A Billy or a Dan, or an Old Tin Can

by Paul Kelly

  Tom was becoming angrier each minute.

  “It’s what I’ve seen and what I don’t like ... Now what’s been going on?”

  There was a knock on the window as the two men were talking and Robert moved across the room and raised the dusty curtains slightly.

  “Another time., lassie another time,” he said and dropped the heavy grey-black canvas that served as a curtain. A woman hurried away and darted along the street with the sound of her clip clop high heels fading in the distance.

  “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t like what I see and I’d like an explanation.”

  Robert belched and sucked his teeth again. His eyes were red and bleary even in the faded light of the room.

  “ I don’t have to give you or any other bugger, no explan exer nothing d’ye understand? I live as I want and I do as I fuckin’ please “

  The influence of the drink was obvious and Robert Wells swayed uneasily.

  “I don’t care what you do with your own life. It’s your wife, I am concerned about.” Tom had said the words before he realised how wrong he had been, but Wells was quick to correct him.

  “Wife ...Wife indeed ... My gawd she should be so bloody lucky.”

  Before Wells could say another word, Tom struck out and hit him hard across the face with the back of his hand and Robert Wells staggered towards the bed. Tom wanted to hit him more but he knew if he did he might not stop until he had done some irreparable damage and that would do no-one any good, let alone Sadie. He should have chosen his words more carefully. Wells rubbed his thickly stubbled chin and scowled at Tom as he addressed him again.

  “Sadie won’t be coming back here again,” he said, speaking more in hope than in fact, “And I hope you will not try to contact or I’ll have the police onto you. Do you understand?”

  Tom left the dimly lit room and walked into the fresh air of the freshest of mornings or so it seemed after his visit to the bleak and furtive bed-sit where Robert Wells was content to drink away his days in squalor. The air was welcoming as he walked towards his car and he heard the mumbling of Robert Wells as he shouted after him before he slammed his front door with an unearthly bang.

  “Tell her to fuck off Do ye hear. I don’t need her ...” Thick saliva formed around his mouth as Tom looked back for a second “She was never any good in the sack anyway. Stupit bastard that’s what she is.”

  Tom closed his eyes in disgust. How could Sadie have got herself mixed up with such a creature as this? He asked himself as he drove off.

  Robert returned to his bed and reached down to the floor. His hand wavered about for the feel of the bottle that he always kept there, but there was none. He rose unsteadily and went to the cupboard which was fixed at an angle against the wall, to find another one. He shook it and looked at it by the light of the window, before he uncorked it greedily and threw the cork at the wall as the last dregs of the precious fluid touched his tongue and he screamed a string of obscenities before he smashed the bottle against the fireplace. He stumbled back to the bed and threw himself down on the foetid mattress and mumbled into the striped coarse pillow.

  “Come back to me Sadie ... Come back to me, lass.”

  And he cried himself into a nervous and restless sleep.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  “Hello there, Willie ...”

  Willie looked down from the ladder; his hod heavy with bricks.

  “Hello Wattie. How are you?”

  “I’m fine an’ you?”

  Willie nodded as he came down to street level and placed his hod carefully against the wall, wiping the sweat from his brow with an old piece of rag, but before he could answer, Wattie spoke again.

  “I’m sorry to hear about Charlie.”

  Willie smiled weakly. He wished Wattie hadn’t said anything about his brother, even if he did understand the kindness that was meant, however he changed the subject quickly.

  “I hear you’re goin’ into the Navy, Wattie,” he enquired jealously.

  Wattie looked sadly at his friend.

  “I haven’t been so lucky, Willie. I didn’t get into the navy. I’ve been drafted into the army and I’m off to Edinburgh next week ... How about you?”

  “They turned me down, Wattie,” was all Willie could say and he didn’t want to elaborate. “How is Blackie? How did he get on?”

  “He’s a lucky sod, that one. He got into the navy alright ... Goes to Rosyth any day now.”

