Dream a Little Dream

by Joan Jonker

  ‘This is all very distressing, Mother,’ Victoria said. ‘I hope the subject of divorce is not mentioned at the dinner party. It could ruin my chances with Charles.’

  ‘Providing you are allowed to have the dinner party, there will be no occasion to mention it. Robert certainly won’t, he’d be too ashamed.’

  ‘He can’t stop me having it, I won’t let him! I have been trying to gee Charles along into proposing, and I thought if the party was a huge success, as I intend it to be, it could be the very thing to make him pop the question. He keeps telling me I’m the only girl for him, but seems shy about popping the question. So it’s vital, Mother, that the dreadful word divorce is not even whispered.’ Victoria’s eyes were hard and calculating. ‘You must take responsibility for this happening, you know, Mother. Surely you could have let Father have his wicked way with you once in a while, and suffered in silence? Five minutes of your time every couple of months would have prevented this catastrophe.’

  ‘I couldn’t bring myself to let him touch me. The thought of his hands on me makes me feel physically sick. But I have been an excellent wife to him in every other way. Why could he not seek his pleasures elsewhere, as I’m sure many men do. In fact, I would be very surprised if he hasn’t.’

  ‘You would have a hard job proving that, Mother, and degrade yourself in the process.’ Victoria thought her mother very naive. When she got married, she would be far more in control. ‘I’m hoping to be married from this house, with Father forking out for a wedding which will be the talk of the town. So let’s not rock the boat too much for now.’

  ‘Robert!’ Maureen’s beaming smile and tender eyes told of her joy. ‘It’s lovely to see you. I’ve been so excited since I got your letter, like a young girl waiting for her first date.’

  As he held her close, Robert could feel the pressure easing from his mind. Her arms were so warm and comforting he sighed with contentment. ‘You’ve no idea what it means to me to see and hold you, my dear. My life has been dreadful since I last saw you, especially today which has been a nightmare.’

  Maureen kissed his cheek before taking his hat and hanging it on the hallstand. Then she took his hand and led him through to the living room. ‘Do you want to talk first, or eat?’

  ‘I would very much like to talk first, I have so much to tell you.’ Robert drew her down on to the couch and put his arm around her. ‘Before I burden you with my worries and woes, though, I want to tell you that this once-a-month visit is a thing of the past. I must see you far more often, Maureen, I need you in my life.’

  She smiled and squeezed his hand. ‘Oh, how the neighbours will talk if they see your car here more frequently. I’ll be labelled a woman of ill-repute.’

  ‘Will that worry you?’ When she shook her head, he said, ‘Last time I was here I asked you if you would marry me if I was a free man. You made me so happy when you said you would. Do you still feel the same?’

  ‘Yes, I’d marry you tomorrow if it were possible.’

  ‘It won’t be possible tomorrow, my darling Maureen, but it will be in the future. But let me start at the beginning instead of the end.’

  Nigel was driving Abbie and himself down to Seaforth when he had an idea. ‘What about taking Milly and Bobby to see Grandma and Granda for half an hour? I don’t think they get many visitors and it would be a change for them.’

  ‘I think that’s a marvellous idea. They’d have a good laugh with Bobby, the way he’s always acting the goat.’

  ‘He might act the goat, Abbie, but he’s far from being daft. Him and his mother have had a rough time.’ He went on to tell her how Bobby’s father had died, and how grim things had been with hardly any money coming in. How his friend had had to grow up overnight, from boy to man. ‘It’s only now he’s finished serving his time that things are a little better for him and his mother. He’s a good bloke, and a good son, that’s why I have a lot of admiration for him. And I’ll help him all I can, like teaching him to drive.’

  Abbie expressed her surprise. ‘Fancy Milly not telling me all this. Because he’s always joking, you’d think he didn’t have a care in the world.’

  ‘Don’t let on I’ve told you, he’s got a lot of pride and he’d hate to think we feel sorry for him.’ Nigel turned into Balfour Road. ‘You ask Milly if she feels like going to Grandma’s, while I go for Bobby. It’ll only be for half an hour, though, because I’ve promised my mate another driving lesson.’ He chuckled. ‘He gets as far as switching the engine on tonight.’

