by Paul Kelly
***
Willie found it hard to sleep when the gathering had broken up and everyone had retired to bed, or gone home. He lay awake, wondering how long it would take Charlie to see Rachael home and he was just about to drop off when his brother’s weight hit the bed.
“Wish you’d marry that lassie, Charlie,” he groaned sleepily and Charlie sniggered.
“Do you want to get rid of me that much, Willie?”
Willie thought for a moment and sighed.
“Well Then I’d have this bed to myself, wouldn’t I?”
Charlie leaned over Willie’s stretched out frame and whispered provocatively into his ear.
“You’ll miss the warmth of my lovely body,” he murmured but Willie stuck his fingers in his ears. “Gerroff,” he shouted and shivered with the tickling sensation that Charlie had left with him.
“Did I ever tell you, Willie lad, that all the Blairs were fine, upright, noble characters,” he jibbed, pressing himself against his brother.
“And as hard as bloody rocks too,” remarked Willie as he rolled over and went to sleep, pulling the bedclothes with him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Can I come in?” Tom called out from where he was standing on the doorstep.
“Hello Tom. Come in, of course you’re just in time for dinner.”
Tom Carey was beginning to consider himself to be one of Mary Blair’s family ...by this time as he deposited his presents under the humble Christmas Tree in Mary’s living room.
Whoops of excitement could be heard all down the street, as corks popped and paper hats, hand-made from multi-coloured crepe paper, sat awkwardly on young heads as the party began. Everyone thanked Tom for the turkey and he waved his hand in the air, in shy embarrassment. Mary had excelled herself with her cooking and no-one would ever have guessed there was a war on, except perhaps for the absence of any fruit and the minimum of chocolate and with home-made loganberry wine for a seasonal toast.
“Can I bring my friend round this evening, Mammy as you said I could, remember?”
Meggie made her request coyly and looked at her mother under her eyelids. Mary Blair was perplexed. She knew her daughters well and she knew their ways and she was concerned that this was no ordinary friend that Meggie wanted to invite home, but before she could ask any more questions, Meggie herself offered the information.
“It’s a man, Mammy; a man at the office where I work and I rather like him.”
“Yes Meggie?”
Mary knew there was more to come.
“He’s ... He’s a little bit older than me, actually, but he’s very nice.”
Mary sighed ... So this was the reason for the hesitancy
“How old is your friend, Meggie?” she asked quietly and she could feel Tom Carey’s eyes burning into her back as she spoke. Meggie walked over towards the window and looked out at the sky. It was bleak outside, she thought and not much better inside she thought again.
“Oh! Middle-aged, I would say Mammy.”
Mary ran her tongue across her lips and watched Tom’s reaction as she turned to face him. He looked away.
“How, middle-aged, would you say, Meggie?” she persisted but Meggie continued to stare out of the window. She was hesitant. She wanted her mother to assure her that her friend would be welcome at the party regardless of his age, but she knew that Mary had questions that she was bound to ask.
“He’s ...” Meggie stopped talking and turned to face her mother. “He’s fifty fifty-three to be exact,” she said and threw back her head in defiance of her statement. A silent defiance of any opposition that her mother would make, but to her surprise, Mary appeared to show no undue concern as she looked again at Tom.
“I suppose, he’s married?” she asked, softly and Meggie stared at her.
“Why ... why yes, he is or was actually, but how did you know?”
Mary smiled sadly. He would hardly be a Young Pretender at that age, she thought. What was she to say now? What could she say? She bit her lip and made a silent ejaculatory prayer, before she reached forward and took Meggie’s hand in her own and they sat down together. She stroked Meggie’s hair lovingly and Tom stood by in admiration.
“You’re such a wee lassie. I can’t think that you’ve grown up already, but you have. Yes, indeed you have, Darling and you’re very beautiful ... You know that, don’t you?”
Meggie blushed and wanted to cry, but Mary pressed her daughter’s head to her shoulder as she went on, “I don’t want to interfere in your life, Meggie or tell you how to live it. This is something you must decide and do for yourself, but Darling. Dearest; darling Meggie, please be careful. Men are very often, not what they seem to be ...when we first meet them. Some of them are good and when they are good, they’re usually very good. but some of them well, they could lead a young girl a merry dance, if she let them and if this is the case with you Meggie, then it’s God help ye, lass ... That’s for sure,”
Mary felt like a wizened old sage from the deepest pages of the Bible as she spoke her advice. She had never had to speak to any of her family like that before and she wanted to say the right thing, so that she would not hurt or offend. She certainly didn’t want Meggie to take umbrage and perhaps run off with this man and she began to wonder, what he was like. “Of course, you must bring your friend to the party, darling, but don’t let your heart rule your head ...Not just yet, eh? There’s plenty of fish in the sea, my love. Plenty more pebbles on that big old beach out there ... take it from me.”
Meggie kissed her mother warmly and smiled.
“Thanks Mammy. You’re wonderful. You always have been a wonderful mother to us. I’ll be careful, but I just can’t help feeling for Ross the way I do. I will be careful, Mammy. I promise and thanks again. Thanks for just being YOU.”
