Walking My Baby Back Home

by Joan Jonker

  Katy stood up. There was so much she wanted to say, but knew if the words came, so would the tears. ‘Thank you, Miss Boswell.’

  The headmistress dismissed her with a smile and a nod of the head. ‘Close the door on your way out.’

  Billy Harlow had trouble keeping up with Katy that night. She ran as though she had wings on her heels. ‘Are yer really leavin’ tomorrow?’ he panted. ‘For sure?’

  ‘Yes for really, and yes for sure.’ Katy’s smile wouldn’t stretch any wider. ‘Miss Clements told the class that because I had a job to go to, the Education Officer had agreed to my leaving a week early.’

  ‘What did Doreen have to say? I bet she was dead jealous.’

  ‘Me and Doreen are still not speaking so I don’t know what she thinks. I don’t care, either, Billy, ’cos she’s like a big soft kid.’ Katy came to a halt and bent double to take a deep breath. When she straightened up her deep blue eyes were dancing. ‘I’m so happy and excited I feel like jumping in the air and shouting out loud.’

  ‘I bet yer mam will get a surprise.’

  ‘I can’t wait to tell her.’ Katy took to her heels again, eager to get to the shop to pass on her good news. ‘I’ve been workin’ it out in me head, and I’ll have at least ten bob to give to her before Christmas.’ They were passing Billy’s house now, but Katy didn’t slow down. ‘I’ll see yer tomorrow, Billy.’

  ‘I might see yer later if me dad wants ciggies.’

  Katy heard his voice and waved, but his words didn’t sink in. Her head and her heart were so full she thought they’d burst. But when she got to the shop she knew she’d have to keep her news until later because there were quite a few customers in, including two women from her street. And the last thing she wanted was the neighbours knowing before she’d had time to tell her mam. Particularly these two, Rita Williams and Dolly Armstrong; they were the biggest gossips going.

  ‘Come on, girl, get behind the counter and roll yer sleeves up,’ Molly grinned. ‘This lot don’t like being kept waiting, they think I’ve got a dozen pair of hands.’

  Katy threw her coat in the stockroom and then asked the small crowd, ‘Who’s next?’

  ‘I am,’ said Rita Williams.

  ‘No, ye’re not,’ Dolly Armstrong said with strong emphasis. ‘I was here before you.’

  ‘You were not!’

  ‘Oh, yes I bloody-well was!’

  ‘Well, bugger me.’ Rita by now was red in the face. ‘You lying mare, Dolly Armstrong.’

  The other folded her arms and her chin jutted out. ‘If I’m a mare, Rita Williams, then you’re a lying cow.’

  ‘A cow! A bleedin’ cow!’ Rita pushed her sleeves up ready for action. ‘I’ll give yer cow, yer bleedin’ mare.’

  In the stockroom, Jim Edwards heard the raised voices and dropped the box he was emptying, while Molly left the customer she was serving to move down the counter to where Katy was standing. And as one, the remaining customers backed away from the feuding couple before the battle commenced. Not one person left the shop, mind, they wouldn’t miss this bit of excitement for the world.

  The two women were squaring up to each other when the shop filled with laughter. All eyes turned to Katy, whose head was thrown back and her rich clear laughter ricocheted from wall to wall. Caught off-balance, Dolly and Rita looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. ‘Can yer tell me what the hell yer find so funny?’ Dolly asked. ‘I didn’t hear no one crack a joke.’

  ‘I think you two are dead funny.’ Katy wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. No one was going to be allowed to spoil her day. ‘I can’t imagine what a horse and a cow are doing in a sweetshop. We stock most things, but not hay.’

  It started with a low titter, then grew to full-blown laughter. And it put a stop to Dolly and Rita’s fight – after all, how could you have a serious punch-up when everyone was laughing their heads off? And if they didn’t join in, people would say they were miserable cows, or mares, or even something worse.

  ‘I’ll solve the problem for yer,’ Katy said when calm was restored. ‘I’ll serve both of yer at the same time – how about that?’

  ‘Suits me, girl,’ Dolly said. ‘How about you, Reet?’

  ‘It’s OK by me.’ Rita grinned sheepishly at Katy. ‘Yer’ve got more sense than the pair of us put together.’

