John knew that his little sister was playing truant from school. He wasn't completely nieve but it was nice that his sister wanted to spend some time with him. She was barely in double figures age wise when he left for India and now she was almost 15. He'd missed a third of her life and he felt a little guilty but deep down he knew it was the right course of action him leaving for the army. They had taken a tearaway child and turned him into a man. He'd made peace with his siblings and was now ready to move forward. 

He'd agreed to meet Kate away from the house so ma wouldn't know and was walking along the streets he'd grown up in before finding the agreed park bench and sitting down to wait on his little sister.

Kate’s heart was pounding in her ears as she hurried over to the place where she had agreed to meet John. Oh God, she had lied to her teacher! She had pretended to be sick when she wasn’t, to get out of her summer class. For the first time in her life she was playing truant! It wasn’t what a sensible young lady aspiring to be a teacher would do. Especially not one who had already been reprimanded several times over the course of the summer for not taking her lessons seriously enough. And if ma found out… Kate didn’t even want to think about that scenario. She’d rather run away from home and become a music hall dancer than deal with ma if she found out! Oh, she did feel terribly wicked!

But she had missed her brother for five agonizing years! And very soon he would have to go away again! And she was stuck in summer class all the time! It was unbearable. She had to have at least one day with John. Alone with him. Not with her father there, who still seemed awkward – more awkward than his usual self – around his eldest son. Not with ma, who seemed increasingly stressed. Not with Joe who was very much to blame for her mother’s recent stress. Just her and John.

Ma wouldn’t find out that she had played truant, Kate reasoned with herself in an attempt to shake the adrenaline. There was no way for ma to know that her daughter was in Robin Hoods Bay rather than school. And her teacher thought that she had gone home sick and trusted her. Ach – that made her feel worse! She had often been praised as an honest and reliable girl. It was only once, she told herself. Just this one time!

Her fear and guilt ebbed away when she spotted John. She waved and sprinted over, resting her hands on her knees and catching her breath when she reached the bench. Then she rose and looked around anxiously. “Let’s go,” he breathed with a half-laugh. She was eager to get out of town, lest somebody who knew she should be in class spotted her.

John laughed at his sister "calm down min! We aren't robbing a bank!" John rose to his feet and walked "feels weird seeing you gown up. Not just you everyone. Ruth, Joe etc" he tilted his head slightly "it also feels weird being home. No heat, no insects buzzing around you all the time. Although who knows where I might get sent next"

He thought for a moment "anyways what have you been doing at school? Your last letters never mentioned much about it"

"I'd rather rob a bank and be caught by police than skip school and be caught by Ma!" she retorted, still panting. But she couldn't find out, Kate reassured herself. She had thought it out so securely, she even felt a strange but delicious sense of pride in the accomplishment. She ought to be very ashamed of herself indeed. As she rose, there was a little smirk on her face.

She walked with John in the direction of the cliffs, while he talked about his disorienting shift between worlds. John had written her long letters describing India and Kate had conjured up many visions of the place in her mind, but it still seemed a strange far of place to her. The excitement she got from pretending to be there in her mind was only present because she knew it was make-belief. She couldn't imagine leaving home for such a hostile place.

"That's because there wasn't much to tell," she said reluctantly. "It's... oh John, it's such a grind, sometimes I don't know if I want to be a teacher!" she suddenly blurted out. She couldn't tell her parents. They'd be disappointed with her for even thinking in such a way. Joe and Ruth were preoccupied with their own messy lives. And her friends would think her mad and probably ungrateful. But John had always been restless. Of all people, she felt he might understand.

John laughed. "You've clearly never been on the end of one of mums famous flying rolling pins. Jeez she caught me a few times by the time I was your age. Including some that were meant for Ruth or Joe when I took the blame to protect them"

He thought for a moment. "I'm being sent to Yorkshire to train soldiers but who knows where the army might send me next but this will be my last stint. I'm not signing up again for reenlistment. I've done my time kate. I've got the medals and scars to prove it. It's time for me to think to the future. Maybe do one more tour and then put some money aside and start my own business back here in whitby"

He smiled "it was always good to recieve letters from you, ruth and mom. It always amazed me how your writing and spelling always improved with every letter" he nodded "well I understand how you feel little one. I've felt the same way especially after being shot. Do I still want to be a soldier. I joined up to escape this place and build a better me. Now I'm thinking I should return. I don't know what the family would say. Just like you"

Kate felt hurt. She put her hands in her pockets and walked quietly beside him, starting at the path, as he talked of his own situation. Then as he finished, she figured he was trying to tell her he was in the same boat. It weighed on her. She stayed quiet for a while.

They had passed St. Martha's and the Abbey and were walking along the cliff now. She stared out across the sparkling sea. Perhaps she should go back to school... No, it was too late for that now. She felt her eyes burn and blinked quickly up against the wind. "Ye broke mum's heart."

John sighed "I know I did Kate and I have to live with that. I had to go. The Constabulary were never away from the house. If I went out they gave me and James Colley hassle. Things were hell between me and Joe. It wasn't pretty. If I had stayed. I'd have been in prison and that would have broken ma's heart worse than me going to the army. Da never approved but deep down I think he understands I had to aswell"

He sat down for a bit on the grass beside the path and patted the ground for Kate to sit with him, "when I left. All the families were fighting with each other. Wards, longbottoms etc. There was a large battle in the craggs at that time. Ma was more worried I wouldn't come home at all. I left before I got locked. The army did me alot of good. It taught me to read and write. How to do all my own admin. And It let me see part of the world. But now I feel that my three years left will be my last and I will be out on civilian street"

Kate sat down reluctantly. She was getting increasingly frustrated. And John was full of bull, that didn't help. The Wards and Longbottoms had been a a lot more amical back then than they were today, but whoever was fighting, John could have stayed out of it. And he could have chosen to pay attention in school and learn to read and write just fine. He could have behaved like a normal person and prison would never have been a threat. And he could shut the hell up and listen to her.

She got up. "Well, good for you. If you'd walk as much as you blather, maybe we could get to Robin Hood's bay today." She began to stride along the path, not waiting to see whether he'd catch up.

John shook his head "cheeky wee shite!" He muttered to himself "when did she become so headstrong" John rose to his feet. He continued to walk along the path and followed kate. "Wait up kate!" He bellowed after her

"What, yer too old fer a walk now?" Kate shouted back, keeping up the pace.