by Joan Jonker
The night was voted a great success as the gang made their way home. The pavement wasn’t wide enough to take the eight of them in a line, so they split into fours. Seamus, Amelia, Mick and Joan walked in front, while Ginny, Bobby, Marie and David followed behind. They had their arms around each other and they laughed and joked the whole way home. ‘Next week I’m definitely going to try the quickstep,’ Joan said. ‘And the week after I should be ready for the slow foxtrot.’
‘I think yer’d be better sticking to the waltz for a few weeks,’ Mick said, looking down into her laughing face. ‘Me feet are black and blue now, after a waltz. Just think of the damage yer could inflict doing a quickstep.’
‘I only stood on David’s toes twice,’ Marie said. ‘So I didn’t do so bad.’
‘I can go one better than that,’ Ginny said. ‘Bobby’s only got one broken toe.’
Seamus winked down at Amelia. ‘Me and Amelia have got yer all licked. We didn’t tread on each other’s toes once. In fact, I think Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had better pull their socks up or we’ll be taking over from them.’
And so the night ended in laughter.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Beth’s three neighbours had called for her to go to the shops, but she wasn’t quite ready and had asked them in. ‘I’ve only got to comb me hair and put me coat on, I won’t be two shakes of a lamb’s tail.’
‘I thought yer’d be ready, girl, knowing how busy the shops are going to be,’ Flo said. ‘They’ll be packed solid today, what with the Tontines being paid out, and people drawing on their Christmas clubs.’
‘I’m ready now, so stop yer moaning.’ Beth was reaching for her key out of the glass dish on the sideboard when there was a knock on the door. ‘Oh, lord, who can this be?’
‘I’ll get it,’ Dot said, and within seconds she was ushering Aggie Graham in. ‘Aggie wants a word with us.’
‘It’s just to tell yer how happy Vera was with the clothes.’ Their neighbour from the next street could see they were ready to go out so she didn’t waste any time. ‘I told her they were from a friend whose kids had grown out of them. And d’yer know what? I nearly burst out crying ’cos she was that grateful, anyone would think I’d given her a pound note.’
The four friends were glad they’d stumped up a few coppers each to pay for the clothes. Hearing of Vera’s pleasure was payment enough. ‘We’re going to mug the kids to some sweets, Aggie,’ Beth told her. ‘Not much, but they’ll help out. So Flo will pass them over to yer when we get back from the shops and yer can tell Vera they’re from you. Don’t mention us, ’cos I’d hate her to think we feel sorry for her.’
‘I’m buying them a pair of socks each,’ Aggie said. ‘It’s not much, but I can’t afford any more with me own gang to see to. Besides, they’ll be made up ’cos half the time they’ve no socks on their feet.’
‘We don’t know we’re born,’ Lizzie said. ‘The poor soul must be out of her mind with four children to feed and clothe. And like every mother in the land, sure, she’ll want to give them something for Christmas. There’s nothing more joyful than a child’s face on Christmas morning when he comes down to see Santa hasn’t forgotten him. We’ll do what we can, Aggie, and little as it may be, it will be better than nothing.’
She thanked them again, then said a quick ‘ta-ra’ so she could nip to the shops to get her own shopping in.
‘That’s cheered me up,’ Beth said, putting the handle of the basket in the crook of her arm. ‘It does yer good to know yer’ve helped someone who’s worse off than yerself.’
The four friends walked down the street towards County Road. ‘If we give threepence each that should get the kids an apple, an orange, some nuts and sweets,’ Dot said. ‘And if we can sweet-talk Bill in the butcher’s, he might give a few sausages for a deserving cause.’
‘It’s worth a try,’ Beth said. And looking down at Flo, who was linking her arm, she said, laughingly, ‘We could tell him Flo was the deserving cause.’
Flo didn’t answer because she didn’t hear. She was too busy watching the familiar figure standing on the street corner. ‘Ay out, what’s Ma Maloney standing there for? She usually keeps to the side streets or entries.’
‘Well, she won’t be looking for us, that’s a dead cert,’ Beth said. ‘Some poor beggar must be in her bad books.’ But what a surprise the women had when the moneylender, who always looked like a tramp, stood in front of them, stopping their progress.