  Katy took great care to make sure Dolly’s quarter of wine gums and box of matches were laid on the counter at exactly the same time as Rita’s ten Woodbines and the Echo. She held out both hands to take the money, went to the till and came back with a halfpenny in one palm and a penny in the other. ‘There yer are, yer can’t fall out with that service, can yer?’ She was grinning widely. ‘Mind you, yer deserved it for giving us all a laugh. I’m going to enjoy working here if all the customers are comics, like you two.’

  Dolly bent her elbow and said to Rita, ‘Stick yer leg in, girl.’

  Arm in arm the two women walked towards the door. ‘It was funny, wasn’t it, Dolly?’

  ‘Yeah, I quite enjoyed it.’ They stepped into the street and as Dolly turned to pull the door behind them, those left in the shop heard her say, ‘Mind you, I didn’t think it was funny at the time, not when yer called me a lying mare.’

  ‘What about you callin’ me a cow? I mean . . .’ The rest of the words were lost as the door closed on them.

  ‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.’ Jim Edwards held his head in his hands as he shook with laughter. ‘They’ll be at loggerheads before they get halfway up the street.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so funny.’ Molly sniffed up. ‘Yer did well there, Katy, my love. Brilliant, yer were.’

  The few customers still in the shop agreed. ‘Yer handled that like an old-timer, queen,’ said one, while another piped up with, ‘Yer took the wind out of their sails, right enough.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to let them fight in this shop,’ Katy told them. ‘If they must fight, let them do it in the street.’

  Molly looked at her husband and chuckled. ‘You and me must be getting old, love. There’d have been bedlam here, with us flapping, trying to separate them, when all it took was a laugh from a fourteen-year-old. I can hardly credit it. It seems our new assistant will be able to teach us a thing or two.’

  Katy beamed. ‘Would yer like yer first lesson on Monday?’

  ‘Yer mean Monday week, sweetheart.’

  ‘No, I mean this Monday.’ Oh, how Katy was savouring these words. ‘The headmistress is letting me leave school tomorrow because I’ve got a job to go to.’

  Molly’s eyes lit up. She put her arms around the girl and hugged her tight. ‘I’m so glad, love, because me and Jim are up to our neck in it. An extra pair of hands will make all the difference. I had a feeling in me bones that you were going to be lucky for us, and I was right.’ She looked to her husband. ‘I said that, didn’t I, Jim?’

  ‘Yes, yer did, love.’ It was a long time since a smile had stayed so long on Jim Edwards’ face. ‘And we’re not only getting an extra pair of hands, we’re getting a referee to sort out the troublemakers. But perhaps I shouldn’t say that, or Katy will be asking for double pay. Better not praise her too highly – she might start getting ideas.’

  Chapter Four

  Katy went to work on the Saturday morning feeling very grown-up. Even though she was wearing her gymslip under her coat, and knee-length school socks, her head kept telling her she was now a working girl going out to earn a living. The weather was miserable, bitterly cold with a hint of snow in the air, but everything in her little world was bright. Her mother had been delighted she was leaving school and starting work the week before Christmas, and her joyful exclamations were still ringing in Katy’s ears. As for Colin – well, what he was going to do with his sixpence a week pocket money was nobody’s business.

  As she pushed open the shop door and heard the bell tinkle, Katy was thinking that at last the Baker family were going to be able to afford, perhaps not luxuries, but
a decent standard of living.

  As soon as she got behind the counter, though, there was no time for dreaming of the nice things to come. She was rushed off her feet with what seemed a never-ending stream of customers. Molly was working with her while Jim stayed in the stockroom making up the lists of Christmas orders. Most of the sweet jars had the price on them so Katy didn’t have to bother Molly very often to ask for help. She was quick with her hands and nimble on her feet, and she never forgot her mother’s advice to keep a smile on her face.

  It was one o’clock when Jim came through to say it was time for her dinner-break. ‘There’s a meat pie out there for yer, love, and I’ve made a pot of tea. I’ll give Molly a hand until yer come back, then she can have a break.’