  Willie felt a pang of envy as he listened to the news and looked scornfully at the hod with its weight of bricks and dusted his trousers ironically. They were impregnated in dust.

  “Blackie will knock them cold, I bet. The lassies won’t stand a chance with him in the sailor’s uniform, will they?” Willie could see it all so clearly the dashing Blackie surrounded by girls galore .He kicked a stone that lay nearby and sent it spinning against a barrow, making a dull hollow sound as it bounced off and landed in a pool of water with a plop.

  Wattie looked around him secretively. He wanted to be sure they were alone and Willie knew this action by instinct from days gone past as he automatically came closer to his old friend, in expectancy and Wattie whispered his secret ...

  “What was that you said, Wattie?”

  Wattie was annoyed that Willie had not heard him the first time, but Willie had heard. He just wanted to savour the situation and Wattie looked about him again as he returned to the subject, raising his right hand in front of Willie, with his thumb two inches from his forefinger.

  “Blackie hasn’a got a very big one, Willie No’ like us ...”

  Willie laughed.

  “You’re a dirty bugger, Jimmy Watts, that’s what you are. How do you know, anyway?”

  Wattie grinned and his eyes took on a devilish look.

  “We went for a pee after we came out from the Medical Room,” he giggled again and could hardly finish his sentence. “Well he had a job tae get it oot.”

  Willie and Wattie laughed loudly together “An’ I suppose yours fell wi’ a thud on the floor, Wattie?” Willie joked and they laughed even more.

  “What the hell’s goin’ on here?” a voice screamed nearby and they turned swiftly to see the Foreman standing with his hands on his hips. “Get that bloody hod on your shooder an’ get up that flamin’ ladder. You’re no’ paid tae ston aroon rabbitin’ awe day. Noo get on wi’ it. ... and YOU.” he stared at Wattie and stuck his finger out at him. “You can piss off.”

  Wattie smiled nervously and obeyed the command as Willie got the bricks on his shoulder again and climbed his ladder wearily, thinking all the time of the military uniform that had just passed him by. He wished he could have been off to the Navy or even the Army ...Yes, Blackie was luck even if he only had a wee yin ...

  “Psst! Psst!” ... Willie looked down and saw Wattie perched like a pigeon below him. The Foreman had disappeared on his rounds.

  “You’ll get a brick on your heed,” he called out from his height above his friend.

  “Meet us tonight eight o’clock ....You me an’ Blackie at The Ship Inn. ... We’ll go for a drink, eh?” shouted Wattie, but before Willie could answer, the Foreman re-appeared again and stared at Wattie.

  “Ah told you to get the hell out of it, didn’t I? Now move ... ya wee shit ... GIT.” Wattie needed no further warning. He was off like a shot.

  ***

  Willie worked through the rest of the day, wishing he had been conscripted. He felt he needed a change in his life and to get away from Glasgow. There were too many sad memories. Everywhere he went and everything he did, reminded him of Charlie. He could not talk about his feelings as he knew that people would think him soppy, but his love for his brother was greater than even he had imagined and his life was empty without him. He needed to sort his life out, but he knew that how
ever he did that, in the familiar surroundings that nauseated him, Charlie would always be there ... lingering somewhere in the shadows. Rachael had gone too and although he missed her, he was glad. She too held painful memories for him, just because of who she was.

  “Bee baw bappity, bappity, bappity,

  Bee baw bappity, I’d raither hae a wee loddie”

  A little girl was singing in the street below and her friends had gathered round her as they skipped merrily and acted out their game. Their heads jostled and bobbed up and down as Willie watched with aching interest and renewed memories of his own childhood. As the child sang her last line, she grasped the hands of a little fair boy and swung him into the centre of the circle. His flaxen hair fell about around his forehead and he tossed it back with one swish of his head.

  “Ah widna hae a lassio, a lassio, a lassio,

  Ah widna hae a lassio, ah’d raither hae a wee loddie.

