by Joan Jonker
Dot thought she’d add a little bit of flattery. ‘I was just thinking the same thing! I don’t know what ye’re taking that makes yer look so young, but I wouldn’t mind some of it meself.’
The man’s chest expanded about six inches. He was beside himself. He didn’t know whether to flash his smile, rub his hands or stroke his moustache. And Flo thought the whole thing was so hilarious, she couldn’t help adding her twopennyworth. Anyone as vain as this man, she thought, deserved to have his leg pulled. So she heaped more praise on the poor bloke’s head. ‘If yer could put whatever it is in bottles and sell it, yer wouldn’t have to worry about flogging second-hand furniture, yer’d be a ruddy millionaire.’
Hannah wasn’t used to the humour of the three friends or the antics they got up to. She just wanted to get a bed sorted out as quickly as possible. ‘Could we see the other bed, please, and would yer tell us how much ye’re selling it for?’
The salesman moved an old-fashioned screen out of the way, and there was the bed. The spring base, the mattress and the wooden headboard were standing up against a wall, while the iron bars were lying across the floor, tied together with string. ‘It’s practically brand new, there’s not a mark or stain on the mattress.’ Then began the sales talk. ‘The house it came from was like a little palace, yer could eat yer food off the floor.’
‘Can yer let the mattress down, so me friend can have a good look at it?’ Beth was feeling confident that this was the bed Hannah would end up with. It certainly looked in excellent condition. It all depended now on the mattress and price.
Hannah nodded, well satisfied with the cleanliness of the mattress. It would certainly be the answer to her problems, if she could afford it. ‘How much are yer asking for it?’
‘Only a pound, love, and yer’d be getting a bargain. It’s worth twice that.’
‘A pound!’ The sound of Flo’s voice had the man creasing his face as though to say, oh, not that one again. ‘No one in their right mind would give yer a pound for it! She’d be better off taking the seven and six one and buying a brand new mattress from TJ’s for ten bob. She’d be two and six in pocket.’
The man sighed. ‘Okay, I’ll drop it two and six, even though I’ll be losing money on the deal.’
Flo shook her head. ‘No, yer’ll have to do better than that. If my mate’s got any sense, she won’t give yer a penny more than fifteen bob. And that’s being generous with yer. But if yer can’t see yer way clear to doing that, well, I’ll have to take her to another shop I know where the bloke is more understanding.’
Hannah’s heart stopped beating, and Beth and Dot held their breath. Flo had never let them down before but this time Hannah’s peace of mind depended on it.
Harry Partridge, for that was the shopkeeper’s name, did some quick thinking. He wasn’t likely to sell the bed to anyone else as most people were spending what money they had on food and presents for Christmas. And he would still be making a profit at fifteen bob. But he could strangle the little fat one with his bare hands. He was sure he’d have got what he’d asked for if she’d kept her ruddy nose out of it. If he ever saw her coming to the shop again he’d put the closed sign up. ‘Oh, go on then, seeing as it’s Christmas and the time of goodwill, yer can have it for fifteen shillings – even though it means me losing money on the deal.’
Flo threw her head back and tutted. ‘Me heart bleeds for yer, Mister, and I’ll be thinking of yer on Christmas Day with no turkey on the table and yer kids starving.’ She gave him one of her mischievous smiles which almost made him change his mind about her. Almost but not quite. She had just lost him five bob. ‘If me turkey was a bit bigger, I’d invite you and yer wife and kids to our house. I hate the thought of anyone going hungry on Christmas Day.’
While this was going on, Hannah had noticed a small chest of drawers standing next to the bed. It was in need of a good polish, but that was neither here nor there. It would be really useful because when the men put the partition up in the back bedroom, it would mean she’d have a chest of drawers for each of the children’s bedrooms. At least they’d have somewhere to put their clothes and it would make the rooms look more homely. She tugged on Beth’s coat. ‘I wonder how much that chest of drawers is? It would be ideal for when the back bedroom is made into two.’
Beth could see the salesman talking to Dot, so she put a finger to her lips to ask Hannah not to say anything yet. If she appeared too interested, the price would go up. ‘Excuse me.’ She tapped the man lightly on the arm. ‘Do yer deliver?’
