Pure as the Lily

by Catherine Cookson

  Everyone was singing. What matter if, at the head of the crocodile, it was “I wish you a Merry Christmas’, while further along it was, “ Away in a Manger’, and further still “Knees up Mother Brown’ with the tail end, “ We’ll meet again’?

  When Jimmy led the way behind the band in a sort of rumba step dictated by the pressure of the girl’s hands on his hips, one of the Salvation Army men laughed at him and cried, “Are you happy, brother?”

  And he shouted back, “Yes, indeed; I’m happy, brother.” And the girls behind took it up and yelled, “Are you happy, brother? We’ve got them on the run. Are you happy, brother? We’ve got them on the run. Germany here we come! Are you happy, brother?”

  He came to the road leading down to the ferry, and his reaction was to stop at the kerb, but the girls behind pushed him on, yelling now, “Stop for nothing, brother! Stop for nothing, brother! Look out, Adolf, we’re on the way!”

  As he went to cross the road there was a shrieking of brakes when a lorry pulled up sharply, and two soldiers, sit ting in the cab, grinned down on them and shook their heads.

  When he led them across the end of the road leading down from the Mill Dam bank into the Market there was another shrieking of brakes, this

  time from a line of vehicles 148 making their way out of the market and towards the bank. But this time there were no smiling faces grinning at them from the cabs; instead curses rained on them.

  The crocodile was vast now, pushing them forward; the noise was deafening, the tooting of motor horns and angry cries competing with the confused singing. The whole market place was not only crowded with people but with a jumble of cars.

  A policeman appeared from the direction of Kepple Street, where the main police station was, then another and another; but even the sight of their uniform had no power to break up the crocodile or stop the crowd having ‘a bit carryon’. It was a long time since anybody had had a bit carryon in the open air like this; everybody was making the best of it while the light lasted.

  The policemen were reinforced. They snapped the crocodile in several places; and then they came to the head of it.

  “Come on! Come on! Break it up you! Break it up!” They were yelling at the tall, scarlet-faced, laughing young man.

  What? Oh aye! Yes, yes of course. “

  As if coming out of a dream Jimmy looked from one to the other of the policemen. And that would have been that. He would have broken away from the crocodile, he would have wished them a happy Christmas and walked quietly off up the bank and towards home. But the chain behind him suddenly disintegrated into a crowd which surrounded him and the policemen, and the two A. T. S. girls shouted, for no reason that he could see, “Leave him alone! Leave him alone! What harm is he doing?

  We were only having a bit of fun. Little enough we get. It’s Christmas Eve. Perhaps you’ve forgotten, it’s Christmas Eve. “

  “Break it up! Break it up! Get going!” The policeman began pushing.

  One of them pushed at Jimmy with the flat of his hand so hard that he staggered and would have fallen but for the support from behind, and this angered him.

  He became brave with the warmth of the whisky inside

  him. There was no need for this kind of thing.

  “Now look,” he said.

  “What-d’you-mean?”

  The policeman had no time to tell him what he meant for he was trying to prevent his helmet from being knocked off;

  but he was just a fraction too late and when he bent to retrieve it someone placed a boot on his buttocks and sent him sprawling.

  It was amazing how quickly the crowd divided to let the policeman fall. Now the other policeman was laying about him, and as if they had been conjured up out of the snow—filled air there appeared more policemen, six of them.

  When two of them gripped Jimmy by the arms and pushed him through the crowd, which parted now almost docilely, he struggled as he cried, “Look! you’ve made a mistake. Let go of me, man, do you hear? I’ve done nothing, an’ you don’t know who I am.”

  “There’s plenty of time to tell us, mate.”

  As they dragged him along Barrington Street towards the Police Station the two girls followed, shouting, “He was just singing carols, that’s all, he was just singing carols. You must be short of a job.” And one policeman turned and called back, “If you don’t get away this minute I’ll have another JOB of taking you in an’ all.”