Meggie skipped off, as happy as a young goat kid in the season of spring.
***
The evening arrived all too soon and the party went into full swing. Everyone was there, including old Mrs. Harris and her grandchildren, Rachael and Nathan Rita Watts and her offspring and of course Ross Schofield. Only Tom Carey was missing.
“Good evening Mr. Schofield.” Mary offered her hand in welcome.
“Oh! Please, Mrs. Blair. Please call me Ross. I am happy to be here with your family and most appreciative of your cordial invite.” He bowed slightly as he spoke and Mary took the opportunity to look hard and long at him, when he wasn’t looking at her face to face. She particularly watched him carefully when he looked at Meggie and she could see that he was definitely infatuated with her and as she watched him she was also aware that he had an eye also for her other daughter the one with the thick make up and the heavy eye liner. She saw too that Sadie couldn’t take her eyes from Ross as he danced with Meggie. Aggie, as usual, helped with the food and drinks and smiled benignly at everyone. Charlie only had eyes for Rachael his gorgeous Rachael and she saw no-one at the party but the handsome Charlie. Ross Schofield danced well into the evening like a much younger man than he was and Mary admired his agility. She thought he was well preserved for his age and would have considered him to be more like forty-five or so, and no more. There seemed to be no malice or artifice in the man, but he was married
Mary watched and Meggie watched, but each saw a different Ross Schofield; the man with the lovely even white teeth and dark hair, slightly greying at the temples, which only added a hint of distinction to his character. His skin was dark too, as if he had been abroad for a holiday. Yes ...Mary concluded, after careful thought that he was indeed good-looking’ well tanned and that he stood just under six feet tall, with an athletic build that could well have provoked a younger man to jealousy or envy.
Mary had made a careful examination of what she was able to see on the surface. That would do for the present, but then, so had Sadie and she sipped her dri
nk as Ross came up beside her.
“You’re Sadie ...Meggie’s sister, I believe,” he asked and his dark eyes liked what he saw. Sadie blushed and surprised her mother. It was hardly what Mary would have expected.
“Yes,” she said with her eyes half-closed, wearing her dramatically trained seductive look that Mary knew so well. She knew exactly what was going through Sadie’s mind, but she could have told her there and then, that this was no Errol Flynn and he was too old to be another Tyrone Power. Sadie moved sultrily as she continued to ooze her charms in the best way she knew, but Ross stopped her as he put his warm hand on her arm.
“Haven’t you got a young man with you this evening, Sadie?” He paused as he spoke her name and his eyes glazed over. Sadie was lost for words. Her theatrical phrases did not include this type of thing, she thought, but her mind went to work quickly, as only Sadie Blair’s particular could do.
“Oh! I have quite a few young men really, but I find them all such a bore. I am more interested in the older man, myself. They are so much more mature and interesting. The younger ones ...the boys don’t have much to talk about,” she purred and Mary smiled. “Eat your heart out Scarlet O’Hara...” she murmured to herself and raised her eyes to the balloons on the ceiling. They too were filled with air ...
Ross looked at Sadie with deep appreciation and smiled a knowing smile as he nodded his head in understanding.
“Can I get you another drink?” he asked.
“Thank you Ross ... You’re very kind.”
Poor Meggie watched and her mother did too, but neither of them seemed to be very happy as the evening wore on. Sadie, on the other hand, was in her element. She laughed loudly at Ross’s jokes and swooned when he told her of his experiences on the Amazon as Meggie dried her tears in the corner. This was Sadie’s evening. There was no doubt about that. The world was her stage. She was another Sarah Bernhardt and she loved every minute of her act. She oozed femininity, if in a somewhat inexperienced fashion, but Ross Schofield’s eyes were ablaze. He loved every minute of her performance.
***
Charlie danced most of the evening with Rachael and Willie stood by in envy, feeling that he too should stand in a corner somewhere and cry his eyes out. Wattie stared at Meggie in rapturous admiration and forgot all about becoming a priest, but Meggie looked only at Ross, sadly and with in inner regret that perhaps her mother was right and she should never have invited him to the party. Mary was confused in her conglomeration of thoughts and her mind was in turmoil. She thought about Sadie and Meggie and how different they were in nature. She thought about Aggie lovely safe, sure, Aggie . . . utterly dependable and straight, without complication and she thought of Tom... and wished he had been with her at that moment.
***
“Turn the music down ... What’s that noise? It’s coming from outside in the street somewhere.”
Aggie ran towards the window and peeped out from the side of the black-out curtain.
“TURN THAT LIGHT OUT,” someone shouted from outside and Aggie dropped the curtain again immediately. “DON’T YOU KNOW AN AIR-RAID SIREN WHEN YOU HEAR ONE?”
The unfamiliar sound brought fear to Aggie’s face as she turned to face the party-goers, who by this time had joined in her silent dilemma, but the siren continued to moan, relentlessly.
“An air raid,” gasped Mary and she put the lights out in the room. “We’ve never had an air raid before I don’t know what to do.”
