Honour Thy Father

by Honour Thy Father (retail) (epub)

  They had just finished the meal when the telephone rang and Joe came for Sally. ‘It’s Mick ringing from York,’ he explained. ‘He wants to speak to you first, Grandma.’

  Sally was still nervous of the telephone but soon they heard her laughing and exclaiming, ‘Mick, you’re a case. You never alter, lad.’ She talked for a few more minutes then called Cathy and Greg to the telephone and came back to the family smiling.

  ‘Eh, that lad. He never changes. Just as mad as ever. He must be a millionaire by now but there’s not a ha’porth of difference in him.’

  ‘Why should there be?’ John demanded. ‘Money’s not that important.’

  ‘Only when you’ve got none,’ Sally said dryly and John was silenced. When Cathy and Greg came back Sarah and John went to speak to their brother and Cathy announced that Mick and his wife Gerda would come home for New Year.

  ‘That’s something to look forward to,’ Anne said, ‘Always plenty of laughs when Mick’s around,’ and everyone agreed.

  Another family party was held at the grandparents’ house at New Year when Mick and Gerda arrived. Helen and Tony and the girls were invited because Tony was Anne and Joe’s brother so his family was always treated as part of the Redmond family too.

  Before the party Laura visited Grandma and was shown old photographs of Mick and Gerda. She knew that they were wealthy but not why. Now Sally explained that the slim, elegant Gerda was a qualified accountant and that Mick, laughing and looking devil-may- care in RAF uniform, had opened a plastics factory after the war and made his fortune.

  ‘He had Cathy’s heart broke when he was little,’ Sally said. ‘The mischief he got up to. You never knew what he’d do next but there was no harm in him. The house went quiet when he went.’

  At the party Laura thought that Grandma was right. There seemed to be continuous laughter wherever Mick was and Anne in particular seemed completely relaxed. She always seemed happy but Laura, sensitive to her mother’s every mood, could see that she was always nervous in family gatherings in case John said something controversial.

  Now John seemed as charmed by Mick as the rest of the family. When Mick asked if he would be going to London for the inauguration of the CND movement, John said eagerly, ‘Yes of course. It’s what I’ve been saying since Hiroshima, that nuclear weapons should be banned and I’m made up that other people think so too.’

  ‘So that’s the secret of your unpopularity, John. You’re always ahead of everyone else,’ Mick joked.

  Anne looked anxious but John only laughed. ‘Perhaps it is,’ he said.

  He was sitting near his grandmother and she said firmly, ‘Your grandad used to say he marched to a different drum because he was often out of step with other people but they came round to thinking the same as him in the long run. When he wanted pensions for widows and sick pay when men were off work they thought he was mad but it all came in the end. Maybe John marches to a different drum too.’

  Mick thumped John’s back. ‘He always did but keep it up, John. The world needs people like you to balance all the fools like me.’ The next moment he was telling a joke that had everyone laughing but Laura looked at her father with new respect.

  Shortly before midnight Greg went out as he had done for many years carrying coal and salt, then as midnight struck he returned. The door was opened to him by Cathy and he kissed her and said, ‘A happy New Year, love. God bless all here,’ before going to kiss Sally.

  All the children had been allowed to stay up to see in 1958 and everyone spilled out into the road to join neighbours in listening to the hooting of the ships on the river and the sound of church bells, while wishing each other a happy New Year amid much hilarity.

  Sally went out too but only for a moment then she returned to her chair by the fire, accompanied by Cathy and Laura. ‘Go back to the family, Cath,’ she urged her daughter. ‘Laura will stay with me, won’t you, love?’ Laura nodded, feeling proud and important as she sat holding her great-grandmother’s hand.

  The table had been laid with traditional New Year fare: spare ribs and sandwiches of home-cooked ham and bunloaf and mince pies. Drinks were in the kitchen and the family soon surged back to toast the New Year and to eat the food.

  ‘Gosh, I’m starving,’ Mick exclaimed.

  Gerda said reprovingly, ‘But Mick, it’s such a short time since you ate a large meal.’

  ‘He’s got hollow legs, girl,’ Sally said. ‘We always said so, didn’t we, Cath?’

