Page 37 - My Home on the Earth

he was alone with food, money, and instructions not to leave or to answer the door. He was to either play games or watch TV. On Friday night he must take a bath and wash his hair. The towel and his bedsheets were to be placed in a black sack and dumped in the large communal bin in the yard. At ten minutes to seven on Saturday morning, he must leave by the rear door and walk to the station to catch the seven-thirty train on platform two. She would meet him at Victoria Station where they would eat before catching a second train to Rauston. Aunt Louisa was away for the weekend, so he could stay in the apartment until Sunday lunchtime.
Mr Moore, owner of the guest house, rented out the rooms. He visited the building in the evenings for his rent money. John hoped he wouldn’t come while he was alone. His mum had left twenty-two pound coins on the windowsill for the electric meter. He was to put three or four in each morning and only have the electric fire on after three o’clock in the afternoon. The meter also served the lighting, immersion heater and the cooker. On no account was he to feed the meter with all the coins in one go.
John wasn’t alone. Across the landing, a builder rented two rooms and an older woman rented the other two. Upstairs, more rooms provided accommodation to a Chinese family. Downstairs, the rooms were occupied by students from the university.
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