The Next-Doors [antikvár]

Ever siiice I can remember, there has been trouble over our next-door neighbours. Not the Williams family who live in the house attached to ours. They are all right and we have always got on well with them. But the others, the Lewis family. They have always been difficult. Especially to Mother. Mother has had a hard life. Dad had an accident at work, when I was only about ten, and he is often ül. So it has been up to Mother to keep the family going. And she has too. My older brother and sister are both married and live in their own homes. I have left school and am doing a commercial course at the Technical College. Shorthand, typing and bookkeeping. Mother said I must get a training. That is just like her. I could have got a job straight away and brought somé money into the house. It would have helped her a great deal. But she said no. 'Get yourself a training, Brenda, my girl,5 she said, over and over again. 'And then you've got something all your life.' I suppose she is right. Most of my school-friends are working now, and earning money. I sometimes wish I was too. But Mother is probably right. There is Kathy, too, my little sister. She is only twelve and still has somé years at school to go through. I quite like the training, and I am getting on quite well with it, although it seems very slow at times. It is just that I should like to be able to bring back