One cold rainy day followed another. But eventually the days grew a little warmer, and as April replaced March and summer beckoned, people began to shed their extra scarves and shawls. Nell loved to take Sarah for walks in the shabby pram and teach her daughter new words. Such a clever pretty child! She only wished she could provide her with a better life than this. One Saturday afternoon the gas cooker refused to light, something that had happened a couple of times recently. Nell turned to Cliff, who had just come home from work. ‘We need to get this gas cooker repaired. It’s not working again.’ He gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘There’s always something to take my money, isn’t there?’ ‘We have to eat and you’ve always got an excellent appetite. I can’t make a stew for your tea if the cooker won’t light. Maybe the meat will go bad if I can’t cook it, then it’ll be wasted.’ That thought made him come across to look at the cooker, but he had no more success than she’d had in lighting the burner.
