‘After the war, Ken plans to build up an agency through which acts can be booked and he realized what a valuable help I’ll be to him with my organizational skills and the knowledge I’m gaining. I know he didn’t want me to leave Anthony and go back to full-time work but now he understands my need to do something besides running a home.’
‘You have to do what you think is best for you, he knows that. But I understand how he felt. I hated your mother working, it made me feel I was a failure.’ Eirlys didn’t hear his words, she was still filled with the euphoria of her happiness.
‘The future looks so good, Dadda, in fact, everything is just perfect.’
She had no qualms about tempting the fates by feeling so content, but, as Morgan knew only too well, perfection had a way of falling apart with devastating speed.
* * *
Once the summer season began in earnest, Marged knew she would have little time for cleaning her own house, so she spent the next few weeks doing her spring cleaning. Pulling out furniture and cleaning hidden places, freshening the curtains, were tasks she quite enjoyed, but this year she worked alone and she missed the companionship of her sister.
They all missed Audrey. Marged still wondered how they would manage once the season began. She couldn’t do it all and this year she wouldn’t have Maude and Myrtle to help either. If only this damned war would end and the boys could come home, she moaned. She didn’t say the words aloud in case it sounded like help on the beach was the reason she wanted them back.
It was one way of dealing with their absence, the fear of them being killed. Looking ahead and imagining everything returning to normal was a pretence that no danger threatened them. Soon Eynon and Johnny would be home and everything would slot neatly back into place.
From time to time they heard of the loss of a neighbour’s son or husband, and sometimes a doorway was decorated to welcome home a wounded dear one. Fleetingly, she wished Eynon would be wounded so he too could return. Then, ashamed of admitting to a loss of faith in the happiest outcome, she pushed the shameful thought aside. She wanted them home well and strong.
She dusted Eynon’s photograph and replaced it on a newly polished table. As she struggled to move the heavy sideboard, her thoughts returned again to the problem of staffing the beach activities. She had hinted several times but her sister showed no sign of coming back, even though her marriage to Keith had ended so disastrously. She had not been told of Keith’s return, so she still clung to hope of Audrey admitting failure and abandoning the café. Something would have to be arranged soon. Day trippers started coming as soon as the evenings were light enough to make the trip worthwhile.
Leaving the problem of moving the sideboard, and with little hope of success, she called to see her daughter Lilly, and found her sitting in the garden reading a copy of John Bull magazine while the little girl, Phyllis, played happily beside her.
‘Mam? Everything all right?’ Lilly threw down the magazine and smiled at her husband who had opened the door to Marged. She tilted her head and Sam nodded and smiled. ‘I’ll put the kettle on, shall I?’
‘Thank you dear,’ Lilly said, clearing some toys from a seat and inviting her mother to sit down.
‘I’ve come to ask if you’ll come and help at the café for a few days a week,’ Marged said as she hugged her granddaughter. ‘Only for a while, until we can find someone to help on a permanent basis.’
‘Sorry Mam, but Sam and Phyllis need me.’
Marged swallowed a retort. What did Lilly possibly do that made her indispensable, she wondered, looking at her overweight, carelessly dressed daughter.
‘I won’t stay then.’ she said, biting back her anger. ‘Sorry about the tea, Sam. I’ll come again when I have more time. Whenever that will be,’ she couldn’t resist adding.
Walking back to Sidney Street she thought about her daughter and wondered why she had turned out to be so lazy. Marrying a man the same age as her father after first courting his son, had been a sure way of being spoilt. She was ashamed at the way Lilly allowed the man to wait on her and wondered what it had been about her daughter that had attracted him. Vanity perhaps? Walking along with a woman half his age on his arm giving his ego a boost? She suspected Sam paid a heavy price for such pride, although he seemed content with his side of the bargain.
