Mary Ann's Angels

by Catherine Cookson

  ‘Put him down and get to your granny’s.’

  Corny put David down, and Mary Ann took hold of the child’s hand. Then, as Corny strode towards the car, he was stopped in his stride by a yell that said ‘Da-ad! Da-ad!’ And he turned to see his son tugging his hand from Mary Ann’s and stretching out his arm to him. Retracing his steps, he took the child’s outstretched hand, saying, ‘I’ll take him with me.’

  Long after the car had disappeared from her view, Mary Ann stood on the drive. She was possessed of a strange feeling, as if she had lost everybody belonging to her. David had wanted to go with his dad. And he had said dad. In his own way he had said dad. He was talking. The wonder of it did not touch her in this moment, because Rose Mary was lost, really lost…Don’t be silly. She actually shook herself, and swung round and went into the house. But in a moment she was downstairs again and sitting in the office with the phone in her hand.

  It was Mike who answered her. ‘Hello there,’ he said.

  ‘It’s me, Da. Tell me. Has Rose Mary come over there?’

  ‘Rose Mary?’ She could almost see her father’s puckered brows. ‘No. What’s happened?’

  ‘Oh, so much, I don’t know where to begin. Only we can’t find Rose Mary. Corny’s gone down to Gran McBride’s. You see, me granny came this morning…’

  ‘Oh my God!’

  ‘Yes, as you say, oh my God! She was in fine fettle, and she taunted Rose Mary about something, and Rose Mary told her she didn’t like her and she liked Granny McBride, and then she ran out, and we think she may have made her way down there.’

  ‘God above! What mischief will that bloody woman cause next? Somebody should shoot her. Look, I’ll come over. Have you looked everywhere round the place?’

  ‘Yes, Da, we’ve looked everywhere. And don’t come over yet; wait until Corny comes back. I’ll ring you then; he might have found her.’

  ‘But what if he doesn’t? What will you do then?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Now look. If when Corny comes back he hasn’t got her, you get on to the police straight away.’

  ‘The police! But she might just be round about…’

  ‘Listen to me, girl. If Corny hasn’t got her, get on to the police, and don’t waste a minute. Look, I think I’ll come over.’

  ‘All right, Da.’

  Mary Ann rang off, then sat looking out of the window to the side of her. This should have been a wonderful day, a marvellous day, but her granny had to turn up, that evil genie, her granny. Corny had made it at last; they should be rejoicing. And look what had happened. But she didn’t really care about anything, about the garage, or the factory, or anything…if only Rose Mary would come back.

  ‘Would you like a cigarette, Mrs Boyle?’ Jimmy was standing in the doorway, a grubby packet extended in his hand, and, shaking her head, she said softly, ‘No thanks, Jimmy.’

  ‘She’ll turn up, never you fear, Mrs Boyle. She’s cute, and she’s got a tongue in her head all right.’

  ‘Yes, Jimmy, she’s got a tongue in her head. And she’ll talk to anyone. That’s what I’m afraid of.’ It had come upon her suddenly, this fear; as she had said to Jimmy, she’d talk to anyone. Oh my God! She got off the seat and pushed past Jimmy; she wanted air. You heard of such dreadful things happening. That child, just a few months ago, taken away by that dreadful man. Oh God in Heaven! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Protect her. Oh, please, please. It won’t matter about the garage, or money or anything, only protect her…Here she was back to her childhood again, bargaining with the denizens of heaven. It was ridiculous, ridiculous. God helped those who helped themselves. She had learned that…She must do something, but what? She had got to stay here until Corny returned. And then her da might come any minute. But she just couldn’t stand about. She turned swiftly to Jimmy, saying, ‘I’m going up the road, to the crossroads. Tell Mr Boyle if he comes back, I won’t be long.’

  She was gone about twenty minutes, and when she returned there was the car on the drive and Corny standing near the office door with David by his side. Some part of her mind registered the fact in this moment that her son didn’t rush to her, and she was hurt. The secret core in her was already crying. She stood in front of Corny and again he shook his head, then said, ‘She’s never seen hilt nor hair of her, and I’ve stopped the car about twenty times and asked here and there.’

  ‘I phoned the farm; me da’s coming over.’

  ‘I phoned an’ all, from Jarrow.’

