by June Francis
‘You should get one at the Pierhead. You will let me know if you find her?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll call later and tell you how I got on, if you don’t mind? I’d like to meet Ben. If he knows Liverpool as well as you say he does, maybe he wouldn’t mind taking me on his rounds? I’m thinking of doing for Liverpool in Australia what I did for India here. Hands across the oceans and all that.’
‘Come to tea,’ she said rashly, hoping for once her father would stay out late.
When Lily arrived back at the dairy there was no sign of Albert. She looked inside the larder and took out cocoa, flour, sugar and butter. She switched on the wireless and a failing voice came over the air, signalling that the accumulator needed changing. It would have to wait until tomorrow. There was no time if she was to bake a cake. She sang as she worked.
Ben came in smelling strongly of horses and sunflower seed cattlecake, which caused Lily to wrinkle her nose. ‘You’ve been to the docks. We’ll have to get on with the milking and then you can get washed and changed.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘I always do.’
‘You’ll have to do it quicker this time. We’ve got a visitor coming.’
‘Not Aunt Dora?’ he groaned, washing his hands.
‘Don’t be daft! You know she swore never to set foot inside this house until Dad’s off the drink.’
‘He should never have told her she looked like a crow.’
‘It’s a bit late now. Where’s my apron?’
‘Where you always put it.’ He lifted it from its hook. ‘What’s up with you?’
Lily’s eyes sparkled as she tied her apron. ‘I don’t want you making any smart remarks, little brother. It’s the preacher, and he’s coming to tea.’
‘Thanks a lot!’ He looked disgrunted. ‘I like to relax when I come home. What’ll we talk about?’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘He’ll go on about God and I’ll have to watch what I say.’
‘You’ll have plenty to talk about.’ She pushed him out of the house. ‘You like reading about foreign countries and he’s been everywhere. And he hardly mentioned God when we were talking. It was me that brought Him up because of Dad.’
‘He’s met Dad?’
‘Not the most auspicious of meetings.’ She told him what happened.
Ben grinned. ‘Let’s hope Dad doesn’t come in while he’s here.’
‘He’ll just have to lump it if he does.’ Lily hummed an Ivor Novello tune as she switched on the shippon light and passed a shovel to Ben. ‘Now let’s get done quickly. I want to be ready when he comes.’
They were in the cool room when Ronnie entered. ‘There’s someone wanting you, Lil.’
Her eyes lifted from the milk filtering through into the churn. ‘I hope it’s not him, already! I look a mess.’
‘It could be someone from the farm,’ said Ben soothingly. ‘I told Uncle William about the cow.’
‘Not a cow today, please God!’ The last thing she needed was the rigmarole of unloading and loading a cow. She hurried into the house with Ben behind her.
Immediately Lily set eyes on Matthew she snatched the cap from her head and said accusingly, ‘You’re early!’
‘Sorry. I came straight from Bootle. If you want me to go out again …?’ There was a twinkle in his eyes.
‘Of course not!’ She could not but respond with a smile, although she wished he had not discovered her in her working clothes.
She pushed her brother forward. ‘This is Ben.’
Ben wiped his hands on the back of his pants before shaking hands. The preacher did not look as expected, dressed in dark trousers and a navy blue fisherman’s jumper with no dog collar. ‘Welcome to Liverpool.’
‘Thanks. Has Lily explained?’
Ben nodded. ‘It’s not wildly interesting, vicar.’
Matthew smiled. ‘I’m not a vicar and let me be the judge of what’s interesting. I’ll pay you, by the way, for your trouble.’
‘You will?’ Ben cast a swift glance at Lily before staring Matthew squarely in the face. ‘I’d take you for nothing but if I’m honest some extra money would come in handy. But if you’re short – if you’re one of them that lives by faith?’
‘I’ve got the money,’ said Matthew gravely. ‘How are you fixed tonight, by the way? Doing anything?’
‘Nothing special,’ said Ben warily. ‘What’s on your mind?’
‘I’d like to take shots of Liverpool by night.’
