At Home by the Sea

by Pam Weaver

Ray leaned towards her. ‘My pleasure, darlin’.’ And Linda went tingly all over.

  They parted outside and John walked her home.

  ‘Ray’s very grateful that you agreed to do this for us,’ he said. ‘He thinks the world of his auntie.’ He pulled her close to him and kissed her. Linda didn’t much like it. It was wet and slobbery. ‘Wear something nice, won’t you.’

  Normally Linda would have bitten his head off, telling him she always looked nice, but instead, she smiled dreamily. Yes she would look nice. More than that, she’d look sensational. She’d use her lunch hour to go out and nick a really posh frock and she’d spend Saturday morning doing her hair.

  John reached into his pocket and pulled something out. ‘I want you to have these. They were my granny’s and I know she would have wanted you to have them.’

  It was difficult to see what he’d given her in the half light in the twitten, but she could tell it was earrings. ‘Thanks,’ she said, slipping them into her pocket and the next time he kissed her she let him knead her breast as well.

  Alone in her bedroom, Linda took John’s present out of her pocket and gasped. What he’d given her was a pair of pearl earrings and they looked a lot better than the ones in Woolworth’s. Crikey, they might even be real.

  *

  ‘Mr Semadini tells me you are a respectable girl,’ Mrs Noyles said stiffly.

  ‘I am,’ said Izzie. She had taken her references from Mrs Shilling with her and she was sure that Mr Umberto would have said good things about her too. She discovered that Mrs Noyles cleaned the Catholic church. She had a good reputation for being a stickler for cleanliness and she kept a spotless boarding house. Visiting priests sometimes stayed with her apparently.

  ‘I don’t allow young men in here,’ said Mrs Noyles, handing the references back. ‘Breakfast is at seven-thirty sharp and tea at five.’

  Izzie chewed her lip. ‘I don’t finish at the shop until five-thirty.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Mrs Noyles. ‘I make no exceptions. If it doesn’t suit you’ll have to make other arrangements.’

  Ah well, thought Izzie, I should be nice and slim by the time I leave here.

  The room was small and she and Linda would have to share the bed, but it was neat and tidy. Izzie took a deep breath and agreed to take it. She had to pay two weeks’ rent up front and Mrs Noyles said she would be expecting them on Saturday. It was far from ideal but at least Izzie had managed to get a roof over their heads until they could find something else more accommodating. She made up her mind not to tell Mr Umberto this was only temporary. She didn’t want to cause trouble between him and Mrs Noyles but the small bed wasn’t really suitable for a long-term arrangement.

  *

  It was weird going to the Café Bellissimo with John, Paul and Ray. Linda could hardly believe her luck that they’d asked her to tea. It was posh and respectable, not the sort of place she’d expected them to go. The four of them certainly raised a few eyebrows as they all walked in, even though the boys had smartened themselves up considerably. Only their quiffs and DA haircuts made them stand out as different from the usual customers. Linda was wearing her new outfit (she’d nicked it from Cloughda’s in Warwick Street) and high heels. It was freezing cold outside but she hadn’t bothered with a coat. It was old and frayed on the sleeves and she looked smarter without it.

  Ray had already ordered tea and cake from Helen before Izzie saw them. She glanced around nervously. What on earth was Linda up to? Her sister had been a bit off with her since she’d told her she’d found them another place to live. Quite honestly, when she’d heard the news about their new digs in Queen’s Street, she’d acted as if she couldn’t have cared less. Izzie stared at the three boys sitting with Linda. Were they going to make trouble? She couldn’t afford to lose this job, especially as she would be the one who would have to pay the lion’s share of the rent. Her stomach was in knots as she hurried to their table.

  ‘What are you doing in here?’ she whispered desperately.

  ‘Don’t worry, sis,’ said Linda as if reading her mind. ‘We’re not going to make trouble. Me and my friends just want to enjoy ourselves.’

  Helen served them tea and although Izzie couldn’t resist glancing over every now and then, all four of them were true to their word. Her sister was wearing a dress Izzie had never seen before and she had a lovely pair of pearl earrings. She sighed. Don’t say Linda was shop lifting again …

  The young people enjoyed the tea and the older lad, an attractive looking boy aged about eighteen, paid the bill. Just as they were about to leave, one of the other lads excused himself to go to the toilet but apart from that, the visit passed without incident.

