The Lido Girls

by Allie Burns

  Even in sleep her features remained resolutely knotted, her eyebrows firm horizontal lines that pushed the skin in between into a vertical slash. The heartbreak and frustration becoming a permanent feature on what not so long ago was a complexion plump and fresh with youth. It was such a waste to see it being worn away by her troubles.

  Natalie pulled the curtains to reveal the terraced houses opposite and let the light flood the dusky bedroom. Delphi’s eyelids listed from open to closed and then open again. Natalie hesitated for a moment as if Delphi had transformed into someone, something else. She lay still, blinking at the ceiling before her eyes snapped shut.

  Hands on hips, leaning down towards her, in a soft voice Natalie said, ‘There’s an Ovaltine for you on the dresser. Mrs Curtis has made it extra milky.’

  Delphi’s eyes were glazed and after a few moments of staring beyond Natalie at the ceiling, her gaze flitted and landed on Natalie for a second or two, her expression remaining unchanged, and then she withdrew her hands and rolled over, to show her her back.

  ‘Just rest.’

  ‘Why did Sid bring me here?’ Delphi spoke for the first time. Her voice was lower than usual. Her tongue clicked in her dry mouth.

  ‘He, we, thought you might have been hasty in your talk of returning with your mother.’ She was glad Delphi couldn’t see her face, and recognise the anguish in her expression.

  ‘No. My mind is made up,’ she said flatly, to the wall.

  ‘I haven’t had the chance to discuss it with Jack yet.’ She tried to sound light, but it wasn’t convincing, she knew. ‘But I’d like you to come and live with us…’ when we are married.

  ‘I’m not doing that to you, or me.’

  Both married or both spinsters. That had always been the plan. Anything else would be an uncomfortable compromise that wouldn’t work, but still...

  ‘You’re not a bother, for either of us.’

  ‘Natty, Jack thinks I should go back to Mother, and if he says it then I know it must be the only thing I can do.’

  ‘He’s wrong. You have done the hardest bit of all. You made your mother and father listen to you. Don’t give up on what you want now.’

  ‘I don’t suppose I am alone in that respect.’ Her words smarted Natalie like a soft-skin pinch. She pulled the cover up over her shoulders. ‘I think I’d like to sleep again now. Would you mind leaving me to rest?’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Reverse handstand

  Beginning with a handstand, the diver pushes up and into a pike position before straightening out to enter the water.

  ‘We all want to be as trim and radiant as Betsy, here.’ A portly lady in the first row spoke up for the new faces who’d turned up to the class.

  ‘We saw Betsy at the annual Rotary dinner with Arthur and everyone in town was jealous. All the other husbands were looking at us and asking us when we were going to look after ourselves too.’

  ‘Now please, don’t embarrass me.’ Betsy blushed, but her old anxious flush had long gone.

  Arthur – who had been in to discuss tomorrow’s gala with Jack – stopped to admire his wife. He didn’t even seem to notice that Natalie was conducting classes for ladies who didn’t work at the Lido, or that Betsy was standing next to her as a shadow instructor.

  Betsy winked at him and waved.

  ‘I’ll see you tonight, Mrs Whittle.’ He winked back, looking down at her legs.

  As soon as he was out of sight the whole class erupted into laughter.

  ‘Let’s get back to the class, shall we?’ Natalie said. ‘Betsy has worked very hard and if you too want a healthy body, you will need to do the same. Exercise develops good character under trying conditions. In this class we will test your stamina, your endurance…’ The ladies on the front row looked at one another and winced. ‘But actually, you won’t notice any of that because our main aim will be to have fun. Now you can call me Natalie; we’re very informal here. Are we ready?’

  *

  At Sun Ray House, Mrs Curtis was in the kitchen singing ‘Tipperary’ as Natalie climbed upstairs to check on Delphi.

  When she opened the door, it took her a moment to adjust to what she saw. The bed was empty, and made, the bedspread and blanket folded on top, the sheets creased into crisp hospital corners. Delphi was standing at the mirror, her hair set after a fashion, but without its usual waves. She’d brightened her face with Natalie’s rouge and powder.