  Katy wasn’t sorry to sit down and rest her feet and mind. It was all go behind that counter, but she’d really enjoyed it and told herself she was very lucky to have a job where you could have a laugh and a joke while you worked. And weighing the sweets out was a novelty, although it had taken her a while to gauge how many she should pour on to the scale. She’d given everyone in the shop a laugh when a little girl asked for two ounces of Dolly Mixtures and the fingers on the scale had spun around to half a pound when she’d been too heavy-handed with the jar.

  Katy popped the last piece of the meat pie into her mouth and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. She wouldn’t mention the Dolly Mixtures at home, she decided while sipping her tea, at least not in front of Colin. She’d never hear the end of it if he knew, and the whole street would have heard by the next day. She’d wait until they were in bed to tell her mother and they could have a good laugh under the cover of the sheet.

  The afternoon was just as busy as the morning, but there were two incidents which had Katy’s infectious laugh ringing out. The first was when Doreen’s mother came in and Molly went to serve her. Betty had shaken her head with determination. ‘It’s not that I don’t like yer, Molly, but I want to show Katy how I like me walnut toffee.’ She delved in her pocket and brought out a tape measure. ‘Yer see this, girl? Well, that’s an inch that way, and an inch this way. I don’t want any pieces bigger than that. And in each piece, I want to see some walnut.’

  ‘You can sod off, Betty Mason,’ Molly laughed. ‘Ye’re not asking for much, are yer?’

  Katy could see Betty’s mountainous bosom quivering and knew she was having a good laugh inside. But the big woman kept her face straight. ‘Listen to me, Molly Edwards, if I go to T.J. Hughes and ask for a yard of material, then it’s dead on a yard I’ll get. So what’s the difference in me coming here and asking for an inch of toffee, six times over?’

  Molly was ready for her. ‘You win, Betty, I’ll just get a pair of scissors and yer can cut yerself six squares of toffee. You know exactly what yer want so it’s best all round if yer do it yerself.’

  Katy wanted to tell her boss that nobody ever got the better of Betty Mason, but she decided silence would serve her better. She watched the big woman pocket the tape measure before rubbing her chubby hands together, a gloating smile on her face. ‘Now ye’re talking, girl. Pass me that bloody tray of toffee and the hammer.’

  Molly’s mouth gaped. ‘I can’t let yer do that! I was only kiddin’, I didn’t think yer’d take me serious. Other people buy that toffee, yer know, and they wouldn’t be very happy if they knew you’d had yer ruddy mitts all over it.’

  ‘What about me? I’m expected to eat it after you’ve had yer mitts all over it! At least I know where my hands have been; only God knows where yours get to.’

  Molly’s mouth gaped wider. ‘Well, the bloomin’ cheek of you! Are yer suggesting that me hands aren’t clean?’

  ‘I’m not sayin’ nothing, girl, except when I passed the window the other day yer were standin’ there picking yer nose. That was after yer’d given yer head a good scratch.’

  Molly burst out laughing. ‘I think we’d better call it a day, Betty, before me customers start to believe yer. Yer’d cause trouble in an empty house, you would.’ She jerked her head at Katy. ‘Break the pieces as small as yer can, love, just to keep her quiet.’

  Katy’s mouth opened in horror. ‘I haven’t served any toffee yet, Mrs Edwards. I wouldn’t know how to break it.’

  ‘Holy suffering ducks!’ Molly appealed to the woman who’d been patiently waiting to be served. ‘Will yer hang on another minute, Mrs Wilson?’

  The elderly white-haired woman smiled. ‘Yeah, go ’ed, I’m enjoying meself. And it’s warmer in here than it is in our ’ouse.’

  Molly was huffing as she reached for the toffee tray. ‘All this for a quarter of ruddy toffee.’

  Betty winked at Katy. ‘I don’t need a quarter, Molly, I only want two ounces! I’m not made of ruddy money, yer know.’

  When Katy burst out laughing Molly knew she was having her leg pulled. ‘Yer’ll have a quarter, Betty Mason, whether yer want it or not. I’ve a good mind to ram the flamin’ stuff down yer ruddy throat.’

  Doreen’s mother wagged a podgy finger. ‘Tut-tut, temper, temper.’

  The next incident which Katy would relate to her mother that night in bed, was when Dolly Armstrong came into the shop, followed closely by Rita Williams.

  Katy beamed at them. ‘Ah, the terrible twins.’

