by Joan Jonker
Upstairs, Maggie said she’d like one of the beds with its bedding as the ones at home had seen better days. The bed in the back bedroom would be left with its bedding until they decided what to do with it. Monica asked for one of the wardrobes, and Kate was delighted to be allowed to have the five-drawer tallboy. Maggie said she’d take all of the things out of the kitchen home, too, so they could share them out. ‘I’ll take them out the back way and up our yard. That way, no one will see what’s going on. We don’t want to start tongues wagging.’
‘And what about the furniture?’ Kate asked. ‘Shall we tell the men to leave it until it goes dusk? Say nine o’clock?’
‘Yeah, it shouldn’t take too long with three of them doing it. Your feller won’t mind if he’s a bit late for his pint, will he, Monica?’
‘It’s just too bad if he does, ’cos I’m not asking him, I’m telling him. But can we take our presents out of the sideboard now? I can’t wait until it gets dark.’
While Maggie was taking the well-wrapped parcels out, Winnie asked, ‘Would one of the men carry the chair down for me later, please? I’d never make it on me own.’
‘John will, sunshine. He’ll be happy to ’cos I think he’s got a soft spot for yer.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
John came through from the kitchen on the Monday morning drying his face and neck on the towel he’d taken from the hook behind the kitchen door. He glanced around the room and heaved a big sigh. ‘What are yer going to do with the old couch, love? We can’t put up much longer with being cramped like this, it’s hopeless trying to squeeze between the two of them. And it’s not only a nuisance, the room looks terrible!’
‘I don’t need you to tell me that, sunshine!’ Kate put a plate of toast down in front of him. ‘And don’t forget, when you go out to work, yer can forget it for the day, while I’m lumbered with it.’ She poured out two cups of tea and sat facing him. Without telling him, she’d the alarm clock ten minutes forward last night so they could have some time together. ‘And the kids have started their six weeks summer holiday, so yer can imagine what it’s going to be like when they get up.’
‘What are yer going to do with the old one anyway?’
Kate took a bite out of the piece of toast. ‘I know it’s not much good with the springs gone to pot, but there may be some poor soul glad of it. There’s a second-hand furniture shop in Scotland Road, and I’ve seen the bloke picking furniture up with his horse and cart. I’ll go along there when the children have had their breakfast and ask him. If I tell him I don’t want any money for it, he might take it. At least, I’m keeping me fingers crossed he will.’
‘That couch of Miss Parkinson’s is in good nick, and it’s nice and comfortable, too!’ John wiped away a trickle of margarine from his chin. ‘The room will look grand when the old one goes. Mind you, we’ve had our money’s worth out of it. We’ve had it over fifteen years, with the kids climbing all over it when they were younger, and it was only cheap when we bought it. So we can’t grumble, it doesn’t owe us anything.’
‘I’ll miss it when it goes even though it is murder to sit on. It was the first piece of furniture we bought when we got married so I feel a bit sentimental about it.’
‘I bet Miss Parkinson feels the same as you, she’s bound to miss the things she’s had around her for so long. So before yer start getting soppy, think of her.’ John glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and took a quick swallow of tea. ‘Either that clock’s wrong or the alarm is wonky. I’d better get a move on, I don’t want to be late.’
‘No, yer won’t, sunshine, ’cos I set the alarm ten minutes early so I could have some time with yer before the kids get up. The clock on the mantelpiece is right, yer’ve time to eat yer breakfast without gobbling it down.’
He grinned at her across the table. ‘You sly little minx! Why didn’t yer tell me?’
‘There’d be no use in doing it if I was going to tell yer, yer daft nit! All yer’d have done would be to turn over and go back to sleep.’
‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t!’ His eyes held that look that never failed to warm her. ‘I can think of more pleasant things to do with an extra ten minutes in bed than turning over.’
She tutted. ‘Honest, at this time of the morning yer should be thinking about work and not bedroom antics.’
‘I’m in the prime of life, sweetheart, not an old codger living on memories.’
