CHAPTER EIGHT

Mrs Verloc's mother soon became a member of a home for old people. She did not tell her daughter that she was planning to move, but had been secretly investigating such places for the past week. And now she had found one.

Mrs Yerloc had noticed that her mother was going out quite often and spending a lot of money on taxi services. She mentioned this to her husband, but he seemed too lost in his own thoughts to really care. When her mother finally told her the news, Winnie was very surprised and upset.

"Why do you want to move?" she asked, "Don't we take good care of you here?"

Winnie, who had been cleaning when told the news, returned to her work and waited for her mother's answer. Her mother, however, remained silent. She did not know what to say.

"Well, can you at least tell me how you found the place?" Winnie then asked.

Her mother then explained with excitement that she had talked with several of her dead husband's friends, who were also hotel-owners. They all agreed to put some of their money toward opening a home for old people to live in. She then told her daughter that she would be taking some of the furniture with her. Out of kindness, she only chose the least attractive things to take with her.

She thought about giving the rest of her things to her son, Stevie, who had nothing in the world. But then she thought that Mr Verloc might not be comfortable using furniture that was his brother-in-law's. This might cause problems in the future that might lead to Mr Verloc asking Stevie to move out. Stevie's mother was terrified of such a possibility. Where would her son go? What could he do? No, the furniture would be a gift to her daughter, then. That would be the safest thing to do.

The next day, when the time came for the old woman to leave, she called for a taxi. The carriage that arrived to take her away was in terrible condition and so was its driver. He had no right hand and looked like he had not showered in days. The old woman looked at her daughter, wondering if it was safe to take the taxi.

"What's wrong, Madame?" the driver asked. "Do you think I can't drive this taxi?"

Then a policeman walked up to them. He greeted the driver with a smile, as if he knew him well.

"Don't worry, ma'am," he said, "This man's a very good driver. He's never had an accident in the twenty years he's been working."

This satisfied the woman and her daughter. They both got inside the taxi and Stevie jumped up onto the driver's seat, next to the poor old man.

As the taxi drove slowly through the city, Winnie noticed the poor condition of the horse that was pulling them. Stevie had also noticed and yelled at the driver in short, simple sentences, not to hit the horse with his whip. The driver, however, did not stop whipping his horse, because he needed to do it to make the horse keep moving.

"Stop!" shouted Stevie. "It's bad!" He then jumped down from the driver's seat as they were crossing a bridge. People on the street began shouting, for the taxi; had to stop suddenly. Winnie put her head outside of the window to see what was happening. Her mother began to worry that Stevie had been injured. Then Stevie ran to them, shouting, "We walk! Carriage too heavy! We walk!"

He was too excited to speak clearly. His sister did not agree to walk.

"No, Stevie. Get back on the taxi."

"Don't let him walk, Winnie," ordered the mother, "He'll wander away and we won't be able to find him."

"Of course I won't let him walk," answered Winnie. "Stevie, get on the taxi now. Mr Verloc will be very disappointed to hear how you've behaved today!"

Stevie, not wanting to make his brother-in-law angry, obeyed his sister's command and got back onto the driver's seat, but with a sad feeling in his heart.

"Don't you do that again, young man," said the driver.

The emotions inside the taxi were now quite different from, before.

"I think you're making a big mistake, mother," Winnie announced, "It's embarrassing that you should leave our home to go to such a place. It looks as if we haven't been good to you."

"Oh, don't be silly. You've been a wonderful daughter. And your husband ... " The old woman began to get tears in her eyes. She stopped talking and turned her head toward the window.

It was true, this move would look bad to people. They would think that Winnie and her husband had cruelly forced the old woman to leave their home. Or they would simply think that the daughter did not care for her mother enough in her old age. Either way, it would look quite bad. However, Mrs Yerloc's mother knew that she was an extra mouth to feed. She knew that she took up space in that small house of theirs. And she knew that Mr Verloc would get increasingly tired of having his wife's family around. By moving out, she might be able to make it easier for Mr Yerloc to accept Stevie living in his home.

