Taking a Chance on Love

by Joan Jonker

  Clive pushed himself off his chair. ‘I’ll come out with you, Mary. And I second what you said. It has been an enjoyable experience for me, too.’ When he grinned he looked a lot younger than his years. ‘I’ve got a feeling those two young ladies will go on to be senior assistants, and then who knows how far they’ll climb after that?’

  Out in the corridor, he walked with Mary towards his office. ‘I rather think I would enjoy spending more time on the shop floor, I really should know more about the staff and the work they do. I bet there’s not one person working down there who has ever seen me or even knows I exist. Perhaps you would take me around one day, when you have time to spare? We could do it on a regular basis, say once every month or so. Then I could get to know the staff, and they could get to know me. Do you think that’s a good idea, Mary?’

  Her heart was pounding in her chest. A good idea? She thought it would be a marvellous idea to see this man more often. She wouldn’t start getting her hopes up or be childish about it. Just seeing him and being in his company would suit her fine.

  ‘I think the staff would appreciate it, Mr Sanderson. Yes, I believe it’s a jolly good idea.’

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  It was a quarter to four and Beth was in the kitchen peeling potatoes when she heard the knocker. Wiping her hands down the front of her pinny, she hurried through the living room, muttering, ‘Who the heck can this be? They’re not getting in, anyway, no matter who they are, or I’ll never get the dinner on.’

  When she opened the door to find Flo standing on the pavement, she sighed in exasperation. ‘Oh, not you again! This is the third time today, anyone would think yer had no home of yer own to go to!’

  Flo was wearing a floral cotton dress which was stretched tight across her mountainous bosom and tummy. The short sleeves were straining at the seams and digging into her flesh. The little woman shook her head and put on her sad clown’s face. ‘D’yer know what, girl? Yer other friends mightn’t like telling yer this, but I will. The older yer get, the less neighbourly yer are. Years ago, yer would have opened the door to me with a welcoming smile on yer face as though yer were really glad to see me. Now look at the clock on yer, it’s enough to turn the milk sour.’

  ‘I had a welcoming smile on me face this morning, sunshine, when yer came for yer usual cup of tea. And I had a welcoming smile on me face when yer called for me to go to the shops! In fact, Florence Henderson, the ruddy muscles in me face are sore with all the flaming smiling I’m doing! Now will yer just tell me what yer want this time, then I can get on with peeling the spuds?’

  ‘D’yer mean ye’re not even going to ask me in? That yer’d treat a bleedin’ dog better than what yer would me?’

  Beth frowned. ‘In the name of God, where does a dog fit into all this?’

  ‘Ah, yer’ve got a bad memory when it suits yer, girl, but I haven’t. And I remember a few years back, yer said yer wouldn’t even leave a dog standing on yer step in bad weather.’

  Beth looked at the bright blue sky and the golden sun shining down. ‘I don’t think yer’d call this bad weather. And besides, that was the middle of winter, when the snow was thick on the ground and Mrs Harcourt wouldn’t open the door to her husband because he’d come back from the pub rotten drunk. It was just a figure of speech, yer daft nit, I didn’t mean it!’ Beth threw up her hands and stepped aside. ‘Oh, I give in, what’s the use! Otherwise yer’ll keep me talking until Andy comes home from work to no dinner on the table.’

  Flo was in like a shot. ‘The girls are out playing, I’ve got me pan of hotpot simmering on the stove, and I felt like a bit of company.’

  ‘Well, yer can stand in the kitchen and watch me peel the spuds so I can get the dinner on the go. The mushy peas are done, they only need warming up, and the sausages don’t take that long to fry.’

  ‘I thought yer got stewing meat for a hotpot, same as me and Dot?’

  ‘Yeah, I did get stew, sunshine, but we’re having it tomorrow. I just fancied sausages and mash with mushy peas.’

  Leaning back against the sink, her arms folded and lost to sight under her bosom, Flo watched her friend pick up the potato knife. ‘It’s only about another six weeks before our Amy leaves school. That’ll mean a few extra bob a week, I won’t know I’m born. Mind you, I’ll have to fork out for new clothes for her, she can’t go after a job in her gymslip.’