  Corny, his face bleached-looking, turned from her and went into the office and picked up the phone, and coming on his heels, she stood close to him and whispered, ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Phone the police.’

  A few minutes later he put the phone down, saying, ‘They’ll be here shortly.’ Then, rubbing his hand over his drained face, he walked out on to the drive, and he looked about him before he said, ‘I didn’t think about it at the time when I was taking her to the bus, but now I wonder why I didn’t throttle that old girl. Somebody’s going to one of these days. I never really understood how you felt about her.’ He looked down at Mary Ann. ‘But I do now. My God! I do now.’

  Chapter Eight

  The search was organised; the police cars were roaming the district. Mary Ann was walking the streets of Felling; Michael was doing Jarrow; Jimmy was stopping odd cars on the main road to enquire if anyone had seen a little girl in a blue dress, while Corny traversed the fields and ditches, and the by-lanes right to the old stone quarry four miles away and back to the garage, all the while humping David with him. As he came at a trot into the driveway carrying David on one arm, he heard the phone ring, but when he reached the office and lifted up the receiver the operator asked for his number.

  He went out onto the drive again, David still by his side, and rubbed his sweating face with his hand. Where was Mike? Mike was supposed to stay put. ‘Mike!’ he called. ‘Mike!’ Then, going round to the back, he saw Mike’s unmistakable figure in the far distance walking by the side of the deep drain.

  Corny shook his head; they had done all that. He should have stayed here and waited for the phone. He had asked him to do just that because Jimmy was better on the road, and he himself was quicker on his pins over the fields, even handicapped as he was with the child. ‘Mike!’ he shouted. ‘Mike!’

  Mike was breathing hard when he reached the old car, and he called from there, ‘You’ve got news?’

  Corny shook his head, and Mike’s pace slowed.

  ‘The phone’s been ringing,’ said Corny when Mike reached him.

  ‘Oh! Oh well, I was about for ages, I just couldn’t stay put, man. I thought of the ditch over there. It’s covered with ferns in places.’

  ‘We’ve been all round there, I’ve told you.’ Corny turned away and Mike’s chin went upwards at the tone of his voice, and then he lowered it again. This wasn’t the time to take umbrage at a man’s tone, not the state he must be in. For himself he was back to the time when Mary Ann had run away from the convent in the south and had been reported seen in the company of an old man. Those hours had nearly driven him to complete madness.

  Around to the front of the garage again they went, David still hanging on to his father’s hand. There, Corny stood, leaning for a moment against the wall. He felt exhausted both in mind and body; too much had happened too quickly in the last few hours. He couldn’t ever remember feeling like this in his life before, weak, trembling all over inside.

  ‘Da-ad.’

  David repeated the word and tugged twice at Corny’s hand, before Corny looked at him, saying, ‘Yes. Yes, what is it, David?’

  ‘Roo Mary…Lost?’ The word lost was quite distinct.

  Corny continued to look at his son for a moment. Then, lifting his eyes to Mike, he said, wearily, ‘I’ve always said part them and he’d talk. But God, I’d rather he remained dumb for life than this had to happen before he did it.’
/>   Mike said nothing but looked down at his grandson, to the little face swollen with crying. Lizzie, like Corny, had always maintained that the boy would talk if he hadn’t Rose Mary to do it for him, and they had been right. He could talk all right, stumbling as yet, but, nevertheless, he had been shocked into speech.

  Corny, now pulling himself from the wall, said, ‘If only that damned old witch hadn’t put in an appearance this morning. With the news Mr Blenkinsop brought me I should be on top of the world. I was for about five minutes.’

  ‘You will be again,’ said Mike. ‘Never you fear.’

  ‘That depends.’ Corny looked his father-in-law straight in the eye.

  Again Mike made no answer, but he thought, ‘Aye, that depends.’

