by Sandy Taylor
We were meeting the boys at the bus stop. Mary was almost beside herself with excitement because she was finally going out with Elton. He’d come into Woolworths late one Wednesday afternoon and was hanging around by the pick ’n’ mix counter. I saw him before Mary did because the local school had just turned out and she was surrounded by a bunch of kids who were pushing and shoving each other out of the way trying to choose their sweets and get Mary’s attention. Elton was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt with a black leather waistcoat over the top, it was easy to see why Mary was so attracted to him, it wasn’t just the way he looked, there was something about him, something kind of cool and mysterious; definitely not my type, but I could see the attraction. I wasn’t going to be busy for at least another hour, when the factory turned out, so I went across to Mary’s counter. ‘I think you’ve got a visitor,’ I whispered. Mary was busy shovelling fruit salad chews into a paper bag.
‘I haven’t got time to see anyone now,’ she said.
‘I think you’ll have time for this one,’ I said, grinning.
Mary turned round and saw Elton. She went visibly pale and the fruit salad chews shot all over the counter.
‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I’ll take over here, tell Mr Rankworthy you’ve come over funny and you need some air.’
‘Thanks, Dottie,’ she said.
‘Try playing hard to get,’ I whispered.
Mary gave me one of her looks.
I watched her go over to Mr Rankworthy to plead her case, she looked up at him like a little puppy dog and you could see him melting like a slab of Neapolitan on a hot day. He put his arm around her shoulder and led her outside. I thought for one awful moment that he was going to stay with her, but after what seemed like an eternity he came back into the shop. I gave Elton the nod and he went outside to join Mary.
For the next ten minutes I was busy serving the kids, and as the last one went off clutching a bag of rainbow drops, Mary came back into the shop. She certainly wasn’t pale now, in fact her face looked like the rising sun and she was grinning from ear to ear as she skipped over to me.
‘Well?’ I said, smiling at her.
‘He asked me out, he actually asked me out.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He just asked me if I’d like to go out with him.’
‘Nothing else?’
‘Elton doesn’t say a lot, does he?’
‘When are you going to see him then?’
‘Tomorrow, he’s taking me to the Istanbul. That really cool club over the top of Dorothy Perkins.’
I gave her a hug, ‘I’m really happy for you,’ I said.
Mary was on cloud nine for the next few weeks. Her excitement was beginning to rub off on me and I hoped that maybe it would be my turn next.
We had arranged to meet the boys after work. It was one of those balmy summer evenings when you feel like anything is possible. It was lovely to see Mary looking so happy. I was feeling excited and happy about the evening ahead. I can’t remember exactly what we talked about, Elton probably, and then he and Ralph walked round the corner. Well, Ralph walked but Elton sort of swaggered, he had slicked back his hair and he had that cocky, smiley way about him, and Ralph was sort of in his shadow. I quite liked that. I’d spent almost ten years of my life walking behind Mary. It was something Ralph and I had in common.
‘Hello, gorgeous!’ Elton said to Mary, taking the cigarette out of his mouth just long enough to kiss her. Ralph and I smiled at one another awkwardly while the two of them messed around. Mary was flirting like a professional. I didn’t know where she’d learned to do that.
When the bus came, we went upstairs and Elton sat with his back to the window and his legs spread out on the seat in front of him. He pulled Mary down onto his lap and they snogged for a moment or two, then she climbed off him and came to sit next to me, in the seat behind. Ralph sat on his own. Smoke from Elton’s cigarette was wafting over the back of the seat and into my lungs. It was making them feel a bit uncomfortable and tight.
I pushed open the window to let some air in and looked down on the families coming back from the beach; fathers in shorts, mothers in summer dresses and little kids in sandals with cardigans over their swimming costumes. The children were carrying buckets and spades and the mothers were carrying picnic bags and the fathers had newspapers tucked under their arms and were smoking cigarettes. Everyone looked tired and a bit sunburned but they were smiling.
