When the children met outside the court in which the Butchers lived, Percy was sporting a black eye, purple in the middle and rainbow-hued round the edge. It was natural, therefore, for Evie to enquire how he had got such a shiner. Percy might have replied that he had walked into a door or simply passed the question off with a flippant answer, but instead he said bitterly: ‘Me bleedin’ dad did it, that’s what. He got hold of me mam by the hair and he were thumpin’ an’ kickin’ her, so I went for him, and so did me brother, Ron, though he’s only six. He chucked Ron right across the kitchen an’ he punched me straight in the eye. Me dad’s strong an’ me mum ain’t.’ ‘That’s awful,’ Evie said, genuinely shocked. She knew that violence occurred in most walks of life, but punching a boy of twelve and beating a defenceless woman was outside her experience. ‘Was he drunk?’ she asked timidly. ‘Me dad’s always going on about the evils of drink and I remember him saying that Stobo – he’s a barge master – were meek as a lamb until the drink were in him and then his cabin were like a Punch and Judy show wi’ Stobo beltin’ his old woman an’ Mrs Stobo beltin’ ’im back.
What do You think about Darkest Before Dawn (2010)?