When her dead husband's friends asked the old woman why she wanted to move, she chose to lie. She feared that they would not let her move in if they knew she had a good daughter. So, by lowering her eyes and not saying anything, she made the men think that her situation at home was a bad one.

She felt guilty about lying, but she felt that in the end it would make things better for everyone. What she was doing seemed like cruelty on the surface, but in reality she was being quite heroic. She was saving her son.

When the taxi finally stopped in front of Mrs Verloc's mother's new home, the old woman turned to her daughter before getting out.

"Now, you come see me often. And have Stevie visit me every Sunday. I don't think he'll have a problem with doing that."

"Are you joking?" shouted Winnie. "He's going to miss you terribly! Maybe you should have thought of that before making such a terrible decision!"

The old woman said nothing in return. As she opened the door and slowly let herself out of the carriage, a new thought came to her.

"Do you think Stevie will be able to come here on his own?" she asked, "He'd have to change two buses and do some more walking afterward. Oh, I'm afraid he'd get lost. What if he forgets his address?" Then she started to cry loudly. She hated the idea of not seeing her son.

"It's alright, mother. I'll make sure that he doesn't get lost. You'll see him often. I promise."

It had grown dark during their ride to the old people's home. Stevie was now standing under a gas lamp, waiting for the two women to finish talking. The driver of the taxi looked down at the boy from his seat.

"Now listen to me, young man. Can you imagine driving this carriage until two o'clock in the morning, sometimes three or even four o'clock, everyday?"

Stevie did not respond. He just stared back at the driver's tired, red eyes.

"This horse is strong, I tell you. He's taken care of, see. Can you imagine all those hours, boy? Looking for customers, just so I can get something to eat or drink. Most of the time I find only people who've been out drinking too much."

The driver told the boy about all of his problems, about the life of a late night taxi man. "Life's hard for me and my family. I've four children and a wife to feed. It's a hard world, I tell you. A very hard world."

Stevie pitied both the man and his horse. He wished that he could somehow make them happy. He even got the crazy idea of taking them home with him, hut, of course, he knew he could not do that. He wanted to let both the man and the horse sleep with him that night, just like his sister used to let him do when he was having a bad day.

The driver then crawled down from his seat and, taking the reigns in his hands, whispered to his horse, "Let's go." They moved slowly across the uneven stones of the street. It seemed that they were headed for a drinking house about fifty meters down the block.

Stevie felt horrible. He squeezed his hands into fists inside his pockets. Because he could not help the taxi man and his horse, his sadness was turning into anger. His sister was not aware of all that he was currently feeling. She could see that he was excited, but she did not know the reason why, nor did she try to understand. Instead, she tried making him feel like she needed his help getting back home.

"Alright, Stevie. It's time for us to go now. Please, help me to cross the street safely and get to our bus."

Stevie immediately stood up straight and offered his arm to Winnie. "Don't worry, Winnie," he said, "I can get us there safe, no problem."

As they walked home, under the soft lights of the gas-lamps, they passed the same taxi driver on the street. Seeing how awful the horse looked, Winnie could not help feeling sad for the horse.

"I feel so sorry for him," she said aloud.

Stevie answered her with all the emotion he had inside of himself. "Yes! Sad! And the Taxi driver also! He sad! He told me!"

Stevie wanted to say more, but could not. He felt much more than he could express. He tried to say more, but all that would come out of his mouth was the word "Shame!" It hurt him to see the taxi driver hitting his horse just so he could feed his family. It hurt him more than others because he was familiar with being beaten. His father had always beaten him terribly. With that horrible memory in his mind as well as the sadness he saw on the streets of London, Stevie felt that the whole world was a very terrible place.

His sister, who did not like to question things, could not see what was happening inside of her brother. She did not really know the true meaning of the word 'Shame'. She just pulled her brother along after her, saying, "Let's go, Stevie. There's nothing we can do about it."

He followed her, but he busied himself trying to find the right words to express what he felt. Finally, after going through all the words he could remember, he managed to say, "Terrible life for people with no money."

Winnie, seeing that her brother was getting even more excited than before, tried calming him down again.

