Welcome! Today's word prompt is "random". For those who have read, TO LOVE OR NOT TO LOVE, I am starting Maggie & John's story here in Tuesday Tales and will be bringing it out as a book when it's completed. Here's the first installment.
MAGGIE'S STORY
“It’s not like I’m going to take up with some
random stranger, Mum,” Maggie said, twisting a handkerchief in her hand.
“Just be a good girl. Do what they tell you.” Her
mother patted her hand. “I’m not a girl. I’m twenty,” the young woman mumbled.
“Just don’t get preggers again.Okay?”
Maggie glared at her mother. A loud whistle
startled the two women.
“Time for me to go.” With a quick wave, Maggie’s
mother exited down the gangway as the ship prepared to depart Southampton for New York.Maggie Chadwick spotted the woman making her way to the underground. Glad to have this bad seed off her hands, I bet. Sure she’d gotten knocked up. When Nigel bugged off to Wales, her mum had maneuvered her into having an abortion she didn't want.
Now Maggie was headed to New York City, to bunk in with a cousin she’d met once. Embarrassing daughter problem eliminated.
The ship pulled out of the dock and headed East.
It took every penny her mum and dad had put away
for holiday to pay for her passage. She assuaged her feelings of guilt with the
fact that this was the last dime they'd ever spend on her. Her passage was one way. People milled around everywhere, but
loneliness surrounded her lie a cloak. She shivered. She’d be cleaning up her own messes
from now on.
When they docked in Manhattan, Maggie a woman in a
loud dress accosted her. “There you are, dearie! Good to see you, Mags.” The woman slapped her on the back.
“Gladys?”
“Come on, lovey. This way.”
After days of being alone, Maggie was happy to see a friendly face. She took a deep breath, then descended into the hot subway, half scared, half curious.
The two bedroom apartment was small. Gladys led her to a narrow twin bed in a room jammed with two other beds the same size.
There was barely space to move.
“This is yours, love. Here’s the paper. Look for a job. If you can’t find anything. Burt might be able to get you some work as a chambermaid at the hotel where he works. Do ya know how to make a bed?”
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Maggie nodded. Gladys handed her a set of keys,
kissed her on the cheek and headed for the front door. When her cousin was
gone,Maggie sank down on her bed and cried.
