Honour Thy Father

by Honour Thy Father (retail) (epub)

  ‘But what if she won’t eat even then?’ Anne said doubtfully.

  ‘Tell her she’ll get nothing else and keep to it. Hunger’s a good sauce, girl, and she won’t starve. She’s had too many years of good feeding behind her. It’s not the food. Laura’s determined to defy her father and he’s determined not to let her and he’s right. You’ll be making a rod for your own backs if you let her get the upper hand of you now, girl, and it’d be bad for the child herself.’

  Anne sighed. ‘I think you’re right, Grandma, and I’ll try it. The hardest part will be convincing John.’

  ‘Tell him the cook’s going on strike if he doesn’t agree and he’ll soon toe the line,’ said Sally and they laughed together.

  Anne put the plan into operation immediately and hardened her heart when Laura looked at her reproachfully or she heard her sobbing in bed. Sally took the opportunity to talk to Laura on her next visit.

  ‘Your mum said you’ve started turning your nose up at good food,’ she began and when Laura nodded Sally said sternly, ‘That’s something I can’t abide to see. If you’d seen what I’d seen you’d never refuse food. Children dying long before they were your age because they never had enough to eat.’

  ‘That was a long time ago,’ Laura muttered.

  ‘Not all that long, miss,’ Sally said sharply. ‘There was a time when your Nana was a little girl when it took me all my time to find enough to feed her and her sister and we were well off compared to some. Plenty of children lived and died without ever knowing a full belly.’

  ‘Perhaps they just didn’t like the food,’ Laura said. She had never seen her grandma so angry.

  ‘Don’t talk like a fool,’ she snapped. ‘It’d do you good to go short. I’m talking about hungry barefoot children that would eat mouldy bread if they could get it, crying with hunger pains and their mams crying with hunger themselves and having to listen to their children suffering and nothing to give them. Think of your house with no food in the cupboard, nothing at all and no way of getting it and no fire or warm clothes either. You don’t know you’re born.’

  Laura sat with her head bent and Sally said more gently, ‘I can’t expect you to realise I suppose. You’ve never known anything but plenty but my Lawrie worked all his life to do away with that sort of poverty. It broke his heart to see those children but I suppose it’s soon forgotten.’

  She looked sad and Laura said impulsively, ‘I just didn’t know, Grandma. I will eat all my dinners, honest.’

  ‘That’s a good girl. Your mam works hard cooking nice meals for you, love, and your dad works hard to get the money to buy the food,’ Sally said. ‘I know you don’t want to upset your mam.’

  Laura seemed subdued when she returned home but she ate all her meal. Anne had a quiet word with John so nothing was said and peace reigned.

  Chapter Three

  The food war was soon forgotten in excitement when Rosaleen and David came to stay for a week. Sarah and Joe had gone to Dublin to visit Anne and Joe’s sister Eileen and her husband Martin O’Hanlon. After eight childless years Eileen had given birth to identical twin boys in Dublin’s Mater Hospital and Sarah and Joe had gone to help when she returned home.

  ‘I’d love to go to Eileen,’ Anne said wistfully, ‘but I daren’t leave Julie.’

  ‘Eileen understands that,’ Sarah assured her. ‘You’re helping by taking our kids for a week.’

  ‘I’m glad to have them and Laura’s made up,’ Anne said. The week passed too quickly for Laura. Rosa had dancing lessons twice a week and on those evenings Laura visited Sally. There were no main roads between the two houses so she was able to go alone. Sally had suffered with arthritis for many years in her arms and shoulders but now her legs were affected so walking was difficult and she welcomed Laura warmly.

  Laura enjoyed her visits to her great-grandmother and Anne encouraged them. She felt that the wise old lady knew how to guide her difficult child and when Laura asked about the relationship between the people in Grandma’s family stories she advised her to ask her father. ‘He could tell you better than me,’ she said. ‘It’s his family,’ and rejoiced when she saw John drawing up a family tree for Laura.

  On a day that was a school holiday Laura went after lunch and found her grandmother alone. ‘It’s Grandma’s day for the pictures,’ Cathy explained. ‘You can help me to get a nice tea ready for her and Mrs Burns when they come back.’

