Surprised, but amused and heartened by the young girl’s kindness, Beth turned and went back to the café.
The girl waited until she felt safe from being followed and made her way slowly back to the stable. Lying in a corner, covered by Beth’s gift of a coat, was another girl, aged about fifteen but looking younger.
The older girl sat up slowly and greeted her sister.
‘Myrtle, you’re late. I was wondering where you’d got to. No trouble, was there?’
‘No trouble, but I’m afraid we’ve got half rations today. The girl from the café followed me so I gave one package to the horses.’ They tucked in to the sandwiches and cakes Beth had packed and Myrtle told the story of the chase again, with many exaggerations, before they both settled under the assorted covers to sleep.
When Beth returned to the café, hoping the family were still there to give her a lift home, voices led her to the crowd around her father. Seeing him on the ground, surrounded by the rest of the family and several onlookers, she ran down to investigate.
‘It’s your dad; he’s fallen and I think his ankle’s gone and broke,’ Granny Moll wailed. ‘Fixing that window he was, mind, when he should have left it till he had some help.’
‘Our Ronnie was supposed to be holding the ladder and he went off to play football,’ Marged sobbed.
‘And that wife of his will have to put an end to what-ever plans she’s making to work somewhere else!’ Moll added firmly.
It was late before Huw was comfortable in hospital and the family had dispersed to their various homes. Beth was tearful, convinced that her father’s curiosity about what she had been doing had been the cause. All this was her fault. And all because a shy little girl liked to feed the horses.
* * *
Olive was silent as she and Ronnie left the hospital. Sorry as she was for her poor father-in-law, this would be another reason for Ronnie to want her to stay at the beach and help the Pipers and Castles with the café and stalls. She knew she should support them, but the fear of living alone and working on the beach all hours while he was away was daunting. If she could earn more money, then as soon as the war ended they could get themselves a better place than the two rooms they rented in Curtis Road.
She said nothing further. Today was not the right time to bring up the subject, not while Huw was in hospital and they were having to face managing without him for a while. Thank goodness Ronnie’s calling-up papers hadn’t been delivered; that would really have made life difficult for them all.
Letting themselves into their rooms, Olive picked up the post and gave a cry of dismay. She was trembling as she handed the OHMS envelope to her husband.
‘Your papers; they’ve come,’ she said in a tight voice. Then she burst into tears.
Three
With Huw out of action as far as helping on the sands was concerned, Eynon was taken off the swingboats and made to help in Piper’s Café, a job which he hated. The beach gave opportunities for flirting and making dates for later. In the café, even if attractive girls did come in, with his parents watching he had no chance for any fun.
Few of the Castle boys were above average height. Huw, Ronnie and Eynon were five feet four inches tall and all were of slim build. Ronnie was like his father, rather serious. He had married young and had settled down with Olive in their rooms in Curtis Street with no regrets. He pretended to flirt with girls on the beach knowing that was a part of the entertainment, but he was content with Olive, living with the hope that one day they would have children to follow him and work on the sands.
Eynon, with his wide-apart guileless brown eyes, had an air of confidence and boldness that was appealing to all ages. On first sight he appeared younger than his almost seventeen years, and the gleam in his eyes when he saw girls he liked first surprised then intrigued them. He had perfected the skill of revealing to them that although he looked young, he was no longer a child.
So far he had got nothing more than kisses and some gentle fondling, but he had hopes of celebrating his seventeenth in the best possible way. With any luck, he would have the willing assistance of Alice Potter, Auntie Audrey’s assistant in the rock and sweet shop.
Huw Castle’s brother Bleddyn was the exception to the rest by being both heavily built and tall. At five feet eleven, weighing about fourteen stone, and with a rather pugnacious jaw, he sometimes gave the erroneous impression of being aggressive. The heavy jaw had reappeared in Taff, who, although tall and powerful like his father, was also amiable and rarely roused to anger. Like his cousin Ronnie, Taff had married a girl who disliked working on the sands. Stronger and more determined that Olive, Evelyn stubbornly refused to help in the business.
