The Bells of Bow

by Gilda O'Neill

  Alice stepped back. ‘Well!’ she puffed, but her indignation was wasted, Babs had closed the door in her face.

  It was gone midnight when Babs was woken by the strange sound of some sort of a vehicle pulling up outside the house. She peered through a crack in the blackout curtain. There was an American jeep outside and Evie was giggling loudly as she stumbled out onto the pavement.

  When she eventually made it indoors, Babs was waiting for her in the passage.

  ‘Eve, I’ve got to talk to yer. I’m worried about Queenie.’

  Evie tutted. ‘Queenie? Leave off, Babs. Can’t whatever it is wait till the morning? I’m really tired.’

  Babs stepped back. ‘Your breath. Yer’ve been drinking, haven’t yer?’

  Evie giggled. ‘Bourbon!’

  ‘Look at the state of yer. Yer lucky Dad’s still on duty.’

  ‘I’m going up.’ Eve grasped the banister and heaved herself onto the first step.

  Babs shook her head and stared at the floor. ‘Well, don’t wake Betty,’ she said quietly.

  The next morning, Babs took Betty down to the kitchen for her breakfast earlier than usual so that she could have a private talk upstairs with Evie.

  Babs sat on the side of the bed and as calmly as she could manage said, ‘Listen, Eve, I’ve gotta tell you. Albie’s Mum was here last night.’ She nibbled her lip, determined that she wouldn’t cry. ‘Eve, I’m scared she’s gonna try and take Betty away from us.’

  ‘Leave off, Babs.’ Eve snuggled down into the bed. ‘You know what’s she’s like. Silly old bag.’

  ‘Eve! I’m talking to you. This is serious.’ Babs pulled the covers off her. ‘Will you listen to me? It ain’t the first time I’ve felt this. I’m really worried.’

  Eve opened her eyes and stared threateningly at Babs. ‘Look, I’m tired and my head aches. Just go away.’

  ‘In case yer’ve forgotten,’ hissed Babs, ‘it’s Monday morning. How about work?’

  ‘How about it?’ Eve closed her eyes and turned over.

  Babs went downstairs, took Betty to the nursery, then made her way to work alone.

  That evening when she got in she went into the kitchen and looked at the cold, empty stove. Evie was sitting on a chair out in the back yard while Betty played at throwing a ball for Flash.

  Babs leant against the back door. ‘I thought you might have made us something to eat while yer’ve been home all day, Eve.’

  Her sister didn’t bother to turn round to speak to her. ‘I’ve been busy doing me roots.’

  ‘I really don’t understand you lately.’

  ‘Look, whether you like it or not, Babs, I’m going out to see Ray tonight, so I wanted to look me best. And you can have sandwiches or something, can’t yer? Blimey, Babs, it is flaming summer. What d’yer want, a meat pudden? And Ray’s gotta go back to his base tomorrow so I wanna see him. Right down in Essex it is.’ Eve looked over her shoulder and smiled. ‘He’s asked if I can get down there. What d’yer think of that?’

  Babs rubbed her hands over her face.

  Evie threw her hands up in exasperation. ‘And don’t look at me like that, Babs. What d’yer expect me to do? I’ve got a choice, ain’t I? There’s this,’ she pointed inside to the cramped little kitchen, ‘a rotten dismal hole with rationing, the blackout and no fun. Or there’s his way of life. Bright, loads of everything and full of fun. Which would you choose, eh?’ She took a Lucky Strike from her pocket and lit it, blowing a slow stream of smoke up into the air. ‘And he’s teaching me how to talk Yank like him,’ she said in a purring, American accent.

  Babs spun round and paced across the kitchen room. Then she stopped and pointed her finger at Evie. ‘You reckon you can get round anyone, don’t yer?’ She snapped her fingers. ‘Just like that. Make ’em laugh or flutter yer eyelashes and yer’ve got ’em. Well, let me tell you, Evie, yer’ve come unstuck this time. I’ve had enough. I’ve really had it with you.’

  Evie tapped the ash from the end of her cigarette and trod it into the dusty ground. ‘What’s got up your nose all of a sudden?’

  Babs could hardly keep herself from going over to her sister and slapping the smile off her face. ‘Not that yer’d have noticed,’ she said, pointing to the end of the yard where Betty was happily rolling around on the ground with Flash, ‘but Betty don’t even call you Mummy half the time lately.’

