by Joan Jonker
‘Oh Sadie, I could eat yer.’ He could tell she’d never been kissed properly before, she was as green as grass. But he didn’t want to frighten her off by moving too quickly, so he wisely kept a distance between them. There’d be plenty of other times and he’d get a great deal of pleasure out of teaching her the ropes. All girls were shy at first, but they came round in the end. He’d never met a girl yet that he didn’t get his own way with. ‘The figure you’ve got, no man could keep his hands off yer.’
Sadie was asking herself what was wrong with her that she appeared to attract people who only seemed interested in getting what they wanted out of her. She wasn’t a bad person, she’d never done anyone any harm – so why couldn’t they like her just for herself? Her parents had always used her for their own ends and Brenda had used her for two years because Sadie was the only one who would fit in with her mother’s strict rules. And she could tell by the way Alec was eyeing her up and down now that he wasn’t seeing her as a nice girl, but as someone who had a good figure that he couldn’t wait to get his hands on. He would use her if he got the chance, so why not turn the tables and make use of him?
She looked at him with her vivid blue eyes, a coy smile on her pretty face. ‘No man will get his hands on me unless I want them to, Alec, and that won’t be until I’m good and ready.’
Alec thought she was playing hard to get and he went along with her. ‘I hope I’m around when yer ready, Sadie, ’cos I like yer a lot.’
‘Yer not so bad yerself.’ While Sadie was learning fast, her heart was hardening. From now on she’d do things to suit herself, no one else.
‘Will yer come out with me again next week, Sadie?’
‘D’yer ever go dancing, Alec? I’ve never been to a dance and it would make a change from the pictures.’
‘I’ll take yer to one if that’s what yer want, but I’ve got to warn yer I’m not a very good dancer.’
‘Well, I can’t dance at all, so that makes two of us. We could practise on each other.’ Sadie’s spirits were lifting. She’d got her way over going dancing, and she’d make damn sure she got her own way over everything else. ‘Anyway, it’s late and I’ll be gettin’ into trouble. So I’ll see yer in work tomorrow, okay?’
Alec was reluctant to part, even though he knew his mother would have a job getting him up for work in the morning. ‘We’re definitely on for next week, though?’
Sadie nodded. ‘Yeah, as long as we can go dancing. But if yer really don’t want to go, Alec, just let me know and I’ll go with someone else.’
The little minx! She’s not as green as she looks, Alec thought. But he didn’t doubt for one moment that she’d have no trouble finding someone more than willing to take her where she wanted to go. So he found himself in the unusual position of giving into a girl. ‘I’ve said I’ll take yer and I will. We’ll make arrangements through the week, eh?’
She gave him her sweetest smile. ‘Yeah, okay. And thanks for tonight, Alec, I’ve enjoyed meself.’
As she walked on alone, Sadie had plenty on her mind. She’d learned tonight that if she played her cards right, she could exert power over a man, and that made her feel good. If her looks and figure were going to get her what she wanted, then she’d use them. From now on she would kowtow to no one.
George opened the door to Sadie and she could smell his beery breath before she stepped into the tiny hall. She made to pass him to go straight up to bed, but he grabbed her arm. His leering face just inches from hers, he asked, ‘Well, did yer get a hand up yer skirt?’
Sadie looked at him with undisguised disgust. ‘If I did, it certainly wasn’t yours.’
Chapter Six
Mary Ann saw Sadie’s blonde head and waved. ‘Come an’ give us a hand, girl, I’m rushed off me feet.’ She turned back to the woman holding a jumper up. ‘What are yer bellyaching about now, Nellie?’
‘There’s a hole in this bleedin’ jumper – look.’
‘Nellie, there’s bleedin’ holes in all the jumpers! If there wasn’t, how would yer get yer head an’ arms in?’
Nellie looked at the woman standing next to her. ‘She’s that ruddy sharp she’ll be cuttin’ herself one of these days.’ Then she pushed the jumper over the counter, stuck her finger through the two-inch hole and wagged it in Mary Ann’s face. ‘I’d look funny with me head or me arms stickin’ out of the waistband, wouldn’t I?’
Mary Ann cocked her head as though giving the possibility some thought. ‘I don’t know, Nellie, I think it would be an improvement.’
‘Any more cracks like that, Mary Ann, an’ I’ll be over this ruddy counter to make some improvements in your face.’ Nellie began to get cocky; just for once she was going to get the better of the stall-holder. ‘Come to weigh it up, any change in your face would be an improvement, even a broken nose.’