‘Can I have a word with yer?’
‘I can’t imagine what yer would want a word with us for,’ Beth answered as the woman was looking directly at her. ‘None of us has any dealing with yer now.’
‘It’s nothing to do with any of you, it’s Vera Duffy I want to talk about.’ Now the women weren’t to know that when they’d told the moneylender Vera Duffy was contemplating suicide because she couldn’t pay her loan back, it would have a profound effect on Ma. She was well aware she was disliked by everyone, even the women who borrowed from her, and if she’d been the cause of a young mother taking her own life, leaving four young children behind, then Ma Maloney knew she would have been hounded out of the area. Because of the scare she’d had, she was now more lenient with those who borrowed from her, and had dropped her interest charges to sixpence a week. ‘I wondered how she was getting on, like?’
The four women exchanged glances, wondering what the old witch was up to. But to find that out, they’d have to talk to her. If they pushed her out of the way and walked on they’d always wonder what she’d wanted. It was Beth who spoke up. ‘Struggling, I suppose, same as yer’d expect a woman with four children to be doing when her husband works all week for buttons. But I’m sure ye’re not interested in that, so what d’yer really want to know?’
A wrinkled hand was pushed into a pocket of Ma’s scruffy coat, and when it came out again, it reached out to Beth. ‘I was thinking of the kids, yer know, like, having nothing for Christmas, so I wondered if yer’d get them something with this two bob? It’ll buy them a few bits and pieces.’
Beth looked at the outstretched palm, and the two-shilling piece in the middle of it. Her first reaction was to tell the moneylender to keep her blood money, but wisely she kept her true feelings to herself. After all, while it wouldn’t do her any harm to refuse the money, there were four young children to be thought of. ‘Me and me mates,’ Beth waved her hand to her neighbours, who were watching in disbelief, ‘we’ve clubbed together to buy the kids something, but this two bob will make a big difference.’ She picked the coin from the open palm. ‘D’yer want us to tell Vera it was you what gave it to us?’
‘No, let her think it came from you. I’d rather no one knew about it.’ The woman, who looked as though she hadn’t a penny to her name but was probably very well off through her moneylending, nodded before shuffling away.
‘Well, I declare!’ Lizzie said. ‘Who’d have thought of that now? Sure, if we told anyone they’d think we were pulling their leg.’
‘Ours is not to reason why, Lizzie. If it hadn’t been for Vera and the kids, I’d have thrown the money back in her face. But two bob will buy a lot for those kids if we play our cards right. By the time we’ve finished shopping we’ll have enough to fill four stockings. And when we get back, we’ll take them to Aggie’s so Vera will know her kids have something to come down to on Christmas morning.’
Flo was scratching her head. ‘Ay, they say a leopard never changes its spots, so what’s up with Ma Maloney? I wonder if she’s found religion or what?’
‘I don’t care what she’s found, sunshine, as long as she doesn’t come and ask for her money back. And I think we should keep this to ourselves. I won’t even tell Aggie, ’cos I’d hate it to get back to Vera.’ Beth slipped the coin into her pocket. ‘That was the last thing I was expecting, but I’ll tell yer what, it’s not half cheered me up.’
‘Are yer still going to ask the butcher for six sausages?’ Flo asked, as the friends turned into C
ounty Road. ‘If yer send sausages round to Vera’s, as well as the fruit and sweets, not to mention the clothes, she’ll twig there’s something fishy going on.’
‘I was just thinking the same thing, sunshine.’ Beth squeezed the little woman’s arm. ‘They say great minds think alike, and there’s no one with greater minds than ours, Florence Henderson. Anyway, to answer yer question, no, I’m not going to cadge six sausages off Bill. As yer say, it would be too much. But we’ll try and work our charms on Greg for some cheap apples and oranges. And I want us all to stand together on this, ’cos he’s not likely to turn down four good customers, is he?’
‘Ye’re a crafty bugger, Beth Porter.’ Flo was chuckling inside at the prospect of having fun with the man in the greengrocer’s. ‘But seeing as it’s in a good cause, we’ll stand foursquare behind yer, won’t we, girls? If Greg can’t find it in his heart to listen to a sad story then he’ll get his just deserts.’