  Ten minutes later the youngsters were on their way, happy to be in each other’s company. ‘Ay, does yer Gran know we’re coming?’ Bobby asked, sitting in the front passenger seat and feeling like a million dollars. He was hoping they’d pass someone he knew, so he could wave to them and show off. ‘They mightn’t feel like company.’

  ‘You don’t know my Grandma and Granda,’ Abbie laughed. ‘They’ll be made up. You’ll love them. They’re so cuddly, I could eat them.’

  ‘Yer better hadn’t do that tonight, yer’ll put me off me driving lesson. And don’t yer think that’s carrying things a bit too far?’ Bobby asked. ‘I mean, I love my Nan, but I wouldn’t want her on me plate at dinner-time.’

  ‘Yer wouldn’t know the difference if yer put a dollop of HP sauce on it.’ Milly kept her face straight. ‘That’s what the cannibals do. If they don’t like HP they use tomato sauce.’

  ‘I’m glad to say we’ve arrived.’ Nigel parked the car close to the pavement. ‘The conversation was getting a little too grisly for my delicate stomach.’ He saw his Grandma looking through the window and waved. ‘I bet she’ll dash around tidying up before she opens the door.’

  And he wasn’t far wrong. Ada pushed the evening paper under a cushion on the couch while telling her husband to give the hearth a quick brush over with the little stiff brush hanging on the companion set. ‘They’ve brought friends with them, so make yerself presentable while I open the door.’

  Joe chuckled. ‘We’ve sat around twiddling our thumbs all day, now it’s suddenly a mad rush! The house is as clean as a whistle, sweetheart, yer could eat off the floor. I don’t know what ye’re worrying about.’

  ‘Well, being a man, yer wouldn’t, would yer? The dirt could be meeting yer at the door, but yer wouldn’t see it.’ Ada patted his cheek, a twinkle in her eye. ‘There’s a button undone on yer shirt, sweetheart, be a good boy and fasten it.’ Then with a smile that held all the love she had for him, she made her way to the front door.

  ‘We’ve brought our friends to see you, Grandma,’ Abbie said. ‘They’re both quite mad, so don’t be surprised at anything they do.’

  ‘When you get to our age, sweetheart, there’s very little left in life to surprise us.’ Ada kissed and hugged her grandchildren, then extended the greeting to Milly and Bobby. ‘Yer friends are always welcome here, yer know that.’

  Joe was standing in front of the fireplace when they all trooped in, and his wife went to stand beside him. ‘This handsome man is my husband, Joe. Fifty years we’ve been wed, and never a cross word between us.’ The twinkle was back in her eyes but her face was deadpan when she said crossly, ‘I thought I told yer to fasten the button on yer shirt, Joe, so why haven’t yer? Honest to God, yer’d be going round half-naked if I wasn’t here to keep yer in order.’

  Joe’s lined face split into a grin. ‘I love it when yer shout at me, sweetheart. That’s if it’s only in fun, like. I’d run like hell if I thought yer meant it.’

  Bobby looked at the two old folk and knew what Abbie had meant about them being cuddly. You couldn’t help but fall for the two of them. ‘Ay, Abbie, I’ll have yer Granda with HP, and you can have tomato sauce with yer Grandma.’

  Ada looked puzzled. ‘What’s this about sauces? I haven’t got no dinner for yer ’cos how was I to know yer wanted one?’

  ‘Take no notice of him, Grandma,’ Nigel said. ‘My mate has a warped sense of humour. It all started with Abbie saying she loved you so much
she could eat you.’

  ‘I’m not taking the blame for that, Nige! It wasn’t me what said yer Gran would be tasty with HP sauce, it was Milly.’

  ‘That’s right, blame me!’ Milly punched him hard on his arm. ‘Yer always were a clat-tale, Bobby Neary.’

  He grinned into her face. ‘And you always wanted what somebody else had. Ye’re jealous now because there’s only two of them and they’re both spoken for. And before yer say it, no, yer can’t have my Nan, with or without sauce.’

