At first Anne or John or both stayed up until Sean left at about two o’clock or later but as time went on they began to go off to bed and leave the young people still playing records.
John was more uneasy about this arrangement than Anne. ‘I don’t like it,’ he grumbled. ‘I think we’re asking for trouble,’ but Anne tried to reassure him.
‘It’s what they all do nowadays,’ she said. ‘At least we know Sean is a respectable boy and I’m sure Laura will be safe with him. Anyway, John, if they want to misbehave they can easily find places to do it. It’s less likely under our roof.’
Laura also took Sean to meet her grandparents and he was warmly welcomed by Cathy who was delighted to see Laura looking so happy. Laura suspected that her grandfather had some reservations about Sean although he was always very polite.
She had been to Sean’s home several times. His mother was a widow and he had three older sisters who plainly adored him. The home seemed to revolve round Sean and his wishes and Laura was shocked to find herself thinking, no wonder he’s so big-headed, although she dismissed the thought immediately.
These unwelcome thoughts sometimes intruded when they were at clubs or discos. Sean seemed to know everyone and to be popular with both sexes. ‘He’s a cracking footballer,’ Laura was often told by various young men and girls seemed to flock round him.
Several times on packed dance floors girls managed to insinuate themselves between her and Sean and he appeared to welcome them. I wish it was still fashionable to dance cheek to cheek like in the olden days, Laura thought, but the present style of detached dancing seemed to suit Sean.
Mary’s earlier assessment of Sean that he had a big opinion of himself often returned to haunt Laura when she saw him preening himself in the attention he received but always she thrust the thought away. Nevertheless, she was much happier when she and Sean were alone together and most of the summer passed for her in a happy dream.
She saw little of Rosa. One evening shortly after she met Sean they were standing on the platform waiting for the train to Crosby when there was a sudden stir among the home-going crowds. Young men who had been slouching against the wall stood up and smoothed their hair and older men straightened their spines and their ties.
Rosa moved easily through the crowds wearing a tiny mini skirt in green leather and a skinny rib jumper with a green leather jacket slung round her shoulders. She carried an artist’s folder and her head on her long slender neck moved from side to side as though she was searching for someone and was unaware of the admiring glances from everyone. Her shining red hair hung to her shoulders and she wore knee-length soft leather boots.
‘My God, what a beautiful girl,’ Laura heard a man nearby say and she was proud when Rosa saw her and came to her. ‘Laura!’ she exclaimed.
When Laura had introduced Sean, Rosa gave him her hand and a dazzling smile then said smoothly, ‘Nice to meet you. I’m just looking for a friend,’ and moved away with a pat on Laura’s arm.
‘Lovely, isn’t she?’ Laura said and Sean grinned.
‘Yes, and tactful too,’ he said, and Laura’s fears subsided.
Although Laura saw little of Rosa now she began to hear disquieting tales about her wildness and the crowd she now mixed with. People were afraid to tell her about Rosa’s wilder exploits, because she instantly sprang to her cousin’s defence, but Mary said seriously one day, ‘Your Rosa’s riding for a fall, you know, Lol. There’s nothing too mad for that crowd she hangs round with. They’re into drugs and mixed up with the police and everything.’
Laura knew that Mary was not simply repeating gossip but was truly concerned and she asked if she had any details. ‘I know she’s still seeing that Ricky Hewlett,’ she said, ‘although she has lots of other dates.’
‘He’s the centre of it, I think,’ said Mary. ‘I can’t understand Rosa. A lovely girl like her who could have anybody but he’s a real Svengali. I’m sure he supplies her with drugs. Have you seen her lately – the way she dresses?’
‘I’ve seen her at home a few times but she always seems to be in a dressing gown,’ Laura said. ‘I know my aunt’s worried about her because she’s as thin as a lath.’
‘There’s more to worry about than that,’ Mary said grimly. ‘She even looks wild. The rig-outs she wears!’
Laura felt ashamed that lost in her happy dreams she had failed to see what Mary saw so clearly about her cousin. ‘I’ll try and talk to her,’ she promised. ‘It’s a wonder her mum and dad have missed seeing it, though.’