‘We do sometimes, love, but we couldn’t do nothing before Christmas, not now. Yer see we’ve only got the one small van and we’ve dozens of deliveries to make. There’s no way we could fit yer in until after Christmas.’
‘Oh, dear,’ Hannah said. ‘I need it before then.’
‘I’m sorry, love, but no can do. Where d’yer live anyway?’
‘Only off County Road, not very far away.’ Beth wondered if they’d gone all through that rigmarole for nothing. ‘Is there no way yer can help?’
The man scratched his head, careful not to move a hair out of place. ‘There’s a young lad lives at the back, he’s got a handcart he uses to do odd jobs. He’d do it for yer, but he wouldn’t do it for nowt, he’d want paying.’
‘I wouldn’t expect him to do it for nothing,’ Hannah told him. ‘But how much d’yer think he’d charge?’
‘If yer’d like to hang on, I’ll go and see if he’s in. I won’t be a few minutes.’
When the four women were left alone in the shop, they all began to talk at the same time. ‘Yer’ve got a real bargain there, Hannah,’ Dot said. ‘It’s as good as new.’
‘It certainly is.’ Beth nodded knowingly. ‘Yer can thank Flo for getting it so cheap. I wouldn’t have had the nerve to bargain him down.’
‘I know.’ Hannah reached out and gripped Flo’s arm. ‘I’m beholden to yer, sweetheart, yer’ve done me proud.’
The little woman preened. ‘Think nothing of it, queen, I don’t like to see no one getting conned. And the swine would have conned yer if he’d been let. He’d have charged yer a pound and laughed all the way home. And he’d have slept with a clear conscience.’ Flo nodded to the chest of drawers. ‘Have yer got yer eye on that?’
Hannah shook her head from side to side, saying, ‘I’ve got me eye on it, but I can’t see me getting it. I don’t think the man will be bargained down twice in one day.’
‘I’ll tell yer what to do, queen. Don’t you mention that yer’ve got yer eye on the chest, just see what he says about having the bed delivered first. Would yer be prepared to spend the whole pound note if it meant yer could have the bed and the chest of drawers delivered to yer front door?’
‘Oh, of course I would! I’d be over the moon!’
‘Don’t be building her hopes up, sunshine, ’cos that’s not going to happen,’ Beth said. ‘As the man told us, he has to buy the furniture and he needs to make a profit.’
‘Yer’d fall for the bleedin’ cat, you would, queen! Yer don’t take no notice of his sales patter, ’cos he’ll blind yer with science! Yer can take it from me that he wouldn’t let anything go out of this shop without him making a few bob on it. After all, he doesn’t stand here day after day just for the sake of his ruddy health. So let’s play our cards right and see what we can come up with. When he comes back, let Hannah pay him for the bed and the delivery, and when that’s all settled I’ll see what I can do about the chest. I’ll know by then how much Hannah has got to play with, so I’ll pretend I’m interested in the chest and see what I can get it for.’ They heard a movement coming from the back of the shop and Flo whispered, ‘Let’s all act daft, shall we, and see where it gets us?’
When Harry Partridge came back, he let his eyes run over the stock in the shop, causing the women to wonder if he thought one of them was hiding a sideboard under her coat. But they do say that thieves don’t trust anyone, ’cos they believe everyone is like themselves.
‘I’ve seen young Billy and he’ll deliver the bed tonight for yer. But he wants a shilling for his trouble.’
‘That’s fine, thank you very much.’ Hannah opened her handbag and took out her purse. ‘I’ll settle up with you for the bed, but what about the boy with the handcart?’
‘You pay him yerself, Missus, when he makes the delivery.’ The man took the pound note from Hannah. ‘I’ll get the change for you. We keep our money in the back room for safety. I won’t keep yer long.’ He was back within minutes with two half-crowns. ‘I forgot to tell yer, Billy said it would be about half-six before he got to your house ’cos he’s busy. So don’t think he’s not coming because he won’t let yer down.’
‘That’s fine,’ Beth said to Hannah, ‘we’ll have our dinner over by then, so I can come and sit with yer until he comes.’
This was where Flo stepped in. ‘I’ve been looking at that chest of drawers. It’s not worth writing home about, but it would do for one of the kids. How much d’yer want for me to take it off yer hands?’