With his leg in plaster, Huw wished the two young women were more amenable. The family was stretched severely and the situation would be even worse once the boys were called into the forces. He spent his days propped up near the till in the café, taking money and joking with the customers. It was obvious that he couldn’t help with much else and, to avoid frustration, he spent a lot of time thinking about ways of improving the place, although his suggestions were usually quashed by either his wife or his mother-in-law.
‘What about doing lots of different meals? Chips all the time is boring.’
‘No room, no time and too wasteful.’
‘What about salads like the posh hotels along Old Village Road? Them hotels make a packet. Their owners go abroad for holidays every October.’
‘Not now they don’t! And salads aren’t popular with our beach families. The kids complain.’
‘What about—’
‘What about you getting on putting the small change into bank bags and letting us be?’ Marged grumbled irritably, before turning to smile at a harrassed young woman with a brood of young children hanging around her skirts, shouting for crisps and chocolate and cakes.
‘Rissole and chips for six,’ the woman ordered. She looked at Huw nervously. ‘Er - no salad, the children won’t eat it,’ she added.
Marged gave Huw a ‘told you so’ look and went on serving. Huw went on thinking, this time about his daughter Beth.
He had serious doubts about young Freddy Clements. He’d noticed the boy was wearing new clothes again, and wondered where he was finding the money to pay for them when he was too short of the readies to pay for his fiancée’s ring.
‘Pity he works in a clothes shop, it’s making him one of the best-dressed people around. Better if he changed his job and worked for a bank,’ he told Marged during a lull. ‘Then he might think about saving. Or an ironmonger, so he could start getting interested in tools, and think about things for their bottom drawer!’
‘I’ve tried to warn Beth that he isn’t doing all he could,’ Marged said. ‘But will she listen? No.’
‘She’s like you there, then!’
Ignoring his remark, Marged said, ‘Too vain that boy is, for sure.’
‘At least they have some savings, so when they get married they’ll have a good start. And if he joins Piper’s we can keep an eye on him.’
‘You don’t think he’s using their savings to pay for all these clothes he keeps buying, do you?’ Marged looked alarmed at the thought.
‘Never. He wouldn’t do that, Marged, love. That would almost be stealing, wouldn’t it?’ But he didn’t look as convinced as he sounded and when Beth called in to fill a basket with food for a picnic she was planning, he brought up the subject of savings.
‘Savings are building up nice, then?’ It was a question rather than a statement. ‘Reached your first hundred yet, have you?’
‘No, Dad. But,’ she said, frowning thoughtfully, ‘we can’t be far off forty, mind.’
‘Check with Freddy and if you’re close, perhaps your mam and I can top it up. You’ll have enough to buy your own house. Wouldn’t that be great?’
‘Thanks, Dad.’ She smiled. ‘I’ll ask Freddy this afternoon.’
She was puzzled by the strange look in her father’s eyes as he repl
ied, ‘Yes, my lovely girl, you do just that.’
It was a Wednesday, Freddy’s half-day, and Marged had given Beth the afternoon off so that she and Freddy could go out. Beth had packed a picnic that included a bottle of Tizer, which was Freddy’s favourite, and they walked to the pebbly beach with the beautiful park close by.
‘I can’t think why you choose to spend your day off at a beach when you work on the sands seven days a week,’ Freddy grumbled, changing the basket from one hand to the other with exaggerated discomfort. ‘Damn me, this basket’s heavy. What you got in there, table and chairs?’
‘I thought you’d like a picnic.’
‘I hoped we’d go into town, do a bit of shopping and see a film.’
‘That’s as far as your imagination goes, the pictures,’ Beth said, a smile disguising the edge of irritation in her words. She wanted to talk, make plans, share their thoughts and dreams, but he preferred to blank her out with soundtrack music and other people’s words.
