Bad Girl Magdalene (32 page)
Read Bad Girl Magdalene Online
Authors: Jonathan Gash
‘I don’t know how much it will cost.’
‘I’ll come with you. It can be your first lesson in counting. I’ll work the money out with you and show you. Like I told the Gardai detectives.’
‘That was a lie, Kev. Saying you were teaching me.’
‘No. It’s true. Your lessons start now.’
‘Is it true?’ She was getting a headache from not knowing where she was with any old thing.
‘First of many, Magda. I’ll be about forty minutes. See the clock at the gate?’
‘Yes.’
‘When the long stick gets to the top, I’ll be able to come with you. We’ll pay for the Mass, then you can go on to work and tell them you’re late because you called to arrange a Mass for Father Doran. OK?’
‘Yes. Will it be true?’
‘Don’t be so worried. From now on, you must learn some things are almost true, and other things so near as makes no difference.’
‘Is that my first lesson?’ she asked seriously.
‘Yes. Magda. The first of many.’
‘I’ll wait then.’
Wondering which of his sisters would teach her the letters she lacked, she sat down to watch the long stick on the clock slowly start to climb round to point to the top when Kev would come for her.
The brutality towards children in industrial schools, orphanages, convents and reform establishments are well documented. Such abuse shames civilisation. That it was condoned by governments and authoritative bodies is as great a crime.
Those who have relatives who suffered so will need no further study. Others may consult an introduction to the subject, e.g.:
Suffer
the
Little
Children
Rafferty, M, & O'Sullivan, E (1999) Continuum, USA.
Jonathan
Gash
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J
ONATHAN
G
ASH
is the author of a number of crime novels. A qualified doctor specialising in tropical medicine, he is married with three daughters and four grandchildren. He lists his hobbies as antique collecting and his family.
The Lovejoy Series
The Ten Word Game
Faces in the Pool
The Dr Clare Burtonall Series
Bone Dancing
Blood Dancing
Other Crime Fiction
The Year of the Woman
Finding Davey
Bad Girl Magdalene
Allison & Busby Limited
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London W1T 6DW
www.allisonandbusby.com
First published in Great Britain by Allison & Busby in 2007.
This ebook edition published by Allison & Busby in 2014.
Copyright © 2007 by J
ONATHAN
G
ASH
The moral right of the author is hereby asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–1778–1