  Stale tobacco clung to the air. Delphi gripped a cigarette between her teeth, sliding it straight from the box, Park Drive, and igniting it with a fat brass lighter, the rays of the sun etched on to its side. The lighter clicked and hissed and Delphi’s lips made a gentle ‘paaaaaah’ as she expelled the first cloud of candied smoke. Natalie lifted the heavy wooden window frame so the air sucked out the fumes.

  The symmetry of Delphi’s face was distorted somehow by the mirror’s reflection. At times she put her in mind of a china doll with delicate glowing skin, a small rising nose, but her eyes often showed nothing more than a flat, distant stare. The bloom tightly shut. But now, Delphi’s eyes flared to a forget-me-not vividness, flitting about as they fed her mind.

  ‘You look rather tired,’ Delphi said softly, turning to face her and laughing at the irony. ‘You were at your class, weren’t you?’ The ugly sneer on Delphi’s face told her not to tell her about the new recruits or Arthur’s change towards Betsy.

  Delphi slipped on her two-tone leather shoes and then sat back on the edge of the bed. It was then that Natalie noticed it on the dresser, and she knew with certainty that it hadn’t been there earlier. She’d made sure of that. After Jack had found it, she’d hidden the book right at the bottom of the third drawer. But there it sat, shouting into the room, the tongue-like bookmark nearly at the end now. Delphi didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. If Delphi had snooped enough that she’d found the book she would most certainly have read the letter from the League that Natalie had smoothed and hidden inside it. Still facing the mirror, she looked right through Natalie.

  ‘So are the League coming to the Lido tomorrow?’

  Natalie shook her head. ‘I didn’t write back to Prunella.’

  ‘Why on earth not? And why didn’t you tell me she’d written?’

  ‘Because I thought you were pregnant. I believed it would have upset you to see what you’d dreamed of paraded in front of you.’

  ‘I’m used to seeing my everyday dreams going up in smoke. If you had said yes it would have been the perfect opportunity to make up for the terrible impression you made at Olympia.’

  ‘You couldn’t have trained with them if you were having a baby. It would have complicated things. Besides, my keeping this from you couldn’t even be classed as a white lie compared with the tales you have spun.’

  ‘I don’t believe what you say. I don’t think that you ignored the letter because you thought I was pregnant. You hid it away because you didn’t want to risk the girls falling for Prunella’s charms and preferring her classes. Or perhaps you still bear a grudge over the business with the Sunday Times. What I do know is that you’ve modernised since you left Linshatch, but you’re still behind the times, and you know it.’

  ‘Now, Delphi, none of that is true…’

  ‘You are still the same person who couldn’t consider cohabiting with her best friend for fear of what people might say. You would rather be married to a man you don’t really love and give up on the career you do love, just so you can blend in to the scenery and not make waves.’

  ‘That’s enough.’ Natalie didn’t want to hear any more of Delphi’s hateful words. ‘I regret not telling you about the League’s proposed visit. I regret that I wasn’t bold enough to tell the Lido girls about it. And I am sorry that I didn’t write back to Prunella. But what’s done is done, just as what’s said is said. Now I think you should leave.’

  ‘Very well.’ She still hadn’t looked at Natalie once. ‘I’m ready to go back to London now. Can you tell Mother
and Father to collect me?’

  Chapter Sixteen

  Twisting dives

  Divers can execute twists from many directions including forward, back, reverse or inwards.

  It was bank holiday Monday and there wasn’t a bench spare along the whole prom. The crowd massed like a nest of fire ants. She fanned herself with her hand and walked at a steady pace towards the Lido. She didn’t want to have to confront Jack about Toots, but she had to know if what she’d said was true. Sweat formed around her blouse’s collar and under her hairline.

  On a deckchair, in the back row along the prom, Delphi sat with her hands loose on her lap. The Mulberrys had decided not to travel to London until Delphi had her strength back. The white brim of her hat was low over her forehead and her sunglasses concealed her eyes. Her features seemed more relaxed in repose now than when she’d stayed with Natalie at Sun Ray House.

