The River Folk

by Margaret Dickinson

  ‘Oh aye, and where did you pinch them from, eh? Off some poor beggar’s grave in the churchyard?’

  ‘Get out of me way. The missis’ll have me tea ready.’

  ‘She will, will she? She’ll have a job. She’s in hospital.’

  ‘Eh?’ To Bessie’s satisfaction, the man had the grace to look startled and even a little afraid. ‘What’s up with her?’

  Bessie let out a wry, humourless laugh as she felt, rather than saw, Bert and two of her sons appear and come to stand behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Minnie and Stan Eccleshall emerge from their house across the yard, to be joined by their neighbours, Gladys Merryweather and her husband, Walter. And Phyllis Horberry, never one to miss a bit of drama, peered out from her half-open door.

  ‘What’s up?’ Bessie raised her voice so that it was loud enough for the whole yard to hear. ‘You have the gall to ask, “what’s up?” ’

  Sid Clark shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, glancing around him at the watching faces, but Bessie continued without pity. ‘She’s black and blue from head to foot, Sid Clark, and her arm’s broken. That’s what’s up.’

  There was a murmuring around the yard like a cool breeze of disapproval and the Eccleshalls and the Merryweathers moved closer.

  Sid dropped the flowers to the ground and stepped back, glancing fearfully about him. Bessie stepped towards him and wagged her forefinger in his face. ‘Now listen here, you. It’s got to stop. While you live in this yard, you don’t lay another finger on her, you hear? Else you’ll get a taste of your own medicine.’

  Sid glared at her and then, with a sudden movement, dodged around Bessie and made for his own door.

  ‘Oh,’ Bessie shouted after him, almost as an afterthought but in fact it was calculated as a barbed parting shot. ‘If you’re interested where your daughter is, she’s in our house. And that’s where she’s staying till her mam gets home. And even then, well, we’ll see, won’t we?’

  From the doorway of his own home, the man turned and, feeling safer now, sneered. ‘Yer welcome to the little bitch. Yer can keep her as far as I’m concerned.’

  He slammed the door and Bessie heard the key turn in the lock.

  ‘Aye, you lock yasen in, Sid Clark,’ she bellowed. ‘That’s the only place you’re going to be safe from now on, and even then, I wouldn’t be too sure, if I was you.’

  Eight

  Dan returned home late that same night.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind, lad,’ Bessie said, almost as soon as he stepped through the door, ‘but I’ve put that little lass in your bed.’ Then she explained to him what had been happening during his absence.

  ‘’Course I don’t, Mam. I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. It’s only for one night anyway. We’ll be off again on tomorrow afternoon’s tide.’

  ‘It might be a bit longer than that,’ Bessie pulled a wry face. ‘I daren’t let her go home until her mam’s out of the hospital.’

  Dan shrugged his broad shoulders and smiled at his mother’s anxious face. ‘I don’t mind. When I’m home for a longer stretch while she’s here, me and the lads can play musical beds and all take turns on the couch.’

  Bessie nodded, relieved. ‘You’re a good ’un, Dan. You all are. I just can’t let mesen send her back to be on her own with ’im.’

  Dan patted her round cheek with a display of affection. ‘And you’re the best of us, Mam. You and that big heart of yours.’

  ‘Go on with you.’ Bessie smacked his hand away playfully, but the flush on her face showed her pleasure at his compliment.

  The following morning, Mary Ann was up early and much to Bessie’s surprise and delight was soon trotting back and forth between the back scullery and the kitchen carrying the plates from Bessie to the table for the men’s breakfast. Then, when all were tucking in to bacon, egg and fried bread, Mary Ann stood beside Dan’s chair watching him eat.

  ‘Aren’t you going to sit down and have some breakfast, love?’ he asked.

  Mary Ann nodded and pulled her chair close to his. She looked at him coyly out of the corners of her eyes and then reached out to take a piece of bacon from his plate.

  ‘Oi, I didn’t mean take mine,’ he laughed, amused by her audacity.

  Bessie appeared from the scullery, carrying two more plates. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘She’s nicking our Dan’s breakfast,’ Duggie spluttered.

  Bessie placed a plate of food in front of Mary Ann. ‘There’s no need for that, lass. Here’s yours.’ Then she sat down herself and picked up her knife and fork.