‘Better than sitting on an uncomfortable beach surrounded by yelling kids.’
‘All right, we’ll eat our food then go back and see what’s on. OK?’
‘It doesn’t matter. I promised Mam I’d start decorating the kitchen. I’d better not be late,’ he said.
Beth hid her disappointment. Some day off this was turning out to be.
They found a comfortable place, built a wall of stones to protect them from the breeze and stripped to their bathers - or dippers, as they called them.
‘Teas for trippers, donkeys and dippers, Sunhats, hoopla and rides, Piper’s kingdom, cloths of fresh gingham, Fortunes, windmills and tides,’ Beth said softly.
‘Did you make that up?’ Freddy asked with a smile.
‘No. It used to be printed on the window of Piper’s Café when Granny Moll’s grandparents first opened it.’
‘Piper’s Café is important to you, isn’t it?’
‘Very. It will be to you too when we’re married and you’re part of the Piper family.’
‘Yes,’ he said without enthusiasm. ‘Lovely it’ll be.’
‘Us married with a home of our own, and working together,’ she said dreamily.
‘God ’elp, I don’t have to change my name to Piper, do I?’
‘Mr and Mrs Freddy Clements we’ll be,’ she said, kissing him.
It wasn’t warm but they braved the waves and swam a little.
Beth knew she had to talk to him about their future and she waited until they were dry and warm and were stretched out on their towels.
‘How much have we got saved now, Freddy?’ she asked, staring up at the sky.
‘Don’t remember for certain sure. We’re doing all right, though. By the time we marry in a couple of years, we’ll have the deposit for a house. Won’t that be great? Just you and me in our own little home?’
‘Yes, it’ll be wonderful, Freddy love. I can hardly wait.’ She raised herself up on her elbow and looked down at him. ‘But how much do we have now, this minute?’
He frowned as though trying to think, not meeting her gaze. ‘Tell you what, I’ll check in the book when I get home and tell you tomorrow, is it?’
‘Fifty pounds?’ she persisted, exaggerating to make him answer.
‘Never! Nothing near fifty pounds!’
‘Granny Moll has been good, giving us two shillings a couple of times a month, beside them all starting us off with twenty pounds, the same as they did for our Ronnie. Then there were gifts of money as part of our engagement presents from Mam and Dad and Uncle Bleddyn, and Auntie Audrey gave us two pounds ten shillings. So generous they’ve been.’
‘The Pipers can afford it, mind,’ Freddy added ungraciously. ‘Plenty of money they’ve got.’
‘Gifts from your mam and dad too. They gave what they could. We must be heading for forty at least.’
‘You dream on,’ he laughed.
He was being evasive. Beth knew that where money was concerned, Freddy was never this casual. He probably knew right down to the last penny piece. ‘I’ll walk home with you and we can check it together,’ she said, watching his face, sad to be doubting him.
‘No, don’t let’s waste this precious time together. Come here and let me show you how much I love you.’
Hidden from the few others on the almost deserted beach, they kissed and apparently forgot their discussion, giggling when an elderly couple approached and separating quickly in case they were seen.
It was only five o’clock when they reached Sidney Street, having walked arm in arm back through the lanes behind the terraced houses of the old part of the town.
‘We ate our picnic so early I bet you can do with something more to eat. Stay for supper?’ she suggested. ‘Ham, salad and potatoes, without the ham,’ she added, only half joking. With fresh meat rationed and only three ounces of cooked meat per week allowed, meatless meals were becoming the norm.
Freddy made his excuses. ‘Best I go. Mam’s expecting me back.’
‘How could she be? You thought we were going to the pictures!’
‘Sorry, love. To be honest, I just don’t feel like listening to your mam and dad talking about their day. The beach isn’t my favourite topic.’
‘But Freddy, I thought you were keen to join Piper’s when we get married?’
