Sadie Was A Lady

by Joan Jonker

  ‘Oh, anything’s possible, girl, but it doesn’t often happen. I was picked to be Queen of the May once, dressed up like a dog’s dinner in a procession. I thought I was really somebody that day, me head was so big they couldn’t get the crown of roses to fit. And it didn’t do me no bleedin’ good because the next day at school I got me hair pulled that much by the girls who were jealous, me head was really sore. Put me off being a Queen, I can tell yer. One girl, Bella Ingham, she said I looked like a witch, and another one, Josie Roberts, she said me dress didn’t fit an’ I looked a mess.’

  ‘But they couldn’t take that day away from yer, could they? Yer’ll always have it to look back on, which is more than Bella Ingham an’ Josie Roberts have.’

  ‘It still did me no bleedin’ good, girl, and neither is standin’ here talkin’ to you! The longer yer leave setting up yer superior-quality clothes stall, the more money yer costing me. So get a move on, kiddo – let’s see yer do yer stuff.’

  ‘Shall I take the half-a-crown to Andy’s first, in case he thinks I’m not coming?’

  ‘I’m not paying yer wages yet, girl, so I can’t tell yer what to do. But Andy can wait for half an hour until yer’ve got the stall set out. I’ve put a bundle of new stuff under the table so yer can have yer pick of the best before I put it out.’

  ‘Right, I’ll get cracking on that and go and see Andy later.’

  In between serving customers, Mary Ann watched with interest as Sadie selected the best blouses, skirts and ladies’ underwear. Then, as she was serving Maggie, she said, ‘She’s got talent, has that girl. Look at the way she’s arranging those blouses – they look as good as anythin’ yer’d see in Bunny’s. In fact, Maggie, I can see one there I’d buy for meself, and give her a bleedin’ tanner for it!’

  ‘Now, Mary Ann, don’t do anythin’ rash.’ Maggie’s teeth clicked back into place. ‘Tell her yer won’t give her more than fourpence for it.’

  ‘Take a leaf out of your book, eh, Maggie? Well, don’t be comin’ those tricks with me, sunshine, ’cos that pullover yer hanging onto like grim death is thruppence, and I’ll not take a penny less.’

  Maggie already had the threepenny joey in her hand and she passed it over. ‘Tis a hard woman yer are, Mary Ann.’

  ‘Hard and poor, Maggie, hard and poor. But I’ve got a feeling in me water that me luck is about to change, with the help of me new assistant … the Princess of Sefton Park.’ And Mary Ann chuckled as she walked away leaving Maggie with her mouth hanging open.

  It was half an hour before the stall-holder had time to visit her young assistant. There’d been quite a rush on and the weight of coins in Mary Ann’s pocket gave her a warm glow. She knew Sadie was doing well because she’d kept an eye on her. Not just to check how she was doing, but to make sure no one was giving her any trouble. It wasn’t unusual for a fight to break out between two people wanting the same article; this didn’t worry Mary Ann, to whom it was all in a day’s work. But Sadie was new to the game and might not know how to handle two irate women who were in danger of ripping the blouse with which they were playing tug-of-war. ‘How’s it going, girl?’

  Sadie was radiant with pride and success. ‘I’ve sold eight things!’

  ‘Go ’way! Well, I never,’ Mary Ann gushed to add to the girl’s pleasure. ‘Yer’ve got a business head on yer shoulders, girl, no doubt about that.’

  ‘And they’ve all said they’ll be back next week. Ooh, I’m dead excited, Mary Ann. I can’t wait until I’m working here proper – like, when it’s me proper full-time job.’

  ‘I know what yer mean, sunshine, and I’m looking forward to it meself. I believe that yer going to bring me lots and lots of good luck.’

  ‘I don’t know about that, Mary Ann. I haven’t had much good luck in me own life. In fact, the only good luck I’ve ever had was meeting you. It was through you I’ve got meself a real live grandma and grandad, a nice place to live in and me own bedroom.’

  ‘Listen to me, girl, yer don’t have to keep thankin’ me for what I’ve done for yer. I did it because I wanted to. And yer’ve already paid me back by being here every Saturday to give me a hand. Plus, and this is the very best, plus creatin’ our superior-quality clothes stall. Now, d’yer want me to keep me eye on things while you go an’ see Andy?’

