by Joan Jonker
‘Edna has been kind enough to give us a treat.’ Molly decided to drag it out, then enjoy the look of bliss she knew would shine on her mate’s face.
‘What d’yer mean, girl, give us a treat? Has she picked out the cream slices with the most cream in? Nice fat ones, what will ooze cream right up to me nose?’ Nellie’s tongue popped out to lick her lips. ‘Ooh, I hope that’s what ye’re going to tell me, girl.’
Molly chuckled. ‘Better than that, sunshine, much better. She really surprised me.’
Nellie moved from one foot to the other. ‘Listen, girl, I’ll be giving you a surprise if yer don’t put a move on and tell me what Edna’s treat is. I’ve had me legs crossed for the last ten minutes ’cos I’m dying to go to the lavvy. So either hurry up or be made a show of.’
‘I won’t be made a show of, sunshine, because I’ll just walk away and pretend I’ve never seen yer in me life before. But before I did, seeing as ye’re me best mate, I’d give yer this bag. Inside are two cream slices what got a bit squashed. Edna gave us them for nothing, and she didn’t charge for the box either.’
Nellie’s face was transformed, her need for a lavatory forgotten. ‘Yer know, girl, I’ve always liked Edna. Kind and generous, that’s what she is. The salt of the earth. They don’t come any better than Edna Hanley.’ Nellie’s chins couldn’t keep up with her head nodding one minute, then shaking the next, so they settled for a gentle swaying.
Molly burst out laughing. ‘Nellie McDonough, ye’re a two-faced article. Yer were calling Edna fit to burn not so long ago.’
As Nellie was waving to Edna through the window and mouthing, ‘Thank you’, she said under her breath, ‘I know that, girl, and you know that. But there’s no need to bleeding well tell Edna that, or she’ll come and take the cakes back off us. So wave to her, and look cheerful. Yer can pull her to pieces when we get home and are licking the cream out of the slices she gave us.’
‘Ye’re all heart, Nellie,’ Molly said. ‘All heart.’
Chapter Three
‘The weather is picking up a bit,’ Jack said as he tucked into his plate of very tasty stew. ‘It’s been like a spring day. At least as far as I could tell in the short time we get for our dinner break. I sat on the wall with a few of the men, and we ate our sandwiches there. Better than being stuck in the factory with the smell of the machines.’
Molly nodded. ‘It has been a nice day. I washed a few things through and put them on the line before me and Nellie went to the shops. They were dry in a couple of hours, so I’ll put the iron over them in the morning.’
‘Did yer wash my blue dress, Mam?’ Ruthie asked from the opposite side of the table. ‘I want to wear it tomorrow night to go to the dance.’
‘Yes, sunshine, I washed yer dress. When I was hanging it on the line, I noticed a few stitches missing on the hem. If yer don’t sew it before yer wear it again, then more stitches will come loose and the hem will drop down. There’s pale blue cotton in the drawer, so yer could do it tonight.’
Molly’s sixteen-year-old daughter leaned forward and asked in a coaxing voice, ‘Do me a favour will yer, Mam, and sew it for me?’
‘Not on your life I won’t! Ye’re quite capable of doing it yerself, sunshine; you’re old enough now.’ Molly tutted. ‘Don’t be putting that woebegone face on, because you’ll not get round me. Jill and Doreen were seeing to their own clothes when they were your age.’
There was laughter in Ruthie’s eyes when she pointed her fork and said, ‘My two sisters have got a lot to answer for. They’ve ruined my life, being so goody-goody. Didn’t they ever do anything wrong, or get into trouble?’
It was her father who answered. ‘They never did anything to bring trouble to our door, pet. Doreen was inclined to answer back, and like you she wanted to grow up too quickly. But Jill has always been the quiet one.’ He chuckled. ‘She was the referee between Doreen and yer mam. Always calm and gentle, she would stop an argument before it got out of hand.’
Ruthie was nodding her head. ‘Everyone loves our Jill, yer can’t help loving her. And I can remember our Doreen getting a cob on when she wanted to stay out late, and yer wouldn’t let her. But she’s not like that now, she’s more like our Jill.’ Her infectious giggle filled the room. ‘I’ve just been reckoning up, and our Tommy is seven years older than me. Then there’s two years between him and Doreen, and one year between her and Jill. So I’m the baby of the family.’
