there was uproar somewhere among the backyards of australia street. it was so alarming that people at their midday meal sat still and stared at one another. a fortnight before murder had been done in the street, in broad daylight with a chopper; people were nervous. an upper window was thrown open and a startled and startling head exposed.
“it’s that young devil, johnny flynn, again! killing rats!” shouted mrs. knatchbole, shaking her fist towards the flynns’ backyard. mrs. knatchbole was ugly; she had a goitred neck and a sharp skinny nose with an orb shining at its end, constant as grief.
“you wait, my boy, till your mother comes home, you just wait!” invited this apparition, but johnny was gazing sickly at the body of a big rat slaughtered by the dogs of his friend george. the uproar was caused by the quarrelling of the dogs, possibly for honours, but more probably, as is the custom of victors, for loot.
“bob down!” warned george, but johnny bobbed up to catch the full anger of those baleful knatchbole eyes. the urchin put his fingers promptly to his nose.
“look at that for eight years old!” screamed the lady.[208] “eight years old ’e is! as true as god’s my maker i’ll....”
the impending vow was stayed and blasted for ever, mrs. knatchbole being taken with a fit of sneezing, whereupon the boys uttered some derisive “haw haws!”
so mrs. knatchbole met mrs. flynn that night as she came from work, mrs. flynn being a widow who toiled daily and dreadfully at a laundry and perforce left her children, except for their school hours, to their own devices. the encounter was an emphatic one and the tired widow promised to admonish her boy.
“but it’s all right, mrs. knatchbole, he’s going from me in a week, to his uncle in london he is going, a person of wealth, and he’ll be no annoyance to ye then. i’m ashamed that he misbehaves but he’s no bad boy really.”
at home his mother’s remonstrances reduced johnny to repentance and silence; he felt base indeed; he wanted to do something great and worthy at once to offset it all; he wished he had got some money, he’d have gone and bought her a bottle of stout—he knew she liked stout.
“why do ye vex people so, johnny?” asked mrs. flynn wearily. “i work my fingers to the bone for ye, week in and week out. why can’t ye behave like pomony?”
his sister was a year younger than he; her name was mona, which johnny’s elegant mind had disliked. one day he re-baptized her; pomona she became and pomona she remained. the flynns sat down to supper.[209] “never mind, mum,” said the boy, kissing her as he passed, “talk to us about the cherry tree!” the cherry tree, luxuriantly blooming, was the crown of the mother’s memories of her youth and her father’s farm; around the myth of its wonderful blossoms and fruit she could weave garlands of romance, and to her own mind as well as to the minds of her children it became a heavenly symbol of her old lost home, grand with acres and delightful with orchard and full pantry. what wonder that in her humorous narration the joys were multiplied and magnified until even johnny was obliged to intervene. “look here, how many horses did your father have, mum ... really, though?” mrs. flynn became vague, cast a furtive glance at this son of hers and then gulped with laughter until she recovered her ground with “ah, but there was a cherry tree!” it was a grand supper—actually a polony and some potatoes. johnny knew this was because he was going away. ever since it was known that he was to go to london they had been having something special like this, or sheep’s trotters or a pig’s tail. mother seemed to grow kinder and kinder to him. he wished he had some money, he would like to buy her a bottle of stout—he knew she liked stout.
well, johnny went away to live with his uncle, but alas he was only two months in london before he was returned to his mother and pomony. uncle was an engine-driver who disclosed to his astounded nephew a passion for gardening. this was incomprehensible to johnny flynn. a great roaring boiling locomotive was the grandest thing in the world. johnny had rides on[210] it, so he knew. and it was easy for him to imagine that every gardener cherished in the darkness of his disappointed soul an unavailing passion for a steam engine, but how an engine-driver could immerse himself in the mushiness of gardening was a baffling problem. however, before he returned home he discovered one important thing from his uncle’s hobby, and he sent the information to his sister:
dear pomona—
uncle harry has got a alotment and grow veggutables. he says what makes the mold is worms. you know we pulled all the worms out off our garden and chukked them over miss natchbols wall. well you better get some more quick a lot ask george to help you and i bring som seeds home when i comes next week by the xcursion on moms birthday
your sincerely brother
john flynn
on mother’s birthday pomona met him at the station. she kissed him shyly and explained that mother was going to have a half holiday to celebrate the double occasion and would be home with them at dinner time.
“pomony, did you get them worms?”
pomona was inclined to evade the topic of worms for the garden, but fortunately her brother’s enthusiasm for another gardening project tempered the wind of his indignation. when they reached home he unwrapped two parcels he had brought with him; he explained his scheme to his sister; he led her into the garden. the flynns’ backyard, mostly paved with[211] bricks, was small and so the enclosing walls, truculently capped by chips of glass, although too low for privacy were yet too high for the growth of any cherishable plant. johnny had certainly once reared a magnificent exhibit of two cowslips, but these had been mysteriously destroyed by the knatchbole cat. the dank little enclosure was charged with sterility; nothing flourished there except a lot of beetles and a dauntless evergreen bush, as tall as johnny, displaying a profusion of thick shiny leaves that you could split on your tongue and make squeakers with. pomona showed him how to do this and they then busied themselves in the garden until the dinner siren warned them that mother would be coming home. they hurried into the kitchen and pomona quickly spread the cloth and the plates of food upon the table, while johnny placed conspicuously in the centre, after laboriously extracting the stopper with a fork and a hair-pin, a bottle of stout brought from london. he had been much impressed by numberless advertisements upon the hoardings respecting this attractive beverage. the children then ran off to meet their mother and they all came home together with great hilarity. mrs. flynn’s attention having been immediately drawn to the sinister decoration of her dining table, pomona was requested to pour out a glass of the nectar. johnny handed this gravely to his parent, saying:
“many happy returns of the day, mrs. flynn!”
“o, dear, dear!” gasped his mother merrily, “you drink first!”
[212]
“excuse me, no, mrs. flynn,” rejoined her son, “many happy returns of the day!”
when the toast had been honoured pomona and johnny looked tremendously at each other.
“shall we?” exclaimed pomona.
“o yes,” decided johnny; “come on, mum, in the garden, something marvellous!”
she followed her children into that dull little den, and fortuitously the sun shone there for the occasion. behold, the dauntless evergreen bush had been stripped of its leaves and upon its blossomless twigs the children had hung numerous couples of ripe cherries, white and red and black.
“what do you think of it, mum?” cried the children, snatching some of the fruit and pressing it into her hands, “what do you think of it?”
“beautiful!” said the poor woman in a tremulous voice. they stared silently at their mother until she could bear it no longer. she turned and went sobbing into the kitchen.