Marged didn’t go straight home, she was disappointed knowing her visit had been a wasted couple of hours and she was still no nearer getting help. She detoured along the lanes and as she passed the café she saw Audrey coming out with Keith beside her. Hesitating, she watched until her sister saw her and beckoned her over. Ill at ease, she smiled at Keith and said a casual. ‘How are you’. Not expecting a reply, she looked at Audrey and saw at once that something had happened.
‘We’re fine,’ Keith said.
Audrey added, ‘Back together and happier than before.’
Marged felt tears sting her eyes as she hugged her sister. ‘Audrey, I’m so glad.’ She moved and gathered Keith into her embrace. Perhaps, she thought guiltily, this might mean Audrey would come back and take her part in the business. To her credit she managed to say nothing.
She ran to the bus stop and went to the beach café to tell Huw, Bleddyn and Hetty the good news, then reluctantly returned to her cleaning. Audrey was happy, Lilly was happy but the family was falling apart.
She had pulled some of the furniture away from the walls and it would have to be put back in place before they could eat as the table was covered with the contents of the sideboard, which itself still had to be moved. Why had she started this? Her heart really wasn’t in it. Her thoughts were dwelling on the problem of the help they needed on the beach.
A letter rack stood on the sideboard and it was the place where accounts and invoices were habitually kept. Sometimes letters fell behind and landed on the floor, but as far as she could tell, none had fallen recently. Even empty the thing was too heavy for her to shift, but she didn’t want to leave it until Huw came home as she wanted the room finished that day, so she slowly, painfully moved it inch by inch from its corner. Stuck between the back of it and the wall, held there by a drawing pin, was a letter. Curiously she examined it and saw it was addressed to Audrey and the writing was undoubtedly Wilf’s.
She stared at it for a long time wondering whether to throw it away for fear of upsetting Audrey now she and Keith had overcome their problems, or hand it to her when she was alone. She decided that whatever the outcome, it was Audrey’s to deal with. She would hand it to Audrey the next time they met. It could hardly be important enough for her to go over immediately and she really did have to get this room cleaned and straight.
* * *
Hannah watched Anthony playing listlessly with a toy she had given him. She had spent most of the morning nursing him between serving customers and she was concerned. He needed to see the doctor again. She knew that Alice was at home, having worked the early morning shift and she called to a woman passing the shop and asked her to knock on Alice’s door and tell her she was needed.
When he fell asleep, she wrapped Anthony in a shawl and was holding him, ready to leave the moment Alice arrived. She looked at the clock, and at the flushed and feverish child, deciding to give her friend another five minutes before she shut the shop and left without her. Fingers crossed, she hoped Alice would come. She knew the situation might need two people. One to stay with the child and one to find Eirlys.
Alice arrived, dealt with the customers who were there, then they closed the shop and together they went to the surgery. Anxious now, wishing she had made the decision earlier, Hannah ran, carrying the sleeping child, afraid to let go of him and put him into his pushchair. They arrived at the surgery breathless and fearful of what the doctor would say.
When they were told the child needed to be in hospital, Alice stayed with Anthony whilst Hannah phoned Eirlys’s office, but unfortunately she wasn’t there. She left a message. trying to word it carefully, to avoid panic, and ran to 78 Conroy S
treet hoping to find Ken at home. No luck. She left a message with a neighbour and hurried next to the factory where Morgan worked. He came straight away and together they went to the hospital to see what was happening to the child.
* * *
Marged stared at the letter and wondered. Leaving the sideboard still at an angle from the wall, she picked up her coat and went to find Audrey. The letter must have been written months ago, yet there was a sudden urgency. If Wilf had written to his wife before his final illness it must be important.
When she reached the café, Audrey was just going out.
‘I can’t stop, Marged. We’ve just heard that young Anthony Ward is ill. Suspected TB. I’m off to the hospital to see what I can do to help. Neither Eirlys nor Ken can be found.’