  Mrs Mulberry curved into the deckchair alongside her. There was no doubt about her state of consciousness. Her head was screwed to the right and jaw slack, her closed eyes shaded by her tilted felt sports hat. As she slowed her pace, she heard Mrs Mulberry snort gently from the back of her throat with every intake of breath. Her left hand had tumbled from her lap and hung apelike, knuckles grazing the concrete.

  The only trace of Mr Mulberry was a copy of the New Statesman at the foot of his empty deckchair, folded in half and weighed down by a black and cream striped tobacco tin.

  If they saw her walk past they didn’t show it.

  Only when she’d sat on the edge of the shingle, her bare feet resting on the sand exposed by the receding tide, did she realise that this little patch of beach had been empty because of a freshly washed-up barrel jellyfish almost camouflaged on the wet sand, its dustbin lid of a body still moist and glistening in the sun. She wanted to prod it to find out if it was still alive or simply waiting in stasis for the tide to return and rescue it, but she left it be.

  The sea was so calm today. The water, free of its chalky wash, flowed clear over the sands, the rows of waves endlessly making their way to the shore. But only now did she notice that nobody was going in. Along the beach, she could see other jellyfish corpses exposed by the receding tide and opaque blotches on the surface of the sea itself.

  She had to look twice, not believing her eyes the first time.

  Further along the beach, beyond the donkey rides and directly opposite the Lido, a small wooden podium was being set up. Pretty much in the spot Delphi and the Lido girls had favoured for their wafting sessions. There were a number of identically dressed women huddled together, pointing this way and that, arms crooked to rest on their hips.

  Natalie stood and cut her way through the holidaymakers’ island territories, and then back up to the promenade so that she was at a safe distance to watch. She’d been right; the women wore dark coloured shorts and white V-necked blouses.

  Just as she recognised Prunella Stack tucking her hair behind her ear and laughing with her Aunt Norah, she saw the banner being erected behind the impromptu stage: The Women’s League of Health and Beauty.

  So they had come to St Darlstone anyway. A woman walked past in the League uniform, handing out pamphlets. Natalie took one.

  11 a.m. Learn about the benefits of joining the Women’s League of Health and Beauty from Prunella Stack herself.

  11:30 a.m. A demonstration from our founding members.

  2:30 p.m. Women, men, boys and girls are all welcome to join in our fitness class – completely free of charge.

  Movement is Life!

  On the reverse of the leaflet was the black-ink, dancing silhouette of choreographer Peggy St Lo and a long list of the new centres the League planned to open that autumn.

  Back at the deckchairs Delphi’s face was still obscured by her sunglasses and hat. Natalie crouched beside her. Up close she could see wisps of hair stuck to her face with dried tears. The salt of the tears had cut right through her rouge to expose rivulets of her pale cheek beneath. She wore the expression of the recently bereaved.

  ‘I know you’re tired and upset with me,’ Natalie whispered, hoping Delphi’s mother didn’t hear, ‘and to be frank, I’m very hurt by the things you’ve said, but please, please, trust me and follow me now.’

  Delphi opened her eyes, but she merely looked at the deckchair in front. Natalie had almost given up hope of her following when Delphi stood without a word and walked ahead of Natalie in the direction she’d come.

  Natalie decided not to show Delphi the pamphlet; instead she caught her up and walked abreast of her until they were beyond the donkeys and close to the women from the League setting up in the shadow of the Lido.

  They stepped on to the shingle, just close enough to read the banner clearly and for the features of the women to become defined and recognisable, but far enough away that they’d be lost in the hubbub bubbling around them as the crowd began to thicken up for Prunella’s speech.

  She watched Delphi’s reaction. Delphi did none of the things she expected; she didn’t jump or squeal or start wafting about the beach delirious with excitement. That all belonged to a different version of Delphi. This one was motionless, expressionless and silent.

