Donal had suggested going swimming, but as the baths had sessions for boys and girls on separate days, that would have meant swimming in the canal, which Deirdre felt, as a working girl, she was a bit old for. Donal could have pointed out that, at ten, she was scarcely a woman grown, but he did not. ‘Little kids go there . . . or fellers,’ she pointed out as they sauntered along. ‘You don’t see big gals like me down the scaldy.’ Donal gave a snort, but a quiet one, and Deirdre didn’t challenge him. She knew that she wasn’t particularly big and that ten years old was scarcely grown up, but she did have a holiday job, even though it was with Auntie Anne and not with a regular employer. And it was true that girls of Deirdre’s age didn’t usually swim with the fellers in the scaldy, so she wasn’t surprised when Donal sighed but said nothing more. They would have loved to go down to New Brighton or somewhere else by the sea, but they had, as usual, no money. But it was so scorching . . .