‘I found this letter, it’s in Wilf’s handwriting,’ Marged said. She waited as her sister examined the envelope, hoping she would read it and perhaps divulge the contents, but Audrey pushed it into her handbag and hurried out. ‘Hang on,’ Marged shouted. ‘I’ll come with you.’
* * *
Reggie was looking for Shirley Downs. He found her with Ken, discussing arrangements for a charity concert to be held in aid of comforts for prisoners. Ken had booked a pianist, a small local choir and a comedian as compère. It would be a popular event, the kind of thing he enjoyed putting together.
Reggie saw them when he called into Audrey’s café. They had just sat down near the window with fresh cups of tea on the table in front of them almost hidden by sheets of paper.
‘Shirley, can I have a word?’ he asked.
She looked up and from the expression on his face guessed something was wrong.
‘What’s happened?’ she demanded, as Ken went up to the counter to look at the cakes.
‘It’s our Andy.’
‘He’s not—’
‘He died as his dream had foretold. He was on a ship which was torpedoed.’
‘I can’t believe it! Poor Andy!’ Sadness and guilt enveloped her. ‘That awful dream that worried him so much came true! Oh, Reggie, what a terrible way to die!’
‘One of his friends called to tell Mam and Dad what had happened and it was exactly as he said, he was in the water, surrounded by others and no one was able to help him.’
‘I persuaded him to give himself up,’ Shirley moaned. ‘I told him it was the best way. I promised him he’d be glad to get everything settled. Glad! And now he’s gone. I feel so sad and so terribly guilty.’
‘Try not to be, Shirley. You were only saying what everyone else was saying. Mam and Dad pleaded with him to give himself up and so did I.’
‘He was such fun. I can’t believe he’s gone.’
‘The awful thing was that he was quite close to the beach when it happened, but he wasn’t a good swimmer and as his friend watched, he disappeared.’
‘When is the funeral?’
‘There isn’t one. They haven’t found the body.’
For a moment hope shot through her and she half smiled at Reggie.
Reggie shook his head. ‘There’s no hope of him being alive, don’t think it.’
Shirley asked for his parents’ address and promised to write, but in her heart she wondered if, even at the moment of truth, Andy had somehow managed to escape from the death his dreams had predicted. The death of someone so young and so lively was impossible to accept.
* * *
As Audrey and Marged walked towards the hospital, a group of women hid their mouths with a hand, to gossip and stare as they followed their progress with disapproving eyes. From the way their bodies curled and the angle of their heads, close together sharing whispered words, Audrey knew they were talking about her.
Some had been sympathetic about her misfortunes, but there were many who laughed and considered her to be a foolish old lady. ‘Past fifty and looking for romance,’ she’d heard some sneer. Romance was for the young and she’d missed out. She had loved Wilf most of her life but he had spent all his money without explanation. Keith getting drunk rather than face her on their wedding day. She had been a gift for gossips over the years.
She wondered what further shocks Wilf’s letter would contain and was tempted to tear it into pieces and throw it into a wastebin. It was only the presence of Marged that stopped her.
At the hospital they had to wait for a few minutes outside the children’s ward as it was not quite visiting time. Audrey heard someone call her.
‘Mrs Kent. At last!’ Matron came towards her. both hands out to grab her own, smiling a welcome. ‘Mrs Kent, my dear, I’m so pleased you’ve come. We thought you were never coming to see us.’ She gestured with her hand and Audrey looked up and above the door she saw the name of the ward, Bobbie’s Ward.
‘That was the name of our son,’ she said.
‘We know, and it was a name your dear husband didn’t want forgotten. He was so generous, wasn’t he? When you have finished your visit, come to my office and I’ll show you what he achieved.’
Dazed and tearful, Audrey decided now was the time to open the letter:
My darling Audrey
I hope you will forgive me for this and understand my need to do it. I gave all the money my mother left to the hospital for the refurbishment of a ward in the name of our son. I feel sure you will understand and approve and so have kept it from you in the hope that the surprise will be a pleasant one. I love you and thank you for the oh, so happy years we shared,
Your loving
Wilf
‘Your husband planned a little ceremony to which you were to be invited as honoured guest, but sadly it wasn’t to be,’ Matron told her softly.
