Sammy Love is quite an interesting character from Bailey's Lot by Cookson. He came from a working class back ground. I guess that means he is like from the lower middle class in my country. He befriended Willie, Fiona's younger son. Even though Sammy is poor and his mother has a tendency to run away with different men, Sammy is a lovable character with colorful language.
What tickled me is that he went treasure hunting in the town rubbish dump and found a discarded silver teapot. He fought for the right to claim the teapot and took it home. He probably spent days and nights cleaning it. Then he presented it to Fiona as a gift. Although the spout was crooked and it could not be rightly put to use, Fiona and family saw the gesture as kindness. Sammy is not a person who would sponge off others better to do than him.
That brought me back to the summer I spent with the Corbets. Mr Corbet was a dear old man. He is as honest and straight forward as God made men. There was no need for him to be kind to me, just another foreign student. But he is friendly like the Baileys. His grand daughter took me home for Christmas because I could not afford the air ticket home. And he was more than kind when he extended an invitation for me to spend the coming summer with him and his wife.
Mrs Corbet came from an upright and noble line, they were healthy, honorable and well known in the old country. She chose to marry her husband at age fifteen against her entire clan. Thank goodness he made good and she was a lady of leisure at age forty. Looking back, they were pretty accepting of my differences. Apart from the waitresses in Chinese restaurant, they have not met another Chinese girl before me. It is one thing liking and accepting a foreigner, but to take her into the house as a guest for a few months is quite another. They were kind, thoughtful, and really worked at giving me quite a memorable summer. Remarkable!
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