A Mother's Spirit

by Anne Bennett

  Joe was ready for him, however. He punched Finch hard in the face, and then dealt another to his abdomen, doubling him up. The next blow caused Finch to fall to his knees.

  Then his hands, which he put out to save himself, came in contact with a hefty lump of wood on the ground and he got to his feet clutching it.

  ‘Look out!’ Tom called when, just for a moment in the moonlight, he had seen Finch circling Joe with the wood held menacingly in his hands.

  ‘Come on, big boy,’ Finch taunted. ‘Let’s see what you are made of now.’

  Joe lunged and Finch caught him a mighty blow to the side of the head which might have rendered a lesser man unconscious, but Joe was so angry he was only momentarily stunned, which gave Finch time to deliver a stinging blow to his shoulder. Joe staggered and struggled to regain his balance, and Tom gasped. But Finch too was tiring and when Joe saw him raise the club again, he ducked beneath it and drove first his right fist and then his left into Finch’s unprotected stomach.

  He fell to the ground and Joe was on top of him immediately, wrenching the wood from his hands. For a moment he raised it and had the desire to bring it crashing down on Finch’s head. He saw that Finch anticipated this. He had shut his eyes and was whimpering in fear, and his whole body was shaking. Joe looked at him in disgust, threw away the wood, and heard it plop as it hit the water in the canal. Finch, seeing that he was off guard for a moment, caught him with a left hook that snapped his neck back.

  Joe said later that was when a sort of red mist filled his mind and through it he saw his lovely, kind and gentle sister being subjected to incredible abuse at the hands of the man beneath him. By God, he thought, he would make him pay for that.

  He dragged him to his feet. ‘Now fight fair, you slimy bastard,’ he growled out, and launched into him immediately.

  After that, Joe didn’t hear Finch’s groans or moans. Nor did he feel any punches that made their mark as he pummelled his prey without mercy until he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. Then he lifted his boot and kicked him and would have done so again, but Tom came forward and put a hand on his arm.

  ‘Hasn’t he had enough?’

  ‘Not while he breathes, no.’

  ‘Joe …’ Tom knew what it was to take another’s life and he didn’t want Joe to have that on his conscience.

  ‘Don’t pretend that this is some decent human being that I am kicking the shit out of,’ Joe said angrily. ‘He is a brutal, filthy rat, and rats deserve no mercy.’

  ‘And you have given him none,’ Tom said gently. ‘But it’s over now. Let’s go home.’

  Tom’s words, soft though they were, permeated Joe’s brain and he shook his head to rid himself of the red mist.

  ‘You all right?’ Tom asked.

  Joe nodded. ‘I am now.’ He looked at the unconscious man in a heap on the ground in front of him and he said, ‘Is he dead?’

  Tom bent over Finch to check that a pulse was still beating in his neck. ‘No, he is alive,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of here quick.’

  That’s when they heard the scraping scratching noise and they were immediately alert. They didn’t turn on their torches, but they had no need to because the moon was full and now uncovered by cloud. They could plainly see the derelict warehouses and the remains of a factory, and in the middle of that, sitting on a crate, cleaning his whiskers, was a rat.

  Joe sighed with relief and gave a rueful smile as he said to Tom, ‘Aren’t we the big men? Frightened of a bloody rat.’

  ‘Aye,’ Tom agreed. ‘But let’s away now. To hang about here is madness.’ They started up the road and hadn’t gone that far when they heard the unmistakable sound of a tremendous splash.

  They looked at one another in alarm and then dashed back down to the towpath. It was deserted, but they both heard the sound of running footsteps disappearing into the night. Tom ran to the canal and playing his torch on the water, saw the body of Finch being sucked under, and he watched dispassionately until it had quite disappeared.

  ‘Someone disliked the bastard as much as we did,’ Joe said as he joined his brother. ‘See anything?’

  ‘Aye,’ said Tom. ‘I saw the slimy toad being sucked under the water, and good riddance, I say.’