  Rita’s eyes narrowed. ‘Yer what?’ She turned to Dolly. ‘Did yer hear what she had the cheek to call us?’

  ‘I did, and I’ve a good mind to clock her one.’

  Undaunted, Katy carried on. She’d make friends with these women if it killed her. ‘Have yer never heard the story about the terrible twins? They were little rascals, or better still, lovable rogues. They were holy terrors, always up to mischief and I used to love reading about them ’cos they made me laugh.’

  The two women looked at each other, trying to decide if it was an insult or a compliment. They liked the sound of lovable rogues, though, so they came to the conclusion it was a compliment. As Jim was to say later, Rita grew at least a couple of inches in height, and Dolly’s bosom took on a life of its own and stood to attention. They smiled at Katy when they were leaving and even stood at the door and waved to her. She’d learned how to be diplomatic over the last few days and that would stand her in good stead for the future. If customers liked you, they came to your shop. If they didn’t, they shopped elsewhere.

  It was six o’clock when Molly told Katy it was time she went home. As the girl was putting her coat on, the shopkeeper handed her two half-crowns. ‘This is for today and the few nights yer’ve worked.’

  Katy stared at the silver coins and backed away as though they were going to bite her. ‘That’s far too much, I couldn’t take all that!’

  ‘Oh, yer can afford to work for nothing, can yer? As a sort of hobby, like?’

  ‘Well, no. But that’s too much to take off yer.’

  ‘Listen, love, I’m not daft in the head, I don’t go around giving money away for nothing. You have earned that money, so take it.’

  When Katy hesitated, Molly slipped it into her pocket. ‘Off yer go now, and we’ll see yer on Monday.’

  ‘Would it be all right if I spent some of it in the shop now? Not much, just to buy some tinsel and a couple of streamers to brighten our house up for Christmas.’

  ‘Of course yer can. It’s your money so yer can do what yer like with it.’

  Happiness made Katy act on impulse, and she threw her arms around Molly’s neck. ‘Oh, thank you, Mrs Edwards, thank you, thank you, thank you.’

  Molly blinked away a tear. ‘Do I get a hug every week when yer get yer wages? I’d better not tell Jim, or he’ll be paying yer daily.’

  Katy remembered then that the woman she was hugging was her employer. She dropped her arms and looked embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry, it’s just that with you being so kind, and me not expecting so much, well I got carried away. I’ll not make a habit of it, I promise.’

  Molly smiled into the pretty face. ‘Listen, sweetheart, if you want to hug me then you go right ahead
. Unless, of course, we’ve got a shop full of people.’

  Katy lowered her eyes and asked shyly, ‘Shall I go the other side of the counter to be served?’

  ‘Will you heckerslike!’ Molly gave her a gentle push. ‘Yer work here now so don’t expect to be waited on.’

  Katy hummed as she picked out the decorations that caught her eye. Three paper streamers that were cut into shapes – they could be hung across the ceiling. And the lengths of tinsel, in silver, green and red, could be draped across the mirror and pictures. That should well brighten up the room. She was turning away when she saw the packets of coloured balloons. There were twelve in a packet for tuppence, and they were all different shapes. Ooh, they would look a treat, but should she spend two whole pennies on them? In her mind’s eye she could see the balloons hanging from the picture rail, and in the end she couldn’t resist.

  She placed her purchases on the counter and took one of the half-crowns from her pocket. ‘Will you serve me, Mr Edwards, please? I’d rather not do it meself.’

  After a nod from his wife, and a cursory glance at the decorations, Jim said, ‘That’ll be a shilling, Katy.’

  ‘They come to more than that, I’ve added—’

  Her words were cut short. ‘I said a shilling, Katy, so hand it over and get home before yer mam thinks we’re working yer to death.’

  Katy felt as though she was walking on air as she made her way home. Wait until her mam knew she’d bought all the decorations and still had four bob left. She wouldn’t half get a surprise. And it meant she could get Colin’s shoes soled and buy him a cheap shirt for Christmas. That would be him seen to, and perhaps when Katy got her wages next week there’d be enough for something new for her and her mam. Not that they were going anywhere, but if the room was all dressed up it would be nice if they were, too.