by Joan Jonker
‘I don’t understand yer,’ Molly said. ‘What have yer got against the lad?’
‘He’s shifty. Little piggy eyes set too close together, and he never looks yer straight in the face when ye’re talking to him. Not that we’ve had much in the way of conversation with him ’cos he’s got very little to say for himself. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, and if our Lily sets her mind on marrying him, it would break my heart.’
‘I don’t know what to say, sunshine, ’cos I’ve only seen the bloke a couple of times. And then it’s only been more or less in passing. I don’t even know his name.’
‘That’s what worries me! We hardly know anything about him. Our Lily calls him Len, but what his second name is, only God knows. She always meets him outside, and I’m sure it’s because he doesn’t want to come here.’ Nellie looked sad. ‘She’s a good kid and could do a damn sight better than him.’
‘What does George say?’
‘He doesn’t like him either. Says there’s something fishy about him. Our Steve’s never met him ’cos he was called up before she started going out with him. And Paul only met him once or twice before he went in the army. And yer know what our Paul was like, out with a different girl every night. He was too busy enjoying himself to notice who his sister was going out with. They were both called up about the same time, and I’ve been hoping our Lily would meet someone else while he was away. But no such luck. She thinks the sun shines out of his backside and won’t hear a word against him.’
‘Oh dear, I had no idea yer felt this strongly about him. It’s a shame because every mother wants what’s best for her children. Particularly when it comes to them getting married. Having a son-in-law yer don’t like doesn’t make for harmony in the family, does it?’
‘No, it doesn’t girl! And I’m going to be straight with yer and tell yer I intend doing all I can to put a stop to it. When our Steve and Paul are home, I’m going to ask them to find out a bit more about him. They always looked after Lily when they were younger, her being the only girl in the family, and they wouldn’t want her involved with someone who was no good.’
‘Where does this bloke live, Nellie?’
‘That’s just it, girl, we don’t know! When I asked Lily, she just tossed her head and said Walton. That’s all I could get out of her. And that’s not a bit like her. She’s usually so open, says exactly what she thinks. But the queer feller seems to be able to wrap her around his little finger, worse luck.’
‘Don’t be downhearted, sunshine.’ Molly had never known her friend look so miserable. ‘Something will turn up. Your Lily’s not soft, she wouldn’t marry someone if she wasn’t sure he would make a good husband. She hasn’t seen him for a long time and her feelings might change when he comes home.’
‘Aye, and pigs might fly! If she wasn’t serious about him she’d have been out enjoying herself while he’s been away. I know she’s had plenty of chances.’ Nellie looked thoughtful as she pinched the fat around her elbow. ‘I’ve been thinking about that fly turn in number sixteen. She certainly didn’t let being married stop her from going out with anything in trousers. Her husband’s been away over four years, a prisoner of war for three. How’s the poor bugger going to feel when he gets home and finds she’s got a twelve-month-old baby? It’s enough to send him around the bend after what he’s been through.’
‘I have heard that the American this Mavis had the baby with wants to take the child back to the States. He’s a married man, and apparently his wife, for some reason, can’t have children of her own.’
Nellie was open-mouthed and wide-eyed. ‘Who the hell told yer all this? I’m the gossipmonger in this street, not you! Where was I when yer were told this?’
‘I just happened to be in the corner shop when the woman in number eighteen was telling Maisie. I couldn’t help but overhear.’
Nellie banged a curled fist on the table and her face took on a ferocious look. ‘I’ve got two bones to pick with you, Missus! First, how come yer went to the shop without me? Yer know damn well that’s not allowed. And secondly, do yer realise the harm yer’ve done to my reputation as the know-all of this street? I’ll never live it down.’
‘Does that mean yer don’t want to know the rest of what I heard?’
Nellie pretended to give this careful consideration. ‘Go on, I might as well. There must be someone I can pass it on to.’
‘It isn’t to be passed on, Nellie, that’s the thing. The fewer people who know, the better. Yer know what some of the women are like, they’d take great delight in telling the husband.’
‘He’s bound to find out she had a baby! That’s not something yer can keep quiet!’