Kate chuckled. ‘Monica told me the other day she can hear everything that goes on through the wall, even what we say. Now if she heard what’s been said in the last few minutes, she’d have her ear to the wall wishing she could join in. I call her a sex maniac, but she says she’s just a normal hot-blooded woman.’
‘I hope yer don’t discuss our love life with her? What happens in the bedroom between a man and his wife should be secret.’
‘Oh, yeah, I go blabbing to everyone in the street! Haven’t yer seen the looks they give yer as yer pass them? They all think ye’re a dirty old man.’ Kate’s laughter was infectious. ‘Can yer see me discussing our love life with anyone? Or listening to anyone discussing theirs?’
‘Monica does, from the sound of things.’
‘She talks about it, yeah, but only because she likes to see me blushing. And she doesn’t half pile it on! Tom would have to have the strength of an ox, and the stamina, to be the passionate lover she says he is. She’s all talk, is my mate, just to get me going.’
‘Much as I don’t feel like it, love, I’d better get going meself.’ John pushed his chair back, then curling his fists, put them on the table and leaned forward. ‘If Tom knew what his wife lets out of the bag, he’d never walk up this street again. He’d use the back entry to get to the pub every night.’
‘Don’t you ever dare say one word to him.’ Kate’s lips set in the thin line that told her husband she was deadly serious. ‘There’ll be holy murder if yer do, I’ll never speak to yer again.’
John was shaking with mirth as he struggled into his short working jacket. ‘Well, it goes without saying, love, that if yer murder me, yer wouldn’t be able to speak to me again. Unless yer went to one of those spiritualist meetings.’
‘Fat chance of that! But don’t ever say anything to Tom, it wouldn’t be fair on him or Monica. Not that I really think he’d get upset or worry, ’cos he’s as soft as putty with her. She can wrap him around her little finger.’
‘Oh, and I suppose you can’t wrap me around yours? I’ve been spoiling yer from the day I first clapped eyes on yer. But I don’t earn the money Tom does. If I did, yer’d get it all – and all my love along with it.’
‘Don’t be running yerself down, sunshine, ’cos ye’re not on a good wage. We manage all right.’ Kate followed him to the door and lifted her face for a kiss. ‘Love is far more important to me than all the money in the world. You’re my man, and I love yer to bits.’
‘Yer can tell me and show me how much tonight.’ He began to walk away. ‘I’ll see yer the usual time, sweetheart, ta-ra.’
Kate closed the door and leaned back against it for a few seconds to savour those few minutes she’d had with the man she adored. Then she entered the living room and groaned. She’d have to do something with the old couch today, they couldn’t live like this. She couldn’t even get around the furniture to dust or polish, it was hopeless. Then a smile crossed her face. What a lovely, ready-made excuse that was. And the hot weather was on her side, ’cos they hadn’t lit a fire for weeks, so the hearth was clean and tidy.
A sound from above had her moving to the kitchen to start on the children’s breakfast. As she did, she spoke aloud. ‘Anyway, I’m not the only one in a mess. Monica’s got an extra table and four chairs in her living room. She’ll be keen to get them out of the way, so she can come to the second-hand shop with me.’
Nancy stood in the doorway rubbing sleep from her eyes. ‘Who are yer talking to, Mam?’
‘Meself, sunshine, as usual. And the walls, of course, I spend a goo
d part of me life talking to them.’
‘I thought it might have been me dad, that’s why I came down, so I could give him a kiss.’
‘He’s gone to work, sunshine, yer missed him by five minutes. But yer shouldn’t have got up so early, why didn’t yer have a nice lie-in?’
‘Once I wake up I can’t go to sleep again, and there’s not much fun in looking up at the cracks in the ceiling. Besides, me mouth is dry, I want a drink.’
‘If ye’re desperate, the tea in the pot will still be warm. Have some of that while I’m making some toast and a fresh pot. Was there any sound of Billy waking up?’
A gruff voice answered, ‘There wouldn’t have been if she hadn’t woke me up.’ Billy stood on the bottom stair which faced the kitchen. ‘She sounded like a baby elephant crashing through the jungle.’