  Izzie went to the door with Linda to hold it open. ‘I like your earrings.’

  Linda touched one of them and smiled shyly. ‘John gave them to me.’

  ‘They were my auntie’s,’ he said.

  ‘I thought you said they were your grandmother’s,’ Linda remarked with a puzzled frown.

  ‘Oh yeah, yes that’s right,’ said John, slightly flustered.

  Izzie raised an eyebrow and Linda laughed.

  ‘If you’re going to the bonfire on the beach tonight, don’t forget we have to be at Mrs Noyles’ place by seven,’ Izzie reminded Linda.

  ‘Of course,’ said Linda, ‘but first I have to go back home to change.’

  ‘See you there then,’ said Izzie, closing the door behind them.

  ‘Friends of yours?’ asked Mr Umberto, coming up behind her.

  ‘My sister,’ said Izzie.

  Mr Umberto looked disappointed. ‘Oh dear, dear. I wish you had told me, Izzie,’ he said. ‘She could have had her tea on the house.’

  Thirty-Four

  By the time Izzie got back home to change that night, her father was having his shave in the bathroom. ‘Don’t bother to get me anything for tea,’ he said, coming into the kitchen and wiping the last of the shaving soap from the side of his face. ‘Mavis is looking after me.’

  Linda, who was sitting at the kitchen table doing her nails, sniggered. Izzie began to fill the kettle for a cup of tea.

  ‘In fact,’ their father went on, ‘I’m bringing Mavis back here tonight. She’ll be with me from now on so you’d better get used to it.’

  ‘Well, we won’t be here anyway,’ Izzie said stonily.

  Her father glared. ‘What do you mean, we won’t be here?’

  ‘You told us to clear out, remember?’ said Izzie. ‘I’ve found us some digs.’

  Bill looked crestfallen. ‘You shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t mean it.’

  ‘That’s what you said,’ Linda challenged.

  ‘I was angry,’ said Bill. ‘This is your home. Our home; you two, Mav and me.’

  ‘You don’t mean you’re going to marry her?’ Linda squeaked.

  ‘Don’t be bloody daft,’ said their father. ‘How can I? I’m still married to your loopy mother.’

  ‘I wish you wouldn’t say that about Mum,’ Izzie protested mildly.

  ‘I’ll never forgive her for what she did.’

  ‘Then more fool you, Dad,’ Izzie retorted. ‘She tells me she’s very sorry,’ and continuing with Mr Semadini’s words she added, ‘You should let it go.’

  But Bill wasn’t listening. He was staring at Linda. ‘Where did you get those earrings?’ he demanded.

  Linda put her hand to the pearl earrings as if she’d forgotten all about them. ‘Oh, somebody gave them to me as a present. They’re lovely aren’t they. Do you like them?’

  ‘Take them off,’ Bill growled.

  ‘Why?’ Linda frowned.

  Bill’s face had gone puce with rage. ‘Take them off!’

  Linda rose to her feet. ‘No, I won’t,’ she cried. ‘Why should I?’

  All at once her father struck her across the face with the back of his hand. ‘I said bloody well take them off!’

  Izzie drew her breath. ‘Dad, what are you doing?’

  Shocke
d and in pain, Linda removed the earrings and, trembling like a leaf, she dropped them into her father’s outstretched hand. Izzie just stared at him in disbelief. Linda turned to run upstairs but her father blocked the way. ‘Who gave them to you?’

  There was still a vestige of defiance in Linda’s attitude. ‘I’m not telling you.’

  Bill grabbed her wrist. ‘I shan’t ask you again. Where did you get them?’

  ‘You’re hurting me.’ Linda was crying now. ‘John … John gave them to me.’

  ‘John?’

  ‘John Middleton. He said they belonged to his grandmother and that I was special and so he wanted me to have them.’

  ‘Grandmother, my eye,’ Bill snarled. ‘He nicked them from my shop.’

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ Linda cried. ‘John would never steal anything.’

  He turned her wrist and Linda’s mouth gaped open with the pain.

  ‘Dad!’ Izzie interjected.

  ‘So where’s the rest of it?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she protested indignantly as she finally managed to snatch her arm away.