It turned out that he didn’t have time to listen to the sad story, he was rushed off his feet. When Beth and Dot fluttered their eyelashes, and asked him if he could possibly find it in his heart to help out a poor family, he didn’t argue the toss but threw four extra oranges and apples in Beth’s basket and thought it well worthwhile when he got a kiss off both of them. Mind you, his face paled when Flo came towards him with her lips puckered. ‘Ah, no, Florrie, I don’t deserve that after being so generous with yer.’
He pushed his flat cap to the back of his head, remembering what she’d done to him last year. Her lips had been puckered, just as they were now, and he’d bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek. But before he knew it Flo had her arms around his waist and had picked him up as though he was a rag doll. No amount of pleading with her to put him down helped; in fact it had the shop full of customers in hysterics. She’d done no worse than carry him outside and sit him in a wooden crate which was half full of oranges, but he’d had a hell of a time getting out of the orange box because he had no leverage, and people passing by stopped and joined in the laughter of his customers. Well, he wasn’t falling for that again! ‘I’ll tell yer what, Flo, to show there’s no ill feeling, and I love the bones of yer, I’ll give an extra orange if yer don’t kiss me.’
A woman standing close by heard the offer. ‘Ooh, I’d thought of giving yer a kiss, Greg, seeing as it’s Christmas.’
‘Stay out of it, Nellie, yer’ve never wanted to kiss me before, Christmas or no Christmas.’
‘I know that, lad, but I didn’t know yer were giving oranges out to customers what didn’t kiss yer.’
What could Greg do but laugh his head off? I mean, it might be Christmas, and he might have a shop full of customers, but his sense of humour was still intact.
The last stop for the four friends was the sweet shop, and by the time they came out of there, bags and baskets were full and very heavy. They stood on the pavement outside the shop and Beth placed her basket on the ground to give her arm a rest. Their street was only a short walk away, but as a joke she said, ‘I wish there was a bus stop near so we could get a bus right to our doors.’
Flo appeared not to be quick on the uptake, which led the women to think she didn’t realise that her neighbour and best mate was joking. ‘There’s a tram stop right here, girl, we could get a tram.’
‘I know!’ Beth’s face was deadpan, while Dot and Lizzie turned away. ‘But isn’t it a pity we’ve got no tram lines in our street?’
‘Oh, yeah, I forgot.’ Flo Henderson must be the best actress since Ethel Barrymore. She glanced down at the pavement, as though deep in thought, then looked up with a smile on her face. ‘I know what we can do, girl! The coalman is due along here any minute, he’d be dead chuffed to give us a lift.’ Then, seeing the expression on the faces of her three friends, she added for good measure, ‘It wouldn’t cost us nothing either!’
Beth had been biting on the inside of her mouth. Now she said, ‘I’m going to roar with laughter any minute, sunshine, are yer ready?’
‘I’m ready, girl.’ But as Flo’s body began to shake, she said, ‘You three would fall for the bleedin’ cat, yer would.’ And when everyone standing in the sweet shop, the butcher’s and the greengrocer’s, heard the laughter it brought a smile to their faces even though they didn’t know what the joke was.
It brought a lot of pleasure to Greg, ’cos as he was weighing out carrots and spuds, he was thinking some other sucker had fallen for one of Flo Henderson’s tricks, and hoped it was the man in the sweet shop who was a miserable bugger at the best of times. His wife was all right, but how she put up with her husband God only knows.
‘We need another stocking.’ Beth looked at each of her friends in turn. They’d split the oranges, apples, nuts, sweets, painting books and colouring pencils into four piles, and there was only Flo not busy filling a stocking. ‘Flo, you haven’t brought one, so will yer cough up, please, so we can get these filled and round to Aggie’s?’
‘I haven’t got no bleedin’ stocking to spare! I’ve got one good pair which I’m keeping for the holidays, no matter what.’ Flo’s face was set in determination. ‘All me old ones which I use for round the house are full of bleedin’ ladders.’
‘The one I brought had ladders in,’ Dot said, ‘we don’t expect yer to give a decent one to fill with fruit and toys, it would be a waste.’
‘Mine was falling to pieces, as well.’ Lizzie flicked through the painting book she was about to put in the stocking she was holding. ‘A few ladders are neither here nor there.’
