How have you let things get this bad? Dont you feel ashamed, love? Youve got two hands and two feetwhy arent you working? Thats what people would mutter to the young beggar with her baby.
Margaret slowly weaved her way through the aisles of the giant supermarket, studying shelves stacked with colourful packages. She came here every day, like clockwork. It wasnt as if she had a big family to feedshe didnt. Thats why every evening, the older woman would escape her empty flat for the bright, busy supermarket.
It was much easier for her in summershe could sit with her neighbours on a bench in the park. But come winter, there was really no alternative, so Margaret had grown quite fond of her strolls around the brand-new supermarket.
There were always plenty of people, the aroma of fresh coffee wafted about, and gentle music played over the speakers. Even the brightly coloured packaging, looking almost like toys, lifted her spirits and made her smile.
She picked up a pot of strawberry yoghurt, squinting at the label as she tried to decipher what it said, before putting it back on the shelf. She couldnt afford such treats, but there was no harm in looking.
As she wandered the aisles and took in the abundance around her, old memories crept uplong queues outside the village grocers, the sharp-tongued women behind the counter fighting over the last tins of something or other. She remembered the thick, grey paper bags theyd used for shopping back then.
She smiled softly as she recalled raising her daughter. Margaret would stand in any queue, however long, just to put a treat on the table for her girl. The thought of her daughter made her heart thud painfully, and she stopped at the freezer section, resting her hand heavily on the glass.
She saw again in her mind Ellies freckled face and wild auburn curls, those big grey eyes full of laughter, those dimples that would appear whenever she smiled.
She was such a beauty, Margaret thought wistfully.
Peering at the bakery counter, feeling the staffs wary eye on her, Margaret wandered over.
Ellie had been her pride and joy. A clever girl, too. But when she decided real grown-up work wasnt for her and chose to become a surrogate mother, Margarets heart broke a little. Just as shed feared, it hadnt ended well.
What twenty-year-old ever listens to their mother? Things would have been different if her father were alive. But how could those people have dragged her naive daughter into such a mess?
Ellie would just laugh and soothe her swollen stomach, waving away all her mums concerns. Mum, its not even about the baby, its good money, shed say.
But the birth was hard. Ellie didnt make itshe died three days after the baby was born.
The newborn girl was whisked off to her new parents at once. No one paid Margaret a penny, of course. Theyd dealt with her daughter, not with her.
Margaret buried her only child and was left completely alone. No family to lean on, just a vast emptiness she floated in, trying her hardest not to come up for air. Somehow, that felt easier.
Now, clutching her small bag of bread, she headed for the checkout. She dug out a handful of coins from her pocketenough for this little purchase. Already shed had her fun for the evening. Slipping the rest of her change secretly into her fist, she paid and headed for home.
Margaret had first noticed the young beggar just after Christmas, a couple of days into the supermarkets grand opening. Shed been making her usual slow circuit of the place, and something about the girl caught her eyemaybe her youth, maybe the way she cradled the baby so gently. Perhaps it was the tragic stillness about her.
How can someone slip so far? Margaret thought every time she passed the girl huddled near the entrance. She dropped a few coins in the cup and, softening her voice, said, Arent you ashamed, dear? Youre young and able. Why arent you working, my girl?
She frowned as another shopper hurried past, forced to step around her and the girl.
Thank you for the coins, but please, I need to focus. If I dont get enough by tonight, well be in trouble, the girl replied quietly.
Margaret just shook her head and hurried offshe didnt want to nag. She wanted to help, though, and did so in her own way. No one seemed to carenot the police, not social services. People in the city had grown numb to beggars.
The whole way home, Margaret couldnt get the girl and her child out of her head. Her grey eyes, her voicesomething about her was so familiar. But what?
She let herself into her flat, peeled off her worn boots, flicked on the lights, and shuffled into the kitchen with her loaf of bread. Within minutes, she was sitting at the table, sipping sweet tea from her favourite blue mug, eating a slice of seeded loaf with a sliver of ham.