  ‘Try Mary Ann at the market, her and Sadie will fix yer up. I could do with getting a few things meself, for Ginny and Joey, but I never seem to have any spare cash.’ Beth turned the tap on over the pan and swirled the potatoes around to clean them. ‘The worst thing I ever did was borrow that pound off Ma Maloney. I’ve paid her sixteen shillings in interest, and only ten bob off the loan! She must be coining it in, and off people who can’t even make ends meet.’ She lifted the pan on to the gas ring before wiping her hands on the piece of towelling on the drainboard. ‘I’m having a struggle to pay her back, but at least we’re not on the poverty line. Not like some poor buggers I’ve seen with her. I know a couple of them have got a gang of kids, three or four at least, and only their husband’s wages coming in. They’ll be in debt to that witch for the rest of their lives, and most of them are so thin they look haggard and half-starved. And they look twice their age! I don’t know how that woman has the heart to steal money off people like that because the interest she charges is stealing, and she shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it. I don’t know how she can go to bed at night and sleep, I know I couldn’t.’

  ‘Ah, yes, girl, but the difference between you and Ma is that you’ve got a heart and she hasn’t. I told yer in the beginning that she was as tough as an old boot. I still owe as much as you, but I think Dot and Lizzie are just about out of her clutches. But then, they’ve both got three wages coming in.’

  ‘Hannah did the right thing by telling Claire early on about the loan. A few weeks after she started that job in Sayers, Claire paid it off in full. It spared Hannah having the worry of it, and it saved them quite a lot of money in interest.’

  Flo’s chins agreed with her nodding head. ‘And it saved you the worry, too, girl! Knowing you, I bet yer’d have worried yerself sick over Hannah. That’s your trouble, yer know, girl, yer take everyone’s troubles on yer shoulders.’

  ‘I can’t help the way I’m made, sunshine, and I’d rather be like that than like Ma Maloney. Who the hell gave her that name, anyway? If yer didn’t know her, and someone said Ma Maloney, yer’d expect to see a motherly woman who was kind and gentle, not someone who’d take yer last ha’penny and see yer starve.’ Beth popped her head around the kitchen door to see the time on the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘Now I don’t want to seem un-neighbourly, and please note that I have a smile on me face, but it’s not a smile of welcome, it’s a smile of goodbye. I would very much like yer to make yerself scarce, sunshine, so I can get on with the dinner.’

  Flo moved slowly towards the door. ‘Ah, well, it’s passed half-an-hour away, so I suppose I can’t moan even if it hasn’t exactly been half-an-hour of fun.’ She held on to the door frame while she stepped down on to the pavement. ‘I’ll see yer in the morning, girl, unless something happens that yer think will liven me up. In the event of that happening give me a knock on the wall.’

  ‘Don’t hold yer breath, sunshine, ’cos the likelihood of any excitement is pretty remote. In fact, I don’t think me heart would stand the strain.’ Beth began to close the door. ‘See yer in the morning, but not before ten, please. Give me a chance to wake up.’

  After leaving Marie, Ginny couldn’t get home fast enough. She ran like the wind, and by the time she reached her door she had a pain in her side and was gasping for breath. When Beth opened the door, it was to find her daughter doubled up. At first she thought there was something wrong and she was filled with concern. ‘Oh, what is it, sunshine, are yer not feeling well?’

  ‘I’ve been running, Mam, that’s all, there’s nothing wrong with me.’ Ginny pressed at the st
itch in her side. ‘In fact it’s been a wonderful day, one of the best I’ve ever had. That’s why I was rushing home – to tell yer about it.’

  Beth smiled, thinking how good it was to be young, when nice things happened to make you feel on top of the world. ‘Come in and sit down, sunshine, and when yer’ve got yer breath back, yer can tell me all about it.’

  Ginny put a clenched fist on the table and took a few deep breaths before saying, ‘Oh, Mam, yer’ll never in a million years guess what’s happened!’

  ‘Wouldn’t yer like to wait until yer dad gets in? He’ll be here any minute and it would save yer going over it again.’

  ‘Ah, no!’ Joey said with disgust. ‘She doesn’t have to wait for me dad, she can tell us now, save us being on pins.’

  ‘There’s no need, yer dad’s here now, I’ve just heard his key in the lock.’

  Andy walked in to find three pairs of eyes on him. His deep brown eyes twinkled. ‘I am in the right house, aren’t I? Only yer’ve all got funny faces on yer.’