‘After what he’s been through, it would have to be a very cruel person to tell him. We’ve heard what some of the prisoner-of-war camps were like, so God knows what state the poor man will be in when he gets home. They’re still clearing the camps out, so although she’s heard he’s alive, she doesn’t know whether he’s sick or injured.’ Molly looked at the clock and groaned. ‘I’m going to tell yer this quick, sunshine, ’cos I’ve got loads of work to do. And if yer repeat it, I’ll never talk to yer again.’ She took a deep breath. ‘The American’s name went on the birth certificate as the father of the baby, so although there’ll be a lot of legal work to do, he will be allowed to take the child to America. It seems he’s not short of money so he’s paying a woman to care for the child until everything is settled. That means there’ll be no baby in the house when the husband comes home.’
Nellie shook her head. ‘I don’t get it! Yer mean that Mavis is going to give the child up? How can she do such a thing?’
‘To try and save her marriage.’
‘For crying out loud, girl, she’s a bit late thinking of that, isn’t she? She’s been out with every nationality under the sun, even had them in her house when her three kids were there. And d’yer mean to tell me those kids won’t miss the baby, or talk about it?’
‘Nellie, it’s not for you or me to say. It’s their problem, not ours.’ Molly pushed her chair back. ‘And now, sunshine, I’m off to do the work I would have had finished if you hadn’t asked me to honour yer with me presence.’
‘Ah, ay, girl, don’t be going home with a miserable gob on yer! Let me think of something to make yer laugh, so yer go out of here with a smile.’
‘No need to think of anything to make me laugh, sunshine, just walk in front of me to the front door.’
Nellie screwed her eyes up. ‘What d’yer mean, Molly Bennett?’
‘Well, that skirt doesn’t leave anything to the imagination, sunshine! On the way in, I saw the top of yer stockings and yer garters. Plus yer bare legs up to your backside. In fact, if yer’d bent down, I’d have seen what yer had for breakfast.’
‘No yer wouldn’t, clever clogs. Yer see, I haven’t had me breakfast yet.’
‘Haven’t had yer breakfast? Nellie, it’s nearly ten o’clock!’
‘Well, yer see, girl, when I got our Paul’s letter me tummy went all of a flutter and I didn’t feel like eating. Then you came down and yer’ve kept me gabbing for nearly an hour. I thought yer might take the hint when me tummy started rumbling with hunger, but yer were that busy listening to the sound of yer own voice, yer didn’t hear. I didn’t want to tell yer to shut up ’cos I knew yer’d get a cob on and take the huff.’
Molly’s shoulders shook with laughter. ‘Nellie McDonough, ye’re a case, yer really are. I don’t know what I’m going to do with yer.’
‘Yer could take me home with yer and make me something to eat.’
‘Not on your flaming life, sunshine! I’m going home to work like the clappers until twelve o’clock, when it’s time for us to go to the shops. By then our Tommy’s room will be shining like a new pin.’
‘Like my boys’ bedroom?’
‘Oh, ye’re going upstairs to do theirs now, are yer?’
Her face that of an angelic cherub, Nellie shook her head. ‘I was
up with the larks this morning, girl! I knew what you were going to do and I wasn’t having yer get one up on me. So I turned the fingers of the clock forward twenty minutes, called George and Lily, gave them their breakfast and watched them hurrying down the street thinking they were late for work. That’s when the postman came with the two letters. Lily hasn’t seen hers yet, it’s up on the mantelpiece. I read Paul’s letter and was so happy I felt like doing cartwheels down the street. And I would have done, girl, only I’m not built for it. So instead I got cracking on the bedroom and was finished just as your Ruthie crossed the street.’ She folded her arms and hitched up her bosom. ‘That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.’
Molly gaped. ‘Yer altered the time and let George and Lily think they were late? They’ll kill yer when they get in!’
‘They won’t know unless you snitch on me. I’ve put the clock back to the right time and if they say anything I’ll just act daft. Yer see, I’m not as quick with the elbow grease as you, girl, and I needed that bit of extra time.’
Molly shook her head. ‘But I haven’t even started mine!’
‘I know! Ye’re a lazy bitch, Molly Bennett. Sitting here gabbing yer head off and yer house is like a pigsty.’
‘I’m going before I strangle yer.’ Molly hurried to the front door. ‘Twelve o’clock and not a minute before.’