  The little blond boy joined her and they danced together. From Willie’s height on the scaffold, they appeared like puppets as they bounced and skipped their unsophisticated movements and their sad ritual brought back sadder thoughts to him. He remembered playing just such a game when he had fallen and cut his knee rather badly. Charlie wasn’t much bigger than him at the time, but he insisted on carrying Willie home on his back and a man passed them on their way.

  “That’s some weight you’re carryin’ there, laddie,” he remarked with playfull scorn.

  “It’s no’ a weight It’s ma wee brother,” Charlie had answered and Willie frowned as he studied the last brick he was to carry on that job ... That memory would stay with him for the rest of his life. He raised his eyes and gazed over the building Site to the sky line. His heart was free as he expanded his chest and drew in the pure fresh air. His hair fell down over his right eye and his thoughts went back to happier, happier days.

  “We’ll always be together Charlie won’t we?” he remembered saying.

  “Ah’d raither hae a loddio, a loddio, a loddio,

  Ah’d raither hae a loddio. Ah widna hae a wee lassie ...”

  A tear took the sky line out of focus as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

  Chapter Fifty- Five

  Mary watched Willie as he put on his tie. He had made several attempts but the thing still did not look right.

  “Let me,” she said and stood on tip toe to assist her over six foot charming son.

  “Och ... I can never get a tie to look right, Mammy. It’s no use, no matter how I try. It always looks crooked.”

  Mary looked at him with pride and wondered was there a girlfriend waiting for him ...somewhere ...

  “Will you be late getting home, dear,” she enquired, hoping he might elaborate her enquiry.

  “Not very late, I shouldn’t think Mammy. I’m just goin’ for a drink wi’ Wattie. He’s been called up for the army and he’s leavin’ in a few days time, you know.”

  Mary’s heart didn’t exactly flutter over Willie’s answer, but she was pleased he was beginning to go out again as she had been worried about his long, silent moods of late.

  “That’s nice Willie. Give Wattie my love, won’t you and tell him I send my best wishes to his Mammy too,” she left the room, but reappeared a few moments after. “And tell Wattie to come to dinner one evening, before he leaves for the army.”

  “Thanks Mammy, I’ll do that.”

  Willie went through the old ritual of dusting his trousers and slapping his thighs as he gazed out of the window. It was a habit he had acquired at the Building Site. The night outside was dark and cold and he shivered as he stood there, thinking ...He wished the war was over and he wished the black-out would end. He was fed up staggering about at night with a torch and bumping into sand bags that people had built up around the entrance to their homes to counteract the blast ... if there was any. He hated all the signs that reminded him of war ... and of death.

  “Stand still now,” Mary asked dutifully as she appeared with a clothes brush, taking a further opportunity to look up into the face of her handsome, clean-cut son. She looked at him for a long time.

  “What is it Mammy?” Willie asked, but Mary kept on looking, with the clothes brush excuse, no longer necessary.

  “My God ...You’re the image of your father,” she whispered and hugged him close to hide the tear that would not leave her eye. “Those eyelashes will drive some young madam wild. Be off with you Darling boy.”

  Willie blushed and kissed his mother’s cheek. He lowered his head and cupped hers in his hands.

  “If I have anything that’s attractive Mammy, it’s because you are so beautiful,” he said as he kissed her again and left the house with his Burberry over his arm.

  ***

  Wattie was waiting for Willie when he arrived at the Ship Inn

  “Blackie shouldn’t be long. I told him eight o’clock ...What time is it now?”

  Wattie sniffed in the cold night air as he spoke and little vapour clouds of breath ejected into the cooling breeze, punctuating his pronouncement.

  “A couple of minutes to go ...” said Willie as he studied Wattie’s face and marvelled at the change that had come over his old friend ... His suit was new and of very good quality cloth. His shirt was immaculate and his tie matched perfectly. Willie just knew that the shoes would be impeccable but he didn’t look down. Instead, he rubbed his own right shoe on the back of his left trouser leg and at that moment, Blackie stepped out from the darkness. He was almost as smart as Wattie.