‘She’ll have been well tutored by the abominable Ricky on how to deceive them,’ Mary said.
‘Yes, and they’re so full of this holiday they might not watch her as carefully,’ Laura said.
Sarah and Joe were planning to spend two weeks in Ireland with Joe’s sister Eileen during the school holidays but Rosa refused to go with them. ‘I was bored stiff the last time we went,’ she said. ‘Nobody of my age but those twin boys who only talk to each other.’
Joe had suggested that Anne and John and their two daughters came with them but John was too tied up with his political activities and neither of the girls wanted to go. Laura was unwilling to leave Sean and Julie expected to see Peter Cunliffe during his vacation.
Finally it was decided that Anne would accompany Sarah and Joe and Rosa would stay with her uncle and aunt, Tony and Helen. Laura decided that if possible she would drop a hint to her uncle or aunt about Ricky Hewlett, blissfully unaware that her hints had all the finesse of sledgehammers.
John was inclined to be grumpy about Anne going on holiday without him, feeling that she should have waited for him to be free so that they could go away together, but he said nothing. He showed his displeasure by criticising the meals the girls prepared.
Julie was apologetic but Laura suggested that he should try his hand when he complained that the potatoes were too salty and the chops tough.
‘I’m working,’ he said, outraged.
‘So am I,’ Laura retorted, ‘but I still try to help Julie when I come home. She’s got enough on just running the house and doing the shopping when she’s not used to it.’
‘We need your mum here,’ John grumbled.
‘That’s the trouble,’ Laura said swiftly. ‘We’ve been spoiled. Mum’s always done too much for all of us.’
‘That’s true,’ Julie agreed in her quiet voice. ‘I’ve only realised it since she’s been away.’
‘So have I,’ said Laura. ‘We’ll all appreciate her more when she comes home.’ She looked at her father with a challenging air but he chose to ignore it.
Laura told Sean about her worries about Rosa and he suggested that she consulted her grandmother. ‘She’s Rosa’s nana too, isn’t she?’ he said.
‘Yes, but Rosa’s staying with the Fitzgerald side of the family and Aunt Helen and Uncle Tony have two daughters themselves. Moira’s engaged, getting married in the spring, and Dilly’s two years older than me and Rosa. I think I’d better speak to them.’
She had an opportunity when her Aunt Helen called with a large homemade steak pie and two fruit pies. ‘Just to help out with the rations,’ she said with a smile.
‘I don’t know how you managed when there was rationing,’ Julie exclaimed. ‘I can’t manage when I can buy what I like.’
‘It’s surprising what you can get used to,’ Helen said comfortably. ‘But you’re doing very well, love.’
Helen, who was a keen gardener, went into the garden with Laura to look at her plants and when she said gently, ‘You look tired, Laura. Are you worrying about something, love?’ Laura blurted out her fears for Rosa. ‘I haven’t heard or seen anything of this Ricky,’ Helen said thoughtfully, ‘although she seems to have dates every night with a different young man.’
‘Most of them are harmless,’ Laura said. ‘Even some of them from the college, although she seems to be mostly with a really wild crowd from there. I worry because she’s so gullible, Aunt Helen. She believes everythin
g they tell her.’
‘Don’t worry so much, love,’ said Helen. ‘Rosa’s a bit like a chameleon, you know. She changes to merge with her background. She went off with that wild crowd one night and you never saw such a get-up. Even black lipstick and black eyeshadow but they were all the same. About seven of them crowded into one car but they didn’t need to worry about crushing their clothes,’ she laughed.
‘They’re just daft really,’ Laura said, ‘but if you get an evil fellow like Ricky he can manipulate them.’
‘Rosa doesn’t spend all her time with them. When Mogsy came up from Cambridge to see her at the weekend she looked completely different. Very smart and fashionable but normal. Mind you, Uncle Tony said he’d seen wider bandages than the mini skirt she was wearing, but she’s such a lovely girl. She can get away with anything.’
‘Perhaps I’m worrying about nothing,’ Laura muttered but she was not convinced.
‘I’m glad you are concerned about her,’ Helen said. ‘You’re a good girl, Laura. Her mum wishes she was still with your crowd but she thinks this is just a phase with Rosa. She only has another year at the college and she might settle a bit more after that.’