Nancy sighed at the exaggeration. ‘I bumped into the tallboy, that’s all! A baby elephant indeed. How would yer know that when yer’ve never seen one? Yer must have some vivid dreams if yer know the sound of animals in the jungle.’
Billy stuck his tongue out. ‘I’ve seen them on the pictures, so there! I know what sounds they make. Elephants and monkeys.’
‘Well, sit down and yer sister will pour yer a cup of tea out. I’ll have yer toast made in about five minutes, if I’m left in peace.’
Nancy brought two cups out of the pantry under the stairs and filled them with tea from the pot on the table. ‘Why didn’t yer say lions and tigers as well?’
‘I won’t do them, not when you can do them better than me.’
‘I can’t make animal noises, yer daft nit! I don’t want to, either, ’cos girls wouldn’t make fools of themselves like lads.’
Billy had a devilish grin on his face because he thought he had her now. ‘Yer can make animal noises! Yer make them every night when ye’re snoring yer head off and keeping me awake. Yer do a good lion one, it sounds just like the real thing. In fact, the first time I heard it, I really thought there was a lion in me room.’
Kate came through with two plates of toast. ‘Don’t tell me I’ve got six weeks of you two bickering at the table every morning, ’cos I couldn’t stand it. And I bet the person who said that children should have six weeks summer holiday was a man. One who went out to work every morning and left his poor wife to cope. Then he’d come home at night and wonder why she complained. Just like a man, that!’ She picked up the teapot and took it through to the kitchen. ‘A fresh brew will be up in a minute.’
‘Don’t yer be picking a fight over nothing at all, our Billy.’ Nancy kept her voice down. ‘It’s not fair on me mam, she’ll have a headache every day.’
‘Well, I won’t if you won’t. Is that a deal?’
Nancy nodded. ‘It’s a deal.’
‘What are you two plotting now?’ Kate put the chrome stand down, then placed the teapot on it. ‘Ye’re not thinking of blowing up the Houses of Parliament, are yer?’
Now Billy wasn’t very good at history, only the parts he liked. But to show he wasn’t exactly thick, he chose one of his favourite characters. ‘Now I could do that, if Dick Whittington would take me to London with him.’
Nancy slapped him on the back. ‘Very good, our Billy! I wouldn’t have thought of that.’
Kate decided not to say that of course Nancy wouldn’t have thought of it because she knew Dick Whittington had nothing to do with Bonfire Night. But if she took the side of one of her children, then fireworks would soon be flying. So she led them on a different track. ‘Are you two playing out this morning? I’ve got to go and see a man about having the old couch taken away, I’ll probably be gone for an hour or so.’
‘Will Auntie Monica be going with yer?’ Nancy asked. ‘’Cos she said last night they couldn’t move with all the furniture they’ve got in the living room.’
‘I’m hoping she comes with me, sunshine, to help me talk the man into picking all the stuff up with his horse and cart. She’s much more persuasive than me, is yer Auntie Monica. The poor man would stand no chance with her, she’d talk him to death.’
‘Mam, when we’ve had our breakfast and washed up, can we have another look at the present Miss Parkinson left for yer?’ Nancy leaned forward and coaxed, ‘Please, Mam, we didn’t get a proper look at it last night?’
‘Oh, all right, but yer mustn’t touch anything. It’s the best china yer can buy, sunshine, and it’s also very old. That means it’s probably worth something, and I’d be devastated if any of it got broken.’
Billy became very interested. This might be something he could brag about to Pete. ‘How much d’yer think, Mam?’
Now Kate loved the bones of her son but she wasn’t blind to his failings, one being that he couldn’t keep anything to himself. His mate Pete probably knew everything that went on in this house, including how many blankets they had on the beds. ‘Not enough to make us rich, son, it’s more sentimental value because of the china’s age. And as it’s been in Miss Parkinson’s family for about fifty years without being broken or chipped, I’d hate it to come to any harm while it’s in our care.’
‘I’ll be careful, Mam,’ Nancy said. ‘I only want to look at them properly.’
‘Okay, I’ll get the things out while you clear the table. And you can get off yer backside, Billy, don’t sit and watch yer sister doing all the work.’
