by Joan Jonker
Molly turned now to her father. ‘Some excitement in the house this morning, then, Da?’
‘That’s putting it mildly, love.’ Bob was only a shell of the man he’d been before he had a heart attack eight years previously. His thinning hair was snow-white and his face lined. But he always looked immaculate, Bridie saw to that. From the day he’d come home from hospital she’d waited on him hand and foot. ‘I don’t get up early these days, as yer know, and I was half asleep when I heard yer ma and Rosie laughing and crying. When I came downstairs it was to see Rosie waltzing Bridie around the room. I’m not ashamed to say I cried with them. It was such a lovely feeling, Molly, to know we’d soon be seeing Tommy again.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with a man crying, Da! I know another man who’ll be shedding a few tears tonight.’
‘Oh, who’s that, girl?’ Nellie asked.
‘Jack, of course, soft girl! Who d’yer think?’
‘I knew it wouldn’t be my George, he never cries.’ Nellie folded her arms across the top of her bosom but didn’t feel comfortable. So she hitched herself up and her arms disappeared from view beneath the mountain of flesh. ‘No, I tell a lie. He cried when our Steve was born. When Lily came along twelve months after, he went to the pub to wet the baby’s head. But when Paul was born twelve months after that, he said if it was going to be a regular thing every twelve months there was no point in celebrating because the novelty had worn off.’
Bob chuckled. This woman had given them so many laughs over the years, she deserved a medal. But how she managed to keep a straight face he’d never know. ‘It’s a good job we know your husband, Nellie, or yer’d have us believing yer.’
‘It’s the truth, Bob! I mean, I’ve proved it, haven’t I? I never had no more children after our Paul, ’cos I thought if me husband wasn’t even going to notice there was another addition to the family there was no point in going to all that trouble.’
Bridie bustled in carrying a tray with china cups and saucers set out on a lace cloth. ‘See to the tea, Molly, me darlin’, while I fetch the cakes.’
‘I’m glad I came with yer, girl,’ Nellie said ‘I’d have missed the tea-party if I hadn’t.’
‘Nellie, sit still on that chair, will yer? Yer’ve got me heart in me mouth.’
‘All right, Miss! And I won’t spill no crumbs, Miss, honest! Will it be all right if I breathe, Miss?’
‘As long as yer do it quietly and gently.’
‘My God, this daughter of yours has an answer for everything, Bridie!’ Nellie took one of the small fairy cakes in her chubby hand and devoured half of it in one go. ‘Has she told yer she’s going to buy the biggest hat in Lewis’s for Steve and Jill’s wedding? I can’t have a big one, though, in case I steal the limelight.’ Nellie put on a woebegone expression. ‘I can only have a middling one.’
‘Well, now, won’t that be altogether different, me darlin’? Yer’ll be the only one at the wedding wearing a middling hat, and that’s a fact. Sure, it must be the latest fashion because meself has never even heard of it.’
‘Don’t tell them any more, sunshine. Wait until the day and give everyone the surprise of their lives.’ Molly smiled at her friend before turning to her mother. ‘Yer’ll be able to get rid of this now, Ma.’ She tapped the huge table which took up nearly all the room. Under the cloth which Bridie kept it covered with, was a Morrison air-raid shelter. Molly had got it for her parents when the air raids started so they wouldn’t have to be trekking up to the big shelter in the park every time the sirens went. It was a big ugly thing, but it had served its purpose and given the family peace of mind. ‘I bet yer won’t be sorry to see the back of it, eh?’
‘That I’ll not, me darlin’. Sure, I can’t wait for the day when I’m able to have me room back to normal.’
‘I can ask for yer, Ma, but God knows when they’ll get round to picking them up.’ Molly could see the disappointment on her mother’s face and knew she’d been hoping to get rid of the monstrosity before her beloved grandson came home. ‘I’ll tell yer what though. It was brought in in pieces and assembled inside, so I’ll ask Jack if there’s any chance of it being dismantled and left in the yard until the men from the Corporation pick it up.’
Bob shook his head, doubt showing on his face. ‘Jack would never manage that, lass, it’s solid iron! It took three men to put it together!’
‘Then I’ll get three men to take it apart, Da! Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’ll ask George and Phil to give Jack a hand.’
‘Ay, hang on a minute!’ Nellie’s chins did a quickstep. ‘My feller could do himself an injury lifting this ruddy thing!’