Laura was not too pleased to be described as ‘a good girl’. Makes me sound like a real pudden, she thought, but aloud she said, ‘If Aunt Sarah’s not worried, I suppose I shouldn’t be. It’s just a feeling I’ve got about that Ricky. They’ll be home soon, won’t they?’
‘Yes. You’ll be glad to see your mum,’ Helen said.
‘Dad will,’ Laura laughed. ‘He doesn’t think much of our cooking.’ Helen only smiled but after she had gone and Laura thought over their conversation, she remembered Helen’s smile.
Suddenly, with the added perception she had gained through her feelings for Sean, she realised that her father’s grumbles about the food were only a smokescreen. What he was really missing was the affection and daily companionship of his wife.
Chapter Thirteen
The holiday in Ireland was a big success and the travellers returned looking fit and well. Helen and Tony declared that Anne looked ten years younger.
Her eyes sparkled when she recounted details of the holiday and John slipped his arm round her. ‘I’m glad you enjoyed it so much,’ he said.
Anne kissed him. ‘The only drawback was that you weren’t with me. I wanted all the family there. They’d all have enjoyed it,’ she said.
‘What are the twins like now?’ Julie asked.
‘Paul and Pat? You should see them. The image of each other, very tall for their age and dark. They work in a pub at the weekend.’
‘But they’re only about fourteen, aren’t they?’ John exclaimed. ‘They shouldn’t be working – and in a pub of all places. I’m surprised at Martin.’
‘But they love it,’ Anne protested. ‘There were about a dozen young lads in this big place on the outskirts of Dublin collecting empty glasses, darting around in long aprons and really enjoying themselves. I said they looked very young but Martin just laughed and said, “It puts a few ha’pence in their pockets and they love it.” And they do, John.’
‘It’s still sweated labour,’ John said but Anne laughed at him.
‘You should see the tinkers. You’d be having a protest march,’ she teased him. ‘Martin and Joe and the lads went to see something on the Quays and Eileen and I waited for them by the Ha’penny Bridge one day.’
‘Is it a real bridge?’ asked Laura.
‘Yes, over the River Liffey,’ said Anne. ‘I’d just taken a packet of cigarettes out and offered it to Eileen when two young tinker girls came up. “Would you ever have a few ha’pence, m’aham?” one of them whined, and I was just going to give her something but Eileen stopped me. “We’ve no change at all so be off with yez,” she said in a thick brogue. You should have seen the change in the girls. One of them snatched two cigarettes out of the packet. “I’ll have a cigarette so,” she said and they ran off laughing and pushing each other.’
‘Did they look poor?’ John asked.
‘Destitute,’ said Anne. ‘One minute you’d have been getting up a collection for them, John, and I’d have given to it, but the next! You could see they enjoyed every minute of their lives.’
‘Sounds as though I’d be out of my depth.’
‘No, you wouldn’t. You’d love it, John. The talk. They’re all so articulate and well informed, even the kids. They knew more about world affairs and English affairs than I did but you’d have been in your element. Eileen and Martin love living there. He’s doing well with the bookbinding and she has a job in a bookshop in Dublin.’
‘Sarah and Joe seem to have enjoyed it too,’ John said.
‘They can’t wait to go back. Joe hired a car and we drove to some lovely places but the next time he says he’ll go to County Mayo in the west where our mother was born.’
The euphoria of the holiday lasted for several weeks but soon various problems quenched it. Gerry was now travelling the country doing gigs in places from Torquay to Glasgow, but although he came as near Liverpool as Manchester, he never came home. His letters and phone calls became fewer and Anne and John were increasingly worried.
Sarah and Joe were worried too. Joe had been into town one day to the museum in William Brown Street to arrange about a school visit and decided to walk through St John’s Gardens to take the train home. He rounded a large statue to see Rosa and Ricky sprawled on a seat behind the statue in attitudes of complete abandon. Rosa lay along the seat with Ricky sprawled across her, his mouth open and his wispy beard blowing in the wind.