  Cathy nodded and smiled.

  Helen sat down beside her. ‘This bunloaf is delicious, Mrs Redmond,’ she said. ‘I know you gave me the recipe but mine never turns out like this.’

  ‘It’s just luck sometimes,’ Cathy said. ‘I was baking all the time when they were all at home and it wasn’t only Mick who had hollow legs. John was as bad, and so were Sarah and Kate for that matter, and they’d have eaten anything. If friends were coming to tea I baked the same sandwich cakes that had turned out perfect for the family and they turned out as flat as flukes.’

  Helen laughed. ‘That must have been annoying.’

  ‘It certainly was, especially when I made them again for the family and they turned out well. I must have tried too hard for visitors.’

  ‘Perhaps I’m trying too hard,’ Helen said. She looked over to where Mick crouched down surrounded by all the children. ‘Just look at the children’s faces,’ she exclaimed. ‘Whatever is Mick doing?’

  ‘Conjuring tricks, I think,’ Cathy said as Mick pretended to take a small flag from Julie’s sleeve. ‘Hasn’t Julie improved this past year?’

  ‘Yes. She looks really healthy now,’ Helen agreed. ‘I’m so pleased for Anne’s sake – and John’s,’ she added hastily, realising that she was speaking to John’s mother.

  ‘Yes, it was a worry for them. Thank God Gerry and Laura are healthy too so they’ve got nothing to worry about.’

  They were still watching the children and the next moment Mick stood up. ‘Well, kids, I’m going to get a drink now and we’ll have another game later.’ The children dispersed and Moira came to her mother with her arm round her sister.

  ‘Laura always spoils everything,’ she said angrily. ‘Uncle Mick was taking a ball from Dilly’s pocket and the kids all thought it was magic but Laura said she saw it up his sleeves.’

  Helen and Cathy glanced at each other and Helen put her arm round Dilly who looked tearful. Moira, who was now a tall girl of fifteen, went on, ‘She’s always the same. When we all went to see Peter Pan, and Peter and Wendy were flying to Never-Never Land, all the little kids thought it was magic but Laura had to say that she saw one of the actors fastening wires to Peter and Wendy’s backs so they could fly. She spoiled it all.’

  Cathy sighed. ‘I’m afraid Laura’s eyes are as sharp as her tongue.’

  ‘She’s just too honest,’ Helen said soothingly. ‘She doesn’t mean to upset anyone.’ She kissed Dilly and said to Moira, ‘Why don’t you organise a game of I Spy, love?’

  ‘I wish Laura wasn’t so outspoken,’ Cathy said when the children had gone. ‘She can’t seem to help herself but she’s such a good child really. She’s so patient and loving with Grandma and she’s really helped her to get over losing Peggy.’

  ‘I know. She never means to hurt,’ agreed Helen. ‘She just speaks the truth as she sees it. She’ll probably grow more tactful as she grows older.’

  ‘Let’s hope so,’ said Cathy. ‘Moira’s lovely with Dilly, isn’t she? A real big sister.’

  Helen smiled. ‘Yes, she is. Of course Dilly’s very sensitive, you know. By the time she came to us when she was four she’d lost her mother and been in the orphanage for a year so it’s no wonder she’s easily upset.’

  ‘I’m sure she’ll soon outgrow that,’ Cathy said. ‘She’s settled down so well with you, no one would ever know she wasn’t born to you and Tony. You’ve done a good job with your girls, Helen.’

  Sarah and Joe came to talk to them and soon all the parents
began to collect their children to go home.

  ‘I think it’ll be eleven o’clock Mass tomorrow,’ Joe said. ‘We’ll all need a lie-in.’

  Nothing had been said about Laura’s comments concerning Mick’s conjuring tricks so Anne walked home feeling happy that the family gathering had gone well.

  In February John travelled to London for the inaugural meeting of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and returned home very excited. ‘It was great, Anne,’ he declared jubilantly. ‘Do you know how many were there? Five thousand. They’d booked Central Hall for the meeting but they needed four other halls for the overflow meetings.’

  ‘Where did they all come from?’ asked Anne.

