by Joan Jonker
‘Of course we’re friends, Archie. And I promise I won’t hide from yer. But I’d better go in now because I can see me mam watching us through the curtains. And she’s a nosy beggar – she’ll want to know what we’re talking about.’
‘Tell her about Fred Berry, the dog dirt and the invisible mending. That should give her a laugh. And thanks for coming with me tonight, Lily, I enjoyed the company.’
‘Same here! Goodnight, Archie.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘That’s the last pound I owe yer off the hat.’ Molly handed the crinkled note over to her friend. ‘One load off me mind.’
‘I’ve told yer I’m not waiting for it, girl,’ Nellie waved her hand away. ‘It’ll do any time after the wedding.’
‘Take it, then I’m straight with yer.’ Molly threw the note across the table. ‘Yer were very kind to lend it to me, and I’m grateful, but I don’t want anything on me mind after the wedding. No worries, no hustle and bustle, and no debts. I’m going to put me feet up for a whole week and rest.’
‘OK, if ye’re sure.’ Nellie put the pound note in the pocket of her pinny. ‘Only three more weeks to go, girl, they’ll fly over.’
‘Yeah, I keep saying I’ll be glad when it’s over, but that’s daft really when the best has yet to come. I can’t wait to see me two girls in their wedding dresses, and Steve and Phil dolled up in their suits. It’ll be a proud day for me and Jack.’
‘Ay, aren’t yer forgetting something, Missus? My beloved son is one of the grooms, so haven’t I got the right to be proud, too?’
‘Of course yer have, sunshine! We’ll both be proud together because it’s something we’ve always talked about and longed for, our two families being joined together in holy matrimony. It won’t make us blood relations, but as good as.’
Nellie thought about this for a while. Then she said, ‘If we were Red Indians we could become blood relations.’
‘How d’yer make that out?’
The chair started to shake first, then the table rocked to herald a loud belly laugh from Nellie. ‘If yer get me yer bread-knife, I’ll show yer. We cut our arms here, then hold them together so the two bloods mix. Easy peasy, girl!’
‘Sod off, Nellie, yer might be me best mate but I ain’t cutting me arm for yer. Anyway, I think sometimes friends are better than family or relations. Yer can’t pick yer family, but yer can pick yer friends.’
‘Ye’re right there. Phil’s a good example of that, isn’t he? Remember his family? A gang of rotters if ever there was one. Liars, thieves every one, except Phil.’
‘They weren’t his family, though, sunshine, not proper family. Oh, the mother was his, but Tom Bradley wasn’t his dad.’ Molly looked thoughtful as she pinched on her bottom lip. ‘I’ve often wondered whether Phil would ever try and contact the family of his real dad. At least his mam had the decency to tell Phil his name and where he was living before he got killed. For all he knows, he might have aunts and uncles that would be glad to hear from him. In fact, he might have grandparents still alive – it’s possible.’
‘How about McDonough and Bennett going into business again? I wouldn’t mind a bit of detective work.’ Nellie rubbed her chubby hands together. ‘It would give us something to do after the excitement dies down in a few weeks.’
‘We’ll talk about that some other time, sunshine, when I haven’t got so much on me mind. But things have worked out better than I expected, money wise, with Jack working all the hours God sends. When we go down to the shops I’m calling by the cake shop to give Edna Hanley five pounds off the bill. That only leaves me owing her another five, which I’ll pay next week. And that’s the reception paid for, thank goodness.’
‘Yer’ve done well, girl, I’ll say that for yer. And yer’ve no more white hair in yer head than yer had before.’
‘I wouldn’t have managed without the two girls, they’ve been brilliant. Jill’s taking me to buy me shoes on Saturday, and she’s paying for them. And, as yer know, Doreen bought the material for me dress as a surprise.’
‘I think your Doreen’s done wonders. Five bridesmaids’ dresses, and one for Miss Clegg, all in a matter of weeks.’ Nellie’s eyes narrowed, as they always did when she was about to drop a hint. ‘She’s only got yours and mine to make now, then that’s the lot.’
‘It’s taken it out of her, though, she looks tired and drawn. Phil’s been telling her for weeks to pack her job in, and I’m glad to say she’s giving her notice in today. We can’t have her looking haggard on her wedding day.’
