The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

first thing.
“Well?” Mam said.
I swallowed. “Very nice,” I said.
“Posh brat,” Mam said. “I can see I’m going to have to beat the toff outa
you.” She picked up one of the chairs near the table. “We’ll put this right by
the window,” she said. “That way you’ll be comfy, looking out.”
What was I supposed to say? I no longer knew the right answers. “Thank
you.”
“I see we got Miss Manners living with us now. Thinks she’s too good for
the rest of us.” Mam showed us the other room, containing our old wardrobe
and a new bed. No sheets, just a rough blanket and a pillow and a mattress.
Until we’d gone to live with Susan, I was used to beds like this. I would
have thought the flat was fine. Fancy, even, with more than one room.
“I had to take off work tonight to fetch you,” Mam said. “I’m going down
to the pub for a pint. You two better go to sleep. Ada, I’ll find you a bucket.”
It took me a moment to realize why she thought I needed a bucket. “I’d
rather just use the toilet,” I said. “I usually do now.”
Mam said, each word heavy and solid, “You ain’t going out of this room.
“Got that?” she continued. “’Cause I don’t need the world shaming me for
having a crippled girl. I don’t care what you did somewhere else. You’re with
me again, you’ll do as I say. You disobey me, I’ll make you wish you hadn’t.
You’re a cripple. That’s all you are. A cripple, and nothing but a cripple.
You’ve never been anything else. Got that?”
I said, “Susan wasn’t ashamed of me.”
“Well, bully for her. She should have been.” Mam’s eyes glittered.
“Disobey me,” she said, pointing at Jamie, “and I take it out on him. Got
that?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
She went out. I looked at the door, and the bucket. I used the bucket.
Jamie and I lay on the mattress in the hot bedroom. “I can’t sleep,” Jamie
whimpered. “I need Bovril.”
“Susan’ll take good care of him,” I whispered.
“I need him,” Jamie said. “I can’t sleep.”
“I know,” I said. “I know.”