Living With Mr Shelby

Chapter One

I sighed quietly as the train chugged over the tracks jolting me a little. I was moving to Birmingham away from the countryside and into a city that looked like it was being swallowed by a giant cloud of black smoke.

"Next stop Birmingham." A jolly looking man in a conductor's uniform yelled through the train and I noticed a large group of people rushing to get to the doors before the train had even stopped, I struggled to pull my trunk down from the overhead compartment and nearly tripped on the hem of my dress. My grandparents had owned a farm in one of the smaller rural towns, which was where I grew up. I only ever had to wear dresses when guests came over or we went to school or church. One of the many things I missed about my home, my father had died in the war and my mother had passed away in childbirth my Grandparents helped my Father raise me for a time. The loss of my mother left my father horribly depressed.

He would vanish for weeks and come back bruised and bloodied. Grams had told my Father his gambling and drinking would catch up with him but it never did.

It caught up with us.

Mr Kimber was a man my Father had borrowed money from and he saw fit to retrieve his money by forcing my Grandparents to give up their farm.

They passed away a few weeks later hours from one another, the only comfort I took in their passing was the fact that they could be together, without Kimber's interference. The cockney had turned up at the inn I was residing in and demanded I hand over any valuables to pay off my Fathers debt and if I didn't have enough to pay him back, he would make use of me in one of his clubs. So I had decided to leave town, rumor had it there was a man Mr Kimber was afraid of in Birmingham. I had no idea who he was or where in Birmingham he lived but I would rather live near a dangerous stranger than get caught by a well known enemy.

"Here Miss let me help you." A short man with browny grey curly short curly hair stuttered and helped me get off the train.

"Thank you, Sir." I greeted him politely like my Grandmother had taught me, making the man blush and stutter even more.

"Ain't no lady ever called me Sir before, just plain old Curly." Curly let go of the arm he had been holding while he helped me step out of the train and quickly looked around for someone.

"Mr Curly, do you know any Inns that are taking residents?" I asked and Curly stopped fidgeting and looked down at me, he scrunched up his face and began getting wound up because he couldn't think of anywhere.

"I'm sorry Miss, but you could ask Tomm... I mean Mr Shelby if he knows anywhere." With that Curly hurried off leaving me standing alone in the smog filled air wondering who on earth Mr Shelby was and where I would find him.

I hitched up my skirt and headed towards the exit deciding that I needed to find a place to sleep before it got even darker. Men were stumbling out of the many pubs that lined the streets and some even had the audacity to ask me for 'a go.'

I shuddered at the thought of degrading myself to such levels when my Grandmother spent so long teaching me how to read and write so that I could avoid such jobs. I found an inn on the main high street and hurried inside waiting by the front desk for someone to come and great me, a slender man who had a round boyish face and a rather large woman who looked overly motherly hurried out of the back room once they noticed me.

"Hello my name is Lola Farnsworth, I'm looking for a long time residency until I can afford a place of my own. Do you offer this service?" I politely asked when they suddenly become very unfriendly.

"You're not from around here are you?" The woman asked, strain was clear in her cheerful voice, I shook my head and explained my predicament quickly and they soon became relaxed again.

"Well as long as you ain't caus'in trouble and you pay for the room you can stay as long as ya like." The man said handing me a key while I signed a piece of paper saying I would pay for the room once a week.

"Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow." I said after declining their offer of carrying my bags upstairs something I quickly regretted and swung open my door.

The room was simple but then again so were my needs. There was a large twin bed, a cooker, fireplace and a kitchen table set. By the fireplace was a comfy looking two seater sofa that had several singe marks on it where people had dropped the ash from their cigarettes.

I hurriedly unpacked my things discovering a tiny wardrobe hidden away to look like a cupboard, and prepared myself for bed as I glanced at the watch my Grandfather had given me for my sixteenth birthday and saw that it was nearly half past ten.