‘Don’t bite me flaming head off if I ask yer something, will yer?’
‘How do I know until yer ask me? Go on, try me.’
‘Will Doreen be starting on our dresses this week? I know it sounds selfish ’cos she’s been working flat out, but I can’t wait to see meself all dolled up. I bet that feather on me hat has grown six inches since I last saw it.’
A smile played around Molly’s mouth. ‘I knew yer’d be asking me that, so I’ve told Doreen to make yours first. She wants yer to come down tonight to be measured in case yer’ve put any weight on since the last one she made yer. So does that make yer feel any happier, sunshine?’
Nellie’s shining eyes told of her delight, but she didn’t want to appear greedy. ‘That doesn’t seem fair, girl, now does it? You should come before me.’
‘I know I should, but I’ve got a bit more patience than you. I’d rather wait than have to listen to you nattering down me ear every day asking how much longer.’
‘I wouldn’t do that, girl, not much anyway. I might just make a casual enquiry, and it wouldn’t be every day, it would be every half-hour.’
‘Get down here for seven o’clock, sunshine, and let’s hear no more about it.’
‘I’ll be as good as gold, you just wait and see. I won’t even open me mouth.’ Nellie clamped her lips together, but it only lasted seconds. ‘Except to ask how many yer’ve got on yer list of guests now?’
‘I think at the last count it was thirty-eight or nine, I’m not quite sure. But we’re not far out with catering for forty.’
‘Yer’ve got George’s brother and his wife down, haven’t yer? And Ida, yer said I could ask her, remember?’
‘Nellie, I’ve got everything under control, sunshine, except you! I don’t know what’s going to happen when your Lily gets married and you’ve got to arrange everything.’
‘Ye’re not thinking of moving house, are yer, girl?’
‘Of course not, why?’
‘Well, I’ll have you to help me. I mean, after this yer’ll have had plenty of experience and it’ll be a doddle for yer.’
‘Ye’re a cheeky article, Nellie McDonough! Honest to God, yer face would get yer the parish! Anyway, talking of your Lily and her wedding, how’s she getting on with Archie?’
‘She’s very cool with him, worse luck. I don’t mean she’s not friendly, ’cos she is nice to him, but it’s in a sisterly sort of way. I thought when she went to the dance with him and Paul the week before last, things were looking up. But no, there’s nothing doing as far as she’s concerned. She’ll probably end up an old maid, living on her own with a cat for company.’
Molly tutted. ‘Give the girl a chance, Nellie, for heaven’s sake! She’s had a bad experience and it’s bound to have put her off. It’s early days yet, and if Archie’s keen enough he’ll hang around until he thinks she won’t turn him down if he asks for a date.’
‘He’s a good lad, isn’t he, girl? Just the sort that would fit in with the family. If it wasn’t for upsetting George, I’d marry the lad meself.’
‘All joking aside, sunshine, he’s one of the best. And so is his mother. I really took a liking to Ida, she’s a woman after me own heart. But what we think doesn’t count, does it? Lily’s the one he’s got to win over, not us.’ Molly reached for Nellie’s empty cup. ‘You go and get yerself ready for the shops. I’ve only got these to wash and me hair to comb, so don’t take all day over i
t.’
‘I’ve been washed, girl, and I’ll comb me hair again if it makes yer feel any better. But it won’t look no different than it looks now.’
‘Vamoose, sunshine, and be back here in ten minutes. OK?’
Vera Patterson was standing at her front door when the ladies walked down the street. ‘I’m just getting a bit of fresh air. I’ve got the dolly tub filled and the sweat was pouring off me. The weather’s too nice to be doing ruddy washing.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Molly said. ‘So I’m going to leave me clothes in steep overnight and put them through the mangle first thing in the morning before it gets too hot. They’ll be dry in an hour if we have another day like today.’
Nellie put on her downcast look. ‘Yer didn’t tell me that, girl.’
‘There’s lots of things I don’t tell yer, sunshine! Like what I had for breakfast, how thick I’d cut me slices of bread, or what I gave the family for their carry-out. Me life is full of useless information that I don’t pass on to yer.’
Vera was getting used to Nellie’s habits by now, and when she saw the eyes narrow and the lips purse, she knew there was some thought being given to a suitable reply.
