Today is Ekka wednesday- holiday time. It’s so lovely to be given a bit of time off in the middle of the week. Which got me thinking how great time is.
Gen says we are poor.
“Mum works two jobs just to buy us a future.”
I never really understand. Mum goes to work and I go to school with Gen. Gen is in year 8, her final year. Soon she’ll have to go to work too. One day I win a maths competition and I’m taken to compete against the other schools. I sit next to a boy my age in a posh uniform.
“Did your mum make you come too?” he asks.
“No, I like maths. So does my sister, she’s in year 8,” I say proudly.
“I have an older sister too,” he says, “she’s in year 20.”
His mum waves from the crowd, she looks about 200. Most people only live to 40 round my part of town, I’ve never seen someone so old. I look around, many parents in the crowd look to be 50 at least.
Years later, I’m at a maths competition for year 20s. I imagine mum waving from the crowd. She worked herself into the ground to buy us a future. Sometimes I think it would be better if she’d worked less and we all spent what little time allowance we’d had from the government, with each other. As it is, I’ve won a lot of time at maths competitions and working with Gen. We donate it to our old school and other families like ours. Now they’ve opened up year 11 and most people make it to 50.
freyawrightbrough 