  Evie took another puff of her cigarette. ‘Silly cow, course I’ve noticed. It was me what told her not to.’

  35

  In a complete contradiction of the government’s claim that ‘except for a last few shots the Battle of London is over’, October 1944 brought with it a new threat to the capital. People over a wide area of London were reporting hearing incredibly loud explosions that were almost immediately followed by a second, equally devastating blast. Each of the double bangs was so loud that, even if they occurred up to ten miles away, it sounded as though they were really close by. Other things marked the explosions: there was a reddish flash followed by a huge plume of black smoke, and the damage they did was even more devastating than that done by the doodlebugs, destroying whole terraces of houses with a single hit, and they didn’t make any sound before they fell.

  As had happened at first with the V-ls, nobody was saying what these new, mysterious bombs were so, as usual, rumours flew as to what they might be. Londoners were stunned when they eventually found out that the new terror weapons were V-2 rockets, that the ack-ack and barrage balloon defences were useless against them, and that they had been misled once again about the Allies having beaten Germany.

  To add to the gloom, there had been a series of military setbacks in Europe, including the dreadful events at Arnhem, which had resulted in the death of thousands more Allied troops. So it was, on the whole, a depressed and demoralised London that was suffering the latest attacks. Evie, however, with her relationship with Ray Bennington coming along very nicely, was definitely not depressed or demoralised in any way at all; in fact she was positively chirpy.

  It was late on an October Friday afternoon and Evie and Babs had just brought Betty home from the nursery on their way back from work. Babs had taken Betty with her into the kitchen to put the kettle on, while Evie, singing away happily to herself, was going upstairs to put away their coats.

  Someone knocked on the door.

  ‘I’ll get it,’ Evie called from halfway up the stairs and skipped back down to the passage.

  ‘You’re being a right little angel,’ Babs called to her from the kitchen. ‘What you after, Evie?’

  ‘Shut up, yer sour old bag,’ Evie called back to her twin goodnaturedly. She threw the coats over her shoulder and opened the door.

  ‘Blimey, Chas. I ain’t see you for years. How are yer?’

  Chas took off his hat and dropped his gaze. ‘All right,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Babs said you brought Queenie round a couple of weeks back.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘I’d like to say I was sorry I missed yer but Babs said yer wasn’t very nice that night.’

  Chas shuffled uncomfortably and Evie let him squirm for a while.

  ‘So?’ she said eventually.

  ‘I’ve got some bad news, Eve.’

  Despite her earlier anger, Evie reached out and took his hand. ‘You all right, Chas? Yer’ve gone ever so pale. Wanna come in for a cuppa or something?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, I’ve gotta get off straightaway, ta. It’s Albie’s dad, see.’

  ‘Bernie?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s been put away for running a black market racket.’

  Eve’s eyes widened. ‘Christ. He won’t be very happy. I thought he had all the law round his way straightened out. How come—’

  Chas shook his head to silence her. ‘That ain’t all, Eve. When they took him away, Queenie had a stroke. Shock, they reckon.’

  Evie turned round and chucked the coats carelessly over the banister. She paused, then said, ‘And so how is the ol
d cow?’

  Chas scratched at the back of his neck. He looked awkward standing there, almost filling the doorway, like an overgrown child. ‘She’s dead, Eve. I’m just on me way to tell Bernie. That’s why I can’t stay.’ He shrugged. ‘I thought I ought to let yer know. There’s no one else left, except you and the little’un.’

  ‘Right.’ Evie nodded. ‘Thanks for coming round to tell us, Chas.’

  ‘It’s nothing.’ He put his hat back on. ‘Take care, won’t yer. And give me love to that sister of your’n.’

  ‘I will, but I dunno if she’ll be very impressed.’

  ‘Well, it wasn’t my idea coming round that time, yer know what she was like.’

  Eve nodded. ‘I know.’

  ‘If there’s anything either of yer ever need, let me know, won’t yer?’

  ‘Ta, Chas.’

  Evie waited until he had walked as far as the Drum where he had left his car, and then she closed the door and went into the kitchen to Babs. ‘Guess who that was?’

  ‘I could hear it was a feller.’

  ‘It was Chas.’