‘Look at this one, sunshine.’ Beth held out the one she was filling. ‘It’s got enough ladders to start a window cleaning round.’
Flo stopped swinging her legs under the chair. ‘Ay, that was good that was, girl. I’ll have to remember to tell my feller tonight.’
‘Well, yer set yer legs in motion again, sunshine, and get to your house and root out an old stocking from under the cushion on the couch.’
Flo pressed her chubby hands down on the table and pushed herself up. Then she put her face close to Beth’s and pulled tongues. ‘I don’t keep them under the cushion, smart arse, I shove them down the side.’ With a toss of her head she left the room.
‘She’s a bloody hero, that one,’ Dot said. ‘No one could be miserable for long with her around.’
‘Ay, did yer see the look of fear on Greg’s face?’ Lizzie asked. ‘Sure, didn’t me heart go out to the poor man? Him with a shop full of customers too!’
‘I wouldn’t worry about Greg, or Bill at the butcher’s. They’ll both tell yer they love to see her coming into their shops ’cos she always gives them a laugh. Some of their customers are real misery guts so Flo brightens up their day for them.’ Beth’s hearty chuckle filled the room. ‘Christmas Eve is different, like, with them being so busy. But yer can’t tell me mate to be funny for three hundred and sixty-four days of the year, and then quiet and ladylike for the other one.’
When Flo came back she threw a lisle stocking on to the table. ‘That’s the only clean one I’ve got, so I’m afraid it’s a case of like it or lump it. Anyway, it hasn’t got ladders big enough for the oranges to fall out.’
‘Start filling it then, sunshine, so we can get them round to Aggie’s.’ Beth wagged her shoulders with delight. ‘I’m so happy we’re able to do this for Vera’s kids. I mean, we’ve been skint many a time, but we’ve never been poverty-stricken. Years ago our husbands’ wages weren’t great, but we scraped through by helping each other out. But with four young children, and her husband on a low wage, Vera must be really pushed to manage.’
‘Well, we’ve done our best to help, girl,’ Flo said, ‘we can’t do no more.’
‘I think we’ve done very well.’ Dot lifted the stocking she had filled and it looked quite heavy and healthy, with bumps where the oranges and apples were sticking out. ‘The kids will be over the moon.’
Lizzie was more thoughtful. ‘The two bob we got off the moneylender was a big help. And I never thought I’d
say it about Ma Maloney, but God bless the woman.’
After being together at Midnight Mass, the four families were joined outside the church by the Bailey family. Seasonal greetings were exchanged, and as they wouldn’t be seeing each other on Christmas Day, they wished each other a happy and peaceful one. But they’d be getting together on Boxing Day, when Beth was opening her house to all the parents, including Hannah and Claire, and Lizzie’s was the venue for the youngsters. Food and drinks for both houses was being paid for out of a kitty they’d all contributed to.
When Beth woke up on Christmas morning, she stretched her body and told herself it was a lovely feeling that the whole day belonged to her, Andy and the kids. The dinner had been prepared the night before, so there was little to do but relax. She didn’t care if the dust was an inch thick and met her at the door, she wasn’t going to touch a duster. All she intended doing was to spoil herself for just the one day.
Andy stirred, felt Beth moving and slipped an arm across her waist. ‘Happy Christmas, my beautiful, dearest wife.’
Beth turned her head for a kiss. ‘Happy Christmas, sunshine.’ She cuddled into him. ‘Ooh, I don’t half love you. I love the bones of yer.’
‘And I love you.’ Andy was nuzzling her neck when she said, ‘I wouldn’t be getting too loving, ’cos our Joey’s been awake for about half-an-hour.’
Andy whispered, ‘How d’yer know? I can’t hear anything.’
‘I’ve been listening to the springs on his bed. He’s been tossing and turning, waiting for us to get up. He’s still only a kid, remember, and Christmas Day is a big day for him, or have yer forgotten what it was like at his age?’
‘D’yer think I could bribe him to go to sleep again for half-an-hour?’
There came a tapping on the wall that was paper thin and wouldn’t allow secrets to be kept. ‘I know ye’re awake, Mam, so can I get up?’