When Audrey told Marged, her sister looked at her glowing face and asked, ‘You don’t mind?’
‘Of course I don’t mind! I’m thrilled by his gift and by his certainty that I would understand and approve. Our marriage was brief, Marged, but it was one of perfect understanding. How many can say that?’
‘It was too short. Mam was terribly wrong and so was I not to realize that you two should have been together always.’ Marged hesitated as the door opened and people began to shuffle into the ward. ‘Will you tell Keith?‘
‘Of course, and he’ll understand too.’
Marged went with Audrey to see Anthony, and soon after, Eirlys and Ken came and they left them there, arms around each other, discussing the care of their child. Then, while Audrey went to see Matron to hear the extent of Wilf’s gift, Marged went home.
She was smiling. There was nothing to make her miserable. Petty worries were a waste of precious days. Hadn’t she read somewhere that it used more muscles to frown than to smile? This was a town for smiles. People would be found to fill the places on the rides and stalls and in the café. Summer would come and go and the Castle family would do all they could to make sure that people who came to St David’s Well Bay had the happiest and best time that the town could offer.
A van approached heading for the beach. Bleddyn, Huw and Hetty moved over to make room for her. ‘Jump in, Marged. we’re going to make sure everything is in readiness for the best and happiest season yet.’
* * *
Audrey talked to the Matron for a long time and she told Audrey that it was Keith who had done much of the work in the ward. ‘And,’ Matron added, having learned of Audrey’s second marriage, ‘when Keith Kent heard about the generous, secret benefactor, he worked for many hours without pay, to keep the job under budget. You have been most fortunate in the men who love you, Mrs Kent. Many would envy you.’ Audrey smiled and agreed.
Street Parties
One
Alice Castle left the factory gates at two o’clock but instead of going straight home she walked through the town. She was restless and unhappy without being able to understand exactly why. It was April 1944 and the war showed no sign of ending, the routine of factory work throughout the gloomy winter months had perhaps taken its toll, and the seaside town of St David’s Well was certainly dull and weary after almost fi
ve years of war. There were plenty of reasons to be lacking in joy. But the unhappiness, the restlessness, was from inside her. A dread feeling that nothing would change except for the worse.
The two rooms which she had furnished simply, almost sparsely, where she waited for her soldier husband, Eynon Castle, to come home, were uninviting on this Saturday afternoon, and although the holiday crowds hadn’t begun to fill the town with their excitement, she headed for the beach. She wanted to lose herself among people, strangers who expected nothing from her.
She felt in her pocket for the letter she had received the previous day. Perhaps she would take it to show Eynon’s parents. Marged and Huw were always grateful for news. Letters were all they had to convince themselves that the war would eventually come to an end and Eynon would come home safely. But she wouldn’t go today. Today she wouldn’t be capable of supporting Marged and Huw – she was too miserable to be any help to them.
The town was so drab on that Saturday. It was dark for an April afternoon with a drizzly rain adding to Alice’s mood of despair. Exhaustion showed on the faces of the people passing by: the war had gone on so long and little by little the everyday fabric of life was being lost.
A laugh rang out and she turned to see two women exchanging parcels. ‘I don’t like parsnips but I bought some anyway,’ one was saying. ‘I know your lot enjoy them.’
‘And I’ve got a few new potatoes from Alfie’s allotment for you.’ Still laughing, the two women walked on and disappeared into one of the cafés. Alice’s mood lifted. She was wrong: people were a long way from despair and she was the only one feeling miserable that day. Summer was coming and the beach would be the same as always. Even with the lack of fathers, the sands would be filled with children having fun, while mothers and grandparents looked proudly on.
Holidays at Home Omnibus Page 145