Facing the World
Page 16
On Monday morning she rose early, bathed in the sunshine-yellow bathroom and laid out her new clothes. It was daunting, this sudden change from cleaning lady to fashion expert and she panicked and wondered why she had even considered being able to carry it off. She looked at her hands, neglected and with nails so short they almost looked bitten. With Sadie still sleeping, she filed them and applied some pale varnish. As she sat there waiting for them to dry, a letter came through the door. Puzzled, she picked it up to find a card from Amy and Rick, wishing her luck. She placed it on the hall table, telling herself that she would do her best and her best was very good. As a sort of mantra she repeatedly murmured to herself that ‘Second best will not do.’
Later, with hair arranged and wearing her new clothes she went out to meet Amy, who was going to drive her to the first appointment. A last glance at the card cheered her and added a smile to her lovely face.
The questions were varied, mostly to test her knowledge of the business and others about herself and her ambition. Some were about Sadie, the interviewer wanting to know what arrangements she had made for childcare and if the little girl became ill. ‘Reliability is paramount,’ she was reminded. ‘You will have to be prepared to travel at very short notice sometimes.’
‘My daughter is a healthy child but if she were seriously ill she would be my priority.’ She looked at the interviewer anxiously but he smiled and said, ‘That’s how it should be, Mrs Travis.’ She didn’t correct him about her marital status.
The second interview was similar in content but this time, instead of sitting in a chair facing someone across a desk, she was shown around the premises and asked her opinion on the layout and contents of the stockrooms. She decided to be bold and offered opinions on some areas that could be improved. Even in the office she pointed out, trying to hide her nervousness at her audacity, that the typists’ desks should be moved as they were blocking the way to a cupboard that was in constant use. She added that blinds were more businesslike than the flowery curtains hanging at present and – trying not to smile – pointed out the need to tell the cleaners to move furniture occasionally and make a particular note of corners.
All the time, the interviewer made notes and at the end of the thirty minutes Sally was exhausted. She still waited for the one question she dreaded, why her left hand bore no wedding ring.
One more question, Mrs Travis.’ Sally braced herself, determined to tell the truth even if it meant losing the job. ‘Will you come to the staffroom and have a cup of tea with me? I bought some cakes specially.’ Relaxing then and talking easily, she was surprised to be told that if she wanted it, the job was hers.
When she told the landlord of Greenways that she would be moving out as soon as she could find a place, she was prepared to move into the boarding house for six weeks, when she would have her first monthly cheque. Valmai wouldn’t hear of it.
‘Stay here, please, Sally. We won’t interfere with anything you want to do. The bedroom will be your own private place and I’ll only look after Sadie when you want me to.’ How could she refuse?
She moved most of her things that day and left the rest to be collected by a storage firm. Then she made sure everything was clean for the new tenants. She left flowers for them and a card hoping they would be happy in their new home. Then headed back to the single room in the Martins’ house, a place she did not want to be.
Jimmy continued to spend a lot of time out of the house. If his parents noticed, they said nothing. If they were aware of the days he missed school they didn’t comment on that either. With Rick and Eric’s encouragement he attended more regularly but sometimes the warmth of the sun, or the excitement of a gusty wind, or just the scent on the air made him head for the woods instead of the schoolroom. He frowned as he wondered how long it would take for his parents to miss him if he ran away from home and found a happier place to stay. Weeks, probably, he thought miserably.
The fields and woods were his playground, and he learned where to find many of the smaller animals and reptiles, like adders, which he watched nervously as though expecting them to leap up at him, although Eric assured them they would move away as soon as they became aware of his presence. He liked the lizards he occasionally saw darting about on warm banks, and the slow worms that looked as though they were made from metal when the sun shone on them. Sometimes he would catch them and draw them then let them go. His notebook was filled with these drawings and on occasions he showed them to his teacher, who admired this work but reminded him that his other subjects were in need of attention.
He smiled as he tucked the notebook away, having drawn a clump of reeds growing in the stream. Then he walked back to the mill, found his spade and settled to work on the foul-smelling silt around the waterwheel. He had talked to Eric about it and learned that, if he wanted to get the sluice gate to open and free the water, so it ran under the wheel through the leat, that would take a lot of work, freeing the rusted metal. Time to work on the mill was something he had in plenty. Home was a place to avoid.
A few people still gathered each day at the site of the factory where walls were now towering far higher than the original building. The carpenters were fixing the roof struts and soon the place would be weatherproof, allowing the men to work inside. The factory had vanished, and the men who watched its demise wandered off to talk some more about the good old days, when they had work. Eric no longer went to watch the progress but he would sit in a café when he had the money for a snack, and listen to the others talking about the ‘wonderful’ days when they had worked there, forgetting how they had moaned about the job and wished for something better.
The wedding of Amy and Rick was only days away when disaster struck. Amy’s mother was taken ill and rushed to hospital. In panic, Amy came to Sally and together they wrote notes to all the guests explaining the cancellation. The booking for the hall, the florist and the car hire firm were informed, and Amy was sitting beside Sally’s fire looking dejected when Rick came home from work and joined them.
‘Darling, its terrible news, but we’ll rebook as soon as your mother is well enough.’