  ‘There’s no need, I gave the money to me grandma an’ she’s taken it for me.’ Oh, what a lovely feeling it was to have someone of her own to talk about. ‘Andy’s delivering the bed tonight, on his way home from the market.’

  ‘Not with the King still in it, I hope?’

  Sadie’s laugh rang out. ‘Mary Ann, I suppose yer know that yer two sheets to the wind?’

  ‘I know, girl, but don’t tell the woman that’s waiting for yer to serve her. Word gets around the market like wildfire an’ I don’t want the whole world to know I’m doolally pop.’

  ‘Your secret is safe with me, have no fear.’ Sadie smiled before turning to the customer. ‘Can I help you, madam?’

  Mary Ann’s face was a picture as she walked away. ‘Madam? Blimey O’Riley. If I’m not careful she’ll have us comin’ to work in navy-blue frocks with little white lace collars.’

  ‘Ay, Mary Ann, they put yer away if yer go around talkin’ to yerself.’ Lizzie grinned. ‘They send men in white coats an’ they put yer in a strait-jacket and take yer to the loony bin.’

  ‘Go ’way!’ Mary Ann wagged her head from side to side. ‘Did they hurt yer when they put that strait-jacket on yer before they carted yer off to the loony bin?’

  Lizzie had been leaning on the stack of clothes, but the stall-holder’s words had her stretching to her full height, bust standing to attention. ‘What are you hinsinuating, Mary Ann?’

  ‘Nothing, really. It’s just that yer seem to be very knowledgeable about the procedure, and yer must admit that yer do go missing for a few weeks every now and then.’

  ‘Go missing? I’ve never gone missin’ in all me life! If you don’t see me for a week or two, it doesn’t mean I’ve flamin’ well gone missing, it means I’ve had no bleedin’ money to spend with yer, yer stupid cow!’

  ‘Oh, is that what it is? I apologise for having had evil thoughts about yer, Lizzie, and I won’t never have them no more, even though me takings might be down a couple of coppers. So shall we pretend this conversation never took place an’ start again, eh? I’ll walk away an’ when I come back I’ll act as though I’ve never seen yer before.’ Mary Ann turned on her heels and walked a dozen paces away, all the time willing herself not to laugh. ‘Right!’ She turned and walked towards Lizzie with a false smile pinned on her face. With her hands folded neatly in front of her, and bowing her head slightly, she asked in a refined voice, ‘Is there anything I can interest you in, madam? Some lingerie perhaps, or hosiery?’

  ‘Stupid cow!’ Lizzie turned to the woman at the side of her who was highly amused. ‘Didn’t I say she was a stupid cow? Well, that just proves me point.’

  ‘Is Andy goin’ to carry the bed upstairs for yer, Grandma? You an’ Grandad mustn’t attempt it, d’yer hear?’

  ‘It’s all arranged, darlin’, so don’t be worryin’ yer pretty head. Andy is not only goin’ to carry it upstairs, he’s goin’ to put it together for us.’ Sarah O’Hanlon was even more excited than Sadie, if that were possible. To have a youngster in the house was something she and Joe had stopped dreaming of many years ago, and even the thought of having Sadie live with them had given them a new lease of life. ‘Wouldn’t yer like to come and see the room before yer move in? It would give yer a chance to meet my Joe, as well.’

  ‘I’d love to. Mary Ann did say she’d take me, but I know she’s got enough on her plate without worrying about me. I could come tomorrow afternoon, would that be all right? Say about two o’clock?’

  ‘Why don’t yer come earlier an’ have a bite to eat with me and Joe? It won’t be a feast, but we do manage a roast on a Sunday.’

  Sadie was dying to accept but she wanted
to spend as much time as she could with her brothers and sisters. Sunday was really the only day she saw much of them and this Sunday was special because it would be her last one at home. ‘I’d like to, Grandma, but I think I should have me dinner at home tomorrow. So I’ll call in the afternoon.’

  ‘Yer know where to find us, do yer, sweetheart?’

  Sadie smiled into the lined face that was already so dear to her. ‘Mary Ann told me where yer live, just off Scotland Road. It’s going to be me home, so don’t worry, I’ll find it. And tell Grandad I’m really looking forward to meeting him. Tell him I hope he’s going to like me, and that I’m going to love both of yer and spoil yer to bits.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sadie stopped outside the two-up two-down terraced house that had a pure white step, polished red-raddled window sill, and white net curtains hanging behind gleaming windows. It was just like the house in her dream, except that this wasn’t hers so she had no key to fit in the lock. Her heart was thumping and the hand she raised to the brightly polished brass knocker was shaking. What if they’d changed their minds? Or say Joe didn’t like her?