  ‘Before there’s any bother, and yer come to blows, I’d just like to say something.’ Ada was in her seventh heaven when her grandchildren came, and now they’d brought their friends it was an added pleasure. ‘Me and Joe haven’t been separated for the last fifty years, and we’re not going to start now. We will insist upon being on the same plate, cuddled up to each other, with a bleedin’ big dollop of tomato sauce.’

  When the laughter had died down, Milly said, ‘You’re lovely, both of yer. But I don’t know yer name and it’s a bit awkward. What can me and Bobby call yer?’

  ‘Well, I’m Joe, and my dear wife is Ada.’

  ‘We can’t call you that, it would be disrespectful and me mam would clip me over the ears if she heard me. But it would be nice if we could call you Uncle Joe and Auntie Ada. Would you think us cheeky if we did that?’

  ‘We’d be highly delighted, wouldn’t we, Ada?’

  ‘Pleased as Punch.’ And indeed, Ada was. When they had company it gave her and Joe something to talk about later, when they were alone. Gave them more interest, like. ‘Now I’ll put the kettle on for a cuppa. Do yer all take milk?’

  ‘Hang on a minute, Grandma,’ Nigel said. ‘Bobby’s learning to drive and I’m taking him out for an hour. We were going to go somewhere in the country, but there’s plenty of quiet streets around here that would do. So if the girls will stay on until we get back, me and Bobby could have a cuppa, then run them home. Unless you had something planned, Abbie?’

  ‘No, we hadn’t planned anything,’ Abbie said. ‘But Milly’s told me I’m going to a dance next week whether I like it or not. She’ll drag me there if necessary.’

  ‘I was going to have a word with yer about that, Nige,’ Bobby said. ‘If you can teach me to drive, I can teach you to dance. That’s fair, isn’t it?’

  ‘But I thought—’ Ada caught Abbie’s warning glance and cursed herself. The private dancing lessons were to be a surprise, and she’d nearly let the cat out of the bag. So she was stuck in the middle of a sentence and had to think quick. ‘Are you and Milly courting, Bobby?’

  He let out a loud guffaw. ‘Give me a break, Auntie Ada, I’ve got more sense than that. She’s a proper bossy-boots, is Milly, I’d never get a word in!’

  ‘You cheeky beggar!’ Milly pretended to be highly indignant. ‘Anyone that went out with you would want their bumps feeling. I’m looking for a handsome lad with money in his pockets.’

  ‘Now I’m not trying to sell meself, but they don’t come more handsome than me, and right now I’ve got three shillings and sixpence in me pocket.’ He winked at Ada. ‘Many a girl would swoon for a handsome lad with three and a tanner in their pocket, don’t yer think, Auntie Ada?’

  ‘I would. If it wasn’t for my Joe here, I’d swoon real good.’

  ‘When you two have stopped insulting each other, I’d like to ask my brother something.’ Abbie knew that what she was going to say would knock the wind out of Bobby’s sails. ‘Can’t me and Milly come with you, Nigel? We could sit in the back seat and we’d be so quiet you wouldn’t know we were there.’

  ‘What?’ Bobby looked horrified. ‘I don’t want an audience when I’m making a fool of meself. Oh no, Abbie, over my dead body.’

  ‘That can be arranged.’ Milly wouldn’t have gone in the car with them if they’d agreed. It wouldn’t be fair on the lad, they’d make him nervous. ‘What’s your favourite sauce?’

  Nigel was chuckling when he took hold of Bobby’s arm. ‘This could go on all night, so let’s make a move. Give us an hour and a half, Grandma.’

  The girls were having a game of cards with Ada and Joe, when the car horn sounded. The cards were lowered face down on to the table, and they all moved to the window. There were shrieks of surprise when they saw Bobby behind the wheel, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Then came a mad scramble for the door, but youth gave way to age, and it was Joe and Ada who reached the car first.

  ‘I’ve just driven the car up the street.’ Bobby was so excited he couldn’t get his words out quick enough. ‘Honest to God, ask Nige! All on me own, and I haven’t knocked no one over, or run into a lamp-post.’ Like a child with a new toy, he couldn’t stop himself talking. ‘Mind you, that dog was nearly a goner. If I hadn’t remembered where the brake was, he’d have had it.’