But it was not to be, for Mary Ann had an answer for any eventuality. She pulled a face as she shook her head and the thirty people crowded round her stall held their breath because Mary Ann had never been bested before. ‘No, Nellie, my feller broke me nose once ’cos I burnt his flamin’ dinner and it didn’t improve me face at all.’ She cupped her chin in a hand. ‘Let’s see, I was going to say yer could knock a few of me teeth out if it would make yer feel better, but as they’re not mine it wouldn’t do yer no good. Yer see, I borrowed these off the woman next door while me own are bein’ repaired. Silly sod that I am, I bit into an apple and broke me denture in two.’
Nellie knew when she was beat. ‘I dunno, yer’d have to be up early in the mornin’ to get one over on you. Proper bloody clever clogs, that’s what yer are.’
‘Well, let’s see whether I’m clever enough to sell yer that jumper for thruppence or not, shall we?’
‘Thruppence!’ Nellie gasped and her false teeth left their moorings. ‘Well, the flamin’ cheek of you! It’s not worth that – look at the ruddy big hole in it! Go on, have a look!’
Mary Ann winked at Sadie who was now standing beside her, before continuing the exchange. ‘I won’t charge yer for the hole, Nellie.’
‘Charge me for the flamin’ hole? Well, have yer ever heard anythin’ like that in yer life! Next thing, she’ll be chargin’ us for breathin’ the air by her stall.’ Nellie’s teeth clicked back into place. ‘How yer’ve got the bare-faced cheek to stand there an’ ask for thruppence for a jumper with a hole in it as big as me fist, I’ll never know.’
‘It only needs darning, Nellie. Surely yer capable of that?’
‘Oh, I’m capable all right, but I’ve got no money to be forkin’ out for wool. If I had any money, d’yer think I’d be standin’ here arguing over a ruddy jumper? No, I’d be on the tram down to TJs.’
‘Hell’s bleedin’ bells, Nellie, it would cost yer more in tram fare than it would to buy that ruddy jumper.’ Mary Ann’s eyes swept around the crowd. Many of them were holding goods they wished to purchase but they were in no hurry, not when they were enjoying themselves. They never missed a Saturday coming to Mary Ann’s stall, she was noted for her humour and quick wit. And you always got a fair deal off her; she never tried to diddle anyone. But the stall-holder thought they’d had enough entertainment for one day. ‘I’ll tell yer what, then,’ she said to Nellie, ‘just to show yer me heart’s in the right place, I’ll knock a penny off for the wool.’
This was what the woman was hoping for, and a satisfied grin crossed her face. ‘Oh, go ’ed, then, seein’ as how yer twisted me arm.’
There was a spontaneous round of applause from the crowd which Mary Ann acknowledged with a bow. Then she held out her hand. ‘Tuppence, please, Nellie.’ She pocketed the two coins before beckoning the woman to move closer so she could whisper. But Mary Ann’s whisper was loud enough for all to hear. ‘D’yer know when yer go for the wool? Well, get a pennyworth of elastic, ’cos when yer were comin’ towards us, I noticed yer knickers were hanging down. The elastic must have snapped.’
Nellie looked horrified. Had she walked all the way do
wn Scottie Road with her knickers hanging down? Oh, she’d never live with the shame of it! Then she heard the laughter around her and the penny dropped. ‘Yer a real case, Mary Ann, an’ I could kick meself for fallin’ for that!’
‘For goodness sake don’t kick yerself, Nellie, or yer knickers will fall down.’ Mary Ann shared the woman’s smile, then said, ‘Bugger off home to your feller, Nellie, an’ let me earn some money. While you’ve been arguing over a measly tuppence it’s cost me a bleedin’ fortune in lost customers.’
For the next half-hour Sadie worked hard to help clear the backlog of customers. And she enjoyed every minute of it, feeling more at home here than she’d ever felt anywhere. Never before in her life had she laughed so heartily, and as she grew in confidence so her sense of humour came to the fore and she was beginning to give back as good as she got.
‘How much are these, girl?’ An elderly woman with pure white hair, her face a mass of wrinkles and wearing a black knitted shawl across her shoulders, was holding out a garment which she’d rolled into a ball. ‘Ask Mary Ann for us.’
‘What is it?’ Sadie unrolled the ball to find it was an old pair of men’s combinations with an opening flap at the back. She tried hard to keep the laughter back but it rang out loud and clear, causing heads to turn. Feeling mischievous, she held the combinations against herself and asked, ‘Do they suit me?’