That poor girl must be starving out there in this cold, she thought.
Peeking out the window, she froze in panic. Two rough-looking men were shoving the young mother into a battered old car. Margarets heart raced. She reached for the phone, ready to call the police, but stoppedwhat if she only made things worse?
Back at the window, she watched as the car disappeared and the street outside the supermarket fell silent. There was nothing else to do now but wait until morningshe wouldnt have seen the cars license plate anyway.
Margaret hardly slept that night, her mind turning over the fate of the girl and her baby. In the early morning hours, she dreamed she saw Ellie standing at the supermarket door, a child shivering in her arms. The girl looked blue with cold, so Margaret wrapped her in an embracebut Ellie just stared back blankly.
Im not cold, Mum, she said softly.
Margaret took the child and lifted back the warm blanket covering her face. It was only a doll, with a pendant hanging on a chain around its neck.
That familiar pendant again, the older woman muttered in her dream, waking suddenly, unsettled. The clock on the wall showed it was already gone nineshed slept far too late.
She rushed to the window. There was the girl again, on her usual spot by the doors. All was as it should be.
Thank goodness, Margaret whispered, crossing herself out of habit.
It was New Years Eve, bitterly cold outside. The child had already been out for agesshe could have frozen before nightfall.
Margaret cut thick sandwiches, filled a flask with sweet tea, threw on her coat, and marched back across the road.
The girl tensed as she approached, muffling a bruise on her temple with her scarf.
No need to worry, love. I just dont want you going hungry, Margaret assured her, holding out the food and tea.
The girls eyes smiled gratefully as she took the offering and retreated to a nearby bench. She ate ravenously, barely chewing, eyes darting towards the child, whose cries rose in anothers arms. When shed finished the last bite and gulped some tea, she brushed off the crumbs and returned.
Thank you. Thatll see us through until seven, at least. After that, they said theyd collect us, she muttered, eyes downcast.
Margaret couldnt rest the whole afternoon, watching the thermometer by the window, watching as the cold bit deeper.
By five, shed filled a jar with stew and set off again to pick up a few things at the supermarket.
She slipped the food to the girl, slid more coins into her pocket, and winked before she hurried back inside for warmth.
She only bought the usual thingsa bit of ham, brined gherkins for her potato salad. It wouldnt be much of a feast, but it would do. Stepping back outside, she noticed the girl and her child had vanished, the jar with the stew gone too. At least shes somewhere warm for once, she thought, smiling a little as she hurried home.
At ten oclock, as she set out her snacks and popped the fish in the oven ready for midnight, Margaret glanced out again. She wanted to see if someone had finally taken the girl home.
In the glow of the streetlamps, she spotted her thereshoulders shaking as she sobbed on the bench.
Margaret dashed around her flat, suddenly frantic. Midnight was so neara new year about to begin, while right outside, someone was freezing. She flung a shawl over her shoulders and, slippers and all, ran down the stairs.
She sat down next to the girl, breathless, trying to steady her heart.
Ive got nowhere left to go, the girl whispered, crushed.
There was a flicker of hope in her eyes as they met Margarets.
Please, look after him for me, she pleaded, pressing a bundle into Margarets hands, and then, head down, she shuffled away toward the main road.
Suddenly everything clicked for Margaret. People dont leave their babies behind if theyve any hope left. She jumped up and hurried after her, grabbing her gently by the arm.
Dont be daft, love. Come on. Lets get you both inside, she insisted, steering the girl toward her nearby block of flats.
Once inside, Margaret instinctively busied herself unwrapping the baby, turning the portable heater up. Whats your name, sweetheart? she began, then paused. Shed noticed a small pendantthe same one shed given Ellie for her sweet sixteen, reshaped from an old brooch, a little bear engraved on silver.
The girl followed her gaze and said, Its all Ive got left of my mum. Dont worry, please.
