Henry didn’t feel proud of himself, but it was done. He’d planned to tell Les that the hut must have burned down the day they left, but now he had the books. He couldn’t bring himself to chuck them in the scrub nor could he return them to Les. He opened the Bible, something he hadn’t done since the war. On the inside cover, written in copperplate was the inscription ‘Awarded to Leslie Jamieson for perfect Sunday School attendance. Dec 1904.’
Underneath the inscription in a rougher hand was written the following verse.
John 15:3 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
He snapped the Bible shut and roughly placed it on the ground before rolling another smoke. He had a couple of puffs before opening the exercise book. Inside were rows of figures written in the same hand that had written the Bible verse. At the top of the first page was written ‘FOR MY OLD AGE’ Underneath Les had documented every penny he had earned or spent. The amount spent on himself over the years was tiny and consisted mainly of flour, salt, sugar and soap. Henry knew he was prying, but couldn’t stop turning the pages as he watched Les’ tiny savings grow. At the top of page six was the final entry.
Expenses
05/06/32 My friends – £87.30d
Balance £0.00d
And the hard man wept.