Mary Ann had turned from the customer she was serving and joined in the laughter. ‘Ay, girl, yer wouldn’t half get a click if yer went out wearing them.’
Even the old woman was laughing. ‘I’ll tell yer what, girl, if they looked as good on my feller as they do on you, I’d marry him again temorrer. The trouble is, he’s as thin as a ruddy drainpipe an’ if he wasn’t wearing clothes, yer wouldn’t be able to see him! He’s got legs on him like knots in cotton and he daren’t walk over a grid in case he falls down it. In fact, he’s that thin he hasn’t even got a shadow.’
Five minutes later the woman walked away with the combinations tucked under her arm and her purse lighter by fourpence. She turned to wave to Sadie. ‘Wait till I get home an’ tell my feller. He’ll laugh his bleedin’ head off.’
‘Tell him to mind he doesn’t catch cold from that flap in the back.’ Sadie called after her. ‘One strong gust of wind an’ he could be blown sky-high.’
Mary Ann came to stand beside her. ‘Yer’ve taken to this job like a duck to water, haven’t yer, girl? I’ll have to watch I don’t get me nose pushed out.’
‘I love it, Mary Ann. I feel as free as a bird when I’m here – all me troubles are forgotten.’ Sadie tucked her arm into the stall-holder’s. ‘Wasn’t that old lady a little love? I felt like giving her a big hug and a kiss.’
‘Yeah, she’s a character, is old Sarah. She’s been around for donkey’s years, as long as I can remember, so she must be knockin’ on eighty if she’s a day.’ Mary Ann removed Sadie’s arm and bent down to her special box. ‘I picked a dress out for yer.’
‘No!’ Sadie put a hand out to stop her. ‘I can’t buy anythin’ off yer today. I’ve got to have a pair of shoes – these I’ve got on are fallin’ to pieces.’ She lowered her eyes, shame flooding her body. ‘And me two brothers are goin’ around barefoot.’
Mary Ann was aghast. ‘They shouldn’t be your worry, girl. It’s yer mam’s place to see to them.’
‘I know it should be, Mary Ann, but if she doesn’t do it then someone else has to see to them. They look like ragamuffins all the time, clothes fallin’ off them and filthy dirty, but I can’t let them run around with no shoes on. All the kids must be laughing at them.’ There was fire in Sadie’s voice as memories came flooding back. ‘I know what it’s like to be laughed at. I had me bellyful of that all the time I was at school.’
Mary Ann opened her mouth then closed it again quickly. It was no good pouring oil on troubled waters. The girl was distressed enough without her adding her tuppennyworth. So when she spoke, her voice was gentle. ‘That stall over there sells shoes, and he’s a decent bloke, he’ll do yer a good deal. But yer’ll have to haggle with him over the price, same as the people do with me.’
‘I’m having an argument with meself inside,’ Sadie told her. ‘I’m desperate for shoes, and like yer said, the boys are not my worry. But I’d feel dead selfish if I saw to meself and left them running around barefoot.’
‘How much have yer got, girl?’
‘One and sixpence.’ Once again Sadie hung her head in shame. ‘I know it’s not enough for three pairs of shoes, but I thought if I could get meself seen to, and one of the boys, I could fix the other one up next week.’ She raised her eyes. ‘I’ve got a date to go to a dance on Friday and I couldn’t get on a dance floor in these, I’d be a laughing stock. If it weren’t for that, I’d leave meself until next Saturday.’
‘Look, let me go an’ haggle for yer, eh? You can mind the stall for me ’cos yer know by now roughly what to charge.’ Mary Ann grinned. ‘With a hole tuppence, without, thruppence.’
‘No, I couldn’t let yer do that, Mary Ann. Yer’ve done enough for me.’
‘I wouldn’t be doing it for you, girl, I’d be doin’ it for meself! It’s a long time since I was on the other side of the counter and I want to see if I’ve lost me touch in wangling a bargain.’ Mary Ann untied the canvas apron she wore around her waist to keep the money in. ‘Put this on, in case yer need change. And if yer’ll give me the shoe sizes, and the eighteen pence, I’ll go and see what I can do.’
‘The boys take a size four and seven, and I’m in a five. But skip mine – I’ll tell the boy I want to go to the pictures instead of a dance.’