Miss Parkinson’s present to each of her four neighbours was exactly the same. She had split a full twelve-setting dinner service into four, so they each got three cups, saucers, side plates, tea plates and dinner plates. They were in the finest china Kate had ever seen, of pure white with a gold rim. Besides that the old lady had split a full canteen of cutlery between them, all solid silver. At least Tom said the hallmark proved they were solid silver, but how he would know that was anyone’s guess. He could be right, though, because the knives and forks were very heavy and ornate.
Nancy gazed in wonder as her mother set the china out on the table. The pieces were so pretty and so fragile. The girl stared at them for a while before plucking up the nerve to ask, ‘Can I pick one of the cups up, Mam, please? If I promise to be very careful, would yer let me hold one in me hand?’
Kate placed one of the cups on a saucer and passed them over. ‘Only for a minute, sunshine, then they’re going away again.’
‘I don’t want to hold one,’ Billy said, looking at the finely curved handle on the cup. ‘And yer wouldn’t get a proper drink of tea out of that, either! The size of them, yer’d be lucky if yer got a mouthful. And I’d have to put me hands around the cup, ’cos me finger wouldn’t go through the handle.’
‘I’m glad about that, sunshine,’ Kate said, smiling at him. ‘They’re too delicate for a man’s hand.’
That made Billy’s face light up, as his mother had known it would. He’d swagger around all day now after that compliment. Heaven help poor Pete, he was in for an earache.
‘That’s all, I’m going to put them away again. And as yer can see, they’ve got plenty of paper around them to stop them from getting broken. So I’m warning both of yer, do not go in that part of the sideboard without asking me. Now I know yer both always do as I say, but this time I’m really serious. I want to keep them safe so I can pass the china down to Nancy when she gets married, and the silver cutlery to Billy. My mam, and yer dad’s, they didn’t have nothing to pass down to us because they were working-class people, like ourselves. All they worried about was paying their way and being out of debt. So you two will be very lucky to have these lovely things passed down to yer.’
While Nancy clasped her hands together in delight, Billy’s face creased and his chest expanded. And once again Kate thought, Poor Pete. He’ll have an ache in both ears today.
She stood up after closing the sideboard door. ‘Right, who’s going to get washed at the sink first?’ When Nancy’s hand shot up, her mother said, ‘Go on, then, sunshine, and Billy can go after yer. By the time I go next door to see about getting the furniture moved, yer should both
be washed and dressed and I can see to meself then.’ She hadn’t got as far as the front door before she had a thought which turned her back into the living room. ‘Billy, because yer don’t have to go to school, it doesn’t mean it’s all right to have a tidemark, yer know. And when ye’re washing the tide out, don’t forget yer have ears as well.’
Her son grinned. ‘I’ll be that clean when yer come back, yer won’t know it’s me.’
Nancy winked over her brother’s head. ‘D’yer know what I wouldn’t put past him?’
Kate shook her head. ‘No, sunshine, what wouldn’t yer put past him?’
‘Cutting his ears off to save himself the trouble of washing them.’
Far from being put out, Billy thought that was hilarious. ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea! Yer could roast them, Mam, and give them to Nancy for her tea, seeing as it was her idea.’
‘Well, this is a very pleasant conversation for this time of the morning, I don’t think! It’s a good job I’ve had me breakfast or yer’d have put me off. Now when I come back from Auntie Monica’s, I want yer both to be sitting quietly, looking nice and clean and being very friendly with each other.’
‘I promise I won’t raise a finger to her, Mam,’ Billy said. ‘After all, she is me only sister, and ’cos she’s a girl, and not as strong as me, I should be nice to her.’
Kate clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth and called back, ‘Don’t be going overboard, son, or I might get the idea yer don’t mean it.’
With her arms folded, a habit she couldn’t break, she reached Monica’s house. She rapped the knocker for the second time then heard a tap on the window and saw Monica peeping out. ‘Open the door, I haven’t got all day.’
‘Yer’ll have to go around the back, girl.’ Her friend was waving her arm in the direction of her yard. ‘Go on, girl, round the back.’