  ‘We can’t help having funny faces, can we, love?’ Beth said, sending him that special look that told him she loved him, while ruffling her son’s hair. ‘Especially as this young man is the spitting image of yer. If he’s got a funny face then it doesn’t say much for you, does it?’

  Ginny was moving impatiently from one foot to the other. ‘Come and sit down, Dad, I’m dying to tell yer all what went on in work today.’

  ‘Just hang on until I lower the gas under the frying pan otherwise yer’ll be getting burnt offerings for yer dinner.’ Beth hurried through to the kitchen and was back in a flash. ‘Don’t bother washing yer hands yet, Andy, do it later. Otherwise our Ginny will burst a blood vessel if she doesn’t get it off her chest soon.’

  When they were all seated and agog with interest, Ginny felt very important. ‘Before I start, I’ve got to say that what I tell yer mustn’t go any further than this room.’ She eyed her brother. ‘D’yer think yer can keep a secret, Joey?’

  ‘Of course I can!’ He tutted in disgust. ‘I’m not a flippin’ girl, I know when to keep me trap shut.’

  Ginny eyed each of them in turn, then said in a very dramatic voice, ‘Miss Landers got the sack today.’

  She got the response she was hoping for. Beth’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped, ‘Go ’way, sunshine, how did that happen?’

  ‘Not before time,’ Andy said. ‘She’s had it coming long enough.’ He snorted, ‘I can’t abide liars or thieves.’

  Joey had never met Miss Landers, he only knew she’d made his sister very unhappy and for that reason he didn’t like her. ‘I’m glad she got what was coming to her. She was wicked, she was.’

  Ginny didn’t know any of the details of what had transpired in the Personnel Office, and never would. Only the senior members of staff were privy to that information, and that’s how it would stay. ‘A rumour went around the shop that she’d told one of the assistants she’d been offered a better job, with more money, and she was taking it. She was being allowed to leave straight away without having to serve her two weeks’ notice. Everyone was talking about it, and they all believed her because no one knew anything about her stealing, only Miss Sutherland, Helen and me. And we wouldn’t say anything, and we never will. I haven’t even told Marie! She doesn’t know she only got her transfer ’cos Miss Landers got the sack. I didn’t like the woman, she was horrid, but she did Marie a good turn.’

  ‘Yer’ve lost me now, sunshine,’ Beth said. ‘What’s Marie got to do with all this when she works in the stock room?’

  ‘Oh, well, Mam, a lot of things happened quickly once Miss Landers had gone. Helen Bleasedale was sent for by Miss Ormsby, and when she got to the office she was told she was being made up to senior assistant on haberdashery, even though she’s only eighteen. All the other seniors are much older, but Helen is a really good worker. When she came back after being told the good news, I was sent for. It was only to tell me I would be staying on leather goods with Miss Sutherland, but Miss Ormsby told me that because I had told them once that Marie was doing homework every night to get her sums up to scratch so she could apply for a job behind the counter, they were going to take her out of the stock room and make her junior assistant to Helen. And they let me stay in the office when they told her.’

  This news was greeted with smiles all round because Marie had become a great favourite with the family and with all their friends. ‘Oh, I bet she was over the moon,’ Beth said. ‘And I’m really glad ’cos she’s a smashing girl.’

  ‘Ooh, I nearly forgot to tell yer, there was one of the big bosses in the office as well. He stood up to shake hands with us. I think his name was Mr Sanderson, but I was so shy and me hands were shaking so much, I could have got it wrong.’

  Andy was delighted for his daughter. ‘So, mixing with the bigwigs, eh?’ He laughed. ‘It’s been quite a day for yer, love, and yer deserve it for being honest and having the guts to let everyone know.’

  Ginny giggled. ‘Marie’s gone home wagging her tail. She said she couldn’t feel her feet on the ground ’cos she was walking on air. And she’s promised to buy me a slab of Cadbury’s for recommending her for the job. But it’ll only be a penny bar, mind, so I’m not to expect a tuppenny one.’

  Beth was chuckling as she got to her feet. ‘I can just see her face as she said that. I bet her smile was a mile wide. Anyway, I’ll have to see to the sausages or they’ll be burnt to a cinder. But I’m glad it’s all come right for yer, sunshine, ’cos I know yer’ve been worried. And I’m glad for Marie, too, she’s a really nice girl.’