She searched in the kitchen drawer where they usually kept the various items that might be required for everyday emergency use and found an old candle. It was in half and the wick was exposed in the centre, but it served the purpose as she lit it and settled it into an old egg cup, so that it shone quite surprisingly brilliant in the dark. She then reached out for the Holy Water, which she always kept in a bottle near the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes on the kitchen window.
“In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ...”
Mary threw the water about the room, blessing everyone with whom she came in contact. She sprayed it liberally around the house ... well its no use asking God’s help in halves, was there as she continued her invocation to the Trinity to preserve all who sheltered under her roof that evening.
“In the Name of the Father,” she went on, repeating her partition several times, before there was another siren warbling away outside to tell them that the raid was over. Mary and Aggie rushed outside to see the skyline all lit up in the horizon and they understood that bombs had been dropped and not too far away. Ross suggested it could be the Goven shipyards as the sky glow came from that direction and Mary went pale as she stared at Aggie.
“What is it Mammy? What’s wrong?”
Mary swooned and stood against the wall.
“Goven ... Govan,” she said softly. “My God, Aggie that’s where Tom said he was doing his fire-watching tonight. That’s why he couldn’t come to the party, Aggie and he said he would drop in later.”
Aggie guided her mother indoors again where they sat down together on the settee. The lights were by this time turned on again and everyone was grateful for their safety and breathed a sigh of relief until Sadie began to laugh. She laughed until the tears ran down her over-painted face and smudged her mascara as she pointed round the room and in a second, everyone saw the picture and laughed with her.
Mary hadn’t used the Holy Water to spray the room and its occupants. Instead she had lifted the H.P sauce bottle by mistake. . However, she was greatly relieved when Tom rang the door bell about an hour later, enquiring if everyone was alright and she cried and hugged him.
***
Later that night, when she and Aggie were in bed together, she thought of the good fortune that had been their lot and prayed for the poor creatures who weren’t so lucky. Someone, somewhere, wasn’t asleep in his or her bed that evening that was for sure. Tom had told her that it was Greenock that had been hit and that they hadn’t touched Govan and again, Mary was relieved and saddened at the same time.
“Aggie ...Aggie dear ... Are you asleep?” she whispered and her daughter turned round to face her.
“I’m so glad Tom was alright, Mammy and glad too that you think so much of him. He’s a good man.”
“Thanks Aggie yes, for a moment if only for one real moment, I realised then what Tom means to me. I hope I didn’t make a fool of myself when I threw my arms around him.”
Aggie patted her mother’s hand.
“Aggie what do you think of Ross Schofield?”
Aggie nestled her head more comfortably into the pillow.
“I think it’s only a sort of father figure with our Meggie, Mammy. Daddy has been dead for a long time now and I suppose we all miss him I mean, in different ways. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. She’s a good girl and she’ll grow out of this very shortly. Her heart is in the right place.”
Mary felt consoled and tried to settle down to sleep, but her mind was alert from the goings on of the evening
“I’m ever so glad Tom didn’t get hurt in that air-raid, Aggie,” she mumbled as she closed her eyes. “I think that would have done something to me that I couldn’t have forgotten for a long time.”
Aggie turned towards her and smiled.
“Mammy ... Are you are you in love with Tom?” she asked, but there was no answer forthcoming as Mary sighed deeply and a loud snore resounded around the bedroom. Aggie lay awake for a long time after that. She had assured her mother that she shouldn’t worry about Meggie and that if she suffered from insomnia, it should not be because of her younger sister who worked as a clerk at the Fellowship Insurance Company but rather for her other sister; the one who yearned to be a Star.
***
The following day at the office, Meggie tried to talk to Ross Schofield on several occasions, but each time, he seemed to be avoiding her.
She went into his office and closed the door behind her.
“Can I talk to you for a moment, Ross please?”
He looked up from his desk where he had been writing and put the pen down as she slid into a seat in front of him. The atmosphere was tense and Meggie wasn’t sure that she had chosen the right moment for her chat. They spoke simultaneously
“Sorry Ross,” she said, “What was that you said?”
Ross hesitated and fumbled clumsily with his pen, doodling across the blotter on his desk. His eyes and hands were restless.
“Meggie, I think we should be more careful I mean, we shouldn’t be seen to be so friendly around the office. People do talk, you know. Perhaps it would be best if we kept things well ... formal, for the time being. Just for a little while, you understand.”
Meggie looked at him in disbelief. Why, it was no time at all since he was fondling her anywhere he could in the office and he didn’t seem to worry about people talking then.
“And it might be better if you addressed me as Mr. Schofield and I will call you Miss Blair in office hours, of course,” he added.
Meggie was confused and hurt.
“I don’t understand, Ross ...Why should we act in this way. We haven’t done anything wrong. Won’t the rest of the office staff think it strange if we suddenly adopt a formal attitude now?”
He closed his eyes and sighed.
“I think it is best that we should, Meggie if you don’t mind ... just for a little while, eh? That’s a good girl.”
Meggie stared at the wall and thought she was going to faint, but she sat on for a few more moments in silence before she spoke again.
“Will you see me tonight, Ross ... sorry, Mr. Schofield?” she asked and tears were not far away from her eyes. Again he hesitated and licked his lips.