‘But it’ll be dark!’ exclaimed Lily, deciding to take part in the conversation. ‘You can’t be taking pictures then.’
‘Of course I can!’ Matthew stared at her. ‘Night is a good time to get the atmosphere of a city. Don’t you go out much nights, Lily?’
‘Chance would be a fine thing,’ she said lightly, a little hurt that he had asked Ben to go and not her. ‘I suppose you won’t want tea if you’re going gallivanting?’
‘Tea would be fair dinkum.’ There was a quiver in his voice.
‘Ronnie, put the kettle on,’ she ordered, unfastening her apron and hurrying out of the room.
Lily washed speedily, considering he might just ask her to go if she was changed. She flung open a cupboard and looked through her scanty wardrobe. Nothing outstanding! She scowled and turned to Daisy’s clothes, fingering several dresses before removing the latest her sister had made. It was blue rayon with a rounded neck and a flared skirt. She pulled it over her head, brushed her hair vigorously, outlined her mouth slightly with lipstick and raced downstairs.
Ronnie was carefully slicing the chocolate cake she had made and May was playing with the cat. There was no sign of Ben or Matthew.
‘They can’t have gone already?’ she gasped.
‘He asked to see the cows and the dairy,’ said Ronnie.
‘Blast! Why does he have to be interested in everything? I needn’t have hurried!’ She collapsed into a chair but immediately rose as the doorbell jangled.
When she returned Matthew was sitting at the laden tea table, eating her cake. ‘It’s good.’
‘I do my best.’ She had regained some of her composure.
He smiled and surprised her by saying, ‘You look lovely.’
‘Something I ran up myself.’ She smiled sweetly at her brothers and sister, daring them to deny it. Sewing was her pet hate.
‘I don’t know how you fit it all in,’ said Matthew. ‘You women amaze me.’
‘She amazes Frank,’ said Ben, eyeing them both.
‘Who’s Frank?’ Matthew stared at Lily but it was May who answered.
‘Lily’s beau! He drools over her.’
‘He’s a mummy’s boy,’ said Lily, wishing they had not mentioned Frank. ‘He won’t stand up for himself.’
Matt raised his eyebrows but did not say anything.
She thought his expression said enough. ‘I need a man who’s tough,’ she said firmly. ‘You’ve seen Dad. I can’t always be the strong one.’
‘We like Tarzan,’ interrupted Ronnie enthusiastically. ‘Our Lil says he’s some hero but his conversation leaves much to be desired. Have you heard of him?’
A slight smile played round Matthew’s mouth. ‘I believe he was brought up by apes.’
‘They did a better job than some mothers,’ Lily could not resist saying as she reached for a potted salmon paste sandwich. She bit into it, aware that he was staring at her. She finished the sandwich and removed the tea cosy from the pot. ‘More tea. Brother Matthew?’
‘Thank you.’ Their hands brushed as he handed her his cup and she was very conscious of that brief contact. She asked him if he had ever seen Mount Everest. He answered in the affirmative and talked about Nepal and the Ghurkas. ‘My father said he never saw a soldier who was as efficient with a knife.’
Ben asked him about the troubles on the North West Frontier and they were soon into a discussion.
Soon after the table was cleared and Ben fetched a coat. Matthew said a warm goodbye but Lily’s response was cool. Why cou
ldn’t he have asked her as well? Perhaps he didn’t like her as much as she had hoped he did?
She did her chores. Everything felt flat. She saw the younger two to bed and switched on the wireless, irritated when hardly any sound issued from it. She reached for one of Ben’s books. It was written by H. Rider Haggard, called Montezuma’s Daughter, and was set in South America. She began to read but found it difficult to concentrate, wondering where Ben and Matt would go on a tour of Liverpool by night and whether he would return with her brother.
A hammering on the door caused Lily to fly to open it. Albert was outside, not alone but escorted by two policemen. ‘He was found talking to one of the horse statues on St George’s Plateau by the Cenotaph, Lil. He’s getting worse,’ said the younger one.