  Babs glanced anxiously at Betty who was sitting on the floor feeding Flash with pieces she was picking from the end of a loaf. ‘He ain’t brought Queenie round with him, has he?’ she whispered.

  ‘Hardly,’ Evie said, pouring herself a cup from the pot of tea that Babs had just made. ‘She’s gone and dropped dead, ain’t she.’

  ‘She’s what?’

  Evie sat down at the table. ‘Bernie got his collar felt and she snuffed it. Just like that. Who’d have thought that old trout could have been killed off so easy?’ She sipped at her tea.

  ‘Don’t be like that, Eve. And keep yer voice down. That’s Betty’s nan and granddad yer talking about, remember.’

  Eve drank more of her tea. ‘And don’t I know it,’ she said, looking at Babs across the rim of her cup. ‘I had more than a bellyful of the pair of ’em.’

  Babs opened her mouth to protest.

  Evie wouldn’t be silenced. ‘Look, Babs, don’t come all angelic with me, you hated them as much as I did. And I thought you’d be pleased she was out of the way.’

  Babs bowed her head. ‘I suppose so.’

  Evie smiled. ‘Still that’s all in the past now, eh? It’s long gone, and I’m glad and all. I’m living for today, Babs. While I’ve got the chance.’

  ‘We back to that, are we?’ said Babs wearily as she refilled her cup.

  ‘Yes, we are. I’m fed up with how that lot treated me. I’m starting fresh, a new life. And that’s why I’m gonna ask yer to do me a little favour.’

  Babs looked suspiciously at her twin. ‘How does this affect me?’

  ‘Ray’s fixed it so that I can go down to Brighton for the weekend with him.’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘And I was wondering if you could, you know,’ she nodded at Betty, ‘have her for me.’

  ‘And if I said no?’

  Evie put her cup down. ‘Aw, Babs, don’t,’ she whined. ‘Yer know I’ve always wanted to go there. And it weren’t easy for him to fix, neither. He had to promise this feller all sorts, he did. See, civilians ain’t really meant to travel down that way, not without special permission.’

  ‘When’s not having permission ever stopped you from doing anything?’

  ‘Babs,’ she pleaded.

  Babs fiddled around with her cup and then looked at Betty.

  ‘What’s the matter with you, Babs? Yer’ve been a right miserable cow these last few weeks.’

  Babs shrugged. ‘You’d only laugh, or make sarky comments if I told yer.’

  ‘As if I would. Why d’you always think the worst of me?’ Evie smiled sadly at her twin.

  Babs traced her finger round and round the rim of her cup. She didn’t look at Eve when she spoke. ‘I ain’t heard from Harry for a while.’

  Evie grinned. ‘You mean I ain’t heard from Harry for a while.’

  ‘There, I knew I shouldn’t have told yer.’

  Evie lifted her hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘Sorry, sorry.’ She put her head on one side and smiled, sweetly this time. ‘Now, are yer gonna have her for me or not?’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Well, hurry up and make up yer mind, I’ve gotta lot to sort out. I’m meeting him tomorrow dinnertime.’

  ‘This weekend, yer mean?’

  Evie gulped down the remains of her tea. ‘What, didn’t I say?’

  Evie cuddled into Ray’s shoulder and pecked him on the cheek, ignoring the contemptuous glares of the middle-aged woman who was sitting opposite them.

  ‘I love these little six-person compartments on your trains,’ Ray said, kissing her gently on the head. ‘And the blackout blinds. So romantic. Shame we’ve got company, eh Honey?’

  The woman tutted prudishly.

  Evie looked up at him. ‘I’m really excited, Ray. I’ve always wanted to go to Brighton.’

  Ray winked. ‘Not exactly a sensible choice in October and in wartime, but whatever pleases you.’

  Evie smiled happily to herself, basking in Ray’s attention and the admiration of the other servicemen who were crowded into the little compartment. When she was sure that no one else was looking, she went cross-eyed and poked out her tongue at the now scarlet-faced woman opposite. When they got to the pub where Ray’s contact had booked them a room, they had something to eat and then Evie insisted on going out for a walk.

  Ray agreed reluctantly.

  ‘This is some – what did you call it? – prom they’ve got here.’ Ray shivered and pulled his collar up round his ears. ‘All you can see in the dark is the glint of the barbed wire. And it is so cold.’