  ‘All over the country. The speakers were Bertrand Russell, Canon Collins, A. J. P. Taylor, J. B. Priestley, Sir Stephen King Hall, all brilliant, well-known men.’

  ‘I’ve just been reading a book by J. B. Priestley,’ Anne exclaimed. ‘I didn’t know he was opposed to the bomb.’

  ‘Everyone is, Anne, who thinks for himself,’ said John, ‘but these are all men who are at the top of their professions. The government and in fact the world will have to listen now and get rid of this evil. There’s going to be a march to Aldermaston in Berkshire to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment to protest.’

  His eyes were shining and Anne kissed him impulsively. ‘I’m made up, love. At last we’ll feel as if we’re getting somewhere. All those important men must give some weight to the protest, mustn’t they?’

  ‘It’s the numbers, Anne. That’s what’s important. Like Grandad used to say, little drops of water when they come together can make a mighty river to sweep all before it.’

  John’s euphoria made for a very happy atmosphere in the house. Anne recalled a remark made by the prime minister Harold Macmillan the previous year. ‘Most of our people have never had it so good,’ he had declared. At the time John had disagreed, saying that there were still people in the country who were badly housed and poverty-stricken in spite of the welfare state. ‘And the nuclear threat still hangs over everyone,’ he said. ‘We could all be wiped out just by someone touching a button, so everyone’s afraid.’

  Anne had not argued with John at the time although she felt that most people simply refused to think about the atomic bomb. Now she felt that the prime minister was right especially where her own family was concerned. The three children were healthy and happy, John was earning good money, they had a house where they were happy and were part of a close and loving family. God has been very good to us, she thought, and touched wood then laughed, thinking that she was covering all the options.

  Now even John had to agree that life was better for ordinary people. In his earlier Christmas broadcast the Pope had urged the suspension of nuclear tests and now with the establishment of CND John felt that world opinion was at last recognising the dangers that had worried him so much.

  Money was more plentiful because jobs were available for everyone, and the spectre of destitution because of old age or illness which had haunted people had been lifted by the provisions of the welfare state.

  In Liverpool there seemed to be an air of change and excitement. Groups of adolescents, now known as teenagers, gathered at milk bars and cinemas with money in their pockets from better wages and more free time. Many older people disapproved of these young people but John was pleased to see them, even the ‘teddy boys’ wearing what Peggy Burns had said were known as brothel-creeper shoes, ‘duck’s arse’ hairstyles and Edwardian-style suits. John contrasted them with the groups of ragged young men of pre-war days without jobs or hope and rejoiced to see these signs of a better life.

  With the provision of school milk and school meals, even the poorest children seemed better fed and most were comparatively better dressed. John watched boys in the parks playing with a real football instead of a pig’s bladder or rolled up newspapers, many of them wearing football boots and he recalled the children of the 1930s in broken boots or torn pumps and ragged clothes. He felt that much of what his grandfather had worked and hoped for had come at last.

  Chapter Five

  Sally’s visits to the cinema ceased when Peggy died and as her arthritis became more severe she was soon virtually housebound, unable even to use the large wooden knitting needles on which she knitted blanket squares for the Sue Ryder Appeal.

  She had many visitors, with Laura the most frequent and welcome, and Cathy was the loving and attentive daughter that she had always been, but there were times when Sally was necessarily alone. The television set that Greg had bought her helped pass the time and soon he and Cathy enjoyed watching it too. So did Sally’s visitors and before long Tony had bought a set but John and Joe decided that it was not the right time for them to buy one.

  David had now joined Gerry at St Edward’s College and their fathers thought that television would distract them from their homework. Rosaleen and Laura would soon be taking the 11-plus examination so they also had homework to do. Sarah and Anne had agreed with their husbands until they realised that the boys were slipping away each night on various pretexts to watch television at other houses.

  ‘A lot of people seem to have sets now,’ Anne told John. ‘I think Gerry might as well watch at home as tell yarns to get out to other houses and anyway I don’t like him bothering other people.’

  ‘But you shouldn’t allow him to go, Anne,’ John said. ‘He can’t be doing his homework properly.’