  ‘Why did you want me to see this?’ she said flatly after a minute or two – the first thing she’d said to Natalie since she’d asked to leave her lodgings the day before.

  ‘I thought perhaps this was a sign. A sign that there’s still hope for you. You could still work with the League.’

  ‘Perhaps it’s a sign you should tell her that she’s still peddling artistic poppycock.’

  ‘You know I don’t think that any longer. You could tell Prunella about your wafting, how we’ve worked together to really make a difference to the Lido girls. About Frills and Drills. You said you wanted a different life. This is your chance.’

  Delphi shook her head. ‘No, it’s too late for that now.’

  As if confirming this, Prunella seemed to have noticed them from her platform, even at their safe distance. She hesitated mid-stride and her mouth froze halfway through forming a word. Then Aunt Norah joined her on the stage to introduce her to the audience and the spell was broken. Prunella welcomed the growing crowd.

  ‘As you may know,’ Prunella said, addressing them all, ‘my dear mother passed away this year. She was a true visionary and had in her mind the ordinary people like all of us here when she established the League. I would like to quote from my mother’s opening speech from the rally at the Albert Hall last year, 1934.’ She cleared her throat, and lifted her chin.

  ‘Shall we go?’ Delphi said.

  But before Natalie could reply Prunella had lifted her notepaper and they were both spellbound by her every word.

  Prunella spoke of her mother’s vision, the camaraderie and the unity of women that had led to the League. How her mother’s sights extended beyond health and beauty, to lofty goals of peace and love. How this could be achieved only by the determination of the women here today, and others like them.

  Prunella paused, this time she lowered her papers and took a deep breath. Natalie brushed her arm; just like Olympia Prunella had given her goose pimples and teased the hairs on her arms on end. What she said was true, they were powerful; more so than any of them realised.

  With one last gust she brandished her fist. ‘The future is in our hands. We all count.’

  Natalie joined the rousing applause without thinking.

  ‘Hear, hear,’ she shouted.

  Delphi appeared unmoved. She turned away and walked back towards her parents. Natalie called after her, and when Delphi kept walking she took one last look over her shoulder at Prunella, and then gave chase. It had been a big mistake to not tell Delphi or Jack about the letter from the Women’s League. If she had shown them the letter then Delphi might have dropped her lies sooner. But it was too late now. They had all missed out.

  When she caught up with Delphi she blurted out, ‘Did you know that Jack was already engaged to Toots?’ Delphi kept walki
ng. ‘Does that mean you did know?’

  ‘Sid thought so, but Jack never said anything about it to me.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me? I feel such a fool.’

  At this, Delphi stopped. They were close to the Mulberrys’ deckchairs now and so she steered Natalie behind a man who’d set up a stall selling St Darlstone rock.

  ‘He is my brother and I felt some loyalty to him. To begin with at least. And I know how much you’ve always wanted to marry. I didn’t want to spoil your happiness, or his.’

  ‘Do you think he loves me?’

  ‘I expect he wants to.’

  Natalie’s head slumped forward.

  ‘You think for women our age, we would know better.’ Delphi turned over a stick of rock. ‘I suppose our desperation is to blame.’

  ‘After a souvenir are you, love?’ the rock seller asked, ‘we’ve got peppermint, liquorice and pineapple.’ He lost interest and moved on to the next customer when he realised they were time wasters.

  ‘But what about the League?’ Natalie asked. ‘It speaks to you; I know it does.’

  ‘The League won’t want me.’ The curtness had returned to her tone. Natalie wished she hadn’t asked the question. ‘I was wrong to want anything else from life.’ Delphi walked away from the rock stall and had just a few steps to go before she was back with her parents. Natalie had almost reached out to her, but she had said the wrong thing and lost her again. ‘I should be grateful for Mother’s protection, isn’t that right, Mother?’ Mrs Mulberry was awake now and smiled drowsily as they returned. ‘I’ll be safe from myself once I’m home again.’

  *

  ‘Are you all right?’ she asked Jack.

  After fumbling with the lid to his Brylcreem it fell to the floor.