  When they bundled him into the Police Station the joy and gladness that had so lately filled him was replaced by a deep fear: he was being locked up like his da. God in heaven! he was being locked up. He now tried to explain to the policeman, he used his most persuasive manner.

  “Look, sir, I was only singing carols.”

  “All in good time,” said the policeman from behind the counter.

  “You’ll have plenty of time to explain.”

  That was all they could say, he would have plenty of time to explain.

  What were they going to do with him? No, no, surely not; they couldn’t be going to put him in a cell. Why, he had only been singing carols and leading a crocodile. After all, it was Christmas Eve.

  When he was taken to another room he said as much to an officer who sat behind a desk writing things down, and when the policeman who was standing to his side began speaking he gaped at him, for he was saying, TDrunk and disorderly. Holding up traffic and obstructing the police in the course of their duty. “

  He now cried at him, “I did no such thing! I never obstructed you; you pushed me and I never raised my hand to you. As for be ... being drunk, you’ll have to prove that, that’s libel.”

  The policeman by his side was now looking towards Jimmy’s coat pocket, and the one at the desk, following the look, said, “Would you mind removing your overcoat, sir?”

  “I don’t see why. What’s that got to....”

  “Would you mind, sir?”

  His head bowed, he took off his overcoat, and the policeman taking it from him folded it inside out as if careful not to crease it, and in doing so exposed the upper half of the flat bottle of whisky reposing there.

  Of a sudden Jimmy knew he was going to be sick. He put his hand over his mouth and immediately he was led along a corridor and into a washroom.

  It was dark when the shop door opened and the blackout curtain was pushed aside and the blonde woman came hurrying in and said to the girl behind the counter, “Mrs. Tollett, can I see Mrs. Tollett?”

  “I suppose so.” Teresa went through the storeroom, picked up a broom and, directing the handle ceiling wards knocked three times, then yelled, “Mrs. Tollett! somebody to see you.”

  When Mary came into the shop and saw the woman she instinctively recognized her; she was Jimmy’s Doolally-tap, and her mouth fell into a small gape as she looked across the counter and said, “Yes?”

  Lally, her expression greatly troubled, as if she were about to burst into tears, said, “Can ... can I have a word with you?” Then she glanced at the curious eyes of the customers l5l

  directed towards her, and Mary said, Yes, yes, come through. “

  She did not stop in the storeroom but led the way out into the back yard and up the stairs. In the sitting-room, she said, “Sit down Mrs....”

  “Briggs. Mrs. Briggs.”

  “Oh yes, Mrs. Briggs.”

  They stared at each other until Mary said, “Are you in trouble?”

  Lally gulped, hitched her bust up with her forearm, and muttered, “No, no, not me; it’s... it’s Mr. Walton.”

  “Jimmy?”

  “Aha. You see.... I, I’ll sit down if you don’t mind.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” Mary pushed a chair forward towards the fire.

  “Would you like a cup of tea?”

  “I wouldn’t mind. Ta. But I think, I think you’d better listen first.

  You see, I’ve been down to Shields, Albert’s auntie lives there. She’s old an’ on her own an’ I drop in when I’m down there you know.
I was coming back ‘cos I wanted to get back afore it was black-out, you know? “

  She nodded her head towards Mary and Mary said, “Yes, yes, I see.” She was becoming conscious of saying, Yes, yes. “

  Well, it started to snow just as I got on the bus at the bottom of King Street. And then, when we got into the Market Place we got stuck like. I’d never seen such a crowd in me life, never, honest. “ Now she shook her head.

  “Eeh! it was, well, as a man said to me, it was like as if the war was over, you know?” She laughed here, and then as if apologizing she looked at Mary for a moment with a straight face and went on, “Well, as I was sayin’, the noise was terrible. There were people hootin’ motor horns, singing an’ yelling an’ dancing, everybody was going round in a chain holding on to each other. I’d never seen anything like it, honest.”

  When she stopped and smiled, Mary wanted to say. For God’s sake get on with it, woman. “

  “Well, there I was sittin’ and I looked out of the window and I saw Mr. Walton.” Her voice dropped, and her face fell into straightness again.

