Taking a Chance on Love

by Joan Jonker

  ‘I could pay her back, ’cos Claire said she was going out to work, and Bobby and Amelia will be getting jobs. So she’d get paid.’

  ‘She’d make sure of that, sunshine, believe me! Even if she had to take it out of yer face. No, I wouldn’t be doing yer no favour by introducing yer to Ma, she’s not a nice person to know. I don’t want her to be the cause of us falling out with each other.’ Then Beth suddenly drew her legs in from the fire and sat up straight. ‘Ay, the best person yer can talk to is Flo! She’s the only woman in the neighbourhood that Ma Maloney’s afraid of! Oh, why didn’t I think of her before? I’ll give a knock on the wall and she’ll be here within minutes.’

  ‘I’d rather yer didn’t, Beth, I don’t want it broadcast that I’m trying to borrow money. It’s something I’ve never done in me life, and I wouldn’t be humiliating meself now if I wasn’t so desperate.’

  ‘Hannah, Flo Henderson may have a big mouth, but she knows when to keep it closed. And she’s got a big heart, she’ll help anyone if she can. So it wouldn’t hurt to ask what she thinks of yer going to Ma Maloney for a loan. Yer’ve got a choice of two worries, sunshine, and that’s whether yer go to Ma Maloney or be a nervous wreck ’cos ye’re stuck for a bed for yer grandson to sleep in. We all need help sometime in our lives, and we shouldn’t be too proud to ask. So I’ll give Flo a knock and she can put yer wise.’

  Beth used the heel of her shoe to bang on the wall which separated the two houses. ‘I’d better put the kettle on ’cos she’s a tea tank is Flo. She can drink it until it comes out of her ears.’

  When she came back from the kitchen, Beth was wearing a smile. ‘I’ll get her to tell yer about the set-to she had with the Maloney woman. It was a few years ago and the talk of the neighbourhood for weeks. Yer see, no one had ever crossed swords with her until the day she rubbed Flo up the wrong way. Most of the women were terrified of her ’cos they’d borrowed money without telling their husbands and lived in fear of them finding out. Which is daft, really, because the poor beggars only borrowed to put food on the table. But yer know what some men are like, they’ve no idea how hard it is to try and make ends meet every week.’

  A loud rap on the window heralded the arrival of Flo, in all her glory. She was wearing a wrap-around pinny that didn’t quite wrap-around, a mob-cap that fell down to her eyes because the elastic had perished, and there was a huge smudge of soot on the end of her nose.

  Beth burst out laughing. ‘Ah, yer shouldn’t have bothered getting dressed up, sunshine, there’s only me and Hannah here.’

  ‘It’s too bleedin’ early in the morning to be sarky, queen, ’cos me brain’s not in motion yet. But no doubt I’ll have an answer to yer remark in an hour’s time.’ Flo turned to Hannah with sweetness in her smile and voice. ‘How are you this morning, queen? I hope we find yer well and hearty?’

  ‘Actually, it’s Hannah who wants to ask yer something, sunshine, so sit yerself down while I pour us a cuppa.’ Beth turned at the kitchen door. ‘Seeing as I’m nosy and don’t want to miss anything, will yer talk about the weather until I come back?’

  ‘That should take us all of ten seconds, queen, ’cos the weather’s bleedin’ awful.’ Flo dropped on to one of the wooden dining chairs, thinking it would be easier to get up from than the low couch. After a sly glance to the kitchen, she whispered, ‘What is it yer wanted to ask me about, queen?’

  ‘I heard that!’ Beth shouted. ‘Keep yer mouth buttoned until I bring the tea in.’

  ‘Nosy cow,’ Flo muttered. ‘And she can be wicked, too! I bet if I asked yer again what yer want me for, she’d be bad enough to give me a cup of tea with no sugar in.’

  Beth bustled in carrying a tray. ‘There yer are, that didn’t take long. There’s no biscuits, but even if I had any, it’s too early in the morning for luxuries.’

  When they were all settled with cup and saucer in hand, Hannah appealed to Beth. ‘Will you tell Flo about me problem?’

  The little fat woman feigned horror. ‘Yer haven’t got a bun in the oven, have yer?’

