Read (6/13) Gossip from Thrush Green for Free Online

the back of one's mind.
    'My granny,' said young Peter in the front row, 'learnt me a new song last night.'
    'Taught, dear,' replied Miss Fogerty automatically.
    'Called 'Sing a song of sixpence'. Shall I sing it?'
    'Later, dear. Now, all sit up straight, and listen to me.'
    'What is sixpence ?' asked Peter.
    High time we got on with the lesson, thought Agnes Fogerty, and directed her class to open the boxes.

    Next door, Harold Shoosmith and his wife Isobel were admiring some early daffodils in their garden. From the house came the whirr of the vacuum cleaner as Betty Bell, their helper, crashed happily about her work.
    'One thing about our Betty,' observed Harold, 'she tackles everything with a will. Lord alone knows how many glasses she's smashed since she's worked here.'
    'Not many since I came,' replied Isobel. 'You haven't noticed but I do the glasses now.'
    'Ah! That accounts for the fact that I haven't had to buy any more for eighteen months! Marrying you was the best day's work I ever did.'
    'Of course it was,' agreed Isobel matter-of-factly. 'How lucky for you that I took you on.'
    A window opened above them and Betty's voice hailed them.
    ' Telephone !' she roared.
    While Harold was engaged with his caller, Betty caught at her mistress's arm.
    'Is it all right if I go a couple of minutes early? Dotty—I mean Miss Harmer - wants me to give her a hand moving out her dresser. Lost some letter or other down the back as ought to be answered today.'
    Of course you can go,' said Isobel. Betty Bell was in great demand, she well knew. Dotty Harmer had employed her long before Isobel, or even Harold when a bachelor, had appeared on the scene. As well as these duties, Betty also kept the village school clean. Isobel was wise enough to recognise that a certain amount of flexibility in Betty's employment was inevitable.
    I must say,' went on Betty, attacking a side table with a flailing duster, 'it's a sight easier working here than at Miss Harmer's. I mean it's clean to start with. And tidy. Always was, even when Mr Shoosmith lived here alone. You don't expect a man to keep himself decent really, let alone a house, but he was always nicely washed and that, and the house always smelt fresh.'
    Isobel said gravely that she was pleased to hear it.
    'But down Miss Harmer's it's a fair old pig's breakfast, I can tell you. Can't never find nothing, and the dusters is old bloomers of hers like as not. Washed, of course, but you can't get the same gloss on things with 'em like this nice one.'
    Isobel felt unequal to coping with this conversation, and said she would go and see to lunch.
    An hour later, Betty entered Dotty's kitchen to find her other employer sitting at the cluttered table studying a form.
    'Oh, how nice of you to come, Betty! As a matter of fact I managed to reach this wretched letter by inserting a long knitting needle in the crack. It fell down, and I was able to get it by lying on the floor, and wriggling it out with a poker.'
    Her wrinkled old face glowed with pride.
    'Well, you won't want me then,' said Betty, swatting a fly on the table. 'Filthy things, flies.'
    'Oh, do wait while I just fill it in,' said Dotty, 'and perhaps you would be kind enough to post it as you go past the box.'
    'Sure I will,' said Betty, lunging with a handy newspaper at another fly. 'You've got some real nasty flies in here.'
    'Poor things,' said Miss Harmer, putting down her pen. So persecuted. I often wonder if they are as dangerous to health as modern pundits suggest. My grandmother used to sing a charming little song to my baby brother when flies were quite accepted. '
    She began to sing in a small cracked voice, while Betty watched her with mingled exasperation and amusement.
Baby bye, there's a fly,
Let us watch it you and I,
There it crawls, up the walls,
Yet it never falls.

I believe with those six legs
You and I could walk on eggs.
There he goes, on his toes,
Tickling baby's nose.
    'Well,' said Betty, 'fancy letting it!