  His excitement had rubbed off on Nigel. ‘I can’t believe it myself. He’s picked it up a lot quicker than I did. Not that I’d let him out on the main road yet, but another couple of lessons, a lot of practice, and he’ll be fine.’

  ‘Can Milly and I get in the back, and he can drive us to the very top of the street?’ Abbie asked. ‘Go on, Nige.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Bobby said, through the open window, ‘but if I drive to the top, I’d have to turn around to come back again. And I’m not that clever yet.’

  ‘I’m glad for yer, son,’ Ada said. ‘Yer’ll be able to take yer mam out for a run.’

  ‘Only one thing wrong with that, Auntie Ada.’ Bobby’s shoulders were shaking with laughter. ‘I haven’t got a car. Mind you, that needn’t stop me taking me mam out for a run, but she’s not too good on her feet, so I’d end up giving her a piggy-back.’

  Joe bent down and said softly, ‘Yer will have a car one day, son, I know yer will. And then yer’ll be able to take yer mam out. And yer girlfriend, when yer get one.’

  ‘When I’m saying me prayers tonight, Uncle Joe, which do yer think I should pray for? A girl or a car?’

  ‘Well, let’s put it like this. I’d definitely say pray for the girl if yer could be sure of getting one as good as my Ada.’

  ‘Nah, I’d probably end up getting one with a face like the back of a tram, and a bottom to match. So I’ll stick with the car. At least yer get a key with a car, so yer can turn it off if yer get fed up with the noise. Yer don’t get a key with a girl.’

  ‘Ye’re a bleedin’ hero, you are, son.’ Ada was really taken with Bobby and was glad Nigel had such a good, down-to-earth lad for a friend. ‘Now will yer come in and get this cup of tea we’ve been waiting for? I’m spitting ruddy feathers.’

  ‘I hope we’re good enough to go dancing on Monday, now we’ve promised,’ Abbie said as they were driving home. ‘I’d hate to make a fool of myself.’

  ‘We’ve got a lesson tomorrow night, one on Saturday afternoon and another on Sunday. If we haven’t learned enough by then to give a good account of ourselves, we never will.’

  ‘Are we going to tell Milly and Bobby we’ve taken lessons? They’ll think it funny that all of a sudden we can dance, after telling them we couldn’t.’

  ‘Yes, we’ll tell them.’ Nigel began to chuckle. ‘But only after we’ve surprised them. I can’t wait to see the look on Bobby’s face.’

  ‘I’ve got mixed feelings about that, Nigel. He was so happy tonight, and so grateful to you for giving him driving lessons, he might think we’ve been underhanded. It’s almost like saying we don’t need him to teach us anything. If I was in his place, I think I’d be hurt.’

  Nigel was thoughtful for a while, then he said, ‘You’re right, Abbie. I hadn’t thought of it that way. It would look as though we were showing off, bragging that we could afford to take private lessons, and didn’t need him. What we could do, is go to the lesson we’ve booked for tomorrow night, then when it’s over, go through to the dancing class. And the same on Saturday. It wouldn’t sound so bad saying we’ve been to dancing classes.’

  ‘That’s an idea! I like Bobby, and wouldn’t
like him to think we were making a fool out of him. And did you notice that Grandma and Granda took a real shine to him? When I was in the kitchen, helping Grandma with the tea, she said, “He’s a cracker, he is. A lad after me own heart”.’

  ‘He’s a character, all right. He can turn anything into a laugh. Tonight I was showing him how and when to change gear, how to use the clutch so the car didn’t jump forward, and all the time he had me in stitches. He talks so much, you think he’s not taking anything in, but I soon found out how wrong I was. When I suggested he try and drive the car a short distance, just far enough to get the speed up to change gear, he did it perfectly. In the end, he was driving so well I let him get into top gear, and it was as smooth as a driver who’d been driving for years. A bit more practice on the roads and he’ll be able to take a car out on his own.’

  Abbie giggled and lowered her voice to a growl. ‘Only one thing wrong with that, Nige, I haven’t got a car.’