‘Nellie, is your mind in yer bedroom again?’
‘Well, I’ve got to protect me interests, girl! And it’s in my interest to make sure my feller doesn’t strain his—’
Molly moved quickly to put a hand across her friend’s mouth. ‘All right, sunshine, we get the message, yer don’t have to spell it out for us. It’s the table that’s under discussion, not the antics you get up to in yer bedroom.’
Nellie removed Molly’s hand with a look of disdain on her face. ‘Molly Bennett, yer’ve got a mind like a muck midden. What I was going to say, before I was so rudely interrupted, was that I wouldn’t like my George to strain his—er—his wrist.’ She stuck her tongue out before saying, ‘So there, clever clogs.’
Bob was shaking with laughter, Bridie smiling behind her hand, while Molly told herself to give it up as a bad job. ‘Come on, let’s go down to the shops.’ She pushed her chair back ready for the off. ‘I’ll see if I can get yer table sorted out, Ma, I won’t forget. If yer ask Rosie to come to ours tonight I might be able to tell her if Jack thinks it can be done.’
Nellie was quite comfortable and didn’t want to move. The longer she stayed here the less time she’d have to sit in her own house on her lonesome. Not that she couldn’t find work to do because the fluff underneath all the beds was thick. But she couldn’t manage to get down on her knees and shift it, so it could wait until the weekend when Lily was off. ‘Ay, Bridie, remember when yer got that letter from yer great-niece in Ireland, asking if yer’d take a fifteen-year-old girl in ’cos there was no work for her over there? I bet yer never dreamt that girl would end up courting yer grandson?’
‘No, I never did, Nellie, me darlin’. But didn’t Rosie take one look at Tommy and tell us he was the lad for her? Both only fifteen, and Tommy of an age when he thought girls were nothing but a nuisance. It took Rosie a full year to convince him that she was the one for him, and sure, aren’t Bob and meself delighted with the outcome?’ She smiled across at her beloved husband. ‘Taking Rosie O’Grady in was the best thing that could have happened to us. She’s given us four years of love and laughter.’
‘She’s given us all four years of love and laughter, Ma,’ Molly said, remembering how she’d been against her parents taking a young girl in, thinking they were too old to have a teenager in the house. But, thank God, they hadn’t listened to her. ‘As you say, she’s the best thing that could have happened, not only to you, but all of us.’ She glanced at her mate. ‘I can see yer mind working, sunshine, but we’ll have no more delaying tactics. Get your backside off that chair and we’ll be on our way.’
Chapter Two
‘What are yer getting for the dinner, girl?’ Nellie linked her friend’s arm as they walked towards the main road. ‘I don’t know what the hell to get ’cos I haven’t got enough coupons to make a decent meal.’
‘Neither have I, sunshine, so it’ll have to be a pan of pot luck.’ Molly felt herself being pushed towards the kerb as Nellie’s swaying hips edged her sideways. ‘Move back to the middle of the pavement, will yer? One of these days I’ll end up in the road and get knocked down by a tram or a bus.’
‘Nah, it couldn’t happen, girl!’
‘Why couldn’t it happen?’
‘Because yer don’t get no trams or buses coming down this street.’
&nb
sp; ‘Not this street, no! But when we turn the corner into the main road there’s one passes every few minutes. And I don’t fancy lying under one.’
Nellie gave this the careful consideration she thought it was worth. ‘I’d always come and visit yer in hospital, girl, yer know that.’
‘Oh, aye, I can just see it! You sitting on the side of me bed eating all me grapes.’
‘What grapes are they, girl?’
‘The grapes that yer intended to buy me but forgot until yer were walking up the path to the hospital.’ That should give her something to think about, Molly thought. It might keep her quiet for a few minutes.
But Nellie had it figured out. ‘They must be the grapes Jack brought yer in, then.’
They were outside the butcher’s shop by that time and Molly was chuckling as she walked ahead of her friend. She might have known Nellie would have the last word. ‘Hi, Tony! And you, Ellen! How’s tricks?’
Tony Reynolds’s grin stretched from ear to ear. These two were guaranteed to brighten up what had been, up to now, a very dull day. ‘Have yer got yer list written out, Molly? Is it a leg of mutton and two pounds of stewing steak?’