Joe stood for a moment rooted with shock, then with a cry he rushed forward and hauled Ricky roughly away from Rosa, then shook her. She was obviously drunk or drugged. She opened bleary eyes but seemed unable to focus on him.
Ricky had toppled off the seat when Joe threw him aside but Joe ignored him and frantically tried to rouse Rosa. After a few moments he dashed out of the gardens and managed to stop a taxi. Looking at his distraught face, the driver offered to help with Rosa.
They almost carried her to the cab and Joe asked for Walton Hospital. ‘There are nearer ones, you know, squire,’ the man said but Joe shook his head. He had a faint memory of reading that Walton Hospital had a drugs unit and by now he was sure that Rosa was drugged.
This was confirmed when they reached the hospital. Joe asked the doctor if it could be the first time for Rosa and this was her reaction. The doctor shook his head. ‘First time for the hard stuff possibly,’ he said, ‘but she’s probably been experimenting. LSD, Benzedrine, that sort of thing. They all do, the young fools.’
‘But what happens now?’ asked Joe. ‘Will she need a clinic, something like that?’
‘No. We’ll just admit her overnight and keep an eye on her,’ the doctor said. ‘It’s not an overdose so she won’t need the stomach pump.’
Rosa still looked ill and was very subdued when her parents collected her the following day from the hospital. She stubbornly refused to answer any questions about the drug she had taken or about Ricky, but Joe told her firmly that he would see that she broke completely with Ricky.
‘What happened to him when you hauled me away?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know and I don’t care,’ Joe said bluntly. ‘I hope he was picked up by the police.’
Rosa said nothing but her mother suspected that her anxiety to return to the college was because she wanted to find out about him.
She shared her worries with Anne who was equally worried about Gerry. ‘I’m sure he’s back taking that stuff,’ Anne said. ‘He’s changed so much, never coming home or writing or phoning. John’s talking about finding out where they’re playing and going to see him but I’m afraid he’ll make a scene and fall out completely.’
‘I feel the same with Joe,’ Sarah sighed. ‘He says he’s only going to see that Ricky and warn him off but I’m afraid he’ll lose his temper and batter him. I can’t believe this is happening to us, Anne. I know pop stars and soc
iety people dabble in these drugs but I never thought our kids would be affected.’
‘There’s so much money in it for the creatures who bring the stuff into the country, that’s the trouble,’ said Anne. ‘No one’s safe from them.’
Sarah told Joe about the conversation that evening but he reassured her. He had a friend in the local police who was now a chief inspector and Joe had told him about Ricky. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll feel his collar for him,’ the policeman had promised. ‘Let him know we’ve got our eye on him and that should scare him off.’
Although Sarah was reassured, Joe felt too angry and worried to leave the matter entirely to the police. John offered to come with him to see Ricky and to bring a man he knew through his trade union work.
Nelson was a local boxer, born in Liverpool of Jamaican parents. He was a huge black man and a successful boxer but outside the ring he was quiet and gentle. ‘That creep won’t know that though,’ John told Joe. ‘Nel will put the fear of God in him. He hates drugs and anyone who deals in them.’
Joe kept watch on Ricky and the three of them surrounded him one night in a quiet alleyway. ‘You keep away from my daughter Rosa,’ Joe said ferociously, ‘or you’ll be sorry, I’m telling you.’
Ricky cowered back against the wall. ‘You touch me and I’ll have you for assault,’ he squeaked.
Nelson leaned forward and gripped the front of Ricky’s dirty jersey. He lifted him up with his feet dangling and said quietly but venomously, ‘And all the other daughters too, man, with your filthy drugs. I don’t like drug dealers.’ His face was on a level now with Ricky’s, who stared back at him like a frightened rabbit.
Nelson lowered him to the ground and Ricky gasped, ‘I don’t. I only have a few little tablets.’
‘It wasn’t a little tablet made my Rosa so ill,’ Joe roared, starting forward, and John restrained him with difficulty from punching the evil little man.
‘Listen,’ John said to Ricky. ‘He wants to kill you. There’s three of us here and a dozen more who’d like to take you apart, mate. The police know about you too but they wouldn’t look too hard for you if you went missing.’
Honour Thy Father Page 18