  Anne was tempted to retort that John should stay at home in the evenings to watch Gerry but for the sake of peace she only said mildly, ‘Perhaps you should have a talk to Gerry about it.’

  John agreed and knowing Gerry’s ability to cajole his father Anne was not surprised at the outcome.

  ‘I think we should buy a set, Anne,’ John said. ‘We can afford it and Gerry tells me that there are some very good programmes on wildlife and things like that. The other kids talk about them because they are a help with their schoolwork and boys who haven’t seen the programmes are at a disadvantage. What do you think?’

  Anne smiled and agreed to the purchase reflecting that Gerry knew exactly how to manipulate his father. If only Laura would do the same, she thought ruefully, instead of charging into battle, but Laura would probably despise such tricks and think they were dishonest.

  The television set was an immediate success and Anne was amused to see that John was as enthusiastic about it as he had been doubtful before. A short time later Sarah and Joe, too, bought a set. It needed careful budgeting as Joe’s salary as a teacher was small but the little Sarah earned by working part-time in a sweet shop helped. Joe was still doubtful about the benefits, however. He said some of the boys he taught watched too much television and often fell asleep in school so he and Sarah limited the time that their children watched. ‘It can’t be good for their eyes anyway,’ Sarah said.

  After school one day Laura went back to Rosaleen’s house and they settled down to watch television. Some time later Joe came in and watched with them but when the programme finished he switched off the set. ‘I think that’s enough for tonight,’ he said. ‘I hope you are both working hard at school. It’s not long to the eleven-plus so this time is important, you know, girls.’

  Laura was fond of her uncle and she smiled at him but as soon as he left the room Rosaleen burst out, ‘Preaching, preaching, that’s all we ever get in this house. You don’t have this all the time, do you?’

  ‘What about my dad?’ Laura demanded. ‘Always going on about something. Uncle Tony said he’s trying to save the world single-handed. I know he was only joking but it’s true.’

  ‘Well, at least you don’t have family prayers every night like we have,’ said Rosaleen.

  ‘Only because my dad would never be home for them. He’s always at some meeting or other,’ said Laura. ‘Not that I mind,’ she added with a toss of her head.

  Rosaleen giggled. ‘They’ll get a shock when they see our reports,’ she said. ‘Sister Mary Angela is always telling me
off and old Mixers has had it in for you since the first day in her class.’

  ‘I know. If I was a genius she’d still give me bad marks but I don’t care. She should have been glad I told her,’ said Laura.

  ‘She wasn’t though,’ laughed Rosa. ‘Small hope for us for the eleven-plus.’

  On the first day of the new school year the new class mistress for Laura and Rosaleen had been Miss Mixley, a teacher who was nearing retirement and was noted as a strict disciplinarian. She had written a passage on the blackboard and told the girls to write it into their English exercise books.

  Laura had raised her hand. ‘There isn’t an “a” in independent, Miss Mixley,’ she said.

  To her surprise, the teacher glared at her, her neck and face suffused with red. ‘What’s your name, girl?’ she rapped.

  ‘Laura Redmond, miss,’ Laura answered, smiling nervously.

  ‘Well, Laura Redmond, you can take that satisfied smirk off your face. I made that mistake deliberately to test the class and I’m sure the other girls noticed it. Isn’t that so, girls?’

  ‘Yes, Miss Mixley,’ they chorused cravenly, except for Rosaleen.

  ‘I didn’t notice it,’ she said loyally. ‘I’d have copied it in my book as you told us to, miss.’

  ‘So we have one girl who is stupid and one who thinks she is smarter than everyone else because she was the first to shout out. I notice that you were both ignorant enough to address me as “miss” while the classmates whom you despise had the courtesy to address me correctly as Miss Mixley. Remember, pride goes before a fall.’

  She rubbed out the letter ‘a’ and substituted an ‘e’ and from that day onwards she never missed an opportunity to find fault with Laura and Rosaleen.

  Laura was truly amazed by the teacher’s reaction. ‘I thought she’d just made a mistake and she’d be glad to know before we all copied it in our books,’ she said but Rosa was more cynical.

  ‘She made a mistake all right but it wasn’t deliberate,’ she said. ‘She just didn’t want to admit it.’