by Joan Jonker
‘I don’t know why ye’re whispering, Mam,’ Nancy called. ‘Me and our Billy can hear every word ye’re saying. He’s just asked me what the difference is between a kiss like yer give us, and a passionate kiss?’
Kate slipped from her husband’s arms and carried the plate through. ‘Well, son, ye’re ten years of age now, I reckon it’ll be seven or eight more before yer know the difference. Yer see, it’s not something yer can put into words, yer have to experience it for yerself.’
The boy gave a grunt of disgust. ‘Ugh! I bet it’s sloppy, and sloppy things make me want to be sick.’
‘Just eat yer dinner for now, then, sunshine, and leave the sloppy things for the next seven or eight years.’ Kate speared a piece of sausage ready to put in her mouth. ‘I can’t wait until yer get your first girlfriend, that should be very interesting. At least it will be for me, I can’t speak for the poor girl. It might be a case of one kiss and she’ll take off and yer’ll never see her again.’
Then with all the experience of his ten years, Billy curled his top lip and said, ‘Well, let her take off, it won’t worry me.’
Nancy couldn’t resist joining in. ‘Let who take off, Billy?’
‘The girl me mam said would take off and I’d never see her again.’
John decided to add his twopennyworth. ‘Which girl was this, son?’
Now Billy didn’t like girls, nor did he like sloppy things. But he did like a good laugh. ‘I don’t know, Dad, I didn’t even have time to get a proper look at her. She gave me a kiss and then was off before I could even ask her name!’
Next door, Monica jerked her head towards the wall. ‘Can yer hear them laughing? Kate’s coming in later, I’ll have to ask her what the joke was.’
‘Oh, Nancy’s coming in as well,’ said Dolly, her daughter and only child. ‘We’re going to play Snakes and Ladders.’
‘I think I’ll poppy off to the pub then,’ said Tom, the man of the house. ‘I’ll get out from under yer feet.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Monica rested her knife and fork. ‘Anyone would think yer were being chased out of yer own house, when the truth is yer go to the ruddy pub every night! In fact, I’m of the firm opinion that if yer missed going one night, the bleeding landlord would come knocking for yer!’
‘Now come on, my love,’ Tom laughed. ‘Aren’t yer exaggerating a bit? I don’t go every night, so don’t be giving me a bad name.’
‘Apart from the odd times yer take me to the pictures, and that’s under protest, yer go to the pub every single night without fail.’
Tom shook his head. ‘No, love, I do not, and I can prove it. Have yer forgotten that none of the pubs is open on Christmas Day?’
Next door, Kate said, ‘Listen to Monica laughing. She’s got a real belly laugh and it always makes me chuckle. It sounds as though she’s got something funny to tell me when I go in. I hope so, I just feel like a good laugh.’ She raised her eyebrows at her husband. ‘I don’t know why yer don’t go for a pint with Tom, he’s good company. Yer used to go out with him, but yer haven’t been for ages.’
John shook his head. ‘No, I’d rather put me sixpence on a horse. At least yer stand a chance of winning a bit back, but with a pint of beer yer money’s gone and yer’ve got nothing to show for it.’
‘Oh, ye’re not gambling, are yer, love? I thought yer had more sense than that. It’s a mug’s game, with the bookie the only winner. And another thing, yer know it’s not legal and yer could get into trouble with the police.’
‘I wouldn’t get into trouble, love, it would be the bookie. But I don’t even see him ’cos one of the blokes in work puts the bets on for all the lads.’ John could see this wasn’t making his wife feel any better, so he added, ‘It’s only a tanner, love, and yer never know, I might win a few bob and then yer can buy something new for you and the kids.’
‘Aye, and pigs might fly!’ Kate wasn’t a bit happy about it as her own father had been a compulsive gambler, and there were times when he was keeping so much back out of his wages to pay the bookie that her mother was left without enough money to pay the rent man. Memories of her crying were still fresh in Kate’s mind, even though she’d been young at the time. But she couldn’t imagine John being as reckless as her father, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her or the children. ‘Just don’t ever come to me and tell me ye’re in debt, sunshine, ’cos I couldn’t stand it.’
