The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

can’t stand it, being away from them,” she went on. “It feels wrong. I reckon
we’ll stick the war out together.” She gave me a sideways glance. “’S that
you, Ada? Your mum said as how you’d gone too, but I didn’t believe it. Only
you weren’t at your window.” She looked me up and down, particularly
down, at my carefully bandaged foot. Miss Smith washed the bandages and
gave me a clean one every day.
“I’m not simple,” I said. “I’ve got a bad foot, that’s all.”
“I dunno,” Billy’s mother said, still shielding her daughter. “Your mam—”
“I’ve written to her,” Miss Smith said, coming up behind us. “But perhaps
you could take a message to her too. The doctor says—”
Billy interrupted. “I hate it here,” he said. “The people that took us, they’re
mean as a bunch of starved cats.”
“I hate it here too,” Jamie said. He turned to Miss Smith. “Can I go home?
Will you take us home?”
Miss Smith shook her head, smiling, as though Jamie were making a joke.
“I’ve never even been to London,” she said. “I wouldn’t know where to go.”
“Home,” Jamie insisted.
“Where’s Stephen?” I asked.
Billy’s mom scowled. “He won’t come,” she said. “Thinks he’s important,
he does.” She gave me another odd look. “I’m that surprised to see you out
with ordinary people. I thought they’d put you in an asylum.”
From the tone of her voice it was clear she thought I should be locked
away. The disgust in it stunned me. For years I’d waved to Billy’s mother out
my window, and she always waved back. I’d thought she was a nice person.
I’d thought she liked me. Clearly she did not. I didn’t know what to say. I
didn’t even know where to look. Susan’s hand touched my shoulder and I
turned a little so that I could see the edge of her skirt. I couldn’t stand looking
at Billy’s mother anymore.
The train came up and Billy’s mother herded her children toward it. Jamie
began to howl. “Take me with you!”
Miss Smith held him back. “Your mother wants you here,” she said. “She
wants you safe.”
“She misses me,” Jamie said. “An’ Ada’ll take care of me. Mam misses us.
Right, Ada? Right? She wants us home!”
I swallowed. Maybe. After all, with me gone she didn’t have anybody to
fix her tea. Maybe she’d be happy to see me, now that I could walk,