Margaret trembledshe knew that pendant better than anything. Shed pawned the brooch for money to buy her daughters birthday cake all those years ago, keeping only the bear charm for Ellie.
The girl hung up her coat. Would it be alright if I had a quick shower? she asked softly.
Nodding, Margaret drank some herbal tonic to steady her nerves.
So this is my granddaughter? But how can it be? she thought, overwhelmed.
She tucked the now-sleeping little boy onto the sofa and called the girl over to join her at the table.
Alice! Margaret called, as if testing her memory.
How did you know my name? Alice replied, surprised.
Just said I must have overheard someone, she told Alice to eat up.
Margarets suspicions were confirmed. This was her Ellies daughterthe very name chosen by the couple whod wanted the babyAlice.
Alice, tucking gratefully into the simple meal set before her, looked up at Margaret, who was watching her carefully, searching for familiar features.
Tell me, love, whats happened to you? Margaret asked gently.
It all spilled out in fits and startshow shed lived happily with her parents, even had a little pony of her own once, until her mum and dad started arguing and split up. Her mum, one day, took her to the foster care home and never came back.
Try as she might, Alice never understood why. One minute, life had felt like a fairytale, the next, shed been tossed aside. Twelve years she spent in care, then at 18, she was housed in a run-down council flat due for demolition.
Thats when she met Dave, the plumber. When she found out she was pregnant, Dave ditched her. She was allowed to stay in the derelict flat until the baby was born, but by the time she tried to move into her new place, someone else had taken it.
She didnt know how to fight for her rightsespecially not with a baby. So, she drifted from train station to underpass, begging by the tube. Thats where Big Tony, the local beggar king, found her.
A good-looking beggar with a kid will make decent money, hed thought, and he put her up in a basement with a bunch of others. Some old, some ill, but most were theatrical beggarspeople covered in fake bruises, or acting as if they were ill for sympathy.
Alice wasnt much good at beggingthe babys crying put off the regulars. Before long, she was under pressure to bring in more cash.
Then, that morning, no one came to pick her up. Shed been abandoned.
Alice gazed down at her empty plate.
Thank you. I honestly dont know how wed have got through the night otherwise, she whispered.
She yawned, mumbling, Well leave in the morning, honest, if I could just get a bit of sleep.
She immediately slumped back in her chair, fast asleep.
Margaret gently woke her, showed her to the bed, and settled the baby beside her in the big armchair.
Left alone, Margaret sat by her tiny spread, listening to the Prime Ministers New Years speech, smiling to herself through tears. Shed never let her granddaughter and great-grandson gonot tomorrow, not ever. They belonged with her now. One day, shed tell them everything. For now, shed help Alice get back on her feet, help her raise her boy. At last, her empty house would be filled again.
At midnight, as the chimes rang out on the telly, Margaret poured herself a tot of sweet sherry.
She stood at the window, watching the snowflakes catch in the streetlight glow, and breathed a quiet prayer of thanks. Goodbye, loneliness, she whispered softly. I have a family again.The first baby wails of the new year echoed softly from the next rooma tiny, indignant protest, full of life. Margaret moved quietly, wrapping a warm blanket around her great-grandson, pressing her lips to his downy head. In the dim light, Alice stirred and, for the first time in a long while, smiled up at her with trust and hope blinking in her eyes.
That night, their stories, once scattered and threadbare, began weaving togetheran old womans aching loneliness, a young mothers struggle, and a childs uncertain future. In Margarets little kitchen, tired hearts found shelter, and broken chains of the past were gently mended over toast and tea.
Outside, distant fireworks painted colors across the snowy sky. Margaret watched their brilliance fade, feeling something bloom quietly in her chest that shed thought long dead. She tucked the blanket tighter around the sleeping child, then reached out, taking Alices hand in hers.
Whatever comes, we face it together now, she whispered.
And as laughterreal, giddy, unexpected laughterfinally filled the hollow of her flat, Margaret realized that, at last, the world outside didnt seem quite so cold.