Mary’s elbows were resting on the back of Elton’s seat and they were giggling and larking about. I sighed and leaned my forehead against the window and, in the glass, I caught Ralph’s eye in his reflection. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, and then he came to sit in the seat behind so we could talk.
‘Elton says you know someone in the contest,’ he said.
I nodded. ‘Sally from work.’
‘Is she looking forward to it?’
I laughed. ‘She said she needs as much moral support as she can get. She was so nervous yesterday she came over all unnecessary and had to sit down in the staff room while Mrs Burgess from Hosiery rubbed her shoulders and made her drink sherry!’
Ralph grinned and rubbed his nose. ‘Why’s she so nervous?’
I shrugged. ‘She’s worried she won’t get any votes. But she doesn’t need to because she’s the prettiest-looking girl I’ve ever known, and one of the nicest.’
Ralph smiled at me. ‘She sounds like you,’ he said.
I could feel myself going red. ‘Anyway we promised we’d turn up and cheer her on,’ I said. ‘So here we are.’ Right at that moment Mary gave a delighted shriek and burst out laughing. I didn’t know what to say after that so I looked out of the window again. The bus was making its way along Brighton seafront now. I watched the boys stacking the deckchairs and the ice-cream and hot-dog vendors packing up.
Actually, I’d been looking forward to the Miss Brighton contest for ages – it was one of the biggest things that ever happened down our way and people always talked about it for weeks afterwards. I’d been before with my family and it had been brilliant. It was a real show, with music and microphones and lights. The girls always looked so beautiful in their swimsuits and sandals with their hair all lovely, like princesses, and I’d wished, when I was a little girl, that I would grow up to be pretty enough to be in a beauty contest. When I’d told Dad my ambition, he’d said I was too good to be parading up and down in front of every Tom, Dick and Harry in my smalls. I think it was a nice way of telling me I was too fat.
‘Oi, you, take your feet off the seat or I’ll chuck you off the bus!’
It was the conductor, all red in the face and sweaty, and he was jabbing his finger towards Elton’s chest.
‘What, these feet?’ said Elton.
‘Those feet,’ said the conductor.
Very slowly Elton took his feet off the seat, one leg after the other, all the time smirking at the conductor and blowing out smoke through his lips.
‘And less of the bloody cheek, sonny,’ said the conductor. ‘Or else.’
As soon as he’d gone downstairs, Elton dropped the fag end on the floor and put his feet back on the seat. I looked at Mary. She looked a bit embarrassed.
Eventually we got off the bus and joined a stream of people going towards the West Pier. There was a real buzz of excitement in the air, everyone was talking and laughing. The air smelled of fried onions and candyfloss and cigarette smoke and the Pier was all lit up and the lights were making reflections in the black water below. You could see the lights of the Palace Pier further along the coast. I suppose we were lucky to have two piers, I shouldn’t think many places did. And the big, fancy buildings that faced the seafront were lit up too, and their windows were open and you could hear the sea tumbling over the pebbles on the beach. I almost felt like skipping, it was so lovely, and then I felt something warm touch my hand and I glanced down; it was Ralph’s hand. I smiled up at him and curled my fingers round his.
‘Oh
come on, you two!’ Mary called impatiently.
Elton was carrying a black bag on his back.
‘What’s the bag for?’ I asked.
‘Elton’s brought some drink,’ said Mary.
‘Just something to get us in the mood,’ said Elton.
‘In the mood for what?’ Mary asked and then she went all giggly again.
‘You don’t have to have any,’ said Ralph.
‘I won’t,’ I said. ‘My mum would kill me.’
‘Oh Dottie, you’re nearly eighteen! Who cares what your mum would say? Maybe it’s time you let your hair down a bit,’ said Mary.
‘No thanks,’ I said. ‘My hair’s perfectly fine as it is.’