  ‘This isn’t funny, sunshine, it’s dead serious.’ Beth explained Hannah’s dilemma over sleeping arrangements. ‘She could do with another single bed, but hasn’t the wherewithal to buy one. So she was asking me about Ma Maloney, and wondering whether she should borrow from her?’

  Flo put her cup on the table for safety. ‘Oh, yer want to keep away from her, queen, she’s a bad bugger. She must be loaded with the money she rakes in every week, but she walks around like a tramp. And talk about being tight-fisted – she wouldn’t give yer a spot if she had the ruddy measles! Mind you, I’ve got to hand it to her for being clever money wise. She knows exactly to the bleedin’ penny how much everyone owes, and she’ll not let them off with a farthing. She’d take the bread out of kids’ mouths, she’s that bad.’

  ‘I don’t know where else to turn, Flo, and I really am desperate. I’d only be borrowing for a couple of weeks, then she’d be paid back.’

  Flo snorted. ‘Oh, she’d be paid back all right, she’d make sure of that. Yer’d be well advised to steer clear of her, queen, I’m warning yer.’

  ‘Tell her about the time you borrowed off her, sunshine,’ Beth said. ‘How she ran after yer for the money, and how much interest she charges.’

  ‘Yeah, she stopped me in the bleedin’ street, the hard-faced cow! Right outside the butcher’s shop, she starting yelling at the top of her voice how much I owed her and when was I going to pay it back? I was mortified, queen, I can tell yer.’

  Beth wanted to get to the part which would bring a smile to Hannah’s face, so she egged her neighbour on. ‘She didn’t get away with it, though, did she? I can remember it as though it was yesterday. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen.’

  Flo chuckled. ‘Yeah, it was funny. And it worked, too, ’cos she never bothered me again. She got her money back, but it was in me own time.’

  Hannah leaned forward, her eyes bright with interest. ‘What did yer do, sweetheart?’

  ‘I’ll show yer what I did.’ Flo got to her feet and held her arms away from her sides. ‘Yer can see the width of me, queen, I mean, a pig wouldn’t get past me in an entry. Anyway, I put me basket on the ground and walked like this towards Ma Maloney. Yer’ve seen the way boxers walk? Well, that’s what I did. I got right up to the woman and pushed her with me tummy. She had to move back a few steps or she’d have keeled over, then I pushed me tummy into her again and she bounced back. By this time we had a big audience, ’cos Ma isn’t a very popular woman in these parts, and they were clapping and cheering me on. The butcher even left his customers standing in his shop while he came out to referee.’ She wiped away the tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks. ‘Oh, God, but it was funny.’

  ‘It was a damn sight funnier than you’re making out,’ Beth said. ‘The woman bounced back at least six times. Her feet left the ground and I don’t know how she kept her balance.’

  Hannah looked from one to the other. ‘And what happened then?’

  Flo walked slowly back to her chair. ‘Well, I looked down me nose at her, didn’t I?’

  Beth hooted. ‘Yer looked down yer nose at her? Sunshine, she’s head and shoulders over yer! What yer should have said was that yer looked up her nose.’

  Flo looked to Hannah and rolled her eyes. ‘She’s a sarky cow, this one. The best of it is, she stood with all the others cheering me on, but not one of them offered to help.’

  ‘Yer didn’t need no help, sunshine, yer were doing very well on yer own. In fact, yer could have taken the lot of us on without turning a hair.’

  Flo was quite happy with that. After all, she knew a compliment when she heard one. ‘It ended up with me telling Ma Maloney that if she ever made a holy show of me again, or broadcast my private business, I wouldn’t be responsible for me actions. She never came after me for the money I owed. I did pay it back, but I used to take it to her house when it suited me.’

  ‘She’s still me best bet,’ Ha
nnah said. ‘I’ve no one else to turn to.’

  ‘How much were yer thinking of asking her for, queen?’

  ‘I don’t know what a new bed would cost. Probably about four pound.’

  ‘Yer don’t need to pay that much out!’ Flo shook her head in disbelief. ‘There’s a shop in Stanley Road sells second-hand furniture, and when I was passing there last week, they had an iron bedstead outside which looked in good nick. They were only asking five bob for it, and yer wouldn’t have to worry about it being dirty ’cos yer could give it a good wash down. All yer’d need then is a mattress, and yer can get a cheap one from TJ’s for ten bob. It won’t be a thick one, mind, but it’ll serve its purpose.’