‘Ta-ra, girl! It’s been nice listening to yer.’
Molly stood at the door of her son’s bedroom and nodded her head in satisfaction. It looked a treat, everything cleaned and polished. There was a smell of the Parr’s Aunt Sally she’d used in the water to mop the floor, but she had the window open and the smell would soon go. She gazed at the bed and said, ‘All that’s missing now is Tommy, and please God he’ll be home before the week is out.’
There was a loud knocking on the front door and she grimaced. Surely this wasn’t Nellie already! She wasn’t ready to go to the shops yet, she needed a good wash and a change of clothes before she could venture out. Her hand running down the banister as she descended the stairs, she muttered, ‘She’ll just have to sit and wait for me, that’s all.’
But when Molly opened the door it wasn’t her friend standing there, it was Maisie from the corner shop and she looked full of excitement. ‘Molly, I’ve just had a phone call from your Tommy. He said to tell yer he was travelling home on Thursday and his train should get into Lime Street Station about four o’clock.’
Molly’s hand went to her mouth. ‘Oh, my God, I’ve gone all faint. Oh, that’s marvellous news, Maisie, I could kiss yer.’
‘I’d rather yer didn’t faint on me, Molly, or kiss me, if yer don’t mind. Me and Alec were over the moon when the call came and I’ve left him with a shop full of customers so I could come down and tell yer.’
‘Did Tommy have anything else to say? Is he all right?’
‘He said there was a queue waiting to use the phone so he had to be quick. He did say not to meet the train because with so many lads being demobbed, it could be full and he’d have to wait for the next one. But come what may, he’ll be home Thursday even if he has to walk the two hundred odd miles. And, Molly, he sounded in very high spirits.’
‘Maisie, ye’re an angel and I’ll love yer for ever more.’
‘My husband’s mind will be running along different lines right this minute. I won’t be getting called an angel, but a crafty so-and-so for dashing off and leaving him to cope on his own. So I’ll buzz, Molly, and see yer later. Ta-ra for now.’
‘Ta-ra, Maisie, and thanks for being the bearer of good news.’ Molly closed the front door and leaned against it. She didn’t know whether to slump down on the floor and cry with relief, or go out in the street and shout with happiness. And fancy Tommy keeping that scrap of paper she’d slipped in his pocket with the corner shop’s number on it! She thought he’d have lost that by now.
There came a rapping on the front window and the sound of glass shaking in the frame. ‘So help me, she’ll put that window in one of these days. Why the hell she can’t use the knocker like everyone else, I don’t know.’ Molly turned and opened the door. ‘If I wasn’t delirious with happiness, Nellie McDonough, I’d break yer flamin’ neck for knocking on me window like that.’
‘If ye’re delirious with happiness, girl, how come yer’ve got a gob on yer that would stop the clock and turn the milk sour?’
‘Seeing as the clock’s in the living room and the milk’s in the kitchen, sunshine, it would be impossible for them both to see me face at the same time, wouldn’t it?’
‘It would be for people with one face, girl, I’ll grant yer that. But seeing as ye’re a real two-faced article, you wouldn’t have no trouble.’
‘I’ll let yer off with that, Nellie, ’cos I refuse to get into a slanging match with yer. I’ll not let yer ruffle me feathers on this day of all days.’
As Nellie squeezed past she eyed her friend with suspicion. ‘I don’t know what yer’ve had to drink since yer left our house, but whatever it is I’ll have a drop of the same.’
Molly was so excited she didn’t even hold her breath when Nellie plonked herself on a protesting chair. ‘I haven’t had nothing to drink, sunshine, so ye’re out of luck. What I have had is a visit from Maisie.’
‘Oh, aye, girl, what did she want? I bet it wasn’t the loan of a few bob because her and Alec must have a long stocking stashed away by now. Their shop’s a little goldmine, and they’ve no family to spend it on.’
‘They deserve every penny they’ve got ’cos they work damned hard for it. The shop’s open seven days a week from early morning until late at night. And I bet they’d give everything they’ve got to have children of their own.’
‘Don’t bite me head off, girl, I didn’t mean no harm!’
