BLACK TOM

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20924, 31 December 1937, Page 17

BLACK TOM

Ann hugged Black Tom tighf. M chael called her a silly baby for loving her doll so much. Ann didn’t care; and to-day she was feeling especially happy, for she and Black Tom, with Dad, Mums, and Michael, were in the train, on their way to their new home. They were nearing a big town when Mums thought the children must be hungry. She said she would get out at the next station and buy some lunch. ♦

Dad went with her, and so, telling Michael and Ann to sit still, they hastened off to the refreshment room.

It was fun to watch people bustling about the platform. Dad and Mums were a long time coming, but the children were quite happy until suddenly the train began to move. “Well, that’s done it!" said Michael. “We’s no tickets, no Dad, no anything.”

“Except Black Tom," murmured Ann.

“Black Tom! A lot of good he is! cried her brother.

The journey that had begun so happily had become a miserable one. They had never travelled alone before. They were worried and a little frightened.

By and by the train stopped and a man opened the door.

“If your name’s West you’re to stay here till your people come,” he said. He lifted the luggage on to the platform, and the children sat together on a suitcase, feeling very forlorn. A lady and gentleman who were standing near noticed them. “What a picture they make!” the lady said. “Why, I believe they’re Mary West’s children! I saw a fair-haired little girl once with an old-fashioned name. Jane? No, Ann. The child had a black doll in her arms.”

She hastened across the platform. “Is your name West, my dears?” she asked.

Michael raised his cap politely. “Yes, I am Michael West, and this is my sister, Ann,” he said. “This is Black Tom,” added Ann. “Fathead!” muttered her brother.

“I knew I was right,” said the lady. “I was at school with your mother. Have you ever heard of Bessie Partlet?”

“The little girl who rang a run-away ring at the Dean’s front door and round the corner ran right into the arms of a policeman?" cried Ann, excitedly.

“Yes. Rather dzadful, wasn’t it? Now, tell me, what are you doing here alone?” Michael told her about Dad and the lunch. “You must be famished,” she cried. “I know a topping little place where they keep ices, jellies, creams, and chocolate eclairs. What about it?" The children beamed. It was while they were enjoying their lunch that she explained how she had recognised them. “It was Black Tom that caught my eye first,” she confessed. “I have never forgotten that strange black doll. So it was really Tom who introduced us all to-day.” Ann gave her brother a triumphant look. “So, you see, he is some use,” she said.