  ‘Dad, what are you doing?’ Izzie began again. ‘What’s got into you?’

  ‘You keep out of this, Izzie,’ her father blazed. ‘I had a whole lot more stuff pinched when these earrings went walk-about so who is this John Middleton? Where does he live?’

  ‘I can’t believe you just hurt me,’ Linda said, rubbing her wrist.

  ‘Then tell me.’

  ‘He’s my boyfriend,’ Linda cried desperately. ‘Izzie’s met him. He’s nice, isn’t he? We all went to Izzie’s café for tea—’

  ‘We? Who’s we?’

  ‘Dad,’ Izzie said a third time. She was trying to get between them but Bill kept elbowing her roughly out of the way.

  ‘John Middleton,’ Linda shouted defiantly, ‘Paul somebody-or-other, I don’t know his surname and Ray Perryman.’

  Bill’s eyes bulged. ‘Perryman? You’ve been hanging around with a Perryman?’

  He let out a loud roar and with one hand swept everything from the table. Plates, cups, saucers, the milk jug and even the tea pot went flying. When he’d finished, tea dripped down the dresser and a plate spun noisily on the floor before coming to rest. Izzie and Linda gaped in shocked surprise. Then their father turned back and struck Linda several times.

  It was all too much for Izzie. ‘Stop it, stop it!’ She waded in and tried to separate them. In the scrimmage that followed, Izzie ended up with a punch on her shoulder and all three of them were yelling at the tops of their voices. At last, Linda managed to break free and she ran upstairs, sobbing loudly. Their father was about to follow but Izzie stood in the doorway, barring the way.

  ‘No! Dad, listen to me,’ she said. ‘She didn’t know. You could tell that by the way she reacted. If that boy pinched those earrings, Linda didn’t know.’

  He glared at her. ‘Always got to put your five eggs in haven’t you?’ he said. He turned away, the steam suddenly going out of him. Bill sat down at the table and put his head in his hands. Izzie made a dash for the stairs.

  The two girls sat together in Linda’s bedroom in a closeness they hadn’t experienced for ages. Izzie comforted her sister and they both wept. Neither of them had ever seen their father so angry before.

  ‘You need to put a cold flannel on your face,’ Izzie said. ‘You’ll have a big bruise if you don’t.’ She sucked in her lip for a minute. Always got to put your five eggs in. Why did he say that? She was just trying to help.

  ‘What about you?’ Linda said, sniffing into her handkerchief. ‘He punched you didn’t he?’

  ‘My shoulder is a bit sore but it’s not likely to show is it.’

  ‘I can’t believe he did that.’ Linda whimpered.

  Izzie waited until they couldn’t hear him moving about and then she went to the top of the stairs. ‘Dad?’

  She heard a shuffling sound, then he said, ‘You’d better get down here and clear up this bloody mess.’

  Izzie glanced back at Linda. ‘Wait here until I know it’s safe.’

  The room looked like a bomb had hit it. Her father, his anger spent, was still sitting at the table in his vest.

  ‘If you’re seeing Mavis why not finish your wash, Dad,’ she said, picking up a fallen chair. She reasoned that if she kept calm, he would say sorry and make it up with them.

  He stood up and went back into the bathroom. Izzie spent her time picking up broken pieces of china and the remains of the food which had been on the table.

  Linda appeared and hovered by the stair door.

  ‘He’s trampled all over my make-up,’ she said miserably. ‘Pig.’

  ‘Shh,’ Izzie cautioned. ‘He’ll hear you.’

  Their father came back into the room holding the towel to his face. ‘And I’m telling you now, you two are not going anywhere tonight,’ he ranted angrily. ‘You can stay here and finish sorting this room out.’

  ‘But it’s Bonfire Night,’ Linda protested. ‘I’ve been looking forward to it all week and my friends are expecting me to be there.’

  The look on his face was frightening. ‘Tough,’ he said, returning to the bathroom.

  The girls looked at each other helplessly. ‘Give me a hand and maybe he’ll change his mind,’ Izzie whispered.

  They’d made a good start by the time he went back upstairs to change and no more was said when he reappeared all spruced up and ready to go out himself. He let them pass but as they both made their way back upstairs to get ready, they heard the bolt slide across the stair door.