  ‘And me,’ Joe agreed. ‘Finch is no loss to the human race. Let’s go and tell Aggie that she can sleep easy in her bed now.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Tom replied. ‘And I think that gentle sister of ours will proper give out to you when she sees your face. I only caught a glimpse of it in the light from the torch, but it looks a right mess. You be glad of the blackout and let’s hope that we have the carriage to ourselves on the train. We wouldn’t want any fellow passenger to become curious as to how you got so battered-looking.’

  SEVENTEEN

  Aggie was so angry and disappointed when she saw the state of Joe’s face when he and Tom arrived home that night. She felt that he had tainted the evening that, up until then, she had thought almost magical, because she had had a wonderful time with Paul, in fact she could never remember enjoying herself so much and then Joe, who hadn’t been in the country five minutes, arrived home in such a state.

  She knew Joe had been in a fight. She had seen enough street brawls in her time to recognise his injuries, and she gave out to him good and proper.

  It was only when the men impressed upon her what they had done and were able to promise her that, though Joe hadn’t killed Finch, someone else had finished the job, was Aggie able to believe that at last the man was dead and gone.

  ‘All the women who worked for him hated him,’ she said.

  ‘Well, for them, and especially you, it is over,’ Joe told her. ‘You are free of Finch and can go forward with your life now.’

  Both Joe and Tom were amazed when Aggie began to cry.

  ‘Aggie, I thought you would be pleased,’ Joe said in consternation, and Tom was similarly dismayed and confused.

  However, Aggie’s face was lit up in a way the men had never seen before, though the tears continued to trickle down her cheeks as she said, ‘I am pleased, you pair of eejits. God, don’t men know anything?’

  Tom thought he would never understand women if he lived to be a hundred. But, ever the peacemaker, he said, ‘Shall I make us all a cup of tea and we’ll tell you all about it?’

  Aggie wiped her eyes and nodded. ‘I’d like that. And there is no rush either, because it will take me some time to get this man’s face to rights.’

  The next day Joe was stiff and sore, and his face still a mess despite Aggie’s ministrations. They were due to go to Molly’s that day and they took a tram for most of the way because the house beside the aerodrome was a tidy distance. Aggie caught the conductor’s eyes on Joe more than once, and she thought it little wonder, for he looked as though he had gone ten rounds in a boxing ring and come off the worst.

  She didn’t underestimate either the pain or discomfort that he must be in, nor the courage it must have taken to tackle Finch in that way and so enable her to live the rest of her life in peace and free from fear. She knew that she would always owe him a debt for that. And Tom too, not only for taking revenge on McAllister, which she was unable to do, but also for lifting her from the gutter and caring for her so well that she was now able to face the world again. Together her brothers had given her a future and she knew she would never forget that.

  Joe wasn’t at all sure that if he had been in Tom’s shoes that night when Aggie accosted him he’d have acted the way that Tom did. Would he have wanted to be seen with the depraved and gin-sodden woman Tom described, let alone claim a kinship with her and take her in and look after her? He knew he just might have walked away, and he was filled with shame for even thinking that way.

  ‘What are you thinking about, Joe, that is putting such a frown on your face?’ Aggie asked.

  Joe had no intention of telling her, but he did say, ‘I was just thinking that I need to send a telegram to Gloria.’


  ‘Did she know the plan the two of you had hatched up?’ Aggie asked quietly.

  Joe smiled and said just as quietly, ‘She did, and she wasn’t best pleased. Gave out to me good and proper, but whatever she said, I know concern about me was at the root of most of it and I don’t want her worrying unnecessarily.’

  ‘We can get off the tram before we get to Molly’s,’ Tom said. ‘There’s a parade of shops nearby and I know there’s a post office because I posted some of the letters to you from there.’

  And that is what they did. The telegram was short and to the point, Joe would tell Gloria all when he got back and so he just wrote, ‘JOB DONE. ALL IS WELL.’

  Tom went into the post office with his brother and when they came out he had a big grin plastered on his face. ‘You should have seen the way the woman behind the counter looked at Joe,’ he said to Aggie. ‘I think she thought that any minute he would start demanding money with menaces.’

  ‘I’m not really that surprised,’ Aggie said. ‘Maybe you’d better go ahead and warn Molly, Tom. I would hate her to think that Joe always looks like this.’