‘In me dreams, Tony! I’ve just got enough coupons for half a pound of mince. And I was going to ask if yer had any scrag ends yer could let me have to make a pan of broth?’
Nellie had been standing by, her face that of an innocent cherub. She wagged a finger at the butcher, inviting him to lean closer. ‘And you, Ellen, come and listen.’
Tony’s assistant, Ellen, was Molly’s next-door neighbour and well used to the shenanigans of the two women. But she also knew the other side to them, and she owed them a debt of gratitude she’d never be able to repay. ‘What is it, Nellie?’
Nellie’s acting skills came to the fore. With a finger over her lips, her eyes rolled from side to side to make sure there were no spies in the shop. Then she said softly, ‘If she mentioned grapes, humour her.’
‘What’s grapes got to do with anything?’ Ellen asked, while Tony’s eyes twinkled with merriment. He could tell by the big woman’s face they were in for a laugh.
‘That’s what I want to know!’ Nellie’s eyes were as wide as she could stretch them. ‘Five minutes ago, she had me sitting on her bed in the hospital eating her grapes! Now I ask yer, Tony, what d’yer make of that?’ She tapped a podgy finger on her temple. ‘She’s me best mate, but I’ve got to say I don’t think she’s all there on top.’
‘She can’t be,’ Tony said, his face dead-pan. ‘Yer haven’t been able to buy grapes for love nor money for the last four years.’
Nellie put her basket on the floor and folded her arms before facing her friend. ‘There yer are, girl, straight from the horse’s mouth. How could I have brought yer grapes when the flaming shops haven’t had any in for four years?’
‘Ah, but you said Jack brought them, not you.’ Molly just managed to get the words out before doubling up. Leaning over the side counter, she breathed in deeply. ‘Yer wouldn’t believe it, would yer, Tony? It started off by me telling me mate not to push me into the road, then it went on to me getting knocked down by a bus and ending up in hospital!’
‘No, it ruddywell didn’t!’ Nellie feigned indignation. ‘Don’t you be trying to make out that I’m the one what’s doolally. I never mentioned buses, hospital or grapes, Molly Bennett, so don’t be saying I did. And that’s the last time I’ll offer to visit yer in hospital. Let someone else eat yer grapes for all I care.’ Her shaking head was moving so fast it left her layers of chins wondering which way to go. ‘I wouldn’t care, but I hate the ruddy things ’cos the pips get stuck in me teeth.’
‘Ah, yer poor thing! Ye’re badly done to, aren’t yer sunshine?’ Molly patted a chubby cheek. ‘Never mind, we’ll call into the corner shop on the way home and see if we can wangle some biscuits off Maisie to have with a cup of tea.’
‘Are we having a cup of tea in your house, girl?’
‘Well, we certainly won’t be having it in yours, will we? The day you invite me in for a cuppa I’ll think ye’re sickening for something and send for the flaming doctor.’ Molly winked at the butcher who was highly amused. ‘Half of mince, Tony, and anything yer can find that I can make a pan of broth with.’
‘I’ve got a couple of scrag ends, Molly, but there’s no meat on them.’
‘Beggars can’t be choosers, Tony. Anyway, the bones will add flavour if nothing else.’
Tony was walking out to the cold room when Nellie called, ‘I’ll have the same, lad!’
The butcher held out his hands. ‘Yer’ll have to fight it out between yerselves, ladies – there’s not enough for two. I wish I had a magic wand, but I haven’t.’
‘Just do what yer can, sunshine, and we’ll sort it out. If it comes to the push I’ll make one ruddy big pan and we’ll share it between the two families.’
A look of rapture covered Nellie’s face. Her mate could make the best broth in Liverpool. She’d often shared a pan with them when they’d run out of meat coupons. George always licked his lips after enjoying a plate of Molly’s broth. Not that he knew who’d made it ’cos Nellie wasn’t daft enough to tell him.
Ellen glanced out to the back of the shop to make sure her boss was busy, then came to lean her elbows on the counter. A few years younger than her neighbours, she was small and slim with mousy-coloured hair and had a very quiet disposition. ‘Mary Watson was in before, Molly, and she said Miss Clegg had told her Tommy and Steve were due home next week.’
‘Yeah, it’s great news, isn’t it? I can’t wait for my feller to come home to tell him.’