Mary Ann lowered her gaze to Sadie’s feet. ‘Listen to me, love, if ever anybody needed shoes, it’s you. Those canoes on yer feet don’t bear inspection.’
Sadie giggled at the description. ‘Go on, I’ve got customers waitin’ to be served.’
‘Huh! Hark at you! Yer’ll be takin’ over from me next.’ Mary Ann waved to a customer as she made her way to a stall opposite. ‘My assistant will look after yer, Lizzie.’
There were a few people rummaging through the shoes on Tony Henshaw’s stall and when his eyes lit on Mary Ann they flew open in surprise. ‘Well, well! It’s not very often I have the pleasure of serving you, Mary Ann. Down on yer uppers, are yer?’
‘I’ll laugh at that when I’m havin’ me tea tonight.’ Mary Ann walked to the back of the stall where Tony was standing. ‘I’m not down on me uppers, but see that girl servin’ on my stall? Well, she is.’
‘I’ve seen her there for the last few weeks,’ Tony said. ‘She’s quite a looker, isn’t she?’
‘Keep yer eyes in yer head, Tony, she’s not sixteen yet. She’s a crackin’ kid, but she doesn’t have a very good home life … lazy mother and drunken father. The first time she came to me she just had the one dress to her name an’ I felt sorry for her. Took to her right away, I did. Anyway, I’ll tell yer the full story about Sadie some other time. Right now I need your help.’
‘Yer’ll not get three pair of shoes for eighteen pence, Mary Ann,’ Tony said after being given the details. ‘And don’t try and soft soap me ’cos I’ve got a wife and six children to clothe and feed.’
‘Ooh, it’s six children now, is it? Yer a busy lad, aren’t yer?’
‘I can’t sleep, yer see, Mary Ann, an’ I can’t stay awake all night doin’ nothing, now can I? And the wife just happens to be handy so it helps me pass the time away.’
‘Why don’t yer learn to play patience? Or, better still, tell yer wife to take a rolling pin to bed with her. There’s nothing knocks a man out quicker than a bash on the ’ead with a good old-fashioned rolling pin.’
‘Yer a hard woman, Mary Ann. If I was married to you I’d probably have nothing to do in bed but go to sleep.’
Mary Ann eyed him up and down, a cheeky twinkle in her eye. ‘I dunno, Tony, I do have me moments of reckless abandonment when my feller thinks it’s his birthday and Christmas all
rolled into one.’
Tony chuckled. ‘Am I gettin’ the come-on, Mary Ann?’
She chuckled back. ‘Yer’d run a mile if I tried it on, wouldn’t yer, Tony?’
‘You ain’t kiddin’, Mary Ann – yer wouldn’t see me heels for dust. Yer see, it’s not me what can’t sleep, it’s the missus.’
Mary Ann clapped her hands. ‘Come on, Tony, hop to it! I want two pair of boys’ shoes sizes four and seven, and a pair of ladies’ high heels size five.’
‘All for eighteen pence? Not askin’ for much, are yer?’
‘Okay, I’ll put a tanner to it, so that’s two bob. Now see what yer can do for us.’
Sadie couldn’t believe her eyes when Mary Ann came back holding three pairs of shoes in her arms. ‘Yer didn’t get all them for one and six?’
‘No, it came to two bob. But before yer say anything, just listen to me. I put a dress away for yer as a little thank you for helping me out on the stall. But I’ll keep the dress until next week and yer can give me sixpence for it. That way I’ve got me money back and you’ve got a dress and shoes. Not a bad bargain, eh, girl?’
‘You don’t have to give me nothing to help yer out ’cos I enjoy it so much I should be paying you!’ But the offer was tempting. Sadie would have a decent pair of shoes and she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about the boys. ‘I’ll make it up to yer, Mary Ann, I promise. I’ll come and help yer out every Saturday afternoon for a few hours.’
‘Don’t be makin’ rash promises before yer’ve had a look at the shoes. Yer might end up throwin’ them at me.’
The two pairs of boys’ shoes were well worn, down at heel and the toe caps scuffed. But there was still some wear in them and anything was better than running around barefoot. They’d probably look quite respectable if they were given a good brushing with black polish, but Sadie knew they’d fall to pieces without ever having a cloth run over them.
‘I got these for you, but if yer don’t like them, Tony said yer can take them back and choose another pair.’ Mary Ann waited with bated breath for Sadie’s reaction. Tony had been reluctant to part with the shoes for the money offered and it had taken all the stall-holder’s powers of persuasion to talk him around.