  Joe agreed, and so when he met Molly for the first time she made no comment about his appearance. And neither did the man in air-force blue by her side. Joe brushed away the hand Molly had extended for him to shake and gave her a hug instead, saying, ‘I am so pleased to meet you at last, my dear, and I agree with Tom. You are so like your mother it is almost uncanny.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Molly said. ‘I take that as a compliment.’

  ‘Good,’ Joe said. ‘For that was how it was meant.’ And he turned to the young man and held out his hand. ‘And you must be Mark?’

  ‘I am, sir,’ Mark said. ‘And very pleased to meet you.’

  Joe saw that the man had good manners and heard he was well spoken, and his handshake was firm, and while he admired all those things what really reassured him was the love that seemed to spark between the two young people. Tom said Molly had met her soul mate and Joe thought she probably had. He recalled the way he and Gloria had parted, and regretted it bitterly. He hoped that they could mend their marriage when he returned home.

  Molly led the way indoors. Joe was looking forward to meeting the boy, but Kevin had not been warned about Joe’s face and so he took one look at him and said, ‘Crikey! What happened to you?’

  ‘Kevin! Don’t be so rude.’

  ‘I’m not,’ Kevin said, affronted. ‘I’m just asking a question. How can that be rude?’

  ‘It’s personal and—’

  ‘Molly,’ Joe said with a smile, ‘it’s natural to be curious. For all Aggie’s care, I am not yet ready for respectable company.’

  ‘So what happened then?’

  ‘Kevin!’

  Joe didn’t answer straight away. Instead, he asked, ‘How old are you, Kevin?’

  ‘Thirteen.’

  Joe glanced across at Molly with his eyebrows raised and she knew what he was saying, that he wasn’t sure the tale he was going to tell was suitable for a lad of thirteen. However, Molly had told Kevin everything that had happened to her while he was in the orphanage, and she had answered his many questions as honestly as she could, and so she said, ‘Whatever it is you have to tell us, Kevin should hear too. He has been through so much already. And he knows that what he hears he mustn’t repeat.’

  Kevin flashed his sister a look of gratitude as Joe said, ‘All right then. I look this way, Kevin, because yesterday night I was in a fight.’

  Kevin’s eyes grew as big as saucers. ‘Golly, were you really?’ he exclaimed. ‘Who did you fight?’

  ‘A very bad man,’ Joe said. ‘And one who hurt your Aunt Aggie very much.’ And then Molly, Mark and Kevin listened open-mouthed to what Joe had done the previous night and why, and none of them blamed him one bit.

  ‘I don’t think that you can really understand the relief I felt at the news that that man was dead at last,’ Aggie said. ‘My feelings for that man went beyond fear and beyond hate. The thought that he is gone and that he can never hurt me or mine in any way ever again is almost unbelievable. I am still coming to terms with it, like I am coming to terms with the fact that if I hadn’t accosted Tom that time in the street, I might not be here now, surrounded by my lovely family.’

  They all heard the catch in Aggie’s voice and though there was a lump in Molly’s throat as well, to give Aggie time to compose herself she said, ‘I’m glad we are all here together today too because I want to talk about the guests at our wedding.’

  ‘What about them?’ Tom asked.

  ‘I want to invite the McEvoys,’ Molly said. ‘I’ve explained why to Mark.’

  ‘I am looking forward to meeting them,’ Mark said. ‘Molly says that Nellie and Jack McEvoy were substitute parents when she lost her own.’

  ‘Aye, they were,’ Tom agreed. ‘And Cathy was her best friend.’

  Aggie knew the McEvoys were from Buncrana, though, and as she felt her budding self-confidence seeping away she asked fearfully, ‘Would they judge me? I shouldn’t want my tale spread all around Buncrana, and it would be hard for the rest of you too to rise above the shame of it.’

  ‘The only shame in this is that it has been allowed to continue for so many years,’ Joe said fiercely. ‘None of what happened to you is your fault.’

  ‘That isn’t how people will see it, Joe. You know that,’ Aggie said.

  ‘Many people are like that,’ Tom said. ‘If they heard one hint of this they would say that there was no smoke without fire. But the McEvoys are different. Over the years they have kept many secrets for us and I would trust them with my life.’