Harry Partridge closed his eyes and put a hand over his mouth so they wouldn’t hear him groan. Why did there always have to be a fly in the ointment? Particularly such a large one with a big mouth? And why did she have to come into his shop and give him a headache and indigestion? ‘There’s nothing wrong with that chest that a good polish wouldn’t put right.’
‘Go ’way, it’s on its last legs!’ Flo was sailing close to the wind but was still confident. Hannah, on the other hand, could see her chances of getting the chest fading. ‘But my feller’s a carpenter by trade, so he could fix it that it didn’t wobble any more.’
The man pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers, and with as much patience as he could muster ground out the words, ‘It doesn’t wobble, it’s in good nick, and the price is four bob.’
Flo folded her arms and hitched up her bosom. ‘I’ll give yer three for it, and that’s me last offer.’
Harry Partridge was known to have quite a temper at times, with a colourful vocabulary to match. But with three pairs of eyes watching him with interest he counted up to ten before saying, ‘All right, Missus! To get rid of yer, I’ll let yer have it for three.’
Flo became all sweetness and light. ‘I knew you and me could strike a deal. Will yer see that it goes on the handcart with the bed, please?’ She turned to Hannah and held out her hand. ‘Be an angel and lend us three bob, queen. I’ll sort yer out when we get home.’
The salesman watched the four women leaving the shop, and had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he’d been well and truly taken to the cleaner’s. He stood scratching his head, his mind so distracted he didn’t realise he was making a mess of the hair he’d spent ten minutes on that morning, standing in front of the mirror over the mantelpiece combing it until he was satisfied every strand was in place.
Ginny was back and forth to the window looking for any sign of her mother. ‘They’re a long time, aren’t they, Mrs O’Leary? They should be well back from the shops by now.’
‘Yer mam will be here any minute, me darlin’,’ Lizzie said. ‘Whatever it is is taking longer than they expected, but I know what it’s like when ye’re eager to see someone and the fingers on the clock don’t seem to be moving.’ She cocked an ear. ‘If I’m not mistaken, I can hear Flo’s voice now.’ She stood up and went to the window. ‘Sure, will yer just feast yer eyes on them? The four of them are doubled up with laughter, so they are.’
‘I’ll go now then.’ Ginny picked up her coat from the couch. ‘Thank yer for having me, Mrs O’Leary, it was very kind of yer.’
‘It’s meself that’s coming with yer.’ Lizzie took her coat from a hook and was putting it on while she followed Ginny across the cobbles. ‘Something’s tickled their fancy, and sure I enjoy a laugh as well as the next woman.’
Beth looked surprised to see her daughter. ‘What are you doing home? It’s only a quarter to four, I wasn’t expecting to see you.’
‘Miss Bond let me and Marie Whittaker come home early ’cos we’d had nothing to eat and were starving.’
‘Why didn’t yer come home at dinnertime, like yer usually do? Joey ate most of the sandwiches I made for you.’ Beth was teasing. She could tell her daughter was bursting with excitement and wanted to build it up so Ginny got the reaction she wanted. ‘How come yer didn’t get anything to eat?’
‘Well, yer see, it was like this.’ The girl was thrilled all the neighbours were here, it added to the special occasion. ‘Me and Marie were nearly four hours in Woolworth’s. The reason for that was a Miss Ormsby, who is the Personnel Officer, didn’t know whether to start me on as a supervisor or make me the general manager!’
Beth was laughing inside but kept her face straight. ‘And what did this Personnel Officer finally decide?’
‘To start me as a junior sales assistant, starting on Monday the second of January. And the other girl from our class, Marie, she got a job in the stock room.’
Beth held her arms wide and when Ginny ran to her, lifted her daughter in the air and spun her around. ‘Oh, you clever girl, that’s brilliant! I am so pleased yer got the job that yer wanted, and I’m so proud I feel like crying.’
‘Don’t you dare cry,’ Flo said, kissing Ginny’s cheek. ‘It’s a bleedin’ celebration, queen, not a ruddy funeral.’
‘I’ll say!’ Dot was next in line to hug the laughing girl. ‘Just don’t go all posh on us, or get too big for yer boots.’