The contest was being held in the concert hall at the end of the pier, so it was a bit of a walk to get to it, especially as so many people were all heading in the same direction. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits. There were lots of couples holding hands or leaning over the railings looking down into the water, and lots of separate groups of boys and girls eyeing each other up. The pier was made up of planks of wood with spaces between the planks so you could see the black water lapping away against the posts beneath. It made me feel a bit dizzy. Mary’s stiletto heels kept getting stuck between the gaps and every time that happened we had to stop and wait for her to take off her shoe and free it, so it was taking us ages to get to the end. At one point both her heels got stuck at the same time and she was left rocking backwards and forwards like some demented children’s toy. Mary and I both burst out laughing, but Elton wasn’t amused.
‘Bloody hell,’ he said. ‘I wanted a seat at the front but we’ll never see anything at this rate.’
‘She can’t help it,’ I said. ‘Get on my back, Mary, I’ll give you a piggy back.’
‘Oh would you?’
Ralph stepped forward. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’ll carry her.’ Mary climbed onto Ralph’s back.
When we reached the end of the pier there were loads of people milling around waiting to go into the theatre, or playing on the games machines. It was very noisy and very exciting. Ralph put Mary down and we headed for the ladies toilets as we always did whenever we went anywhere. We stood in front of the mirror to touch up our make-up.
‘Were you and Ralph holding hands earlier?’ Mary asked, her reflection glaring up at me.
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘Oh, Dottie!’ She shook her head at me in the mirror.
‘Why does it bother you so much?’ I said.
‘Because you can do better than him.’
‘I like him,’ I said quietly.
‘Well, it’s your life,’ she said. ‘Just don’t say I didn’t warn you, when you end up married to a plumber with a load of ginger kids running round your ankles.’
‘I like ginger kids,’ I said.
Mary looked in the mirror and pouted. ‘Do I look okay?’
‘You look fab,’ I said.
We came out of the toilets and found the boys, who were standing round the corner. Elton was smoking and drinking from the bottle. He was even more animated than usual and his eyes were very sparkly, so I guessed he’d had quite a lot already. Mary held out her hand for a drink and took the bottle and swallowed several mouthfuls. I didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t used to drink, but I couldn’t really see how I could stop her. Elton grinned at her wolfishly and said: ‘Wow! That’s my kind of girl!’ and he threw his arm around her shoulder. Mary almost fainted with joy. She immediately picked up the bottle and drank some more.
‘Right,’ she said, wiping her lips with the back of her hand and smearing her lippy. ‘Let’s go!’
She started squeezing herself through the crowd. The rest of us followed in her wake, apologising as we went, until we got into the theatre. We were lucky to find four seats together quite near to the front.
Almost at once the lights were dimmed and there was some music and then the curtains swished back and on the stage was a bloke who looked a bit like Cliff Richard. He had on a blue shiny suit with silver sparkly lapels.
‘He looks a right idiot,’ said Elton.
‘I think he looks nice,’ I said. I couldn’t bear to agree with anything Elton said. He had the same effect on me as my sister.
The bloke told some jokes and sang It’s Now or Never in a very melodramatic way which made Mary and me giggle. Then at last it was time for the beauty contest. One by one the girls came onto the stage and they walked up and down and did a twirl and then stood in a line in the light with one foot in front of the other and one hand on their hips. I thought they all looked lovely in their swimsuits. Elton started wolf-whistling and some people told him to shush. Sally’s bathing suit was white and she had on these really high heels and her hair had been set. She didn’t look a bit like the same girl who worked on the haberdashery counter in Woollies.
‘Sally looks nice, doesn’t she?’ I whispered to Mary.
‘Which one’s Sally?’ she said.
‘The third one on the left, in the white swimsuit.’
‘Gosh,’ said Mary. ‘I didn’t even recognise her.’
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Elton taking swigs out of the bottle in his bag, then he passed it to Mary. I was feeling really uncomfortable about the way things were going. I tried to concentrate on the beauty contest.