‘I am. But it’s a long way off and there are other more important things happening. I like the pictures because of the newsreels. This war is something that won’t go away, love. While we’re standing here safe as safe, people in the big cities are preparing the underground shelters, knowing that soon they’re in for uncomfortable and dangerous nights with bombs falling all around them. Day after day our soldiers, sailors and flyers are fighting, young boys facing terrible dangers like we could never imagine, and we shouldn’t forget it just because we’re safe down here and spending our days playing on the sands.’ He hugged her and added, ‘We can’t make no plans until Hitler is beaten.’
‘You still want to marry me, Freddy?’
‘I do, of course I do. But unless this war ends miraculously quick, I might have to think about being called up. It’s frightening, Beth. I can’t concentrate on much else, specially now I’m eighteen. A turning point my birthday was. I’m liable for call-up at any time now, and I can’t forget it for a moment.’
He succeeded in making her feel selfish and uncaring. ‘Of course you’re worried, Freddy, love. I didn’t think. I should have realised.’
‘There you are, there’s more to life than Piper’s Café. You’ve seen the injured arriving in the town, young men only months older that me. I could be one of them soon.’
‘But,’ Beth insisted, still feeling guilty but determined he shouldn’t forget, ‘you will let me know how our savings are doing. We ought to transfer them into National Savings; that would help the war effort a little, wouldn’t it?’
He lowered his head, hesitating. Beth held her breath, not knowing what he was about to say, but certain it would be something she did not want to hear.
‘Look, Beth love, I might as well tell you. I’ve used some of our savings. I’ve drawn out some to buy some clothes which, because of my position, and being promoted to second sales now another of the salesmen has been called up, I really need. I’ve got to look smart, Beth, it’s essential for my job.’
Beth’s mind flashed back to the rather quizzical expression on her father’s face when he mentioned their savings. In that moment she understood that he had guessed. Why was she so naive?
‘You shouldn’t have! Not without telling me.’
‘I am telling you. I think you should spend a few pounds too, get yourself some decent clothes before we lose the chance. Then we’ll start again and nothing will make me part with a penny. We’ll get that house and have a big wedding, a honeymoon, everything you want. And,’ he added quickly to appease her, ‘I took out enough to buy you a brooch. That one with daffodils you admired when we were looking at engagement rings. I couldn’t bear to see you without it
. You work so hard and get so few treats, I had to buy it for you. Beth, love, I want to buy everything for you. I want you to be the most cherished wife in St David’s Well. I want you to look at the brooch when I’m away and know how much I love you.’ He held her tight, kissing her with more passion than ever before. ‘I’ve got it at home and I intended to give it to you on the day I left. There, now you know the truth.’
She found herself apologising for his cheating and spending the money they had saved, most of which had come from her family. She went inside, delirious with happiness. She could hardly remember the daffodil brooch. But he must have seen her looking at it and had seen the way she had admired it, and had bought it for her. She put aside the niggling dismay at the loss of their savings. Freddy loved her and that was the most important thing.
She went to her room and sat for a long time imagining the loving letters he would write and how close they would remain even though he would be miles away from her. She had a chocolate box in which she kept pressed flowers. Emptying it, she put it in a drawer, ready for Freddy’s letters.
After leaving Beth, Freddy went to a call box and telephoned his boss to ask if he could be an hour or so late the following morning, as he needed to go to the bank and to the jeweller.
He didn’t feel like going home. It was not quite six and he ran to the newsagent just in time to catch Shirley closing the shop door.
‘Come to the pictures?’ he invited, and stood around the corner in a doorway until she came. He felt a bit mean paying for Shirley when he should have been with Beth, but then, he comforted himself, Beth wasn’t very keen on the cinema.
It was eleven o’clock when they came out, having shared a bag of hard-boiled and a brief cuddle in the back row.
‘I’ll walk you back,’ he said as they set off towards the newsagent.
‘Thanks,’ Shirley said. ‘But why don’t you come in? Mam will be up and she’ll make us a sandwich and a cup of cocoa.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Freddy hesitated. ‘Up early I am, and—’
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