  Ginny followed her into the kitchen. ‘She’s coming round tonight, Mam, so yer’ll get to hear it all over again. And there’ll have to be a meeting of the gang, ’cos she’s dying to tell Amelia and Joan.’

  ‘She’s got every right to be proud, sunshine, so let her enjoy it.’

  Ginny’s laugh was loud. ‘Mam, you try and stop her!’

  The four friends were leaning against the wall which ran between the Porters’ house and the Flynns’. It was a lovely evening, too nice to be indoors, and all the girls were wearing floral cotton dresses. Amelia showed her pleasure at Marie’s news, just as they had a few weeks ago when she’d told them she’d been taken off washing the jam jars at Hartley’s and put in the department where the jars were filled with jam. It was a much better job, the extra shilling a week very welcome.

  Joan was trying to be enthusiastic because her brother had told her she was becoming a right pain in the neck the way she was always putting people down and being sarcastic. Deep down she really liked Marie, but she was jealous of the growing friendship between her and Ginny. They saw a lot of each other, travelling to work together and sharing their break times, and with Marie coming round every night now, Joan was beginning to feel pushed aside. But conscious of her brother’s remarks, she put a smile on her face. ‘I’ll have to get a job at Woolworth’s meself, then we can be like the girls we saw in that picture, “The Three Smart Girls”.’

  ‘I thought yer were quite happy with yer job at Dunlop’s?’ Ginny said. ‘Ye’re always saying what a good laugh yer have, and the lads there are very good-looking.’

  ‘Yeah, they’re all right.’ Joan’s face became animated. ‘Ay, one of them asked me for a date. And he kept giving me the eye until me dad told him I was only fourteen. The lad hasn’t looked at me since, me dad must have frightened the life out of him.’

  ‘Yer are a bit young to go dating,’ Marie said. ‘My mam would kill me if she thought I even looked sideways at a lad. How old was the one yer were talking about anyhow?’

  Joan shrugged her shoulders. ‘About seventeen or eighteen, I guess.’

  Amelia pulled a face. ‘That’s far too old for you, Joan! Would yer have gone out with him if yer dad hadn’t said anything?’

  ‘Chance would be a fine thing!’ she said, tossing her head. ‘Our David said if I kept flirting with the lads, I’d get a name like a mad dog. I only
have a laugh and joke with them, and I don’t call that flirting. But yer know what me brother’s like, he’s a proper stick-in-the-mud.’

  ‘No, he’s not!’ Ginny wasn’t going to let Joan criticise David behind his back. ‘He’s a nice lad is David, and he’s right. If yer do play up to the fellers in work, yer will get a bad name. You might think it’s just being friendly and having a laugh, but the fellers might not see it that way. And it would be embarrasing for yer dad and David.’

  ‘Oh, blimey, I’m getting a lecture off you now! Ye’re not me mother, Ginny, and yer can’t tell me what to do.’

  ‘I can’t tell yer what to do, but I can give yer my opinion. It’s a free country and I’m allowed to speak me mind.’

  Oh, dear, Amelia thought, there’s going to be a right argument here. And all over nothing really, only Joan being big-mouthed as usual. Then she saw a welcome sight. ‘Here’s our Bobby coming up the street. He’s going out with the two O’Leary boys and David.’

  Just a mention of boys and Joan was interested. ‘Oh, aye, where are they off to?’

  Amelia shook her head. ‘I dunno, I didn’t ask. Probably to the flicks or just for a walk. Ask them yerself.’

  Bobby smiled across and waved before knocking on the O’Learys’ door. Mick and Seamus must have been watching for him, the door was opened right away. ‘Joan, will yer go and tell your David?’ he called. ‘Save us waiting.’

  When the three lads crossed the cobbles, they stood by the girls. ‘Is this a mothers’ meeting or are young men invited?’ Mick’s Irish eyes were full of mischief. ‘Women always seem to have more to talk about than men, I wonder how that is?’

  His younger brother Seamus gave him a dig in the ribs. ‘Yer know why, ’cos me mam’s told yer often enough. All girls are born talking, and they don’t know how to stop.’

  Ginny pulled a face at them. ‘We had something nice to talk about tonight, so there! And you can do yer share of talking, Seamus O’Leary.’