Kate could feel the children’s eyes on her and was sorry she hadn’t kept quiet until she and her husband were alone. It wasn’t fair on the kids, they were too young to understand. So she put a smile on her face. ‘Anyway, if yer do win any money, I could do with a new sideboard. That one’s seen better days and is falling to bits.’
John’s smile came with a sigh of relief. ‘Okay, a sideboard it is, sweetheart. Your every wish is my command.’
As Billy listened to this, he was worried at first because his mam appeared to be upset. But she was smiling now, so he felt it was all right to say what was on his mind. ‘Mam, have yer forgotten about me game of ollies? It’ll be dark by the time you and our Nancy go out and I have that blinking bath. Too dark to play ollies.’
‘Yer don’t imagine for one moment that I’d let yer go out and get yerself filthy again, just after yer’ve had a bath? Not on yer life, sunshine! Pete can hold on to his bobby dazzler until tomorrow, nothing’s going to happen to it before then.’
‘That’s what you think!’ Billy looked glum. ‘Half the lads in the street are after that ollie, and they’ll be knocking on his door right now and asking for a game.’
‘But Pete is yer best mate. He won’t break his promise to let yer carry on where yer left off.’
‘Being his mate doesn’t mean a thing, Mam! If some lad offers him ten marbles for that bobby dazzler, he’ll take them, friend or no friend.’
Nancy leaned forward to look her brother in the face. ‘Is that what you’d do, Billy? Break a promise to yer best friend?’
Now he was in a quandary. This was definitely a no-win situation. That is it was a no-win situation until out of nowhere came a flash of brilliance. ‘It’s not me we’re talking about, it’s Pete. And it’s not any old ollie, either! If that bobby dazzler was mine, I wouldn’t even play with it, never mind letting anyone win it off me. I’d keep it wrapped in a hankie in me pocket, and show off with it.’
‘Then why do yer think Pete should let you win it?’ John asked. ‘When yer wouldn’t even let him play for it if it was yours? Not very sporting that, is it, son?’
Billy wasn’t a bit put out. He didn’t worry whether he was sporting or not. ‘Dad, haven’t yer ever heard them say that all’s fair in love and war?’
John couldn’t keep the chuckle back. ‘I have heard that, son, of course I have. But I don’t think it applies in this case. Yer see, ye’re not in love and there is no war!’
Billy’s face split into a wide grin. ‘I’ve got yer there, Dad, ’cos I am in love. I love me mam, you, our Nancy, and that blinking marble what’s coming between me and me sleep.’
‘There’s one good thing,’ his sister said. ‘At least he put us all before the marble.’
Monica pushed the couch nearer to the fire. ‘We may as well make ourselves comfortable and warm. The girls are all right at the table, we won’t be in each other’s way.’
Dolly pushed her counter across the board to the bottom of one of the ladders. ‘As long as yer don’t keep gabbing and putting us off our game.’
‘Ah, well, wouldn’t that be just too bad?’ Monica pulled a face. ‘It’s not us what make the noise, it’s you two. Yer should hear yerselves screaming when the throw of a dice takes yer to the top of a ladder. Anyone would think yer’d won the pools. And when yer lose and have to come down again, well, the groans are unmerciful.’
Nancy giggled. ‘We’ll try to groan quietly, then, Auntie Monica.’
‘You do that, girl, while me and yer mam have a natter. I’ll make us a cuppa a bit later
on, ’cos it’s not long since we had one after our dinner.’
The two mothers watched their daughters playing for a few minutes, smiling indulgently as expressions changed at the toss of a dice. Then they settled one at either end of the couch with their feet tucked under them. After a quick glance to make sure the girls were intent on the game, Monica said softly, ‘Ay, have yer heard about Betty Blackmore? You know, her what lives at the back with number twenty-eight painted in white on the entry door?’
‘Of course I know Betty, she’s the one who knocked on the door the day we moved in to ask if we’d like her to make us a pot of tea. I’ve never forgotten that ’cos I thought it was really nice of her.’ Kate raised her eyebrows. ‘Why d’yer ask, is she not well or something?’
‘Out of her mind, more like it.’ Again Monica cast a quick glance over to the girls at the table. This was definitely not something for young ears. ‘Her daughter Margaret is expecting a baby.’