  For many years Sally and her old friend and former neighbour Peggy Burns had visited the cinema on one afternoon a week and a cafe either before or after the performance. Now that they were both in their eighties they found the journey and the cafe visit too much but fortunately Greg, who was managing director of his firm, could arrange his work so that he was free to drive his mother-in-law and her friend to the cinema. Later he collected them and brought them back for a meal prepared by his wife.

  Laura liked Mrs Burns. She was as small and fat as Sally was tall and spare and she often joked that they were like Laurel and Hardy.

  ‘Although I’m the daft one,’ Mrs Burns told Laura. Peggy Burns and Sally had lived next door to each other for many years until their houses had been destroyed by the same bomb during the war, fortunately while they were taking shelter elsewhere.

  Sally had moved in with Cathy and Greg and Peggy had gone to live with her granddaughter Meg and her husband. Meg was a very pretty but slightly retarded girl, brought up by Peggy after her parents’ death, and it was a great relief to Peggy when Willie Smith wanted to marry Meg and look after her. They had all lived amicably together until Peggy took a house to provide a home for her son Michael when he returned from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. Unfortunately his experiences at the hands of the Japanese had left him broken in mind and body. Although he recovered physically, his mental state was so bad that eventually he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He had been unhappy there and Greg had managed to get him transferred to the psychiatric wing of a smaller hospital.

  Laura enjoyed helping her grandmother to make sandwiches of home-cooked ham and tinned salmon, and to lay the table with these and small dishes of pickled onions and beetroot, small home-made meat pies and various tarts and cakes, and also a glass bowl of tinned fruit and one of trifle. ‘Mrs Burns likes her food,’ Cathy explained as Laura surveyed the table.

  ‘She must do,’ said Laura.

  All was ready when Greg ushered in the two old ladies.

  ‘Oo, we’ve got company today,’ Peggy exclaimed when she saw Laura. ‘Have you been helping your nana, love?’

  Laura nodded and Cathy fussed about her mother and her friend, settling them at the table.

  ‘Was it a good film?’ Laura asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Peggy answered, ‘but I always enjoy the Palladium no matter what’s on, don’t you, Sal? It’s more homely than the town pictures and they’ve got Cinemarascope and terrier sonic sound just as good as the Futurist or any of them.’

  Laura glanced at the adults but no one appeared to notice Peggy’s mispronunciation or attempted to correct her as Laura felt her father would have done. Peggy went on happily, ‘Rosaleen’s not with you then today, love? She’s your best mate, isn’t she?’

  ‘Yes, my very best friend,’ Laura said. ‘She’s gone to an extra dancing class.’

  ‘I thought that was what she did,’ Peggy said. ‘I seen her one day in Breckfield Road with a parcel like shoes under her arm. I thought that was where she was off.’

  Greg winked at Laura. ‘Mrs Burns would have been a great detective if only she’d been a man,’ he said solemnly.

  Peggy laughed loudly. ‘Go on with you,’ she said, giving Greg a playful push. ‘I keep my eyes and ears open, that’s all.’ They were all laughing and Laura felt warm and comfortable. I wish our house was like this, she thought, then corrected herself. It is like this until Dad comes in.

  Greg went out to the hall to telephone his office and Peggy proceeded to tell many tales about the background to scanda
ls and events in the city and anecdotes about her neighbours.

  ‘Eh, you’re as good as a music hall turn, Peg,’ Sally said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

  Peggy, suddenly serious, said with a sigh, ‘We might as well laugh while we can. None of us knows what’s in front of us. Poor Nellie Ashcroft got took to the Kirkdale Homes last week.’

  ‘What were those girls thinking of?’ Sally exclaimed. ‘Surely one of them could have looked after her. She was a good mother to them.’

  ‘None of them ever give tuppence for her,’ Peggy said. ‘She was always just a handrag to them and to him and all. Never treated her proper. Only the size of sixpenn’orth of copper, he was, and thought he was the whole cheese.’

  ‘I remember Mr Ashcroft when he was the air raid warden,’ Cathy said. ‘Strutting round like a little bantam cock. He thought he was running the war.’

  ‘Aye, well, he was lucky. He dropped dead at work,’ Peggy said. ‘None of them girls have visited poor Nellie Ashcroft, Sal.’

  ‘Greg would take you and Peggy to see her if you want to go, Mum,’ Cathy said.