‘And the cheekiest,’ Molly told her. ‘You get away with more than the others ever did. Tommy was the apple of my eye, being the only boy. He was never a ha’p’orth of trouble and look what a fantastic man he’s turned out to be.’
‘Yeah,’ Ruthie agreed. ‘He’s not half handsome, our Tommy.’
‘We’re a handsome family,’ Jack said, laughing. ‘Your mam’s beauty passed down to her three daughters, and how could Tommy be anything but handsome when he came from such fine stock as the Bennett family?’
‘Can we stop patting each other on the back and finish our dinners?’ Molly said. ‘Looks aren’t anything to go by, it’s what the person is like inside that counts.’ She laid her knife and fork down on her empty plate. ‘I enjoyed that, it was very tasty. Unfortunately there’s none left, the pan is empty.’
‘I’ll clear the table, Mam,’ Ruthie said, ‘and I’ll help yer with the dishes. You wash and I’ll dry.’
‘Are yer going out tonight, sunshine?’
‘Only to Bella’s. We’re staying in tonight and having a game of cards. Tomorrow we’re going to the dance at the church hall.’
‘Are yer going with Gordon?’
‘Yeah, and Peter’s coming with Bella.’
Molly collected the dishes and scraped her chair back. ‘Keep yer promise, Ruthie, sunshine, and clear the table. And don’t forget to shake the cloth in the yard before putting it away. Then come and dry the dishes for me. Yer dad can put the chenille cloth on, he’s not helpless.’
Jack poked his head into the kitchen. ‘What’s the sudden rush, love? Are yer going out?’
‘I’m slipping round to me ma’s for an hour. I’ve seen Doreen today, and Jill, so now I want to see Tommy and Rosie, and me ma and da. I’ll sleep easier once I know all the family are well.’
‘I’ll walk round with yer, love,’ Jack said. ‘I haven’t seen them for a few days. Except Tommy, of course, I see him every day in work. But it’s not the same as seeing him at home.’
‘As soon as I’ve finished out here, yer can swill yer face. Get here before Ruthie, ’cos she takes ages getting herself ready, and we’d be going out when it was time to come home.’
‘Ah, ay, Mam, I’m not that bad!’ Ruthie said. ‘It takes me about ten minutes, that’s all.’
Molly huffed. ‘And the rest, sunshine. Anyone would think yer were going to the Adelphi, the time yer take titivating yerself up. I bet Jean Harlow didn’t take as long as you.’
Jack came to stand at the kitchen door. ‘I think that is a very unfair comparison, love. Jean Harlow didn’t have to do anything but sit there and let others do her make-up and hair. She probably didn’t even dress herself.’
‘What’s got into you?’ Molly asked, putting the plates Ruthie had dried on a shelf. ‘I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about the life of a film star. Ye’re a dark horse on the quiet, Jack Bennett.’
‘Ah, well, it’s good to have an air of mystery, love, it adds to my attraction. That’s why you have always been so madly in love with me.’ Jack leaned against the kitchen wall and chortled. ‘Sounds good, doesn’t it, love? A man of mystery.’
‘Is that why I fell for yer?’ Molly said, pulling him over to the sink. ‘I’ve left yer a drop of water in the kettle, so yer can put that in the bowl to warm it up. I’d hate a man with so much going for him to have to get washed in cold water.’
Ruthie was sitting by the living room table waiting for her turn to get to the sink. ‘I wish we had a bathroom, Mam, then we wouldn’t have to take turns. Most of the girls
in work live in houses with bathrooms. And there’s a toilet in them, as well. D’yer think we’ll ever get a bathroom?’
‘We’ve managed in this house for twenty-five years, sunshine, and brought four children up in it. I love my little house, it holds a lot of wonderful memories, and I can’t see meself moving to another house just because it’s got a bathroom. Not that I wouldn’t like the luxury of one, and an inside toilet, but if I was offered a choice, I’d opt to stay in this two-up two-down house where me and yer dad raised four children who have turned out to be a credit to us.’
Ruthie was sorry she’d mentioned a bathroom now, for it must have sounded as though she didn’t like the house she lived in and would like something better. She hadn’t meant it to sound like that, for she wouldn’t want to move to another house, even if it did have a bathroom. Just imagine not living near Auntie Nellie, and her friend Bella; it didn’t bear thinking about. ‘Ye’re right, Mam, this is a lovely little house. And like yer said, it holds all the memories of us as babies. No, I bet the girls in work don’t have a big family like ours who all love one another. And they definitely don’t have a neighbour like Auntie Nellie.’