  The door was opened so quickly Sadie knew Sarah had been watching out for her. ‘Come in, sweetheart, and set my feller’s heart at rest. He’s been a bundle of nerves all day.’ Sarah opened the door wide, and as Sadie stepped inside she was enveloped in two frail arms. ‘Welcome to yer new home, sweetheart.’

  ‘I don’t know about your husband being a bundle of nerves.’ Sadie’s teeth were chattering. ‘I’m shakin’ like a leaf – I can’t stop!’

  Sarah closed the door then walked ahead of Sadie down the hall. ‘Yer new granddaughter has arrived, Joe.’

  As soon as Sadie walked through the door she fell in love with the old man sitting in his rocking chair, an unlit pipe in his mouth. He looked frail, like his wife, with sparse white hair and deep wrinkles. He had a white silk knitted scarf around his scraggy neck, knotted neatly over his Adam’s apple, and was wearing a navy-blue cardigan and dark grey flannel trousers. Sadie took all this in, in the second before she caught his eyes on her. They were kind eyes, holding a hint of mischief and more than a hint of apprehension. The little love’s as scared as I am, Sadie told herself as her heart went out to him. ‘Hello, Grandad.’

  ‘Hello, queen, I’m really glad to meet yer at last.’

  ‘Oh, me too!’ Sadie ran across the room and dropped to her knees at the side of his chair. She put her arms around him and hugged him gently before kissing his cheek. ‘I think you and me are goin’ to get on like a house on fire.’

  His faded blue eyes twinkling, he said, ‘My Sarah said yer were pretty, but I wasn’t expectin’ a film star. A sight for sore eyes, yer are, queen.’

  ‘I can see I’m goin’ to have to keep me eyes on you two,’ Sarah said, her face beaming. ‘Otherwise yer’ll be runnin’ off together, leavin’ me all on me lonesome.’

  Sadie noticed the special look in Joe’s eyes when he smiled across at his wife. ‘When you were Sadie’s age, yer were just as pretty. And that’s how I see you today, and always will see yer. Yer’ve never aged in my eyes, Sarah O’Hanlon.’

  Sadie could feel a lump forming in her throat. She’d seen more signs of love in this house in five minutes than she’d seen in a lifetime at home. ‘Can I call yer Grandad?’

  ‘Yer better had, queen, ’cos I’m counting on it. It’s a proud man I’ll be when I introduce yer to the neighbours, proud as Punch.’

  ‘Neighbours be damned,’ Sarah said, bending down to take some cups and saucers from a cupboard in the highly polished sideboard. ‘Don’t yer mean yer cronies in the pub?’ She put the crockery down on a small table set under the window that looked out onto the yard and smiled at Sadie. ‘He’ll be swankin’ his head off tomorrow night, sittin’ in the snug with his half of bitter in front of him and his mates around him. They’ll not get a word in all night.’

  ‘Well, if I’m goin’ to do so much talking, I won’t be drinking, will I, love? So I won’t be coming rolling home like I usually do.’

  ‘The day you come home drunk, Joe O’Hanlon, is the day I take the fryin’ pan to yer. That would teach yer a lesson.’ Sarah pulled on Sadie’s arm. ‘Come and sit down, sweetheart, or yer’ll be getting housemaid’s knees.’

  Sadie sank into the fireside chair facing Joe. ‘How long have you and me Grandma been married, Grandad?’

  ‘Over sixty years, queen. We’ve had our share of trouble, as me wife has told yer, but me an’ Sarah have stuck together through it all. We love each other, yer see, and that helped us through the bad times.’

  Sadie was too full of emotion to answer so she let her eyes travel the room. It was so clean and tidy it was a credit to two people in their eighties. The ornaments, mirror and fireplace were spotless, and even the leaves on the aspidistra plant looked as though they’d been polished.

  ‘Yer room looks nice, Grandma,’ Sadie shouted to Sarah who was standing by the kitchen sink filling the kettle. ‘I’ll be able to give yer a hand when I’m here to stay.’

  ‘I manage all right when the weather’s fine, sweetheart, but I’ll be glad of a hand when the cold weather sets in. Me bones are old, yer see, and they think I’ve got a cheek for expectin’ them to work when it’s cold and icy.’

