Civvy Street

by Fiona Field

  ‘Really?’ Caro sounded utterly unconvinced.

  ‘This is Rayner’s doing.’

  ‘Pah, Rayner.’ Caro’s antipathy was almost tangible.

  ‘You don’t like him either?’

  ‘Does anyone? I haven’t heard anyone say a good word about him or bloody Camilla since they arrived. It really does beg the question as to why he got the job of CO.’

  ‘Someone thinks the sun shines out of his backside.’

  ‘Yeah, while the people below him know what is really coming out of it, because we’re the ones, standing beneath, who it’s landing on.’

  Susie giggled then got serious again. ‘All I’m saying, Caro, is don’t blame Maddy.’

  ‘Bit late for that now, though. I already have. So what do you think Rayner’s master plan is?’

  ‘No idea, but Mike is sure he’s up to something – something that Rayner hopes, in the long run, is going to make him look like God’s gift to the army.’

  ‘Involving Seb?’

  ‘Involving people who may not want to risk telling Rayner where to get off. Which, if Will had been made the OC of B Company, he might have done. Let’s face it, Will’s never been one to worry too much about rocking the boat, which I always found so refreshing. Seb is much more career-minded and is less likely to be stroppy.’

  Caro smiled. ‘No, Will’s never been much of a one for forelock-tugging.’

  Which, thought Susie, was all well and good, as long as it didn’t lose you your job.

  ‘I’ll be in touch about the twins,’ said Susie. ‘And I promise I’ll keep looking for childcare, just in case taking them on once the crèche gets going will be impossible for you.’

  ‘Do that. I’m not saying a categorical no but you need to have a Plan B.’

  As Susie left the Edwards’ house she was drafting, in her head, an ad for a childminder to put in the garrison newsletter. Maybe in a year or so she’d feel they were old enough to look after themselves for an hour or so after school but not yet. Although she was sure they’d bitch about having a babysitter at their age. Another thing they’d bitch about. That was all they seemed to do these days, bitch about everything. She was deep in thought about her children and the toxic atmosphere that seemed to surround them these days when a greeting made her jump.

  ‘Hi, Susie.’

  ‘Oh, Seb. Hello.’ Shit, should she have called him Major Fanshaw? After all, that was the agreement she undertook when she got the job working in the mess. Maybe off duty, outside the mess it was OK to be informal. Anyway, he’d called her Susie...

  He stopped, he obviously wanted to talk. ‘How are things?’

  ‘Not too bad,’ she said. ‘I’ve started taking over from Sergeant McManners today.’

  ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘I’m sure it’ll all be clear by the end of the week. There’s a lot of information to get my head around at the moment. And given how much I’ve got to learn, I must get on. Seriously, must dash. I promised Sco— Sergeant McManners that I’d only be gone for a few minutes. Nice to see you though. Bye, Seb.’ Susie walked on. She wondered about suggesting that maybe he and Maddy ought to try and have a word with the Edwardses, kiss and make up and that sort of malarkey, but then decided that it wasn’t her place to interfere. She wasn’t the OC’s wife any more, just the mess manager, and it would be, like a lot of things were now, inappropriate.

  Chapter 18

  Just a few minutes after Susie had gone, Will, with the two boys hanging off him trying to cadge piggybacks, thundered into the house and, once again, any semblance of calm was ruined. The boys demanded their lunch as fast as possible, ‘pl-e-e-e-ease, Mum’ as a lad down the road had, apparently, built a ‘wicked den’ and was allowing Ollie and Josh to play in it with him. They wolfed down the ham and chutney sandwiches that Caro had prepared, then demanded, got and snarfed the promised chocolate biscuits before racing back out again. The peace that descended on their departure was deep and gratefully received. Will and Caro sat at the kitchen table and munched their own lunch in appreciative tranquillity.

  Will finished first and pushed his plate away.

  ‘Enough?’ asked Caro.

  Will nodded and stretched. ‘Yup, that’ll keep me going till supper.’

  ‘I saw Susie just now,’ said Caro.

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘She’s started work in the mess. She came asking if I’d do some childminding for her.’

  ‘That’s nice.’