‘What did yer give them for their carry-out, girl?’
‘I cut the rounds of bread, spread margarine on as thin as I could, then a layer of fresh air that had a small ray of sunshine in it, and I topped the lot off with conny-onny. Does that satisfy yer?’
Nellie wasn’t going to be outdone. ‘That’s funny, girl, ’cos I gave mine the same! Great minds think alike, eh?’ Pleased with herself, she went further. ‘What are yer going to tell them tonight when they ask what was in their butties?’
‘I’ll tell them it was a secret recipe, passed down the family. And if they behave themselves they’ll get it again tomorrow.’
Nellie tried a few times to click her finger and thumb, but couldn’t manage it. Pity, she thought, ’cos it would have looked good. Still, a click of the tongue on the roof of her mouth would be just the same. So for good measure, she clicked her tongue twice before saying, ‘I think yer can read me mind, Molly Bennett, ’cos that’s exactly the same as I’m going to tell my lot.’
‘Oh, yer mam passed the recipe on to you, did she? She must have been as hard-up as my mam, then. Skint from Monday to Friday.’
‘Are you saying my mam was poverty-stricken? Well, she wasn’t, yer know. We had bread and jam every day for our breakfast, so there!’
‘I’ll believe yer, sunshine. In fact, if it’ll shut yer up, I’m willing to believe yer if yer say yer mam was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen!’
Nellie grinned. Oh, she had an answer for that! ‘No, that would be telling a lie, girl. The truth is, she was only a chambermaid. But if she hadn’t married me dad, she had prospects of becoming a lady-in-waiting.’
Vera was really enjoying herself. She didn’t care if the washing never got done. This was far better than pegging clothes on the line.
Molly knew it was her own fault, but she couldn’t help egging her mate on. ‘Oh, so yer mam lived in London, did she?’
‘No, girl, she used to get the twenty-two tram there every morning.’
Molly lifted both hands in surrender. ‘OK, I give in.’ Then she grinned inwardly. ‘Yer see, yer instantaneous responses are too quick for me.’
Nellie nodded her head as though satisfied with the compliment. Not for the world would she let Vera know she hadn’t a clue what that long word meant. But she’d get it out of her mate later, in a roundabout way, like.
‘How’s the bloke next door, Vera?’ Molly asked. ‘Any improvement?’
‘Yeah, Mavis said he’s coming on fine. She takes the kids up to see him on a Sunday, and because they wouldn’t let them in the hospital, the first few weeks they could only wave to him through the window. But last week Frank was allowed to go outside to them, and Mavis said he was over the moon. The doctor said if his improvement continues he could be coming home in a few weeks. It’ll be a long time before he’s able to work, but Mavis said she doesn’t care, she just wants him home.’
‘Oh, that’s good news,’ Molly said. ‘Tell her we were asking about him.’
‘Will do!’ Vera didn’t feel like going back to that condensation-filled kitchen and tried to keep them a while longer. ‘Not long off now, eh, Molly?’
‘No, sunshine, only three weeks. I lie in bed every night thinking nice thoughts, until I remember they won’t be coming back to their own home after the wedding. Then I have to cry quietly so as not to wake Jack. You know, silent tears running down me cheeks.’
Nellie listened with mounting admiration. Her mate didn’t half have a nice way of putting words together. It made you feel quite emotional. ‘How can tears be silent, girl?’
‘When yer don’t cry out loud, that’s when. Tears usually come with crying, but I can hardly wake Jack up every night because I’m feeling sorry for meself. So I put a hand over me mouth and let the teardrops fall softly.’ Molly grinned at the rapt expression on her friend’s face. ‘I should have been a poet, shouldn’t I, sunshine?’
‘Yer sound like Janet Gaynor in one of those weepy pictures. If yer keep it up, yer’ll have me bawling me eyes out, even though I left the house as happy as Larry, without a single care in the world.’
‘Heaven forbid I should make yer feel sad!’ Molly took her arm. ‘Let’s go. We’ll see yer, Vera, but don’t be sweating cobs trying to get yer washing done. Leave it until tonight, when it won’t be such hard going.’