‘I’m having a Welcome Home sign made to go across the front of the house,’ Nellie said. ‘With our Steve’s name in great big letters.’
‘When did yer decide that, sunshine? Yer never mentioned it before.’
‘Well, I only got the letter this morning, girl, so yer can’t say I’ve been slow. I might have mentioned it before but yer were too busy sitting up in the hospital bed watching me eating the grapes that your Jack brought in.’
Molly roared with laughter. ‘Helen Theresa McDonough, ye’re a bloody smasher, yer really are. And yer deserve a pat on the back for thinking of a nice big Welcome Home banner – it’s a cracking idea. Whoever yer get to make yours, yer can ask them to make me one for our Tommy.’
‘Have you got an old sheet we can cut up, girl?’
‘All me sheets are old, sunshine, but I’ll find something. Who have yer got in mind to paint them, anyway?’
A crafty look came to Nellie’s eyes. ‘Well, I was going to ask you to paint them, girl, but if ye’re giving the material it would be cheeky of me to ask. Mind you, if yer volunteered of yer own free will I’d think it was very magnificent of yer.’
‘Nellie, yer mean magnanimous of me.’
‘There yer are, I knew yer’d do it! Did yer hear that, Ellen? I bet yer wish you had a mate as generous as mine. And clever with big words, too!’
Tony was chuckling as he came in from the back, having heard every word. ‘Nellie, I think yer go through life getting everything yer want by acting daft. That was one of the smartest tricks I’ve come across.’
Nellie beamed. ‘Thanks, Tony. I’m glad someone appreciates me.’
‘I hope yer family appreciate yer when they find they’re having bones for their dinner.’ Tony smiled ruefully as he held out a piece of paper with the scrag ends on. ‘There’s the odd bit of meat attached to them, but yer’d need a magnifying glass to see it.’
‘I can make a meal out of them, Tony,’ Molly said. ‘I’ll boil them for an hour to get the flavour out, then add all the veg and pearl barley. It’ll have plenty of goodness in and will put a lining on their tummies.’
‘I’ll give yer a hand with the veg, girl.’ Nellie nodded her head and with each nod her turban slipped further down her forehead. ‘It’s the least I can do.’
‘Not on your life, sunshine!’ Molly huffed. ‘The last time yer offered to help
I gave yer a ruddy big carrot to peel thinking even you couldn’t make a mess of that. But I was wrong, wasn’t I? The carrot yer handed back to me was ten times smaller than the one I’d given yer ’cos yer’d cut the peel an inch thick!’
As Nellie pushed her turban up, she winked at the two behind the counter. ‘I can’t help being heavy-handed, girl, can I? I mean, we’ve all got faults. If me memory serves me right, doesn’t it say in the Bible, “Let he who is without fault, peel the first carrot”?’
There were guffaws from behind the counter but Molly managed to keep a straight face. ‘Nellie McDonough, I hope ye’re not expecting to go to heaven when yer die ’cos there’s nothing down for yer.’
Nellie’s mouth formed a childish pout and she stared down at the floor for a second. Then, with her lips trembling and a sob in her voice, she said, ‘I’ve always known I wouldn’t go to heaven, girl, ’cos they wouldn’t have wings big enough to fit me. Besides which, I can’t play a harp, either.’
‘Ah, diddums do it?’ Molly used the voice she reserved for baby talk. ‘Don’t cry, darling, I’ll pick yer dummy up.’
‘Yeth pleathe, Auntie Molly,’ Nellie lisped. Then her eyes narrowed. ‘You bend down, girl, and I’ll give yer such a kick up the backside yer feet won’t touch the ground until ye’re outside your house.’
‘That would have its good points and its bad points,’ Molly said. ‘On the one hand it would save me shoe leather, but on the other I’d only have to come back for yer to help yer across the main road. Yer know how hopeless yer are, dodging in and out of the traffic. If I wasn’t with yer, yer’d walk into the first car what came along.’
When Nellie’s body began to shake with laughter, the floorboards creaked loudly in protest. ‘We’re back where we started, girl! Only this time it’s me sitting up in the hospital bed and you, yer greedy thing, are lording it in the chair, eating all me grapes.’ With her vivid imagination she could see the scene in her mind. Holding out a hand, palm upwards, she said, ‘Just look at that, Tony, the flamin’ bag’s empty! She’s eaten the bloody lot!’