  ‘Only I can’t really, or put it another way, I don’t want to take on more than I can chew. Not if I’m going to run the crèche properly.’

  ‘I suppose.’

  There was a silence while Caro twiddled the salt cellar on the table. ‘How was work?’

  ‘All right. Why?’

  ‘I was just wondering how things are with you and Seb?’

  Will studied his wife. ‘Tricky.’

  ‘Is it likely to get any better?’

  ‘I don’t find it easy to work for someone who I know has less experience than I have. I see him doing stuff, issuing orders, planning things and I know I could do it better. Once or twice I’ve made suggestions but he won’t listen, so now I’m letting him dig his own grave.’ Will shrugged. ‘If he doesn’t want advice from his elders and betters, why should I give a fuck?’

  Except Caro could see that being rebuffed by Seb hurt him.

  ‘I ran into Maddy in the Spar yesterday.’

  Will raised his eyebrows and looked questioningly at his wife. ‘And?’

  ‘And I didn’t have much to say to her. Just because her husband is your boss doesn’t mean we have to be friends.’

  ‘No, but it’s sad that it’s ended this way.’

  ‘Maybe it means the friendship was never that strong.’ Caro finished her sandwich and pushed her plate away. ‘Friends don’t do the dirty on each other, do they?’ But she missed Maddy’s companionship – even if she was denying it to everyone, including herself.

  *

  The following week Mike Collins had started work at the Winterspring District Council offices, Susie was flying solo running the officers’ mess and the twins were being looked after by Caro.

  Was this job, wondered Susie as she flopped into her office chair, going to be worth the money given the utter bloodiness of getting the twins up and dressed in time to leave the house at eight? She might have thought they had been sullen and sulky before, but the last couple of mornings, since the new routine had had to kick in, their truculence had hit new heights. And, of course, she couldn’t threaten them with leaving them behind because that was exactly what they wanted her to do.

  Everything about going to Caro’s was wrong, as far as the girls were concerned although Susie knew for a fact that they had a perfectly lovely time with her old neighbour. Caro went out of her way to make their day fun and interesting; picnics, trips out, teaching them to make delicious treats in the kitchen... All the sort of things that really ‘mumsy’ mums did and which Susie had never quite found the time or the energy for. Naturally, when she’d picked the girls up the last thing they were going to let on was they might have had a good time, that, in fact, they’d had a zillion times better time than they’d ever had stuck at home with her or Mike. To do that would involve loss of face and would be uncool. Susie just had to make do with the crumb of comfort that while the twins were utterly vile to her, they did, at least, behave reasonably decently for Caro. It was better that way, obviously, but Susie did just wish occasionally that she reaped the benefit of their expensive education and her own efforts at proper parenting and teaching them half-decent manners and social skills.

  Still, she didn’t have time to worry about her kids; there was a mountain of work to be done. She drew the pile of chits, signed the previous night by officers who had bought drinks in the bar, towards her and began to go through them, adding up the drinks bought and putting the totals on the correct mess bills. Like many jobs that Scottie had taught her, it all see
med straightforward while he’d been there at her elbow but now she was on her own she kept finding she had to check and double-check, that she missed details, or entered figures in the wrong columns or did something that meant she didn’t get it right first time. And it didn’t help that she was subject to constant interruptions; the mess staff wanting keys to various store cupboards or asking her to approve orders for food or other stocks, or the phone ringing... By elevenses Susie’s head was ready to explode. She took the phone off the hook and shut the door. Just five minutes, that was all she wanted, five minutes to finish the accounts so she could move onto the next job, the next job out of about thirty she ought to get through today or she’d still be at her desk come midnight. She got stuck in.

  Seconds later there was a knock on the door.

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘Sorry, Susie...’

  It was Maddy. Susie tried to look welcoming but this was the last sodding straw. She did not need a social call right now.

  ‘Is this a bad time? It’s just Nathan is playing at a friend’s house and Rose fell asleep on the walk here,’ she indicated the pushchair parked in the hall behind her, ‘and I thought I’d grab a word with you while I’ve got the chance. Is that OK?’