  Corny slowly moved towards the office with David at his side, and Mike, walking on his other side, looked towards the ground as he said, ‘I don’t think there’s a woman anywhere who’s caused as much havoc as that one. You know…and this is the truth…twice…twice I’ve thought seriously of doing her in.’ He turned his head to the side and met Corny’s full gaze. ‘It’s a fact. When I think, and I’ve often thought that I could have been hung for her, I get frightened, but not like I used to, because she can’t make me rise now as she could a few years ago. And I’m positive that’s why she came here today, just to get Mary Ann on the raw, because when she came to us on Sunday she got no satisfaction. Peter was at the tea table, and Peter in his polite, gentlemanly way is a match for her. And we were all laughing our heads off and not taking a penn’orth of notice of her. She didn’t like it. She couldn’t make anybody rise. Everybody was too happy for her. But she couldn’t go a week without finding a target, so she came back to the old firm. Who better than her granddaughter? God, I wish she had dropped down dead on the way.’

  ‘I endorse that. By, I do!’ Corny shook his head. Then, drawing in a deep breath and looking down at David, he said, ‘Are you hungry?’

  ‘NO-t.’

  ‘You’re not hungry?’

  ‘No-t, Da-ad.’

  ‘Would you like some milk?’

  ‘No-t.’

  ‘Say, no, David.’

  ‘No-oo.’

  ‘That’s a good boy.’ Corny turned and looked at Mike, and their glances said, ‘Would you believe it?’

  Now David, crossing his legs, pulled at Corny’s hand and said quite distinctly, ‘Lav, Da-ad.’

  ‘Well, you know where it is, don’t you? You can go by yourself…Go on.’

  David went, and as Corny and Mike watched him running round the corner of the building, the phone rang. Within a second Corny was in the office and had the receiver to his ear. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Mr Boyle?’

  ‘Yes, Mr Boyle here.’

  ‘It’s Blenkinsop.’

  ‘Oh, hello, Mr Blenkinsop.’

  ‘I don’t know how to begin, for I suppose you’re nearly all mad at that end…You’d never believe it, but…but I’ve got her here.’

  Corny closed his eyes and, gripping Mike’s arm tightly, he wetted his lips, then said, ‘You did say you’ve got her there, Mr Blenkinsop?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, I’ve got her here all right. She gave me the shock of my life. I stopped at an hotel for a drink and when I came out, there she was, sitting as calm as you like in the front of the car.’

  ‘In the front of the car?’ Corny repeated slowly as he cast his eyes towards Mike. ‘How did she get there?’

  ‘Well, as far as I can gather she was hiding from someone, great-grandmother or someone, so she says, and she climbed into the boot, as the lid was partly open. At this moment I feel I should pray to somebody in thanks that the lid was open and wouldn’t close tight because of some gear I had in there. She says she fell asleep because it was hot, but woke up once the car got going and did a lot of knocking, and, by the look of her face, a lot of crying, and then she fell asleep again. Apparently she found no difficulty in lifting the lid up once the car had stopped. One thing I can’t understand and that is how she slept in there at all, especially when the car was moving.’

  ‘Oh, she’s been used to sleeping on journeys since she was a baby. They both have, her and David.’

  ‘Well, boy, am I dazed. But you…you must be frantic.’

  ‘You can say that again. The whole place is alerted. The police, the lot. But I never thought of you, not once.’

  ‘Well, who would? I tell you, she gave me a scare sitting there; I thought I was seeing things. Look. Here she is; have a word with her.’

  Corny bowed his head and closed his eyes and listened.

  ‘It’s me, Dad.’

  ‘Hello, Rose Mary.’ His voice was trembling.

  ‘I didn’t mean to do it, Dad, but I wanted to hide from Great-gran. I didn’t want to go back upstairs, ’cos she was horrible, and so I climbed into the boot, like it was the old car. The lid was open a bit but it was hot. When the car started going I tried to push the lid up, and I shouted, but it was noisy. Are you all right, Dad?’

  ‘Yes, yes, I’m all right, Rose Mary. We only wondered where you were.’

  ‘And David? Is he wanting me?’

  ‘David’s all right, too.’

  ‘And me ma. Did she cry?’

  ‘Yes, yes, because she couldn’t find you, but she’ll be all right now.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’

  ‘It’s all right. It’s all right, Rose Mary.’

  ‘Mr Blenkinsop has been trying to get on the phone a lot.’

  ‘Has he? We’ve been out and about.’

  ‘I’m going to have some dinner now and then I’m coming back…You’re not mad at me, Dad, are you?’

  ‘No, no, I’m not mad at you.’

  ‘You sound funny.’

  ‘And so do you.’

  He heard her give a little laugh. Then he said, ‘Let me speak to Mr Blenkinsop again.’