"It can't be helped. Now, come and help your sister to get back home."

He did what she told him to do, but he continued to think about the problems of the world. He was not satisfied with his sister's answer. Then, he suddenly stopped again and with a smile on his face he said, "The police! They can help!"

"No, Stevie. That's not their job," answered Winnie.

Her brother's smile suddenly disappeared, replaced by a confused look.

"Not their job?" he said, his mouth hanging open, "What is their job?" His idea of the police was that they stopped all kinds of bad things from happening. He loved police officers, and saw them all as being very good people. He trusted them completely. And now his sister's words were going against all that he had believed. Becoming full of anger, he asked, "What do they do, then?"

Winnie, being the wife of a man who was friends and partners with all kinds of people against the government, answered him appropriately.

"The police protect the people who have things from the people who have nothing."

"But what if the people who have nothing want to eat? Won't the police help them?" Stevie asked.

"No. That's not their job. It doesn't matter, anyway. You won't ever be without food, so we needn't talk about it."

Stevie was the only thing in the world that Mrs Verloc had any real feelings for. Looking at him now, he seemed friendly, caring, even handsome, and only a little strange. In her mind, it was impossible for anyone to dislike her brother.

"Oh, Stevie, that green bus is the one we want! Let's catch it!"

One hour later, they arrived back at their home and found Mr Verloc holding a newspaper in front of his face in the store. He was happy to see his wife, but he still did not say anything to her. As for Stevie, he did not even notice him. Mr Verloc was so lost in his own thoughts about what he had to do, that he hardly ever spoke at home any more. Whether in his shop, in the card-playing room, lying in bed, or sitting at the kitchen table for dinner, he never spoke a word to anyone.

The silence made Winnie miss her mother even more than she normally would have. Her awareness of being lonely grew more and more. However, still, neither she nor Stevie attempted to speak to Mr Verloc. His mother and sister had taught Stevie that his brother-in-law was a good man. His father had been horrible to him, and the men who came to stay at his mother's hotel were always coming and going so quickly. Mr Yerloc, however, never hurt the boy and was always around the home. Therefore, he believed in what his mother and sister had told him about Mr Yerloc. And he now completely trusted him and never wanted to anger or upset him. Looking at his brother-in-law's sad face at the dinner table, he began to feel sad as well.

"Are you going anywhere this evening?" Winnie asked her husband.

He only shook his head and silently stared at the dinner plate before him. Then, only a minute later, he got up from the table and walked directly through the front door of the shop. Feeling so troubled inside, he could not control himself. He felt the need to get away from everyone, to be alone. But minutes later, he returned home and sat down behind the shop counter.

Later, that evening, while lying in bed, Winnie spoke to Mr Verloc about her mother.

"I can't believe that she left us like that! It's horrible!"

Mr Verloc could not help thinking that maybe his mother-in-law had realized the trouble that he also felt was fast approaching. Maybe she wanted to get out before the difficulties began. However, he did not say this to his wife. Instead, he simply said, "Maybe it's best that she moved."

For a moment, Winnie felt upset by Mr Verloc's words. For the best? How was it for the best? But then, not usually one to think too much about anything, she decided to let it go and changed the subject to her brother.

"How I'm going to keep Stevie from being so sad, I have no idea. He's such a wonderful person. I can't imagine ever being away from him."

Mr Verloc said nothing more. His thoughts never once left his troubles. He wanted, more than anything at that moment, to tell his wife everything. But looking at her, lying there with her head against the pillow and her soft, big, black eyes staring at him, he thought about how much he loved the fact that she was his. It was like a pet or a valuable vase that he'd never use. He chose not to upset her.

"I'm going away for a week or two," he growled. "You should ask Mrs Neale to come and help you care for Stevie while I'm away."

This news did not come as a big surprise to Mrs Verloc. Her husband often went abroad for several weeks at a time. She did not even bother to ask him why he was leaving.

"I can take care of Stevie on my own," she answered. "Shall I turn the light off?"

"Turn it off," Mr Verloc responded coldly.

(end of section)