The sound of his laughter provoked a strange emotion in her. Ruth began to laugh as well. "I know," she chuckled. "Him a dad, right? He can barely wipe his own arse." Then she looked at him more seriously. "Mr. Ward's not like 'e used to be. 'E's some big guy among the fishermen nowadays and it's gone to 'is head."

There was a time Ruth had spent almost every moment she was not at school with the Wards. They had fed her better than her parents had and had tried to clothe her. Only Ruth's own pride and resentment at the insults muttered about her parents had stood in the way of accepting Rose's old dresses. Ben Ward had been an intimidating figure with his bulky frame and big beard, grave manners and thundering voice when angry. But she had been drawn to him. He had spoken to her affectionately, and put his big hand on her head when he passed her, like she was one of his own children. He had always made sure she got as much to eat as the other children when she joined them for tea. Mr. Ward would insist she would even when Mrs. Ward was concerned about having another mouth to feed. When Mr. Ward would scold her for dirty habits or bad manners, she would actually feel a little sorry. Mr. Ward had seemed to see her in a way no one else did, so that even his reprimands had felt like a warm blanket.

But all of that was a long time ago. "You'll find many things are different. Aye, Crane is there, but there's an entire police force now. They wanna clear the streets of the likes of us. And they have this organisation that wants to take kids from bad families and send them overseas. I worry they'll take James. He's turned into a right pain in the ass, but I don't want them sending him to Canada or sum't."