‘Go ’way, I didn’t think she was married! She’s only about seventeen, isn’t she?’
‘Right on both counts, girl! She is only seventeen, and no, she isn’t married. Betty is out of her mind with worry.’
Kate gasped. ‘She must be, the poor woman! But the girl must have a boyfriend, so why couldn’t they just get married without any fuss? It would stop the wagging tongues and sly glances.’
‘There’s a bit of a problem there, girl, I’m afraid. Yer see, the girl hasn’t got a boyfriend. I was talking to Betty in the entry before, and the poor woman is so ashamed she can hardly look yer in the face. Apparently the boy who put her daughter in the family way lives a few streets away, and Margaret had only been out with him twice. Betty went around to see his parents as soon as she knew, but the lad denied everything, said he’d never laid a finger on her. And when Mr Blackmore went around to have it out with the lad’s father, I believe it came to blows. The parents chased him off and told him not to be spreading rumours about their son.’
Kate let out a deep sigh. ‘What a mess! How old is this boy?’
‘He’s nineteen, and according to what his mother told Betty, he’s never had a proper girlfriend. He admits to going to the pictures twice with Margaret, even said he’d kissed her, but nothing more than that.’
‘And d’yer think he might be telling the truth?’ Kate asked. ‘Perhaps Margaret has been with another bloke but is too frightened to say. It wouldn’t be the first time a lad got the blame for something he hadn’t done.’
‘Oh, I don’t think that’s likely, ’cos she’s very shy, is Margaret, she wouldn’t say boo to a goose.’
Kate pulled a face. ‘She can’t be that shy if she’s got herself pregnant. But whichever way it goes it’s the parents that’ll be left to shoulder the shame of the daughter, and the responsibility of bringing up the child. It’s not a position I’d like to find meself in.’
‘Me neither! But she’s well liked is Betty, and the neighbours will rally round. They’ll not turn their back on her.’
‘I should think not! After all, it could happen to anyone. Yer know the old saying, “There but for the grace of God go I”? Well, it’s certainly true in this case.’
Monica leaned closer. ‘I’d kill our Dolly if she brought that kind of trouble to me door. I’d never be able to lift me head up in the street.’
‘I hope it never does happen to yer, sunshine, but if it did, yer’d just have to get on with it. Like Betty’s going to have to do. As yer say, her friends won’t desert her, and those that do were never true friends in the first place and not worth losing any sleep over. Anyway, like everything else, it’ll be a nine days’ wonder and then something else will come along to take people’s minds off it.’ Kate cupped her chin in her hand. ‘If I was in Betty’s shoes I’d do me damnedest to find out who the father is, though. I couldn’t go through life not knowing. Whoever he is, good or bad, he’s the child’s father and should come forward so the poor mite isn’t born illegitimate. That’s a terrible stigma for an innocent child to have to shoulder all through his life.’
‘I know, it’s lousy for the poor kid.’ Monica’s serious expression didn’t sit well on a face which was usually creased in a smile. ‘I feel sorry for the baby already.’
‘Who d’yer feel sorry for, Mam?’ Dolly asked, causing the women to sit up straight and wonder how much the girls had heard. ‘Is someone’s baby sick?’
‘What are yer on about?’ Monica was racking her brains for an answer. ‘Yer must be hearing things ’cos I never mentioned no baby, did I, Kate?’
Kate shook her head and crossed two fingers. She didn’t like telling lies but right now there was no alternative. ‘Yer mam said lady, sunshine, not baby. We were just talking about a woman we meet at the shops who hasn’t been well lately.’
‘Well, what about the cup of tea yer promised us an hour ago, Mam?’ Dolly kept half an eye on Nancy to make sure she didn’t cheat. ‘The woman won’t get any better by you not giving us a cuppa. Besides, me throat is parched.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Monica said, uncurling her legs. ‘Yer’ve shouted yerself hoarse, and it’s a wonder next door haven’t knocked to complain about the noise.’
Dolly pointed to the far wall. ‘The neighbours that way have gone to the pictures and the house is empty. And these two aren’t likely to complain, are they?’ Her grin widened. ‘Especially when they get a cup of tea and a gingersnap.’