  ‘No, no, Mrs Fanshaw, what can I do for you?’ The phone whistled an alarm to indicate it was off the hook and Susie silenced it by replacing the receiver.

  ‘Mrs Fanshaw? What’s this all about, Susie?’

  Susie took a deep breath. ‘It’s protocol. I agreed with your husband, Mrs Fanshaw, that as a mess employee, I ought to treat the mess members with the same deference as Sergeant McManners did. In the mess, this is how it must work.’

  ‘What? But that’s daft.’

  ‘It’s appropriate.’ God, how often had she used that phrase recently?

  ‘Really?’

  Susie nodded. ‘It’s for the best.’

  Maddy looked unconvinced. ‘If you say so. Anyway, I came to discuss the wives’ coffee morning, next week.’

  ‘Of course.’ Susie reached up to the files stacked on the shelf above the desk and got out the relevant one. Not that she needed to open it – she’d run more officers’ wives coffee mornings in the mess than Maddy had had proverbial hot dinners. ‘What do you want to know?’

  Maddy looked a little hesitant. ‘So I just need to check the arrangements... The mess can let us have the ante-room from ten o’clock onwards and there’ll be a crèche set up in the bar for the toddlers which is being run by a couple of the mothers.’ Susie nodded. ‘And the budget is two pounds a head to cover tea, coffee and cake plus fifty pence for each child’s refreshments of juice and biscuits and a fee of a pound per child for the crèche to cover costs.’

  ‘That’s the way it usually works, Mrs Fanshaw.’

  ‘When do you need numbers?’

  ‘Two days before is ample. As long as the catering staff have enough time to bake the cakes.’

  ‘Cakes... yes...’

  ‘What sort would you like?’

  Again Maddy hesitated.

  Susie stepped in. ‘I would suggest a coffee and walnut, a lemon drizzle and a Victoria sponge – that’s assuming there’ll be about thirty attendees.’

  ‘Yes, yes, that sounds perfect.’

  ‘I’ll tell the chef.’

  ‘Thank you. Susie—’

  ‘I think we’d better stick to Mrs Collins here.’

  Maddy shook her head. ‘Susie... Mrs Collins...’ Maddy shut her eyes and shook her head again. ‘You’re my friend, I can’t do this.’

  ‘When I’m at work you are just going to have to try. It’s part of the deal. Mrs Fanshaw, you, of all people, know how the army is.’

  ‘Yes, I see. It’s just so odd... so formal.’

  ‘We’ll all get used to it in time.’

  ‘I suppose. Look, Su— Mrs Collins, I have to ask because I really, really, need some advice but how did you cope as the PMC’s wife? It’s a nightmare. I haven’t a clue what to do or where to start. May I come and talk to you one evening?’

  ‘Maybe it would be better if I came to your house. Easier for you.’ Susie didn’t want Maddy to be reminded of how grim the estate was, how low she’d sunk. ‘Anyway, off duty I think we can allow ourselves a little less formality. Out of this office, out of the mess we can all still be friends.’

  ‘Oh, please.’ Maddy looked pathetically grateful.

  ‘Not this week though. I’m too busy running to catch up and getting my head around the job, but soon, I promise.’ Susie smiled. Her phone rang and she put her hand out to lift the receiver.

  ‘I’ve held you up enough. Bye.’ And Maddy left, leaving Susie still wondering how she was going to get away on time.

  Chapter 19

  At the end of the day, with her brain still feeling fried from everything she’d had to deal with, Susie arrived at Caro’s to pick up her daughters.

  ‘God,’ said Caro as she opened the door, ‘if I didn’t know better I’d say you were in need of a strong drink.’

  Susie sighed heavily. ‘There are occasions when not hitting the gin bottle is very difficult indeed. And today is one of them.’

  ‘How is the new job?’ Caro stepped back from the doorstep and held the door wide to allow Susie into her house.

  ‘I know I’ll get used to it and I know it isn’t terribly complicated but there is a lot to get my head round. And the fact that I am constantly interrupted by the mess members, or the staff, or the phone or something doesn’t make life easy.’

