“That’s a very windy spot.”
“No it isn’t, it’s quite hot. The sun’s come out now. It’s rained for weeks. It won’t rain any more. It’ll be hot. You won’t feel the wind. Will you have the corner, mother?”
“No, chick, you sit there.”
Miriam screwed herself into the corner seat, crossing her knees and grazing the tips of her shoes.
“This is the only place on the top of a bus.”
Mrs. Henderson sat down at her side.
“I always make Harriett come up here when we go up to the West End.”
“Of course it’s the only place,” she insisted in response to her mother’s amused laugh. “No one smoking or talking in front; you can see out in front and you can see the shops if there are any, and you’re not falling off all the time. The bus goes on the left side of the road and tilts to the left.”
The seats were filling up and the driver appeared clambering into his place.
“Didn’t you ever think of that? Didn’t you ever think of the bus tilting that way?” persisted Miriam to her mother’s inattentive face. “Fancy never thinking of it. It’s beastly on the other side.”