‘That is a certainty nobody could deny, sunshine, ’cos there isn’t another Auntie Nellie in the entire city of Liverpool. She’s a one-off, is Nellie.’
Jack came into the room drying his face. ‘I’ve always said that Nellie wouldn’t be as funny without you, love, you know that. Ye’re a double act, and yer bounce off each other.’
‘It’s me mate’s actions that make her funnier than me, sunshine. Half the time she doesn’t have to say a word, her face does the talking for her.’ Molly smiled as she saw a picture in her mind’s eye of Nellie and her aspidistra. And the woeful look on her face when Molly refused to let her stay. ‘She would have made a fantastic actress. You’ve got to be with her every day to know exactly what she can get up to. When we’ve got some time to spare, so I can do justice to her acting, I’ll tell you about Monday morning, when she was giving me plant a Beecham’s powder, to give yer an idea of what she gets up to.’
Jack looked startled. ‘Nellie wanted to give the plant a Beecham’s powder? Are yer having me on?’
‘I’m not having you on, sunshine, and that’s only the half of it. But there’s no time to tell it now, or we’ll never make it to me ma’s before she goes to bed. I’ll tell yer tomorrow night.’ Molly raised her brows to Ruthie. ‘You mustn’t repeat anything I tell yer, sunshine, not even to Bella. Not one word, do yer hear?’ She waited for her daughter’s nod before saying, ‘It wouldn’t be fair to laugh behind Auntie Nellie’s back. She probably wouldn’t turn a hair. But she’s my best mate, and while I don’t mind my family having a laugh at her expense because I know they all love the bones of her, I would be very annoyed if I heard anyone outside of our group making fun of her.’
‘Bella wouldn’t make fun of her, Mam. She really loves her.’
After combing his hair, Jack told his daughter, ‘Do as yer mam tells yer, pet, and don’t repeat anything you hear in this house. Least said, soonest mended.’
Molly was standing with her coat on, her front door key in her pocket and her purse in her hand. ‘Come on, Jack, put a move on. Honestly, men take longer to get ready than women. I wouldn’t care if they looked any better for it, but they don’t!’
‘Ah, now, love, that’s hitting below the belt. Men would look well with their hair curled, and powder and lipstick on their faces. I admit that women are better-looking – prettier, like – but most of them need help to look that way.’
Ruthie’s eyes were going from one to the other. Her mam would have to retaliate, ’cos she never used any make-up, didn’t need to for she had a lovely complexion. And she never needed to curl her blonde hair, either.
‘Let’s not get into that, eh,’ Molly said, ‘otherwise you’ll raise the roof if I told yer how much money I spend on powder, rouge, perfume and having me hair done every week.’ She held back the smile of mischief which wanted to put in an appearance. ‘I just couldn’t bear you to tell me off for being so extravagant. So come on, let’s get round to me ma’s before me lipstick wears off.’
Jack put his arms round her and held her tight. ‘You’ve never needed powder, rouge or lipstick since the day I set eyes on yer, love. If yer’d looked like a painted doll, I wouldn’t have given yer a second glance. In my eyes you are the most beautiful woman in the world, and always will be.’
Ruthie sighed with emotion. When she got married, she hoped it would be to someone as loving as her dad. And she would want him to show his affection openly, so she could show hers in return, without feeling embarrassed. Another big sigh came. It would be wonderful to love, and be loved, like her mam and dad.
‘We’re going, Ruthie, so don’t forget to take a key with yer. And make sure yer bang the door shut behind yer. We’ll be back before ten, and that’s late enough for you to be out.’
Molly stepped down on to the pavement and waited for Jack to close the door and join her before linking her arm through his. ‘I feel as though we’re courting again, sunshine. It’s not very often we walk out together arm in arm.’
Jack laughed. ‘It feels like it did when we were courting. It’s hard to believe that it’s about twenty-eight years ago. The time seems to have flown over.’
‘Don’t be putting years on me.’ Molly let out a gasp of surprise and pulled Jack to a halt, for leaning against the wall of a house three doors from her own was her mate Nellie. ‘What are yer doing out here, sunshine? Are yer getting some fresh air?’