Monica tutted as she passed her daughter’s chair. ‘Cheeky article! I don’t know what sort of a mother yer’ve got, girl, but she wants to try teaching yer a few manners.’
Chapter Two
Kate stood on the front step watching Billy ambling up the street with his mate Pete. At the rate they were going, they’d never make the school gates before the bell rang. And it was her son’s fault because his head was nodding and his mouth was working fifteen to the dozen. She’d bet any money he was giving his mate a hard time about that ruddy ollie, he seemed to be obsessed with the thing.
Folding her arms, Kate leaned back against the door jamb. It was a performance every morning trying to get her son out of the house on time, and she thanked her lucky stars she didn’t have the same difficulty with Nancy. Her daughter was no trouble at all in the mornings, getting herself washed and dressed before having her breakfast. And there was no need to check her neck for tidemarks, or make sure her shoes weren’t covered in scuff marks.
Kate waited until the boys had turned the corner, then looked up at the sky. It was clear blue, not a dark cloud in sight. ‘It’s a good day for getting clothes washed and dried,’ she muttered aloud as she stepped into the hall. ‘I can have them blowing on the line before Monica calls to go to the shops.’
The kitchen of the two-up-two-down was so small Kate barely needed to move her feet. Her movements quick and efficient from long practice, she filled a large black iron pan with water and set it on the gas stove next to the kettle. ‘Now, where did I put the ruddy matches?’ She spied them on the shelf and soon had the two gas rings lit. Then she pulled the dolly tub into the centre of the floor and attached one end of a piece of hose to the cold-water tap, and let the other end hang over the dolly tub. ‘Now, while I’m waiting for the water to boil, I may as well make the beds and gather up any clothes that need washing.’ Kate thought nothing of talking to herself, she did it all the time. She said it made her feel she wasn’t alone, that there was someone in the house with her. Someone who didn’t answer back.
Halfway up the shallow stairs, Kate suddenly came to a halt and slapped an open palm to her forehead. ‘You stupid bugger, yer’ve got no soap powder in!’ She quickly made her way back down to the kitchen. ‘I’ll nip to the corner shop and be back before the water boils. And I’ll go the back way so no one sees me in me muck.’ She took her purse from a drawer in the sideboard, opened it to make sure she had enough money, then slipped it into the pocket of her pinny.
The shop was run by a husband and wife, Les and Violet Riley, and their
fifteen-year-old daughter Doreen helped out when they were busy. Right now Kate was glad to see there was only one other customer, and she was already being served by Les. ‘Come on, Vi, let’s be having yer.’ Kate smiled at the shopkeeper who was very popular with everyone. Violet Riley had a bonny figure, a round face with rosy red cheeks, black hair, brown eyes and a very hearty laugh. ‘I was full of good intentions, Vi. In me mind I had me washing blowing merrily on the line. That is until I remembered I didn’t have no washing powder. So could I have a small packet, please?’
‘Yer certainly can, sweetheart! In fact, I’ll let yer have a large one if yer’d like to take my washing home and put it in with yours? I mean, yer wouldn’t even notice an extra six shirts, three white coats and two pair of long johns. So how d’yer fancy that?’
Kate pulled a face. ‘Sod off, Vi, I’ve got enough on me plate washing for me own family. Particularly our Billy, he’s a holy terror. And by holy I don’t mean religious holy, I mean he doesn’t possess a thing that doesn’t have a hole in. And he’s a dirty beggar, I’m sure he rolls in the dirt for spite.’
Vi’s laugh came from deep within her. ‘Well, yer will have boys, won’t yer? That’s why I put me foot down after our Doreen was born. I wasn’t going to be lumbered with another boy, thanks very much.’
Kate’s face showed surprise. ‘But you never had a boy. Yer’ve only got Doreen.’
‘Are yer forgetting him over there?’ Violet nodded to where her husband was handing over change to a customer. ‘He still thinks he’s a boy. Talks like one and acts like one. He’s forgotten to grow up.’
Les walked along the counter towards them. ‘I know my dear wife has been talking about me, I can see it in her face. What’s she been saying, Kate?’
‘She’s been paying yer compliments, Les. Telling me how ye’re still young at heart.’