She managed to control her disappointment and embarrassment. ‘Thanks, Wilf. I don’t know where he finds the money to get into this state.’ She stepped aside to allow the two men to half-carry her father inside. They placed him on the sofa and she offered them tea.
‘Only if it’s already made, luv,’ said the older one she did not know so well. He rubbed his hands and held them towards the fire.
‘I’ll fetch his crutches,’ said Wilf.
Lily put on the kettle and chattered with the two men. She gave them the last of the chocolate cake before seeing them out. Then she turned to the slumbering Albert. When would he learn sense? And where did he get the money from? She picked up the crutches and threw them down the steps into the coal cellar in temper. She covered him with a couple of blankets, cast a frowning glance at the clock and picked up Montezuma’s Daughter. She continued to read until the print blurred before her eyes but when there was still no sign of Ben or Matt she went to bed in a bad mood.
Ben was lighting the fire when Lily entered the kitchen the next morning. ‘What time did you come in?’ she demanded.
He stretched and yawned. ‘Late. I tell you, Lil, he’s the strangest priest! Could be him being an Aussie.’
‘I didn’t know you’d met many,’ she said frostily.
‘Vexed, are you?’ He took her apron from its hook and threw it at her. ‘We went to some right dives, I can tell you.’
‘I didn’t know you knew any dives.’
He stared at a point somewhere over her shoulder and said vaguely. ‘Oh, I’d heard of a few. Matt drinks, you know. Not a lot, just enough to be one of the boys.’
‘Matt!’ she said.
‘He told me to call him that.’ Suddenly Ben’s expression changed and his voice was grim. ‘By the way I saw Dad while we were out. You’re not going to like this, Lil, but he was begging! He had this notice: old soldier – five kids to feed.’
‘What!’ Lily paled. ‘Did the preacher recognise him?’
‘How should I know?’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I could have died with shame. I walked right past him but Matt dropped money in his cap. I felt even worse then. I didn’t know whether to say anything.’
‘So you didn’t?’
‘He didn’t mention it so I kept my mouth shut.’
Ben opened the back door. ‘What are we going to do about him, Lil? It’s not that I don’t feel sorry for him at times but why could he never try harder for our sakes to face up to his life as it is? Look at Paddy Kelly who I see up Cranmer Street way. He lost both legs yet he always has a cheery word and makes jokes about skipping lorries to Southport.’
She sighed. ‘People are just different. Does the preacher want to go on the rounds with you today?’
‘Nope! He said tomorrow.’ Ben grinned. ‘He’s a human kind of bloke.’
She gazed at him suspiciously, wondering if there was a double meaning to the remark, but she did not pursue it. ‘Getting back to Dad … perhaps you could call here with the cart before you go to the docks and take him with you?’
‘Oh, fine! Just what I’d like!’ Ben slammed open the door to the shippon then hesitated before saying, ‘But then if it’s giving you a break, I suppose I can put up with him.’
‘Thanks, Ben.’ She hugged him.
He disentangled himself and smoothed his clothes. ‘That’s enough, Lil. Now let’s get down to work if I’m going to be making an extra journey.’
Lily watched the horse and cart until it was out of sight. Albert was looking slightly the worse for wear but there had been a brightness in his eyes that had not been there yesterday. She had made no mention of his begging in the streets but determined it was not going to happen again. She was still smarting from the very idea that the preacher should have seen him doing such a thing.
She turned the sign to closed, and with two shopping baskets on her arm, walked up the street, not pausing to say more than hello to neighbours scrubbing their steps or the tiled area behind the railings in front of their bay windows. She made her way to the tram stop near the huddle of the parish church, its walls and tall steeple blackened by the smoke from hundreds of chimneys. She stood eavesdropping on a conversation about a lost pawn ticket and a husband’s Sunday suit.
‘Good morning, Lily. Going anywhere interesting?’
She whirled round. Matt had his camera held up to his face and she heard a click. ‘You didn’t give me time to smile,’ she said.
‘I wasn’t sure if you’d have a smile for me.’
She pretended to have no idea what he was talking about. ‘I’m going to my uncle’s farm. Do you want to come?’