  ‘So Hannah would only need to borrow fifteen shillings, then?’ Beth could see the old lady looking a bit more cheerful. ‘That wouldn’t be so bad.’

  ‘Ma Maloney only lends out in pounds. Yer see, she charges yer a shilling a week for every pound yer owe. That’s why some people can’t get out of her debt. By the time they’ve paid the interest, they can’t afford to pay anything off the loan. That’s why I said the old witch must be coining it in.’

  ‘Will yer take me around to her or are yer daggers drawn?’ Hannah wanted everything doing quickly to ease her mind. ‘Today if possible.’

  ‘No, I’m not daggers drawn with her, queen, so I’ll take yer around and introduce yer.’ Flo’s chubby face creased with mirth and her narrowed eyes sparkled with mischief. ‘In fact, we’ll ask for the loan of three pounds, that’s a pound each. What d’yer think, Beth? It wouldn’t half come in handy for a few extra bits for Christmas.’

  ‘No, Andy would go mad if he thought I was borrowing from a moneylender.’ But even as Beth spoke she was thinking what she could do with an extra pound. The first thing that came to mind was an overcoat for Joey. He badly needed one in this weather, and she’d get quite a decent one from Great Homer Street market for ten bob. ‘Mind you, what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.’

  Flo’s smile was one of satisfaction. ‘Ay, I can’t wait to see Ma’s face when she sets eyes on me, she won’t know whether to laugh or cry. We’ll go after we’ve been to the shops, eh?’

  Several miles away, Ginny and Marie were sitting in a room with seven other girls. It was an office on the top floor of the Woolworth building in Church Street. They’d handed in their white cards and school reports, and been told to wait until their names were called. There was no sign of their classmates, Alice and Doreen, but they were too full of nervous excitement to worry or care. Three girls had been called since they’d arrived almost an hour earlier, and as they’d been there when Ginny and Marie arrived, it appeared they were interviewing applicants on a first come, first served basis. It was very quiet in the room, with girls talking in whispers, so when the door was thrown open, nine hearts started to beat faster. ‘Marie Whittaker, would you come with me, please?’

  Ginny touched her friend’s arm and said softly, ‘Good luck.’ Then she sat back in her chair and wondered if she would be called next. She hoped so, the suspense was terrible. To take her mind off things, she promised herself to look around the store before taking the tram back to school. She may as well make the most of it while she could because she’d only been into the town centre a couple of times in her life before. That was because her mam couldn’t afford the tram fare. But things would be a bit easier, money wise, when she started earning. How proud she’d be when she handed her wage packet over every week, knowing it would make life a lot better for her mam.

  Ginny could no longer keep her mind off the impending interview. She wondered how Marie was faring. She hoped her classmate would wait for her because she was dying to hear how Marie had got on. Not that there was any chance of their both being taken on, that would be stretching the imagination too far even to think that two girls from the same class in one school would get the only two jobs on offer. It was a lovely thought, but that was all it was.

  ‘Virginia Porter, will you come with me, please?’

  Ginny jumped to her feet. She felt absolutely terrified, her legs unwilling to move, her teeth chattering and her face stiff. But into her hazy mind flashed the words of the clerk at the Exchange. ‘Be pleasant and keep that smile on yer face.’ So she approached the lady who was holding the door open for her with a tremulous smile. ‘Thank you.’

  As they stepped outside the room and into a corridor, Ginny caught sight of Marie going into a room a few doors down. It was just a glimpse and more likely than not her classmate hadn’t seen her. ‘Will my friend be going home now, or can she wait for me?’