‘I’ll be serving behind a counter, Auntie Dot,’ Ginny told her. ‘I didn’t get the general manager’s job.’
‘Give yerself time, sweetheart.’ Hannah was last with her congratulations. ‘There’s many a true word spoken in jest.’
Lizzie was getting impatient. ‘Can we come in your house for five minutes, me darlin’, so I can be brought up to date with the day’s events?’
‘Five minutes only, ladies, ’cos I’ve got to get the dinner on early. Me and Hannah have to be at her house by half-six.’ Beth gave her daughter another big hug. ‘Today’s been a good day all round, sunshine. Wait until yer dad finds out, he’ll be delighted.’
The atmosphere around the Porters’ table that night was boisterous to say the least. The whole family shared in Ginny’s good fortune as she told them in detail what had been said at the interview, then of the long wait before being told she’d got the job. ‘I start on seven and six a week, plus an extra shilling travel allowance that they give to those who have a certain distance to come. And I’ll have company every day ’cos Marie only lives a few streets away.’
Andy wasn’t a man given to tears, but seeing his daughter so happy brought a lump to his throat. He was so proud of her and what she’d achieved off her own bat. Fourteen years old and never caused them a moment’s worry. ‘Yer’ve done well, love, and yer’ll get on in life. I bet yer end up with a good job ’cos yer’ve got the confidence to go for what yer want.’
Ginny rolled her eyes. ‘I might sound confident now I know I’ve got the job, but yer should have seen me this morning, I was a nervous wreck. Me legs were like jelly, me heart was in me mouth and something in me tummy was doing cartwheels.’
Beth’s mind went back to the day she’d gone for her first interview. She didn’t have the confidence her daughter possessed and she’d been terrified. And the job was only in a small factory making up cardboard cartons, nothing so grand as Woolworth’s. ‘Yer’ve done very well for yerself, sunshine, and as yer dad said, yer’ll get on in life, please God.’
Joey had been listening intently, but hadn’t said a word. Not that he wasn’t pleased for his sister, ’cos inside he was feeling very emotional that she’d done so well. But he didn’t know the right words to use that wouldn’t make him sound like a cissy. ‘When yer get this general manager’s job, Ginny, yer can put a good word in for me. I wouldn’t mind a supervisor’s job to be going on with and I can work me way up,’ he said gruffly.
His sister laughed. ‘I’ll kee
p yer in mind, kid.’
‘Well, now we’ve heard all your news, I’ll tell yer what sort of a day me and Hannah have had.’ Beth saw the old lady start, and stretched across to pat her hand for reassurance. There was no fear of her slipping up and bringing Ma Maloney into the conversation, not when she knew Andy would go mad. ‘When Flo heard Hannah was a bed short for her grandchildren coming, she told us she’d seen a really good second-hand one in a shop in Stanley Road. So when Lizzie said she’d come home and keep an eye out for the children if we weren’t back by the time they got home from school, we decided to walk down to the shop and have a look at this bed. There was me and Hannah, and Dot and Flo. And what a lark it turned out to be.’ Beth started at the beginning and left nothing out. Actions, expressions and words, she gave them the lot. Even Hannah, who hadn’t found Flo’s antics a bit funny at the time because she’d feared they were going to lose her the bed and the chest of drawers, could now see the whole scene in an entirely different light. And her shoulders shook as her laughter joined that of her adopted family.
‘I didn’t think it was a bit funny at the time ’cos the man was giving her daggers and I thought he would throw us out of the shop. Me and Beth and Dot had very little to say for ourselves because I think we were all too embarrassed.’
‘Oh, yer soon learn not to get embarrassed at anything Flo does!’ Beth chuckled. ‘If yer did, then yer couldn’t be friends with her. And I couldn’t imagine life without Flo in it to cheer me up when I’m miserable. She never pays the price she’s asked for anything! Oh, in a food shop she will, but not in a second-hand shop or down at the market. She’s saved me and Dot a few bob over the years, I can tell yer. And Lizzie as well!’
Hannah nodded. ‘I’ll know who to ask in future if I’m looking for a bargain. She got the bloke to knock five shillings off the bed, and then a shilling off the chest of drawers. I still can’t believe it!’