‘I know yer didn’t! Anyway, as far as I’m concerned, today is a day of goodwill towards all men.’ Molly leaned across the table and smiled into her friend’s face. ‘Maisie came down to say our Tommy had phoned the shop. He’ll be home on Thursday, about teatime if he gets the train he’s aiming for.’
Nellie’s chubby cheeks moved upwards as a smile lit up her face. ‘Oh, that’s the gear, girl! He’s the first, our Steve and Paul shouldn’t be far behind.’ Then she frowned. ‘How come your Tommy had Maisie’s phone number?’
‘I wrote it on a piece of paper and put it in his pocket. I thought he’d have lost it by now with all the moving around he’s done, but apparently he’s hung on to it.’
‘I never thought of giving it to mine.’ Nellie looked dejected. ‘But I wouldn’t, would I, being as thick as two short planks?’
‘Listen, sunshine, yer may be many things, but as thick as two short planks you are not. Yer pretend to be daft, and yer’ve got it down to a fine art. But in actual fact ye’re as crafty as a boxload of monkeys and yer could leave me standing any day.’
Nellie clapped her hands. ‘A compliment! I knew if I waited long enough I’d get one! And I’ve got Maisie and your Tommy to thank for it. Just wait until I tell George yer’ve finally admitted that I’m more cleverer than you.’
‘More clever, sunshine, there’s no such word as cleverer.’
‘Yes there is, Miss Know-All, I’ve just said it.’
‘Because you’ve said it doesn’t mean …’ Molly threw her hands in the air. ‘I give in, I can’t win with you. Besides, we’ve got no time to be sitting here discussing your vocabulary, we’ve got loads to do.’
‘Such as, girl!’
‘First I want to go over and tell Victoria the good news before we go to the shops. We won’t be there long, just a quick in and out. Then when we go to the shops I’ll work on Tony to see if I can scrounge something to have a decent meal for Tommy on Thursday. And your job, sunshine, is to work yer charms on the bloke in the Maypole and see about getting a little extra tea and sugar to put by for when we have the party. I want yer to put yer heart and soul into it and play on his sympathy. Put a sob in your voice when yer tell him there’s three soldi
ers coming back from the war and everyone should rally round to give them a big welcome.’ Without realising she was doing it, Molly spoke with a sob while dabbing her eyes with an imaginary hankie. ‘Say it’s only what they deserve after fighting for us.’
It would have been hard to put a name to the expression on Nellie’s face. ‘Ay, girl, yer’d be better doing it yerself. Yer were so convincing then, I could feel meself filling up and I nearly offered to give yer me next week’s sugar and tea ration!’
‘Yer nearly offered, but yer didn’t, did yer? Which means I’m not as good at cadging as you are. So have a hankie in yer hand, and a tear in yer eye when yer put yer Bette Davis act on for the bloke in the Maypole. And I’ll have a go at Tony and Maisie.’
‘Corker always brings some food home from the ship. If he docks before the boys come we’ll be laughing sacks.’
‘We can’t rely on that, sunshine, so don’t be trying to wriggle out of it. Yer don’t want your Steve and Paul to celebrate their homecoming with a round of bread and dripping, do yer?’
Nellie cast her eyes towards the ceiling and muttered, ‘She’s a proper bloody slave driver, this one. All she’s short of is a ruddy whip!’ Then she smiled sweetly at Molly. ‘Have yer got a clean hankie for me, girl? If yer want me to cry I may as well do the job properly.’
‘I’m going upstairs to get changed so I’ll find something for yer.’ Molly was laughing as she turned at the door. ‘Would yer like a pretty white hankie with a lace border, or would a piece of old sheet do?’
‘I don’t want no fiddling little thing that I can’t blow me nose on. And yer know I always blow me nose when I’m crying. So I’ll settle for a piece of yer old sheet.’
‘Behave yerself while I’m upstairs, please. Don’t be shuffling yer backside on the chair ’cos it won’t stand up to it.’
‘No problem, girl, ’cos I’ve no intention of sitting on me backside twiddling me thumbs. I’ll be off this chair before ye’re halfway up the stairs. To pass the time, I’m going to have a good root through yer sideboard drawers and cupboards. But it’s nothing for yer to worry about, yer won’t even know I’ve done it. I’ll be really sly and put everything back the way I found it.’