  Evie twirled round in front of him, her arms stretched wide. ‘I don’t care. I think it’s wonderful. Ignore the barbed wire, just look at that moon.’

  Ray laughed. ‘You’re a great kid,’ he said.

  She grabbed hold of his hand. ‘Tell me again, Ray, what’s it like in America?’

  ‘Well, back home, girls like you are always in the beauty parlour – you know, hairdressers you call them – getting fixed up some way.’

  ‘I’ve thought about going to one of them smart hairdressers up West. I never did though.’

  ‘I’ll pay for you to go if you want.’

  ‘Would yer?’ Her smile faded. ‘Does my hair look bad then?’

  ‘No. It’s perfect.’

  ‘Tell me some more about America.’

  ‘The sunshine ain’t on ration for one thing.’ He thought for a moment. ‘It’s difficult to describe.’ He shrugged and pulled her close to him. ‘Let’s just say that it ain’t like this in California, that’s for sure.’

  Evie kissed him. ‘Let’s go back to our room,’ she whispered.

  While Evie and Ray were finding their way back to the pub, Babs was making a final cup of tea before she went up to bed.

  She wasn’t sure at first but she thought she heard someone at the street door and Flash had pricked up her ears. Babs listened; it definitely wasn’t the knocker she had heard.

  She looked at the clock. It was gone eleven. Surely it couldn’t be anyone calling this late on a Saturday night, but there it was again, the gentle rapping. She grabbed hold of Flash’s collar and went into the front room and picked up the poker. Then she walked slowly along the passage towards the street door.

  ‘Who is it?’ she called, leaning close to the door so she could hear.

  ‘It’s me, Harry, Harry Taylor. Evie’s friend.’

  ‘Harry?’ Babs could hardly believe it. She pulled the door open. ‘Come in,’ she said, holding the poker and Flash’s collar in one hand and dragging her dressing gown round her with the other.

  ‘Expecting trouble?’ said Harry, taking off his forage cap and following her along the passage.

  ‘It is late.’ Babs was so dazed to see him she barely knew what to say.

  ‘Yeah, I’m sorry about that.’

  She let Flash go and the dog trotted back to th
e kitchen. ‘You have to be quiet,’ said Babs, putting her finger to her lips and then gesturing vaguely upstairs. ‘Betty’s asleep.’

  Harry nodded and tiptoed along behind her like an oversized ballerina.

  ‘I am sorry it’s so late,’ he whispered. ‘But I just got off the train at Waterloo a little while ago. And when I changed to the Underground to go home to Plaistow, to go to me mum’s, I got as far as Mile End and I had to get off and come and see Evie.’

  Babs turned her head away.

  ‘Sorry,’ he whispered again. ‘It was a stupid idea coming this late.’

  ‘No it wasn’t. Come in the kitchen.’

  He sat down at the table and Babs shut the kitchen door behind them. ‘There, we can talk normally now.’ She pointed to the teapot. ‘I’ve just made some to take up to bed. It’s a bit weak, but fancy a cup?’

  ‘Please.’

  She handed him his tea. ‘What happened to your face?’

  Harry automatically put his hand up to cover the jagged scar that ran from his ear right across his cheek. ‘I got this at Arnhem. It’s why I haven’t written to Evie for a while. And my leg got broken.’ He touched his face again.

  Babs’s mouth went dry at the thought of him getting hurt. ‘Bad, was it?’

  ‘Bad enough. But I’m all right now. Well, apart from a bit of a limp and the scar. They’ve sent me home on extended leave, after the convalescence in the hospital.’

  ‘I’m glad yer all right.’

  ‘Is Evie in bed?’

  Babs wanted to say that she probably was but she didn’t. Instead she said, ‘She’s gone to see a friend. For the weekend.’

  ‘Shame I’ve missed her.’

  Harry reached inside his greatcoat and pulled out a little wooden duck on wheels. ‘I made this for your little girl. Hope yer don’t mind. I carved it when I was in the convalescent place.’

  He smiled at her, the scar making his features look rakishly lopsided.

  Babs took the toy and returned his smile and spontaneously kissed him on the cheek. The minute she’d done so, she jumped back as if she’d been scalded. ‘Sorry.’