  Later Cathy often regretted her impulsive suggestion but at the time the two old ladies welcomed the idea and Greg readily agreed to take them whenever they wished.

  ‘Let me know when you want to go,’ he said. ‘I’m just going in to work to sign some letters but I’ll be back to take you home, Mrs Burns.’

  ‘Eh, he’s a proper gentleman, isn’t he?’ Peggy said when he left. ‘The way he always calls me Mrs Burns. And a good man too, and all done quiet like. No banging a drum or waving a banner like your John but he does more good in his own quiet way. He puts me in mind of Lawrie.’

  ‘Lawrie could bang a drum if he thought it was needed,’ Sally said. ‘And our John is trying to carry on where Lawrie left off.’

  ‘But Lawrie was never a big-head like John,’ Peggy declared and Sally tutted and nodded at Laura.

  ‘Oo, I forgot – he’s your dad,’ Peggy exclaimed. ‘Don’t take no notice to me, girl. I never open me mouth without putting me foot in it. Me and your dad are old sparring partners, that’s all.’

  Laura left as soon as the meal was finished and as she ran home she hugged the thought to her that Mrs Burns considered her father a big-head. Later when she was helping her mother to fold clothes she talked about Mrs Burns.

  ‘She’s funny, isn’t she, Mum? The things she says.’

  Her mother laughed. ‘Yes, she’s a real character. She’s had a hard life but she’s always kept cheerful. She and Grandma have been friends for years although they’re so different.’

  ‘She said that her and Daddy are old sparring partners,’ Laura said, darting a quick glance at her mother before turning back to the clothes. ‘What did she mean?’

  ‘They disagreed about the atom bomb,’ Anne informed her. ‘Daddy didn’t think it was right to use it and neither do I but Mrs Burns’s son was badly treated by the Japanese and she agreed with using it.’

  Laura opened her mouth to ask further questions but her mother said quickly, ‘That’s enough now, Laura. I’ve told you all that because you have a bad habit of nagging until you find out all you want to know. It’s not nice in a little girl so I don’t want to hear any more.’

  Laura stood looking down and scowling with her lower lip thrust out and Anne laughed. ‘I wish you could see yourself. You must have better things to think about than old arguments. Rosaleen wants to show you her new dance.’

  Laura said no more but she heard her Aunt Sarah discussing the visit to the Kirkdale Homes and determined to be at the house in Wastdale Road when her great-grandmother and Mrs Burns returned. She hoped that Mrs Burns would say more about her father.

  She again helped her grandmother to prepare a meal but when the two old ladies returned they both looked white and upset and neither spoke until Cathy and Greg had settled them in chairs and brought cups of tea to them.

  ‘Thanks, girl,’ Peggy said in a subdued voice. ‘Thank God for a cup of tea. That’s proper shook us up, hasn’t it, Sal?’

  Sally nodded and Cathy said gently, ‘Was Mrs Ashcroft bad then?’

  ‘Bad enough,’ said Peggy. ‘But it was them others. A great big ward full of old women and nearly all of them outa their minds. Oh, God, girl, it’d break your heart. Proper knocked the stuffing outa me and your mam, seeing and hearing that.’

  ‘Senile dementia they call it,’ Sally said. ‘Crying and screaming and shouting for their mams. And the worst of it, poor Nellie Ashcroft and a few others in their right minds having to lay and listen to that night and day.’ Her hand shook as she lifted the teacup and Cathy sat on a stool beside her.

  ‘Try not to think of it, Mam,’ she said gently. ‘Was Mrs Ashcroft pleased to see you?’

  ‘She broke her heart crying when she first seen us,’ Peggy said, ‘but then she ate some of your cake, Cathy, and enjoyed it. The nurse took the rest to mind for her because she said the other old women would pinch it off her.’

  ‘The nurses do their best,’ Sally said. ‘Good job someone’ll do the work but it’s hopeless. It’s something comes on in old age. I kept thinking that them women might have been the same as us a few years ago.’

  ‘By God, I’d go outa me mind if I thought I’d go like that,’ Peggy exclaimed and everyone was too upset to notice anything odd about her remark.

  Cathy said swiftly, ‘Well, at least neither of you would go in the Homes. Your Chrissie wouldn’t let you go, Peggy, and neither would any of the others. Even now Chrissie wants you to live with her, doesn’t she?’