  “He ... he was talkin’ to the polis. And then there was a scuffle and he nearly fell and ... and then I saw them takin’ him away.”

  ‘jimmy. “ Our Jimmy?”

  Mary now had one hand covering her cheek and Lally said, “I got off the bus but I couldn’t get through the crowd. When I did he was gone;

  they’d taken him to the station. And there were two lasses there they seemed to know all about it They were A. T. S. and they said they had just been singin’ carols with the Salvation Army band, that’s all.

  Everybody had been happy and singin’ carols, and he had started a sort of crocodile dance round the Market. It was like one big happy party, they said. And then the polls had come and they’d got nasty. “

  “Oh my God!” Mary’s head was bowed deeply on her chest, and when Lally said, “I thought I’d better come and tell you. You see, his wife well, she don’t talk to me much. An’ I heard he comes to you a lot ‘cos he’s fond of you like ,.. an’ it was on me way. I hope you don’t mind....”

  “No, no, I’m glad you did, and thank you very much, it’s very good of you.”

  “It’s a shame, he’s so nice, is Mr. Walton, he would do nobody no harm, nobody. I’ve never known a man like him, not so polite in his manner and such.”

  “No, he would do nobody no harm,” Mary repeated, and then added, “Only to himself.”

  They looked at each other; and then Lally said very thoughtfully, “Aye, well, that’s life isn’t it?”

  As Mary looked back at the big, rather blousy blonde figure, she thought. What makes them think she’s daft? But Jimmy, their Jimmy. Oh my God! the police station. She never wanted to see the inside of a police station again as long as she lived, but she’d have to go down.

  Ben would get him out on bail. But Betty, and her ma, my God! this would give them a handle on him. Quickly she said to Lally, “I wonder if you would do something for me, Mrs. Briggs?”

  directed towards her, and Mary said, “Yes, yes, come through.”

  She did not stop in the storeroom but led the way out into the back yard and up the stairs. In the sitting-room, she said, “Sit down Mrs....”

  “Briggs. Mrs. Briggs.”

  “Oh yes, Mrs. Briggs.”

  They stared at each other until Mary said, ^Are you in trouble? “

  Lally gulped, hitched her bust up with her forearm, and muttered, “No, no, not me; it’s... it’s Mr. Walton.”

  “Jimmy?”

  “Aha. You see.... I, I’ll sit down if you don’t mind.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” Mary pushed a chair forward towards the fire.

  “Would you like a cup of tea?”

  “I wouldn’t mind. Ta. But I think, I think you’d better listen first.

  You see, I’ve been down to Shields, Albert’s auntie lives there. She’s old an’ on her own an’ I drop in when I’m down there you know. I was coming back ‘cos I wanted to get back afore it was black-out, you know? “

  She nodded her head towards Mary and Mary said, “Yes, yes, I see.” She was becoming conscious of saying, “Yes, yes.”

  Well, it started to snow just as I got on the bus at the bottom of King Street. And then, when we got into the Market Place we got stuck like. I’d never seen such a crowd in me life, never, honest. “ Now she shook her head.

  “Eeh! it was, well, as a man said to me, it was like as if the war was over, you know?” She laughed here, and then as if apologizing she looked at Mary for a moment with a straight face and went on, “Well, as I was sayin’, the noise was terrible. There were people hootin’ motor horns, singing an’ yelling an’ dancing, everybody was going round in a chain holding on to each other. I’d never seen anything like it, honest.”

  When she stopped and smiled, Mary wanted to say, “For God’s sake get on with it, woman.”

  “Well, there I was sittin’ and I looked out of the window and I saw Mr. Walton.” Her voice dropped, and her face fell into straightness again.

  “He ... he was talkin’ to the polis. And then there was a scuffle and he nearly fell and ... and then I saw them takin’ him away.”

  ‘jimmy. “ Our Jimmy?”

