THE DEPRIVED... Chapter 2... Part 18.

A continuation of my book

“Then it has to be you!” growled Silas Jenkins, throwing the mug across the room before pushing Mary back onto the bed and there he savagely took her, ripping the clothes from her body and opening her with a vital force.
Mary screamed out in pain.
“Shut up, w***e!” shouted the landlord, backhanding her as she tried to get away from him.
Beth sobbed noiselessly along with Sam as the bed creaked its noisy rise, rising and falling and adding to the screaming and grunts.
“You w***e!”
Silas Jenkins had expended and satisfied his nature and now stood pulling up his britches as he stared down at the thin pale of Mary’s body, his own disgust causing him to rant.
“You bloody w***e! Look at you, riddled with disease and coughing up your guts. No wonder no man wants you!”
Mary hid her face and sobbed between coughing.
“I’ll be back tomorrow and if you haven’t got my rent then you’re out the door. The best thing you can do is get out there and flog that scrawny body of yours before death takes you!”
The door slammed shut.
“Mammy! Oh Mammy! What has he done to you!”
Beth had scrambled out from under the bed and began to pull her mother’s petticoat and skirt around her.
“Don’t look at me, Beth. Please don’t look.”
Mary hid her tear-stained face in her hands, her body wracked with sobs. She began coughing again and hawking up the phlegm she jumped from the bed, hurrying to the window.
“It’s alright, Sam.” called Beth, kneeling to look under the bed. “He’s gone now.”
Sam stayed quiet, backed tight up against the wall and refusing to get up. Mary came back to the bed and sat down, her hands trying to hide the bruises and bite marks which now began to appear.
“Mammy, I will go down and see him.” said Beth. “I will offer myself and if it’s me he wants and I let him do what he wants then we might be able to stay here. He might even give us some food.”
“Don’t you dare, Beth!” screamed Mary as she  cuddled her daughter wildly. “Never say that or do what I do. Never sell your body. Promise me that, Beth!”
“But he will hurt you again, Mammy. I have to try to do something.”
“Swear to me, Beth. Swear on all that you love. Swear it on my life and on Sam’s life and your dear Da’s life that you will never give your body away to any other than the one you love. Look at me, dear child. Look not in pity for the beating I received but at how I am. I got ill through my ways, through smoking tar and standing around in the damp. Know how all the girls who used to be my friends turned against me when I got tempted and stole. They said I was ugly and frightened the men away. The men thought I would give them a disease. None of the girls will talk to me or allow me to work around Aldgate so I have to try and work down in Wapping, down by the Docks and hoping to get a foreign sailor of even a dockworker who can’t afford a decent woman. Look at me, Beth. Take a good look. Promise me, please.”
Beth hugged her mother close even though her eyes stared wide at her mother’s confession.
“I promise I will never do that.” she said at last.
“That’s a good girl Beth. Find yourself a good job, maybe go into service for some fine family.”
Sam had risen from under the bed and stood shivering.
“Let’s get some sleep.” said Mary. “It’s warm in the bed if we all hug together. I’ll sleep on the outside edge so I can get to the window when I cough.” said Mary.
Sam lay with his eyes wide open, the tears dry on his face. He would never forget.

 

It was mid-afternoon when Mary opened her eyes to see a weakening sun which shone through the open window. Sam slept uneasily while Beth lay with her eyes open and watched as Mary rose from the bed to lift her skirt to draw out the purse. Opening it she took out a penny coin and then replacing the purse under her skirt she turned, suddenly aware that Beth was watching her. It was cold, Mary’s breath coming out in white palls of smoke as she whispered, holding a finger to her lips.
“Stay there in bed, Beth. I’m just going out to see if I can get something to eat.”
Beth nodded and closed her eyes.  Mary draped the torn clothes around her the best she could then covered her shoulders with one of the blankets. In the hallway below the landlord’s door was closed and she crept down the stairs then hurried out into the street.