  But Dan only grinned and winked at the young girl, to be rewarded with the most dazzling smile that Bessie had seen from her yet, the dimples in her cheeks deepening prettily.

  By heck, Bessie thought, she’s going to be a stunner, this one, when she’s older. She’ll break a few hearts before she’s done. Just as long as it isn’t one of my lads. Aloud, she said, ‘Eat up, love, time you were setting off for school. Give my love to Miss Edwina if you see her.’

  The brown eyes widened. ‘Aren’t you going to take me?’

  ‘You know the way. You’re big enough to go on your own.’

  Mary Ann’s lower lip trembled. ‘I’ll get lost.’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ Bessie said, gently but firmly. ‘You turn left at the end of our alley on to River Road and keep going until you get nearly to the bridge and it’s the big red house with the white pillars on the right hand side of the road.’

  ‘It’s all right, Mam, I’ll walk along with her. I’m going to see Susan.’

  Bessie sniffed. ‘Think I was found under a Christmas tree, lad? That’s in the opposite direction.’

  ‘Who’s Susan?’ Mary Ann asked at once.

  ‘She’s his young lady,’ Duggie volunteered. ‘They’re walking out together.’

  ‘Are you going to marry her?’ The question was a natural one, yet to Bessie’s knowing ears, there was a sharp edge to the girl’s tone. Poor bairn, the older woman thought, her view of marriage can’t be a happy one. Maybe, she thought, while she stays in this house, we can show her a different kind of family life.

  ‘He’ll be daft if he doesn’t,’ Duggie said, tapping the side of his nose and winking. ‘Her father owns the ship he works on.’

  ‘Now, Duggie, you young scallywag, don’t go putting ideas into the bairn’s mind that aren’t true,’ Bessie scolded. ‘Susan’s a lovely girl and our Dan wouldn’t go marrying someone he wasn’t in love with. ’Sides, there’s some might think it was a disadvantage marrying your boss’s daughter.’

  Dan grinned good-naturedly at his brother and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

  Bert rose from the table. ‘Well, Bessie, light of my life, much as I’d like to stay home with you all day, I’d better get myself off to work.’

  Heaving herself up from her chair, she fetched her husband’s jacket and scarf and held it for him to slip his arms into the sleeves. Tenderly, she wrapped the muffler around his neck. Then she planted a loud kiss full on his mouth. At once Bert responded: his hands resting on her well-rounded hips, he kissed her in return. ‘Bye bye, my angel. Be a good girl . . .’ he chuckled. ‘At least till I get home.’

  ‘Oho,’ Bessie patted him playfully on the cheek. ‘Chance’d be a fine thing, with all the work I’ve got to do looking after you lot.’

  The young men were used to this kind of affection between their parents, but Mary Ann was staring open-mouthed at the older couple, and her astonishment grew as all three sons also kissed their mother before leaving the house themselves to go to their various occupations. Even at her tender age and despite her unfortunate home circumstances, Mary Ann could see that it was not an action made out of duty, but given with true affection. Close on Dan’s heels as he made to leave the house, she too stopped in front of Bessie, threw her arms around her and pressed her face into Bessie’s bosom.

  Bessie stroked the girl’s hair, but instead of silkiness, Bessie felt it
thick with dirt and grease. She cupped Mary Ann’s face in her hands and kissed her forehead. ‘We’ll wash your hair tonight, love. I’ve some lovely shampoo you can have a bit of. It’ll make it ever so pretty. Off you go now with Dan. You’ll be all right walking home on your own tonight, won’t you?’

  For a moment, Mary Ann’s eyes clouded but then she nodded. As Bessie watched them go and heard their footsteps echoing down the alley, she heard Mary Ann’s high-pitched voice chattering to Dan.

  Suddenly and with pleasant surprise, Bessie realized that not once that morning had she noticed the child with her thumb in her mouth.

  ‘You didn’t get lost then?’ Bessie greeted Mary Ann when she appeared in the yard late in the afternoon. ‘Here, you can make yasen useful. Put these pegs in the peg bag for me while I get this washing in. We’re going to give you a nice bath and wash your hair before the menfolk come home. And then,’ she added hastily as she saw the doubt in the girl’s eyes, ‘I’ve got a present for you.’

  ‘A present for me? What is it?’

  ‘Ah, now you’ll have to wait and see.’