  Mary now had one hand covering her cheek and Lally said, “I got off the bus but I couldn’t get through the crowd. When I did he was gone;

  they’d taken him to the station. And there were two lasses there they seemed to know all about it They were A. T. S. and they said they had just been singin’ carols with the Salvation Army band, that’s all.

  Everybody had been happy and singin’ carols, and he had started a sort of crocodile dance round the Market. It was like one big happy party, they said. And then the polis had come and they’d got nasty. “

  “Oh my God!” Mary’s head was bowed deeply on her chest, and when Lally said, “I thought I’d better come and tell you. You see, his wife well, she don’t talk to me much. An’ I heard he comes to you a lot ‘cos he’s fond of you like ... an’ it was on me way. I hope you don’t mind....”

  “No, no, I’m glad you did, and thank you very much, it’s very good of you.”

  “It’s a shame, he’s so nice, is Mr. Walton, he would do nobody no harm, nobody. I’ve never known a man like him, not so polite in his manner and such.”

  “No, he would do nobody no harm,” Mary repeated, and then added, “Only to himself.”

  They looked at each other; and then Lally said very thoughtfully, “Aye, well, that’s life isn’t it?”

  As Mary looked back at the big, rather blousy blonde figure, she thought. What makes them think she’s daft? But Jimmy, their Jimmy. Oh my God! the police station. She never wanted to see the inside of a police station again as long as she lived, but she’d have to go down.

  Ben would get him out on bail. But Betty, and her ma, my God! this would give them a handle on him. Quickly she said to Lally, “I wonder if you would do something for me, Mrs. Briggs?”

  “53

  “Anything, anything I can, Mrs. Tollett, an’ pleased, yes.”

  “Well, would you not tell his wife, or anybody, until I get him home and then he can do the telling himself?”

  “Oh, I won’t say a word, Mrs. Tollett. No, not a word. Anyway, as I said, I didn’t want to go to his wife ‘cos she’s no room for me. Not that I’ve done anything to her. No, I won’t say a word.”

  “Thank you. I’ll get you a cup of tea.”

  “No, no’—Lally stood up ‘you’ll want to get on. It’s only five minutes’ walk home. Thanks all the same.”

  “I’m grateful to you, very grateful.” Mary gave her a small un mirthful smile now as they faced each other and added, “I’ve heard about you from Jimmy.”

  ‘you have! “ The big, pale face lighted up, and as the blue eyes sparkled with warmth Mary could see what attracted their Jimmy, the girl or woman that she was looked so kindly.

  “He always speaks very well of you.”<
br />
  “Does he? Well, fancy! But then, I couldn’t imagine him speaking bad of anybody. I’m not just saying it ‘cos he’s your brother, Mrs.

  Tollett, but I think he’s a gentleman, I do, an’ I don’t care who hears me say it. “

  Mary stared into the big placid face for a moment, then said, “It’s very kind of you to say so. Well, thanks again. I’ll get ready now, I’ll ... I’ll have to get me husband to go down with me. I’ll see you out.”

  She saw Lally to the back door, where she shook her hand and again thanked her; then she flew back into the house and into the dining-room to Cousin Annie who was enjoying her tea, as she did all her meals, and she said quickly, “I’ve got to go and see Ben; give an eye to her, will you?” She nodded towards the wall.

  “What’s your rush? Who was that came in ... Mrs. McArthur? What you going off like the devil in a gale of wind to see Ben for? He’ll be along shortly.”

  She was going out of the door as she said, “I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.” She went into her room, grabbed her coat and hat and put them on as she ran down the stairs;

  then she was stumbling through the dark streets towards Flake Street, and Ben.

  Jimmy in prison. He’d be thinking of their da all the time. Oh, the fool! the fool! But in a way it wasn’t unexpected for she had been waiting for something like this. And this was only the beginning. Yes, the way he was going, this was only the beginning. But singing carols in Shields Market to the Salvation Army bandl

  Chapter Three

  ‘“what’s he been up to?” Alice looked at Betty.

  “Everybody’s been sniggering around the doors for days. And then just this morning, her across the road, the Cooper piece, shouts to me, “ Goodwill to men. By!