I had a sibling in the Homes; it would give me someone special.
Eldrey was Shona’s friend from Cottage 11. She is very quiet. Jonesy and me come as a two, and so do Eldrey and Shona. Eldrey seems to follow Shona round wherever she goes. Shona bosses her about all the time. I’ve asked Eldrey before when we’ve been alone why she lets Shona talk to her like that, and she says that she doesn’t mind and that Shona is a lot nicer when other people aren’t around. I just think it’s all a bit unfair.
Eldrey is a proper orphan. Her mum died when she was six months old and her dad tried to look after her, but when she was eighteen months he was hit by the hook from a crane at the docks and it killed him stone dead. She was with neighbours when it happened; they cared for her during the day, but that day he never came back to pick her up. Eventually someone came round in the evening to tell them what had happened.
She got some money out of it. All the dockers put in for a fund and it’s being held until she is sixteen.
She got brought here at two years old and always thought, like me, that this is how kids grow up. It wasn’t until a relative came to check in on her one time that they explained what had happened to her parents.
I don’t know what is worse, her situation or mine. At least she had parents who wanted her, but then they were taken away. I had a mother who didn’t want me, but then I have a chance to get back with her as she is still here. Eldrey has no hope of that. To make things worse, Mr Paterson doesn’t like her and gets angry with her all the time; she’s always getting called into his study for a beating. It’s unfair as Eldrey doesn’t speak enough to make most people angry. It’s awful to say but occasionally you can see why Jonesy gets a belt, but Eldrey is so quiet, and after everything she’s been through it seems doubly unfair.
Pam and Mary are a bit of a double act too, in fact the whole six of us get along. We say that we are quite lucky that we all get along and are in the same room. Some of the older girls in their rooms don’t get on. They’re always falling out and having to switch rooms as one girl doesn’t like another. Mrs Paterson says we are much easier to look after than they are. She can lose her temper with them really badly when she has to, but she doesn’t with us.
Pam is probably the baby of the lot of us. Although Eldrey is quiet, Pam is small, so we sometimes treat her as being younger, even though she’s in the same year. She’s got a bit of toughness in her; her family was from Calton and it’s rough as anything around there. That’s not to say that she’s trouble or dangerous. I often thought they put us six together as we are not the rough ones, unlike the McAdam kids. They put them all together – the boys in Cottage 13, and the girls in Cottage 8 – and they put us nice ones all together so we wouldn’t have to get caught up with them. Only problem is, sometimes it creates a bit of an ‘us and them’ thing but I suppose that’s better than us becoming one of them.
Mary is the tall one, she’s a beanpole. That’s what they sometimes call her. She’s as thin as a rake. Eats everything but stays really thin. It’s strange as she has a younger brother in Cottage 21 and he’s really short. Jonesy says it was different dads but I don’t dare ask.
Mary has never said why she’s here. It will be one of the five reasons: her parents are dead, dangerous, on drink, in prison; or she’s unwanted/unable to be looked after. None are better or worse than the other.
Mary is quite clever. I think if she worked hard she could go to my school, but the thing is I don’t think she wants to work that hard, as she hears the names I get called for going to a different school and I think she’d rather not stand out.
When Jonesy sees me getting called a swot, or stuck up, she is more likely to do something than I am, even though she has said to me that when they call me stuff it makes her feel proud because it means they can see that I’m better than them. I am not better than them, I am just different and like school more, but she seems to see it that way.
That’s our room, I’m quite proud of it, we all get along, we are nice and I like them all. I am lucky, I suppose.