  ‘Yes, but I want to have a home for Michael if he comes out of hospital. Chrissie says he’ll be welcome there and I know he will but he might be better on his own with me,’ said Peggy. ‘We’re lucky, Sal. We’ve both got good children.’

  She was quiet and subdued for a while but before long she became more cheerful and laughed and joked as usual, but everyone noticed a change in Peggy from the day of the visit to the Kirkdale Homes. It was not repeated but Cathy went alone to visit Mrs Ashcroft and reported that she was sinking fast. She died less than three weeks after the visit by Sally and Peggy.

  The time for Gerry’s 11 -plus examination was drawing near and John became increasingly worried about his prospects, but Gerry was unperturbed. He did the homework he was given as rapidly as possible then escaped to play with his friends.

  ‘It might be all the better that he’s not worried about it,’ Anne consoled John and she was proved right. Gerry remained unconcerned about the examination and in due course he was selected for a place at St Edward’s College.

  He went off happily and confidently on the first day of term, wearing the school uniform of purple blazer and cap and grey short trousers. His only complaint was that the college played rugby football, not soccer.

  Julie started school and, now much stronger, easily survived all the usual childhood infections but she was still very shy and nervous with strangers. Anne worried about her and urged Laura and Rosaleen to watch over her at playtime, as their playground adjoined the Infants’ playground, but her concern was unnecessary. Julie was still very small for her age but her gentle manner and sweet smile made even her small classmates feel protective towards her and she made many friends.

  Laura had been once to the dancing class with Rosaleen but it was not a success. She lacked Rosaleen’s natural grace and coordination and grew more awkward when the teacher criticised her. ‘Now, Laura, no scowls here,’ the teacher trilled as Laura stood with her lower lip out-thrust. ‘Only pretty pretty smiles allowed in our happy little group.’

  Laura looked at her with disgust and refused to go to the class again. ‘She’s too soppy,’ she told Rosaleen, ‘and she makes me feel as though my feet and hands are twice their size.’

  In vain Rosaleen urged her to try again. ‘It’ll just come to you,’ she said but Laura’s mind was made up.

  She went even more frequently to see Grandma, encouraged by Cath
y, although Anne and John worried that the visits were becoming too frequent. ‘Don’t let Laura be a nuisance to Grandma,’ John said when Cathy came alone to visit them. ‘She gets very tired now, doesn’t she?’

  ‘She gets a bit low in spirit because of the way Peggy is,’ Cathy said, ‘but she enjoys Laura’s company. She talks about the days of her own childhood and ours and Laura’s always interested even though she’s heard the tales before. They’re on the same wavelength and it does Grandma a world of good.’

  ‘Is Peggy no better then?’ Anne asked. ‘What exactly is wrong?’

  ‘Nothing you can put your finger on,’ Cathy said. ‘She just seems to have lost heart. Ever since she went to the Kirkdale Homes it seems to have preyed on her mind – the way those women were. I wish to God I’d never suggested them going.’

  ‘You did it for the best,’ Anne consoled her. ‘And if they hadn’t gone she could be worrying because they didn’t go to see their friend.’

  ‘Maybe, but it all seems to have started then,’ said Cathy. She sighed and picked up her handbag. ‘I’d better go. I don’t like to leave Grandma on her own for long. Let Laura come and cheer her up whenever she wants to.’

  Later she spoke to her mother about Peggy. ‘She’s gone so quiet,’ Cathy said. ‘I was just saying to Anne I’m sorry I ever suggested going to the Homes.’

  ‘You did it out of a kind heart, girl,’ Sally said. ‘And at least we let poor Nellie Ashcroft see that everyone hadn’t forgot her.’

  ‘But Peggy hasn’t been the same since,’ Cathy said.

  ‘No, she hasn’t,’ Sally agreed. ‘It upset me to see them women but it seemed to cut Peggy to the heart. Anyhow, Greg says he’ll take her and the two daughters to see Michael on Sunday so that might cheer her up.’

  Greg took Peggy and her daughters to see Michael Burns as planned and after dropping the daughters at their homes he brought Peggy to his own house for tea.

  Sally and Cathy welcomed her affectionately. ‘How was Michael?’ Cathy asked as she poured tea.