  ‘I can imagine. Look, the girls are watching a DVD with Josh and Ollie and it hasn’t quite finished yet. Do you fancy a cuppa rather than drag them away before the end?’ Caro looked at her watch. ‘It can’t have more than about thirty minutes to go, if that.’

  In reality Susie just wanted to get home, get supper on and then, as soon as the family had been fed, get to bed. She hadn’t felt this knackered in a very long time. However, she knew that dragging the twins away mid-film was probably unwise. ‘Go on, then, that’d be lovely.’

  She followed Caro into the kitchen and wearily plumped down on a chair while Caro bustled about getting out the tea bags and putting the kettle on.

  ‘And how is Mike’s job?’ asked Caro.

  ‘All right, I think.’

  ‘What is it that he does?’

  ‘He’s emergency planning officer.’

  Caro mashed the tea bags in a couple of mugs and then passed one of them to Susie. ‘It sounds important.’

  Susie shook her head. ‘I think it’s all a bit fiction-factory stuff. You know, imagining the worst that could happen, multiplying it by a factor of ten and then stopping people running around like headless chickens if the worst does happen by running exercises and having...’ Susie held up both hands and dipped both index fingers, ‘...a Plan of Action.’

  Caro giggled. ‘I am sure there is more to it than that.’

  ‘Oh, there is.’ Susie assumed a serious face. ‘He’s in charge of sandbags too.’

  ‘OIC sandbags?’ Caro snorted with laughter.

  ‘Exactly. OIC sandbags, only don’t tell Mike I said that.’

  ‘Why not, Mummy?’

  Susie spun round on her seat so fast she slopped her tea. ‘Ella.’ She felt her face flare. She shouldn’t have said what she had about Mike’s job; he’d be so hurt if he thought she was taking the piss out of it.

  ‘Why not, Mummy?’ repeated Ella.

  Susie tried to compose herself. ‘Mummy was just being a bit silly. If there’s a flood or a big crash or any sort of disaster, Daddy will be in charge of saving people’s lives. It’s a really important job.’

  ‘Really?’ Ella just stared at her, unblinking. She clearly didn’t want to believe her mother.

  Susie wondered whether she ought to make Ella promise not to tell but decided that the more she made an issue of it, the greater the likelihood of Ella doing something to spite her. With luck, if she just laughed it off, it would all be forgotten. />
  ‘So, is the film finished, sweetie?’

  But Ella looked away from her and said, ‘Please, Caro, may I have a glass of water?’

  ‘Of course, Ella.’ Caro got the water and handed it to her, then Ella disappeared but not before she’d given her mother another long stare.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Caro, apparently oblivious to the significance of the exchange between Susie and her daughter, ‘with both you and Mike in work you must be almost back to where you were before... well, before Mike lost his job.’

  Susie pursed her lips. ‘Sort of.’

  Caro raised her eyebrows. ‘Sort of?’

  Susie shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this but our finances were a bit rocky before Mike’s redundancy so... let’s just say, him losing his job really didn’t help matters. And that had all sorts of knock-on effects which means that the girls aren’t happy.’ She glanced towards the door and lowered her voice. ‘They don’t like the house, the estate, the fact I’m working so they need to come to you... To be honest, Caro, they’re making life bloody awful. It’s hell. So, having them kick off on top of everything else means that life isn’t exactly peachy at the moment.’

  ‘Oh, Susie. I had no idea.’

  No, well... why should you.’ She sighed. ‘It’s not as if it’s the girls’ fault either. It’s probably hormones as well as the change of status and it’s just unfortunate that it’s all come at once. It’ll get better. Once we get our finances sorted we can get a bigger mortgage and move into a nice house and eventually the girls will get used to the idea they’re not spoilt little public school kids any more and accept that going to a comp isn’t all bad.’ Susie leant across the table. ‘Caro, they haven’t even started at Winterspring Comp and they’ve made up their minds that they hate it. I wish they’d go with open minds and give it a chance.’

  Caro sighed. ‘Well, I’ll do what I can to help over the next couple of weeks; you know, send positive vibes to them about state schools, tell them how much I enjoyed going to my local high school and it didn’t wreck my life.’