Nellie stepped away from the wall. ‘When have I ever been interested in fresh air, girl? I know it’s good for yer, and it’s free, but it doesn’t do a thing for me.’ Her chins quivered at the very thought. ‘No, I’m not here for the good of my health, girl, I’m here because I’m curious. That’s the only reason.’
Molly would have had a bet on what was going to happen next, for she knew her mate inside out. She gave Jack’s arm a slight jerk, to warn him to listen carefully. ‘What are yer curious about, sunshine?’
‘Well, if yer must know, I’m curious to find out whether my best mate is playing a dirty trick on me.’
‘As I’m supposed to be your best mate, Nellie, I’m cut to the quick that yer could even think I’d play a dirty trick on yer.’ Events were turning out as Molly’s mind had predicted, and she gave another little jerk to let Jack know he would be interested in what was to happen. ‘What have I done to upset yer?’
‘Sneaking out without telling me, that’s what. I’ve been with yer all day, yet yer never cracked on yer were going out tonight. Not a dicky bird out of yer. And if I didn’t have good ears, what can hear a pin drop at the Pier Head, then yer’d have got away with sneaking past me window.’ The shoulders went back, the bosom pushed forward, and the head gave a quick shake. ‘And yer deserve to be cut to the quick.’
Molly could feel Jack’s body shaking with silent laughter, and she hoped he could keep it in a little longer. ‘We’re only going round to me ma’s, Nellie, to see how the family are. There’s nothing wrong with that, surely?’
‘Yes, there is, misery guts. I’d like to know how yer ma and da are, ’cos I’m almost like one of the family. And when I tell them how yer nearly got away with sneaking past me house, they’ll be very upset.’
‘What d’yer mean by saying we nearly sneaked past? We don’t have to sneak, sunshine, we’re not thieves.’
‘Don’t be twisting me words, Molly Bennett.’ Nellie’s chins agreed she was right to point that out. ‘Yer nearly did get past, but yer didn’t, ’cos ye’re still here. And yer wouldn’t be still here if yer had! Now do yer see what I’m getting at?’
‘What ye’re saying is as clear as mud, Nellie. But what I can understand is that me and Jack are going to have company on our walk to me ma’s house. I’m right, aren’t I?’
Nellie’s whole body became alert. ‘Of course ye’re right, girl, yer always are. And I won�
�t keep yer waiting, ’cos I’ve got me coat ready on the floor behind the front door. I knew yer wouldn’t want to be held back.’ Quick as a flash, Nellie bent over the steps to put her hand inside the door to get her coat. In the process, she showed a glimpse of blue bloomers, elastic garter and bare leg.
‘Don’t you dare laugh, Jack,’ Molly warned, ‘or I’ll clock yer one.’
By this time Jack’s sides were sore because he wanted, not just to laugh, but to bend over and roar. However, his wife’s tone of voice told him it would be unwise.
Molly took the coat off Nellie and held it open. ‘Here yer are, sunshine, slip yer arm in. But yer do know ye’re a flipping nuisance, don’t yer? And a ruddy cheeky one at that.’
‘Yes, I do know that, girl. But I’d rather get a telling off from you than have to sit with me mouth shut all night while George reads the Echo.’ Somehow, she managed to get between Molly and Jack, and she linked arms with them. ‘I know every man likes to read the paper, and I don’t begrudge it to them. But where most men read from the front page to the back, then fold it and put it away under a cushion, my George doesn’t. Once he’s read it from front to back, he reads it again from back to front.’
As the trio walked towards the next street, Nellie’s hips were swaying from side to side. Jack was pushed towards the gutter with one sway, then jerked back when Nellie’s other hip had Molly wiping the passing window ledges with her coat sleeve. The little woman was four foot ten inches, against Jack’s six foot, and she had to drop her head right back to look up at him. ‘It’s no good me talking to you, lad, ’cos yer wouldn’t hear me. So don’t think I’m being rude, and leaving yer out of our conversation. But that’s yer own bleeding fault for growing into a giant. It’s like our Paul, he’s a six-footer. I have to stand on a chair to give him a clout now.’
Jack bent down to say, ‘Nellie, seeing as ye’re Molly’s best mate, and one of my favourite people, I’ll stand yer on a chair if yer ever want to clout me, or give me a thick lip.’