  Bessie bundled more of Amy Hamilton’s sheets and pillowcases into her basket and picked it up. Earlier in the day Bessie had had to coax Amy out of her bed once more. Helping her to wash and dress, Bessie had discovered a bundle of dirty bed linen stuffed into the bottom of a wardrobe.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she grumbled to Mary Ann now, but without any real grudge, ‘I seem to be doing nowt but wash this week. Come on, lass. I can iron these later.’

  A little later, as she knelt beside the tin bath in front of the fire, it also crossed Bessie’s mind that she had not bathed so many people in one week since her boys had been little.

  ‘What did you do at school today?’ Bessie asked as she lathered Mary Ann’s hair, massaging the child’s scalp with her strong fingers.

  ‘Miss Edwina’s learning me ’broidery.’

  ‘Is she now? That’s nice. Miss Edwina does lovely embroidery. I’ll tek you to the church some time and show you the altar cloth she’s done. It’s beautiful. There now, bend your head while I pour this jug of clean water over you to rinse off the soap.’

  As she stood before the fire, submitting herself to Bessie’s vigorous towelling until her skin glowed, Mary Ann asked, ‘Where’s me present then?’

  ‘There on the fireguard. I thought you’d have noticed by now. Not very observant, are you?’

  The girl twisted round to look at the clothes warming on the fireguard. Undergarments and a blue cotton dress with smocking at the neck.

  ‘I did see them,’ Mary Ann said, ‘but I didn’t think they were for me.’

  Bessie laughed. ‘Well, I don’t think I could squeeze into them, do you?’

  Mary Ann put her arms round the woman’s neck as Bessie knelt on the peg rug and kissed her cheek. The towel slipped from her naked body and Bessie was pleased to see that, whilst she was thin, the girl’s skin was a healthy colour and her body firm and supple.

  ‘Come on,’ Bessie said, ‘let’s try them on. Minnie – Mrs Eccleshall – brought them across. She has a daughter. She’s away working in service now. But Min’s a terrible hoarder and she hasn’t thrown her daughter’s old clothes out. They’re not new, of course, but there’s plenty of wear left in them. Put your arms up. That’s it.’

  Bessie sat back on her heels to look at the girl. ‘Fits you a treat. I thought it might be a bit big, but Min’s girl was tiny so it’s not bad. Not bad at all. Now let’s rub your hair dry.’

  Towelled dry, Mary Ann’s hair fell in curls and waves to her shoulders.

  ‘Black as a raven’s feathers and just as shiny now. You’ve got lovely hair, lass. You ought to learn how to take care of it yourself. Still, enough for now . . .’ Bessie pulled herself up. ‘I must get the tea. My Bert and the boys’ll soon be home.’

  ‘And Dan? When will Dan be home?’

  ‘He’s gone back on his ship. Up to Newark this time, I reckon he said. He’ll not be back for a day or two.’

  ‘Oh,’ Mary Ann said and put her thumb into her mouth.

  Nine

  After tea, when Bert had gone for his nightly pint and Ernie and Duggie had disappeared, Bessie glanced at the clock on her mantelpiece and said, ‘Come on, Mary Ann, I’ll take you to see the Aegir. Tonight’s a big one. So come on. I don’t want to miss it.’

  When they arrived at the Miller’s Staith, there were already several people lining the steps that led right down to the water’s edge.

  ‘There you are, Bessie, I thought you wouldn’t miss tonight’s tide,’ a voice called.

  ‘Saved me a place, have you, Min?’ Bessie lumbered down the slippery steps to stand beside her neighbour. ‘I thought you’d have called for me.’

  ‘I would’ve,’ Minnie said, ‘but I’ve only just got here mesen on me way back from town. If I’d come home first, I’d have missed it.’

  ‘Oh well, in that case,’ Bessie’s eyes twinkled with mischief, ‘I forgive you.’

  ‘Ta very much, I’m sure.’

  The two women smiled at each other and then, as someone shouted, ‘It’s coming,’ they turned, like everyone else, to look downriver, leaning dangerously forward to get a better view.

  Bessie grabbed hold of Mary Ann. ‘Don’t you go falling in the water and get swept away. We’d never find you.’

  ‘’Course the best place to see it,’ Minnie said, ‘is Bourton corner.’

  Bessie nodded excitedly. ‘Yes, yes, it is. It swirls round that corner and you think it’s going to come up and over the bank.’

  ‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ Minnie muttered and then, her excitement rising too, she clutched Bessie’s hand and said, ‘Here it comes, Bessie. Here it comes.’

  The tidal wave, foaming at the crest, swept majestically up the river, rippling up the banks on either side and rocking the boats moored at the wharves. Behind the first wave front, which raised the level of the whole river until the tide ebbed, came smaller ripples, the whelps, like young following their mother.

  ‘I don’t like it,’ Mary Ann cried, clinging to Bessie.

  ‘Don’t be silly, it won’t hurt you.’ For once Bessie was irritated by the girl’s childishness. Nevertheless, she held on tightly to the girl’s hand, afraid that Mary Ann might try to get away and, in so doing, topple into the water. ‘Don’t you think it’s lovely? Just look at that big wave. Come all the way from the North Sea, that has, Mary Ann. Right up our river for miles and miles.’

  The water surged just below where they were standing and splashed up the steps, sending spray on to their feet.

  ‘I don’t like it,’ the girl wailed. She pulled herself out of Bessie’s grasp, turned to scramble back up the steps and pushed her way through the watchers.

  ‘Mary Ann, wait. Wait for me,’ Bessie cried and turned to follow her, but felt Minnie’s hand restrain her.

  ‘Let her go, Bess. She’ll find her way home. It’s only across River Road. Don’t let her spoil your fun. We shan’t see another one like this for a while. Just you enjoy it.’

  Bessie turned back towards the river, but Mary Ann being so silly had spoiled her excitement and her pleasure, and the wave was gone now, leaving only ripples in its wake. The onlookers began to disperse.

  ‘I suppose,’ Bessie said to Minnie, thinking aloud, her generous nature forgiving the girl’s foolishness already, ‘I shouldn’t have expected her to love the river like we do, Min. The Aegir can be a bit frightening if you’ve never seen anything like it before.’

  ‘I ’spect she’s not used to the water,’ Minnie suggested.

  Bessie shook her head. ‘Probably not. She told me she’d never even seen the sea.’

  ‘There you are then,’ Minnie said, as if that explained everything.

  The two friends reached the top of the steps and turned to smile at each other.

  ‘I’d better go and find her and see if she’s all right,’ Bessie said as they approached Waterman’s Ya
rd.

  Minnie sniffed. ‘She’ll be all right, Bess. Do you know, I’ve never seen you fuss after anyone so much in all me life? An’ that’s saying summat.’

  ‘Mebbe it’s because I’ve never had a little girl of me own,’ Bessie said wistfully.

  ‘That little madam’s got you wrapped around her little finger, Bess. You want to watch it.’

  But Bessie only smiled.

  A week later, Elsie Clark was still not home from the hospital and Mary Ann continued to stay with the Ruddick family.

  ‘What gets me, Bert,’ Bessie murmured sadly as they lay side by side in bed, ‘is that Mary Ann doesn’t seem bothered about either of them. Her dad or her mam. Now ’im, I can understand, but you’d’ve thought she’d have wanted to go to see her mother in the hospital.’

  ‘I thought you took her on Sunday afternoon?’ Bert murmured sleepily.

  ‘I did, but I nearly had to drag her there.’

  ‘Wasn’t she pleased to see her mam when you got there then?’

  There was a moment’s silence whilst Bessie lay staring into the blackness, thinking. ‘I suppose so,’ she said at last. ‘But it was odd. Not like I’d have expected a young girl to act when she hadn’t seen her mam for several days. I mean, I wouldn’t have liked my lads to act like that if I was in hospital, Bert.’

  Bert’s soft chuckle came through the darkness. ‘Bess, my angel, if you were ever in hospital – God forbid,’ he added with fervent reverence, ‘me and the lads would be camping outside that hospital door, I can tell you.’ Then he went on, ‘And was her mam pleased to see her?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ Bessie said slowly. ‘Sort of, but even then it wasn’t how I would have been if I hadn’t seen one of me own for a few days. Elsie thanked me for looking after Mary Ann and told her to be a good girl and that, but there wasn’t the affection there, the love. You know?’

  ‘Mm, I can guess what you mean.’ He turned on his side, preparing for sleep. ‘Ne’er mind, Bess, we’ve enough love in this house to spare a bit for that little lass, haven’t we?’