‘I think I’ll do what yer say.’ Vera stepped down on to the pavement and lowered herself to sit on the step. ‘My feller would go mad if he could see me doing this, but I’m too hot to worry. So I’m going to sit here for ten minutes, watch the world go by and sod the washing.’
Nellie grinned as she turned away. ‘Ye’re a girl after me own heart, Vera. Sod ’em all, that’s what I say.’
Molly handed five one-pound notes over the counter with a big smile on her face. ‘Last one next week, Edna, then I’m square with yer.’
‘It would have done after the wedding, yer know, Molly,’ Edna Hanley said, before giving a broad wink. ‘It’s bad policy to pay for anything in advance. Yer should wait and see what ye’re getting for yer money.’
‘I had to get it off me mind, Edna, ’cos after the wedding I’ll be two wages short. Anyway, I trust yer, I know yer won’t let me down.’ Molly put a hand on Nellie’s shoulder. ‘If yer did, my mate here would come down and take it out of yer face, wouldn’t yer, sunshine?’
Nellie of course had an answer for that. ‘She hasn’t got fifty pounds’ worth of face, girl!’
‘Trust you to say that. And here’s me hoping we’re not too late for pies and bread. If we go out of here empty-handed, sunshine, it’s your face that’ll be getting rearranged.’
Edna chuckled. ‘I don’t get upset easily, Molly, thank God. When yer’ve served behind a counter for as long as I have, yer need a skin as thick as a ruddy rhinoceros. Most of our customers are nice people that we’ve known for years, but now and again yer get one that loves to throw their weight around and can be downright rude. Then yer have to have the patience of a saint, keep a smile glued on yer face and get them out of the shop as fast as yer can before yer clock them one.’
‘That wouldn’t do for me, girl,’ Nellie said, with the full agreement of her chins. ‘If anyone upset me, I’d be round that counter like a ruddy shot, and before they knew what had hit them, they’d be sitting on their arse outside.’
‘That’s why I’m this side of the counter, and you’re there,’ Edna said, as her mind pictured the little woman throwing one of their rudest customers, a Mrs Anderson, out on her backside. Oh, what a lovely thought. ‘Anyway, I’ve saved yer the usual loaf and two pies each, and the same for Miss Clegg.’
‘Thanks, Edna, ye’re an angel. What is she, Nellie?’
‘Well, the disguise is perfect, girl, but if you say she’s an angel, I’ll take you
r word for it. But just out of curiosity, won’t her wings be getting crushed under that overall?’
Molly rolled her eyes. ‘Listen, sunshine, yer made a two-minute conversation with Vera Patterson into a ten-minute one, but I’m not letting yer do the same here. So get yer money out and pay the woman.’
Edna was putting the pies into bags when she said, ‘I’ve heard that Frank Sheild is coming on well. They say he could be home in a couple of weeks.’
‘Yeah, Vera was just telling us. That’s a blessing, isn’t it?’
‘I wouldn’t know about that.’ Edna placed the bags on the counter. ‘If Fanny Kemp and Theresa Brown get near him, he might be sorry he didn’t stay in hospital. It was them what told me he was coming home, and anyone else who was prepared to listen. They were boasting about telling him all about what his wife was up to while he was away. They were really gloating at the thought. I could see some of the customers were disgusted, and one even had the guts to speak up and ask the two evil-minded beggars if they didn’t think the man had suffered enough. But they weren’t interested in what he’d gone through, they’re just out to cause trouble. They’ve got big mouths and they throw their weight around, so most folk stay clear of them. And, may God forgive me, I just stood and listened. I can’t afford to get involved in a slanging match, not with a shop full of customers. But someone should frighten them off before the poor man comes home.’
‘Me and Nellie talked about this weeks ago, when Vera first told us what the two women intended to do.’ Molly didn’t say she’d told Jack as well, she’d rather keep his name out of it. ‘We’ll get our heads together and see what we can come up with, eh, sunshine?’
‘I told yer what I’d do, girl, I’d flatten that Fanny Kemp! Theresa Brown is nothing to worry about, she’s got a big mouth, that’s all. Hides behind Fanny’s skirt and pretends she’s as tough, but on her own she’d do it in her kecks if anyone lifted a finger to her.’
‘Yer have a very delicate way of putting things, sunshine, I must say. But if we do anything at all, it’ll be with our mouths and not our fists.’