‘The honeymoon in Paris will have to be cancelled too. I was looking forward to that so much,’ Amy said.
‘Why cancel? You can still go, can’t you? No one will know and you’d lose money on the bookings if you don’t.’
‘Sally! We couldn’t! What a suggestion!’ Amy covered her face with her hands.
‘We could book an extra room,’ Rick said. ‘Or not, as you wish.’
‘Oh, I don’t want to continue with this conversation. What would my mother think?’
But they went. With her mother now convalescing in Bournemouth with a cousin, they were seen off by Sally and Sadie as they travelled by train from Cardiff, looking as happy as two lovers should. Sally waved until the last carriage was out of sight.
May brought its display of flowers in the hedgerows. The daffodils planted years before by schoolchildren were long gone but had been replaced with the lacy white borders of cow parsley. Blossoms transformed the trees and the scent of early wallflowers filled the air as Sally walked along Mill Road towards the fields. Sadie was pushing the picnic in her pushchair, stopping occasionally to put fingers together as she sang, ‘Incie Wincie Spider’.
They walked through the fields towards the old mill. It was Sunday and the following day she and Sadie were moving out of Greenways. Any furniture she wanted to keep was being stored. Much of what she had needed for their brief sojourn had been discarded. A new flat and new beginning meant nothing dragging her back to the old life.
‘It’s only you and me from now on, Sadie, just you and me.’
Sadie began to feel tired and Sally lifted her into the pushchair where she immediately fell asleep. The woods on either side of the path were filled with birdsong and the chuckling of the stream and she stood for a while and listened. It was then, in the peace of the Sunday morning, that she heard crying. Deep, heartrending sobs. As quietly a
s she could, she crept forward until she could see the stream where the great wheel now stood, a silent witness. Jimmy was lying on the narrow bank, curled up with his hands covering his face.
Leaving the pushchair on the path Sally crept closer and moved carefully down until she stood beside him. She knelt and called his name. His head jerked up and he made a move but she held him. ‘Jimmy, don’t go. What’s wrong? I might be able to help.’
‘Go away. I hate you!’
‘That’s a shame. I rather like you,’ Sally replied. ‘I think you’re clever, very knowledgeable about the countryside, and very handsome, and one day we’ll all be able to boast that we once knew you.’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Some people become famous or at least very important and then everyone who had known them will boast about it. You neglect schoolwork, I know that, and that’s a pity. Learning is more difficult later without the base of schoolwork.’ Seeing him relaxing and the tears drying, she then asked softly, ‘But school isn’t the problem, is it? Can you tell me about it?’
‘Mam and Dad are always fighting. I hate living at home and wish I could run away.’
Please don’t do that, Jimmy. Whatever you do, stay at home. It’s bound to get better. Just bide your time. A couple more years, then, once you have a job, you’ll be able to plan your escape.’
‘Escape?’ He gave a small smile. ‘That’s a funny word to use.’
‘Better than running away, specially when it’s too soon.’
‘I haven’t any aunties like some of my mates.’
‘Nor I. I have Sadie now but my childhood was a lonely one.’
‘Lonely’s better than a mam and dad who fight all the time.’
‘We’ve brought a picnic, plenty for three, will you set the cloth and blanket out for me?’
After eating a generous share of the food, he began to talk. ‘Every day when I go home from school, or the woods,’ he added with a grin, ‘and the house is quiet I know at least one of them is out. As soon as Dad comes in it starts. He doesn’t like what Mam’s cooked, or the television programme is rubbish. I’m rubbish.’ Tears threatened again and Sally didn’t try to stop them; she just put an arm on his shoulders and waited for them to subside.
Sadie sat playing with some farm animals and a cart she had chosen to bring, looking up at Jimmy sometimes and smiling at her mother as though she understood the need to be quiet.
They walked home together and Jimmy went with her to see Gwilym before going home. She left them in the workshop, talking about cricket, and went to join Valmai.
‘I’m worried about him myself,’ Valmai said when Sally explained why Jimmy was with them. ‘Things seem to be getting worse between Netta and Walter. He’s always been aggressive but she seemed able to cope – she just ignored his jibes and waited until he calmed down. Now she retaliates and that isn’t going to cure the problem.’
‘Poor Jimmy, he’s getting more and more abuse from his father. Constantly being told he’s stupid and useless, and a boy of Jimmy’s age can’t cope with that.’
‘That’s probably why Netta has started answering back. Starting on the boy was probably more than she was prepared to take.’
In the workshop Jimmy watched as Gwilym modelled a small-sized cricket bat, the hands holding the tools sure and patient.
‘Who’s that for, Mr Martin?’
‘Someone ordered it for a grandson’s birthday.’
‘You used to play cricket, didn’t you? Can you teach me? They play at school but I never get chosen, see.’
‘I used to play and I used to coach the youngsters too but those days are gone.’
‘Why? You don’t need legs to coach, only a bit of know-how. It’s the know-how that’s important, according to the teacher. He hates me, the teacher. That’s why I’m never chosen.’
‘No one hates you, Jimmy. Don’t say such things.’
