No Choice Alternate Ending

No Choice
Sal walked purposefully through the alleys of Butler’s Buldings towards the rows of stalls. She needed to get back home to Willie but she couldn't go home empty-handed, not again. To see Willie's pale crestfallen face, when he saw she didn’t have any food, would break her heart. She scanned the market and the throng of people, looking for a loaf of bread or some fruit she could take without being noticed. Her eyes came to rest upon the baker's stall, which was being guarded zealously by an elderly man. Despite his beady surveillance, she knew he wouldn’t have the energy to come after her. Never in her life, had she thought she would be so desperate she would have to steal from an old man.

She thought back to the first time she had stolen eggs with Will. They’d been happy; they’d had little but they’d not been starving. It had been a bit of fun, not prompted by desperation. She hoped
What would happen if she were caught? What would become of Willie? She would be in jail, like Will, and who would look after their son? Lizzie and Mary, already had enough problems of their own. She didn’t want to do that to them but the guilt she would feel if she came home, for the third day in a row, with nothing was
They would sit together, in the stuffed armchairs, by the fire, retelling old stories to their children. None of that would happen now. Will would most likely die in a couple of days, and she would be left all alone with Willie and if she went on the street, she would be shamed and demeaned like all the other women who were reduced to nothing. The look Will had given her at the prison came vividly to mind. He had looked at her like a customer – and had found her wanting. She sobbed for the life she’d lost, then straightened and walked on. Willie was all that