  “Right ...Let’s go then,” Wattie suggested as they spied an empty table in the pub.

  “My round lads ...What’s it to be?” Wattie made for the bar, feeling quite the young man with his wallet firmly in his pocket and left Blackie and Willie at the table.

  “Bitter,” they called out simultaneously and grinned. It was so strange to be drinking together and even stranger that they had the same choice of beer ...

  “I’m sorry to hear about your brother, Willie” Blackie spoke first but Willie did not answer. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to force a smile as Blackie put his large hand forward on the table and placed it over Willie’s. He squeezed gently and Willie felt the warmth of a true friendship beginning. Blackie smiled.

  “No Billys or Dans tonight, Mate. What do you say?”

  Willie’s teeth flashed in a broad smile.

  “Let’s get pissed Blackie Let’s get truly rat-assed, eh?”

  The evening passed convivially and the three boys were happy in each other’s company.

  The war made no class distinctions men were men regardless Billys , Dans or Old Tin Cans Were they not fodder against the enemy to make a new and wholesome Britain, where people could live in peace and hold their heads high whatever their religion

  “Time gentlemen please “ The bell rang and the barmaid shouted her ultimatum as the trio left the Ship Inn arm-in-arm and singing “Auld Lang Syne” adding words of their own and breaking into peels of laughter. Blackie lit a cigarette and held the lighted match in the air as he mimicked the barmaid’s last words as they left the pub.

  “You boys go straight home now and don’t get into any mischief you understand?”

  Blackie winced as the match burned his thumb and he quickly lit another and held it to the sky. “Opportunity would be a fine thing,” shouted Wattie as he keeled over and caught Willie’s arm. “Ooops! ...”

  “Put that light out” a voice demanded nearby and a steel helmet glimmered silkily as the moon came out from behind a dark cloud as if to enquire what was going on

  “S’cuse me,” a young lady said as she clip-clopped past them in the shadows and the boys looked at her aghast.

  “Where did she come from?” asked Blackie as he rubbed his eyes with his fists.

  “Never saw her until she was on me,” said
Wattie, with a silly grin across his face.

  “I think she was in fancy dress... Did you see that hat she was wearin’?” added Willie, swaying as he walked and bumping into a lamp post.

  “S’cuse me,” he said and they all giggled together.

  “No use chattin’ that thing up, Willie It won’t move ...”

  “And you mustn’t get into mischief boy,” added Blackie as he strained to see ahead in the dark. “Is there any place where we can go for another drink?”

  “The night is young and I think Morri’s Restaurant should be still open,” Willie said as he strained to look at his watch and Blackie threw his arms in the air.

  “What are we waiting for Morri,laddie ... Here we come.” He shouted and his feet went in all directions, but not in the way he wanted them to go.”

  Clip-Clop ... Clip-Clop ... The young lady passed them again, in the opposite direction.

  “S’cuse me,” she said as the boys had obstructed the pavement and Wattie laughed as the others joined in before he began to sing with his famous falsetto voice which made the others cringe.

  “Show me the way to go home

  I’m tired and I wanna go to bed ...”

  He raised his voice to a higher than high falsetto on the last line as he glanced in the direction in which the young lady had taken off.

  “I had a little drink about an hour ago,

  The other two joined in again for the finale.

  And it’s gone right to my head

  They fell about laughing when the clip-clop lady passed them again.

  “S’cuse me,” she said, for the third time that evening, as she minced past and the boys giggled.

  “I don’t know whether she’s comin’ or goin’,” remarked Blackie, “But she sure smells nice.”

  Wattie stood aside to let her pass and made a profound bow.

  “I like the ‘at,” added Willie as Blackie gave a robust wolf-whistle. “Genuine crepe paper that one is ... wherever she got it ...AMEN.”