‘Everyone does. I’d better go. Mam’ll be home.’
‘Of course, she’ll be worrying about you.’
‘No, she won’t! But I’d better get home or I’ll miss my tea. Ta-ra. Remember about the cricket when you have time, Mr Martin. It’d be good to show that teacher I can bowl a ball and break the wicket and hit a six. Real good that’d be!’
Gwilym put down the bat he was working on and sighed. If only he had faced things straight away, things would be very different. Stubbornness was as damaging as the loss of a leg. Too late now. He took a piece of paper from a drawer and began to sketch a plan of a cricket field. He became more and more absorbed in the task and Valmai called twice before he heard.
If only the factory hadn’t closed. If only he and Eric hadn’t been out riding their bikes that day. If only … The saddest words in the English language.
Sadie greeted him joyfully as he wheeled himself along the path. He lifted her, giving her a ride up the ramp and into the house, something that had already become a regular treat.
Sally slept fitfully that night. She was tense as she wondered how she would fare on her first day in the new job and how she would find someone suitable to care for Sadie. Besides those anxieties, thoughts of Jimmy entered her mind repeatedly and half-awake dreams were filled with worries about his safety.
Roll on next week, she murmured, she rearranged the pillows and tried once more to relax. By then I’ll know whether or not I can do the job and a week might see an end to Walter and Netta’s situation, although even in her weary, half-asleep state she knew that was wishful thinking. Walter had retired from the workforce and without him getting a job nothing could change.
Gwilym was sleepless that night. He was thinking of Jimmy too. He kept seeing the young boy’s face, tinged with hope at the prospect of succeeding at school when everyone expected him to fail. It wasn’t much to ask, just a few hours of his time, but the thought of going out in that hateful wheelchair and people seeing him helpless where he had once been so strong, was a powerful barrier. Even going out after dark had been denied him. What time of night was safe from the chance of meeting someone? Besides, that wouldn’t help Jimmy. Cricket wasn’t a game for the hours of darkness. Perhaps one day he’d face going just as far as the park and giving the boy a few pointers. But not now, not yet. Perhaps when Rhys came home.
Having given himself a long-term excuse to do nothing, his conscience was eased and he slept.
Amy and Rick returned home after their unofficial honeymoon and from the look on their faces Sally knew they had enjoyed the occasion.
‘Knowing it was secret and unconventional added to the fun and even if Mummy finds out now it would be too late to spoil it,’ Amy told her. She asked about the new job but was too excited to take in anything Sally told her.
A couple of weeks later the wedding was rearranged, a smaller version of the original and Amy asked Sally to help plan it. They sat in the Waterstones’ house where everything was ready and waiting for them. ‘Oh, this isn’t as important any more, Sally. Paris was wonderful and I don’t regret a thing, but the wedding will be an anti-climax now,’ she said, then laughed. ‘As if we care!’
Sally felt sadness and regret clouding her face. That was how she had felt too, until everything went so terribly wrong. Then she hugged her friend, wished her every happiness, and meant it.
Chapter Eight
WITH ONLY TWO weeks before she started her new job, Sally concentrated on finding suitable childcare for Sadie. She was settled in the nursery full-time and Valmai helped when she could but there was likely to be a shortfall and she needed to be prepared. A regular daily carer was essential. With the likelihood of moving away from Valmai and Gwilym when she found a suitable flat, she needed a person to look after her now, Therefore avoiding the lack of continuity to her routine. Sally knew she needed to be relaxed about Sadie’s welfare in order to concentrate on the new job. If she failed, she might not have a second chance to revive a career she enjoyed. The thought of cleaning other people’s houses again made her groan.
‘Mrs Taylor hasn’t any children left at home,’ Netta explained. ‘Jimmy’s friend lives next door and she asked me about the job.’
‘Do you know anything about her?’
Netta shrugged.
‘Is she qualified?’ Sally asked, and again Netta only shrugged.
She was suddenly filled with fear at the thought of leaving her precious child with a stranger. All the staff at the nursery were well known to her and to start again, leaving her in the sole care of this Mrs Taylor, was a serious concern. Until then the new job, the possibility of a new flat, none of it had been real. Now faced with this situation, her immediate impulse was to telephone and tell them she no longer wanted the job.
‘Will you come with me when I interview her?’ she asked Valmai, who instantly agreed.
‘I wish I didn’t have to work,’ Valmai said. ‘I’d love to have been your childminder, but with Gwilym earning little more than pocket money I don’t have a choice.’
Sally didn’t tell her she wasn’t inclined to ask, for fear of Rhys turning up. Instead she said, ‘There’ll always be times when I’ll be glad of your help.’
Mrs Gwen Taylor was in her fifties and she went at once to Sadie and spoke to her.
‘Hello, Sadie, my name is Mrs Taylor, can you say that? Taylor?’ She held the child’s hand and talked to her about what was in the room and opened boxes and cupboards to reveal various toys. Sitting on the floor with her, Mrs Taylor discussed the dolls and pushchair, immediately involving Sadie with giving dolls and teddies rides. Sally and Valmai shared approving glances. Mrs Taylor was expensive but it was worth it to know Sadie was in such good hands.