  ‘Ta-ra, Dad.’

  ‘Bye-bye, Rose Mary.’

  ‘Well now.’ it was Mr Blenkinsop speaking again. ‘If it’s all right with you, as she says she’ll have some dinner, and then I’ll make the return journey as quickly as possible.’

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, if this has spoiled your trip.’

  ‘Oh, don’t be sorry about that. I’m sorry for scaring the daylights out of you. And if I know anything you’re still in a state of shock; I know how I would feel…I tell you what though. We’re just about twenty miles out of Doncaster; I wonder if you’d mind if I ran in and told my cousin…I was going to spend the night with him and his family—I think I told you—and if I explain things they’ll understand, because I won’t make the return journey back to them until tomorrow.’

  ‘Yes, yes, you go ahead and do that. I’m sorry it’s putting you out.’

  ‘Oh, not at all. Just that being so near, it would be better to explain in person, rather than phoning.’ Mr Blenkinsop laughed his merry laugh. ‘What a day! What a day! I’m just thinking; I brought you a bit of good news and then I took all the good out of it.’

  ‘It wasn’t your fault, sir.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad you look at it like that. I’ll be back as quickly as I can, and that should be shortly after six.’

  ‘Right, sir.’

  ‘Here she is to say another goodbye.’

  Corny heard Rose Mary take a number of sharp breaths. ‘Bye-bye again, Dad. Tell David I won’t be long. And me mam.’

  ‘Bye-bye, dear.’

  He listened until the receiver clicked, then put the phone down and turned and looked at Mike. Mike was leaning against the stanchion of the door, wiping his face and neck with a coloured handkerchief. Corny sat staring at him. He felt very weak as if he had just got over a bout of flu or some such thing.

  ‘Well!’ said Mike, still rubbing at his face.

  ‘Aye, well,’ said Corny. ‘I just can’t take it in. I feel so sick with relief I could vomit.’

  The corner of Mike’s mouth turned up as he said, ‘Well, before you give yourself that pleasure you
’d better get on to the police.’

  ‘Aye, yes.’ Corny picked up the phone again.

  ‘Aw, I’m glad to hear that,’ said the officer in charge. ‘Right glad.’

  ‘I’m sorry to have put you to so much trouble.’

  ‘Oh, don’t bother about that. As long as she’s okay, that’s everything. I’ll start calling them off now.’

  ‘Thank you very much. Goodbye.’

  Corny walked past Mike and looked up at the sky. He still felt bewildered.

  ‘What are you going to do now?’

  ‘Go and find Mary Ann,’ said Corny. ‘She seemed to think she might have gone to some of her playmates. I’ll go round Felling, and when I pick her up I’ll go and find Michael. That’s if the police haven’t contacted him beforehand…You’ll stay here?’

  ‘Oh aye, I’ll stay here. I feel like yourself, a bit sick with relief.’

  ‘Da-ad, be-en.’

  The two men turned to where David was running across the cement towards them, and when the boy threw himself against Corny’s legs, Corny looked down at him but didn’t speak, and Mike, after a moment, said softly, ‘Aren’t you going to tell him?’

  Corny looked at Mike now and he said slowly, ‘I’ve only got till six o’clock.’

  ‘What d’you mean?’

  Corny, now speaking under his breath, muttered, ‘The minute she comes back he’ll close up like a clam; she hasn’t been away long enough.’

  ‘Aw man, my God, be thankful.’ Mike’s voice was indignant.

  ‘I am, I am, Mike. Thankful! You just don’t know how thankful, but this’—he motioned his head down to the side of him—‘I wanted to hear him…You know what?’ He moved his lips soundlessly. ‘More than anything in life I wanted to hear him…I wanted this garage to be successful as you know. For seven years I’ve hung on, but if I had to choose, well, I know what I would have chosen…His state has come between me and sleep for months now. I’ve told Mary Ann that if…’ He looked down at David again, at the wide eyes staring up at him, and, looking back at Mike, he began to speak enigmatically, saying, ‘If what has happened the day could have been made to happen, you know what I mean, one one place, one the other, just for a short time, it would have worked. I’ve told her till I’m sick, but she wouldn’t have it. But I’ve been proved right, haven’t I? You see for yourself.’