He nodded. ‘Thanks for asking me. Last night we went to places which weren’t suitable for a lady.’
‘Why did you go?’
‘Jesus didn’t come to call the righteous. He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes.’
‘None of us are righteous, though.’
He said lightly, ‘There’s plenty that believe they are. How’s your father, by the way?’
She hesitated, not sure how to take his remark after her brother’s words about Albert’s begging. ‘He’s with Ben.’
‘Ben’s a good bloke.’ His voice was quiet but obviously sincere. ‘I’m sure your father will benefit from being in his company.’
‘Dad used to ride years ago and he misses it. He’d go round to all the horse fairs. That’s how he met Mam.’ She found herself considering that her father had lost more than a leg because of the Great War.
Matt’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘Here’s a tram, Lily. Is it the one we want?’
‘Yes.’ She smiled at him and accepted his hand to help her up on to the tram. He also insisted on paying her fare. Then he asked her to tell him how her family came to Liverpool.
‘My grandparents came by horse and cart all the way from Wensleydale in the late 1800s,’ she said with pride. ‘They started a dairy just like ours except it was closer to the city centre. They were hard workers and Grandfather had a passion for horses, much more than he did for cows. He had three sons and a daughter. One was killed in the war. Uncle William never went because he was that little bit older, and besides he was needed on the farm. But Grandfather didn’t stop at dairying and horse-dealing. He went into buying and selling feed for animals all over Liverpool. It was years before he could afford the farm and a heap of land to go with it, but it came. Not so long ago Uncle William sold a field to a developer for a lot of money and there’s houses now where I remember cows grazing.’
‘You’re fortunate, knowing so much about your grandparents,’ murmured Matt, a distant expression on his face. ‘My mother was a child immigrant and Dad said she’d never talk about the past.’
‘What about your aunt?’
‘I didn’t see her. An old biddy stared at me through the window but didn’t answer the door. A neighbour told me Aunt Jane has a job in that toffee factory they mentioned. The old biddy is her dead husband’s sister.’
They reached the terminus and walked along a country lane hedged with hawthorn. Soon they came to red gates and went up a drive, approaching the farm from the side. There was a long shippon with dozens of doors, a smell of washed metal and milk and manure. In
the distance there was shouting, grunting and squealing. The next moment a huge pig came in sight, pursued by several men.
Matt seized Lily’s hand and they ran. Both were laughing as they entered the house. She opened a door which led into one of the back kitchens. Eggs were piled on a table as well as scoured bowls. There was a smell of baking and a woman’s large rear could be seen as she stooped before an oven door. Lily coughed.
‘You need your chest rubbing,’ said the woman without turning.
‘It’s me, Aunt Dora, and I’ve brought you a visitor. I’ve told him you make the best scones in the country.’
The woman turned with a hot pie-plate held in her white apron and gingerly rose to set it on the table. ‘Well, he’s unlucky because I haven’t made scones today,’ she said tartly. ‘It’s apple pies but if I say so myself, they’re just as good as my scones.’ She stared at them and Lily hurriedly freed her fingers from Matt’s grasp. ‘Who’s he?’ demanded her aunt.
‘Matt Gibson.’ He smiled and held out a hand. ‘I’m please to meet you, Mrs Thorpe.’
She wiped her hands on her apron. ‘Miss Thorpe. And you’re not from hereabouts.’
‘My father was.’
‘But you?’ Her eyes were hard and inquisitive as they shook hands.
‘Australia.’
She sniffed. ‘What about your mother?’
‘She was British.’
Dora sniffed again. ‘At least you’re not one of them that’s run off with the King. Married twice! You’d think she’d learnt sense. Take him into the kitchen, Lily. I’ll put the kettle on and bring tea in.’
Lily exchanged glances with Matt, who raised his eyebrows. She smiled, glad that he was not the type to be intimidated by her aunt. She led him along a stone-flagged passage and into the large living room which her aunt still insisted on calling a kitchen. In front of a black and silver old-fashioned fireplace lay a marmalade cat on a beautiful clip-rug. A clock ticked sweetly on the wall next to a large window.