When it came to the ‘personality’ section, all the girls smiled a lot while they were answering their questions, and almost all of them said they wanted to get married and have children. One of them said she was going to university and wanted to work for the space programme in America and the presenter chuckled away and rolled his eyes at the audience and said: ‘Oh my! Have you been reading about women’s liberation, my darling?’ and everyone laughed. Well most people laughed. I didn’t and Ralph and Mary didn’t either but Elton certainly did.
‘There’s nothing wrong with being a housewife, is there, girls?’ the presenter asked the rest of the group and they all beamed back at him and nodded.
I was beginning to agree with Elton that the presenter was an idiot.
To be honest, I thought the whole thing was a bit boring, which was odd because every year up until then, it had seemed the most exciting and glamorous event in the whole world ever. I was glad when it finally ended. Sally didn’t come first second or third, but she was in the last five, so I thought she had done pretty well. The girl who wanted to go into outer space came last.
Once it was all over, everyone stood up at once and started pushing towards the exit and as I was sitting at the end of the row, I sort of got carried along with them. It wasn’t until I was outside that I realised I couldn’t see the others anywhere. I hung around waiting, but they didn’t come out of the exit I’d come out of. There were so many people everywhere, and I didn’t know if they would wait for me at the end of the pier, or if they’d head back towards the seafront. I walked all the way round the pier twice hoping to find them but it was almost impossible. I knew they’d be looking for me too. We were probably following each other round in circles. I hung around for a bit longer then made my way to the bus stop, hoping to find them there. They weren’t in the queue.
There was a wind coming off the sea and I was starting to feel really cold, my eyes started watering, then I saw Ralph running towards me.
‘I can’t find Mary and Elton,’ he said. ‘I thought you were with them.’
‘I thought you were all together,’ I said. I must have looked worried.
‘They'll be fine,’ said Ralph
‘Well, I’m glad you found me,’ I said, smiling.
‘So am I,’ he said.
The bus arrived. We climbed up the stairs and got a seat at the front. Ralph put his arm around me and I snuggled into him. I stared out of the window, feeling happier than I had ever felt in my life. Soon we had left Brighton behind. We passed the Rec where Mary and I used to play and where William and Wallace had given Mary’s hamster a swimming lesson. Me and Mary were all grown up now and eve
rything was changing. I wondered what had happened to Mary. I hoped she’d get home all right. I hoped Elton was looking after her.
Ralph walked me to my door and under the glow of the street lamp he held my face in his hands and kissed my forehead.
That night in bed I cuddled my pillow and remembered the feel of Ralph’s hand in mine. It had felt like the beginning of something wonderful. I could hardly wait to find out what would happen next.
Mary’s Diary
Dear Diary,
Last night under the west pier I was kissed by Elton Briggs. And just in case you didn’t hear that, Elton KISSED me last night.
I think I might have died and gone to heaven.
I didn’t play hard to get by the way.
Tatty bye
Mary Pickles (whose lips have been kissed by Elton Briggs)
Aged 17 years.
Chapter Eleven
It was Monday again, one of those boiling hot, Indian summer days when there’s not a breath of freshness in the air and all you want to do is lie on the beach and doze. It was only two days earlier, but already Saturday and the beauty contest felt like ages away. Mary and I were back at work. Woollies had this new brand of hair dyes in, with names like ‘Bubbly Blonde’, ‘Ravishing Red’ and ‘Ardent Auburn.’ The boxes had pictures of pretty girls on the front who would have looked good whatever colour their hair was. Mary and I had been unloading the boxes that had arrived that morning on the back of a lorry and were stacking them on the shelves.
‘We ought to dye our hair,’ said Mary, picking up a box that said ‘Strawberry Blonde’ on the front.
‘What colour will it turn out though?’ I asked. ‘Because that’s two different colours, isn’t it?’
‘You’re so picky,’ said Mary. ‘It will be a blend of the two, won’t it!’
‘Do you want pink hair?’
‘It won’t be pink, it will be blonde.’
‘Why call it strawberry then?’
‘It sounds more sophisticated. It says here that blondes have more fun.’