  ‘I couldn’t tell you that, my dear, you’ll have to wait and see. But come along, Miss Ormsby is waiting for you.’ They passed a door and Ginny could hear the clicking of typewriters, and the ping when the carriages reached the end of a line. When they came to the next door, the woman halted Ginny by placing a hand on her arm. ‘Stand here.’ With a flourish, the door was opened and the woman called, ‘Virginia Porter, Miss Ormsby.’ Then a hand was being pressed into her back and Ginny was propelled into a well-furnished office. She had never felt so frightened in her life as when she stared at the woman seated behind the desk. Her heart was thumping, her legs felt like jelly, and although she clamped her teeth together to stop them from chattering, they wouldn’t behave themselves. But through all that, she managed to keep a smile on her face. That it was a forced smile was not lost on Miss Ormsby, but she gave the girl full credit for trying. Nearly all the girls she’d interviewed over the years had been nervous and apprehensive, which was only to be expected as they were still schoolchildren. The ones who weren’t nervous, who stared her out as though to say she held no fear for them, were never offered a job. They were too bold to act as sales assistants because they’d clearly have no patience with customers, and in Woolworth’s all the staff were taught that the customer might not always be right but it was not their place to tell them so.

  Miss Ormsby waved to a chair facing her across the desk. ‘Sit down, please, Virginia.’

  Chapter Eight

  When the door closed behind her, Ginny eyed the expanse of floor she had to cover to reach the chair. She thought her legs would buckle before she was halfway there. But she did make it, the smile still fixed on her face, and when she was seated she placed the patent leather clutch bag on her lap before lacing her fingers together to stop her hands from shaking.

  ‘There’s no need to feel nervous, Virginia,’ Sarah Ormsby said. ‘I’m only going to ask you a few questions, nothing very terrible.’

  ‘Yes, Miss Ormsby,’ Ginny managed to croak as the woman scanned the card from the Labour Exchange before picking up her school report. This held no fears for the girl because she’d never had a bad report in all her years at school.

  ‘I’ve just interviewed a pupil from the same school, Marie Whittaker, do you know her?’

  ‘Oh, yes, me and Marie are in the same class. We don’t live far from each other and I remember us starting in the infants on the same day.’

  ‘So she’s quite a good friend of yours?’

  Ginny was beginning to realise this woman wasn’t an ogre and she relaxed a little. ‘She is one of me friends, yes, like a lot of other girls in the class. But she’s not me very best friend. That’s another girl from our class whose name is Joan. She lives next door to me. We’ve been friends all our lives.’

  ‘Tell me about your home life, Virginia. About your parents and how many brothers and sisters you have?’

  ‘I’ve only got one brother, Miss, that’s our Joey and he’s thirteen.’ Ginny was on home ground talking about her family, and although she wasn’t aware of it, her smile had softened and her eyes were aglow. ‘Then there’s me mam and dad. I take after me mam in looks, she’s got fair hair and blue eyes. But our Joey is the image of me dad, with jet black hair and dark brown eyes.’ Her face became more animated as she spoke of the people she loved. ‘My mam is very pretty and me dad is really handsome.’

  ‘
You get on well with your parents and brother, then?’

  Ginny looked surprised by the question. ‘Oh, yes, I’ve got the best parents and brother in the whole world. We get along fine because we love each other very much.’

  Miss Ormsby nodded. ‘I’m glad to hear that. Not all children have good parents and a loving home so you are very lucky. And now can you tell me why you want to work as a shop assistant in this store?’

  There was no hesitation. ‘It’s what I want to do more than anything, Miss! And I think I would make a good shop assistant because I like people. I like talking to them and saying things that bring a smile to their face. And working in a big shop like Woolworth’s, well, I’ll be really proud.’

  Ginny realised what she’d said and a hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean it to sound like that, Miss, I wasn’t being forward. I meant if I was lucky enough to get a job here as an assistant, or in any other shop, I would be over the moon.’

  Sarah Ormsby kept back a smile only with difficulty. ‘You do realise that it isn’t the same as playing at shop when you were little? Serving behind a counter is an occupation which requires many skills, and in a store as large as this one, you would be required to observe for several months before being allowed to approach a customer. You would be working under strict supervision until such time as your supervisor considered you were capable of coping with customers unaided. That would depend on how quickly whoever is finally chosen for the position learns the many things that are to be learned. For instance, deportment, speech, appearance, ability to handle money and attitude towards customers – some of whom, I must say, can be very difficult and need to be handled with kid gloves. No assistant should ever answer back or treat a customer with indifference. Such behaviour would not be tolerated.’