  ‘Right,’ said Aggie with an emphatic nod of her head. ‘If I have your word, Tom, that is all I need.’

  ‘They are a lovely family altogether,’ Joe said. ‘Their elder daughter, Helen, is a good friend of my wife, Gloria. Her husband didn’t some back from Dunkirk and then his entire family were wiped out in the Birmingham blitz. Small wonder Helen was ill. When she came back home to recover, as I did, she met up with Gloria and they soon became the best of friends. Gloria missed the pace of life in London because she is a real city girl, and so is Helen now. The two of them stick out like sore thumbs in Buncrana.’

  ‘Well,’ Aggie said, ‘the country life is not for everyone.’

  ‘I think deep down she really is homesick at times,’ Joe said. ‘She was delighted to meet with two American petty officers a couple of months ago in Buncrana. They had come over from the naval base in Derry and Nellie took them under her wing.’

  ‘Oh, she would,’ Molly said with a smile.

  ‘Yes,’ Joe agreed. ‘Anyway, one of them was from New York. Gloria said she didn’t realise how much she missed the accent until she heard it again, and the upshot of all this was the three women, Nellie, Helen and Gloria, were shown around the camp. Then just before I came away, these petty officers told Helen and Gloria there are jobs going in the canteen at the camp if they wanted to try for them.’

  ‘Gosh,’ Molly said. ‘Is she going to?’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Joe said. ‘I wasn’t best pleased at first, to tell you the truth, but after this weekend I promised her we’ll talk about it. Anyway, you will meet her soon, and Ben too, for they are coming over for the wedding. Will you look after Ben for me, Kevin?’

  ‘Course I will.’ Kevin said, delighted that he would get to see his cousin. ‘How old is Ben now?’

  ‘Nine,’ Joe said. ‘Just one thing, Kevin. Ben will not be told the truth about Aggie. He is far too young to know about things like that.’

  ‘I’ll say he is,’ Kevin said. ‘I mean, he’s just a kid really.’

  Tom bent his head to hide his smile as Kevin went on, ‘What you going to tell him?’

  ‘There won’t be any explanation needed,’ Aggie said. ‘Just say I’m Aunt Aggie and let that be the end of it.’

  The next day, Tom took Joe around the city centre for he was booked on the night boat and hadn’t to catch
the train until half-past nine that evening. Although some of the bomb damage was extensive, Joe noticed an air of defiance, such as people still trading in the market hall in a place Tom called the Bull Ring, although the roof had been blown clean off.

  ‘That’s the Brummie spirit,’ Tom told Joe later as they each nursed a pint of Guinness in a city centre pub. ‘You are looking at a battered city, but when this war is all over it will be rebuilt and I think I would like to be here when that happens.’

  Joe stared at his brother for a moment, then said, ‘What exactly are you telling me, Tom?’

  ‘I am saying that I am just beginning to realise what life is all about, and that is family, surely,’ Tom said. ‘I have no children of my own, nor never will have, and that is a burden that I must carry, but here I have a sister I had given up for lost, a niece I met and learned to love in 1935, and a nephew that I am just getting to know. Added to that I have a first-class job with a fair and generous boss and I am happier than I have been in years.’

  And he looked better, there was no denying it.

  ‘But what of the farm?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Well, that’s another thing,’ Tom said. ‘I have worked on that farm since I was a child, and for what? After my day it will fall into disrepair because I have no one to pass it on to, while you have a son.’

  Joe shook his head. ‘I am no farmer, Tom,’ he said. ‘We are just scraping by, and Gloria is no farmer’s wife. She hates everything about it, particularly the primitive conditions we live under.’

  ‘Ben likes it well enough.’

  ‘Ben is just a child. Of course he likes it. He hasn’t the concerns and worries of his parents, and why should he have, but he may not love the land so much when he is fully grown.’

  ‘And then again he may.’

  Joe shook his head. ‘Gloria will never stand it.’

  ‘All right,’ Tom conceded. ‘Maybe that is asking a lot of you all.’ Then he looked at Joe steadily and said, ‘Many years ago, you wanted to try your hand in America and I gave you the wherewithal to do that. Now I am not reminding you because I am calling in favours, but because you might understand the urge to have a chance of trying something new.’