  Linda turned back and stared at Izzie. ‘He’s locked us in.’ Running back downstairs, she hammered on the door. ‘Dad? Let us out. You can’t lock us in like this. We’re not children anymore. Dad. Dad. Open this door!’

  Izzie followed her down. ‘It’s no use,’ she said. ‘He’s gone.’

  Their father’s bedroom overlooked the street so Izzie and Linda went in to look out. A crowd of about thirty or forty people had already gathered below. A buzz of excited chatter filled the cold November night air and the acrid smell of burning pitch swirled in the grey clouds of smoke above their heads.

  ‘It’s not damn well fair,’ Linda complained. ‘Why would he stop us going?’

  ‘Because he’s just like Mum always said,’ Izzie said. ‘He wants his own way all the time and he’s angry.’

  Linda rounded on her. ‘Bit like you then.’

  Izzie was shocked. ‘What do you mean?’ she said indignantly.

  ‘Oh come on Izzie. You’re always angry or complaining about something.’

  ‘Because if I don’t, nobody ever does anything!’ Izzie cried.

  ‘Yeah, right,’ said Linda.

  ‘But it’s true,’ Izzie said helplessly.

  ‘Well maybe we’d be more inclined to help if you didn’t criticise so much. Whatever we do, it’s never good enough!’

  Izzie’s shoulders sagged. Was that really how Linda saw her? All right, maybe she did make the odd suggestion, but it was only to help Linda to improve. Saying all that was most unfair. But then she recalled what Mr Semadini had said that first evening they’d spent together in his experimental bistro. ‘You only say this because you are hurt and angry.’ But she wasn’t angry, was she? She was just trying to make the world a better place. She still firmly believed that everything would be different if she could just get her mother and father together in the same room … She pulled herself up short and glanced at her sister. Linda stood dejectedly with her forehead against the window pane. It wasn’t going to happen, was it. She couldn’t put the world to rights. She had to stop trying. It only made people unhappy.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Izzie murmured.

  ‘What?’ her sister challenged. ‘Oh my goodness, you’re actually saying sorry are you?’

  Annoyed again, Izzie frowned. They both stood at the window in silence, each lost in her own thoughts. Izzie felt her sister’s hand very close to hers. Linda�
��s fingers moved slowly towards hers. Nothing was said but the next minute they were both holding hands very tightly.

  ‘Why did Dad get so annoyed when you said John’s friend was called Perryman?’ Izzie said eventually.

  Linda shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

  Izzie scanned the eager faces down below. Despite being muffled up in scarves and woolly hats, she recognised several of their neighbours and friends. To enter into the spirit of the thing, some had smeared their faces with soot while others had gone to the other extreme. The neighbour from two doors down looked almost frightening. His face was chalk-white and in the eerie half-light, the lipstick (Izzie guessed that’s what it was) around his eyes made them look red and bloodshot.

  Before long they would all process through the town for the bonfire celebration on the beach. The men were carrying torches, primed and ready to be lit at the given signal, whilst the women stood in line, ready to begin banging their dustbin lids with metal spoons. Behind the adults, the children, some dressed as pirates, waited. Izzie searched the faces to spot any of her friends from the café but Linda was more interested in looking out for one person; John Middleton. She’d told Izzie he had walked back with her when they’d left the café and promised to wait while she’d got changed but now he was nowhere to be seen.

  Izzie and Linda stepped smartly back from the window and hid behind each side of the curtains as they spotted their father chatting to someone at the corner of Chandos Road and Grafton Road. It was Mick Osborne.

  ‘What’s he doing with Mr Osborne?’ Izzie said.

  ‘Search me,’ Linda murmured. ‘Miserable old sod.’

  They heard a voice near the back of the procession call out, ‘Light up …’ and all at once the little street was ablaze as every man lit his torch. There was a collective cheer and the procession moved off.

  Izzie and Linda watched in silent misery as the crowd turned towards Montague Street. Linda suddenly turned and ran downstairs. It was obvious she was determined to get out. She began by rattling the door in the hopes of making the bolt slide back of its own accord. It was a badly fitting door but nothing happened. Then she dashed back upstairs to get some coat hangers. Back at the door, she tried desperately to get a hanger between the wood and the bolt on the other side but even that was proving to be quite tricky. The hanger was a tad too wide and not strong enough to slide the heavy bolt.