  ‘I can help yer before I go to work. Yer won’t have to go down the yard for coal, I’ll fill the scuttle before I go out. And any messages yer want, I can bring in with me.’

  ‘I can see we’re goin’ to get spoilt.’ Sarah poured the boiling water into the dark brown earthenware teapot. ‘But don’t think we want yer for a skivvy, sweetheart, ’cos yer only young and yer must have plenty of friends to go out with.’

  ‘I’ve never had a lot of friends, Grandma, and the ones I do have I won’t be seeing after I leave work. I don’t want me family to find out where I am so it’s best to make a clean break. Except for one boy – I’ll probably go on seeing him ’cos he doesn’t know me family.’

  Joe leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. ‘Don’t yer get on with yer family, queen?’

  ‘I get on with me two brothers and two of me sisters, but me mam and dad are no good. I know I shouldn’t say bad things about them, but they should never have had children ’cos they don’t look after them. Me dad spends all the money down at the pub while the kids go around like tramps and don’t get enough to eat. There’s no love or affection shown to any of the children – that’s why I’m leaving. I can’t take any more.’

  Sadie gave a deep sigh. ‘I don’t want yer to worry that I’m hard to get on with, ’cos I’m not. I just want to live in a clean house, be liked and treated with respect. One day I might tell yer about me family and the sort of life I’ve had, but not now, Grandad, ’cos I’d only start getting upset. I will tell yer one thing, though, which might help yer understand why I have to get away. I’m sixteen years of age, I go to work six days a week, and I’ve never taken a day off all the time I’ve worked there. And for that I get a shilling a week pocket money, which I’m expected to buy all me own clothes out of and pay for me dinners.’

  There was tenderness and sympathy in Joe’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry, queen, yer deserve better than that.’

  ‘And she’ll get better than that.’ Sarah bustled in with the teapot and sugar and milk on a wooden tray. She’d delayed bringing them through because she didn’t want to interrupt the girl. It would do her good to share some of her heartache. ‘You an’ me will make sure she does. And yer’ve got a good friend in Mary Ann, too. She’ll be watching out for yer all the time, yer can bank on that.’

  Sadie’s face brightened. ‘It’s hard to believe how it all came about, isn’t it? I only had one dress to me name and I’d scrounged sixpence to buy meself a second-hand one. And of all the stalls in Paddy’s market, I picked on Mary Ann’s.’ She began to giggle. ‘I’ll tell yer sometime who I scrounged the tanner off, an’ who I’ve been scrounging off since. But the first boy is the one I’ll miss most
of all. He’s been a real good friend.’

  ‘It’s hard walkin’ away from a life yer’ve been used to, queen; yer bound to be homesick for a while.’

  ‘I won’t be homesick, Grandad, ’cos yer see, I’ve never had a home. I lived in a house, that was all. I’ll pine for me brothers an’ sisters, I know that. But I intend keeping in touch with them. I don’t know how, but I’ll do it.’

  Sarah didn’t want the girl to leave feeling sad, so she quickly changed the subject. ‘I bet yer never thought, the day yer met Mary Ann, that one day yer’d be working for her?’

  Sadie shook her head. ‘I’ve had a lot of dreams in me life, Grandma, dreams that I knew would never come true – like a knight in armour charging towards me on a white horse to sweep me off me feet and carry me away. I used to laugh at meself, the far-fetched things I dreamed about. But even in me wildest fantasies I would never have imagined Mary Ann offering me a job. And not only a job, but a whole new life.’

  ‘Ah, well now, sweetheart, it cuts both ways, yer see. And Mary Ann would be the first to tell yer. She’s gained as much from that first meeting as you have. I mean, she would never have thought up a superior-quality clothes stall, would she?’ Sarah made a trip to the kitchen to pick up a plate of fairy cakes she’d baked that morning specially for Sadie’s visit. She was chuckling when she came back in the room. ‘If I tell yer somethin’, yer must promise not to tell Mary Ann, or she’ll have me guts for garters. Promise?’

  Sadie nodded, ‘I won’t breathe a word.’

  Sarah handed her the plate. ‘Here, eat one of these while I’m tellin’ yer, otherwise my feller will scoff the lot.’

  Sadie reached out with both hands and took two off the plate. ‘One for me and one for me Grandad.’