by Annie Murray
Melly shrank inside. She was insulted and appalled in equal measure. For a moment she felt like crying, but then she thought, he’s not very nice. I don’t like him. If he wants me to leave, I’ll leave. Sod him.
‘She’s very good,’ Dorothy Hughes said, giving Melly a stricken, apologetic glance. ‘She’s been here three weeks already, Vic, and I’ve no complaints at all. The children love her. Look how happy Ann is with her. And you did say it would be all right . . . We talked about it.’
Melly looked at little Peter. She could see where he got his solemn looks from, but he also seemed quite scared by the sight of his father.
‘Huh,’ Mr Hughes said. ‘Well . . .’ He looked Melly up and down. ‘We’ll be keeping an eye.’
Will you? Melly thought. You’re never here.
‘I’m going up to clean up.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Dorothy said as they heard his feet on the stairs. She went to the piano and in a flustered way cleared her music into the piano stool as if it was a dirty secret. ‘He’s never at his best when he gets home. Hungry, I suppose. I keep saying why don’t you take something to eat before you come home . . . ? He’s very stubborn.’ She turned to Melly, her eyes wide and anxious. ‘I’m sure everything will settle down, dear, and will be all right.’
Sixty
‘Melly?’ Tommy spoke to her softly, through the Saturday-morning mayhem in the house. ‘Can I – talk to – you?’
Melly looked at the eager, anxious expression on her brother’s face. Ricky and Alan were roaring about the place, Sandra was singing to herself, Danny and Gladys – who had at last gone back to the market – were getting ready to go out and Mom was clearing the table with one hand and eating toast with the other. Why on earth was Tommy asking her now, she thought?
‘Knock it off, you two!’ Danny turned on the boys. ‘Get out of here – upstairs if you’re gonna carry on like that in here.’
‘They’ll only fight,’ Rachel said through a mouthful of toast.
The boys thundered up the stairs. Sandra carried on with her singing, tuneful but irritating nevertheless.
‘We’ll have to build a cowing wall between ’em,’ Danny muttered, leaning over the table to look at his accounts book. ‘Like that one they’ve put up in Germany. That’d sort ’em out.’
‘What – now?’ Melly said to Tommy, in between all this.
He nodded. He seemed emotional, desperate in some way. Another of those letters had arrived this morning. From his friend, his pen-pal, he had told them. Someone he met on the picnic when he went in his three-wheeler.
All the family had started being nosy about the white envelopes that kept arriving over the past few weeks – as often as every other day sometimes. Melly was the only one who knew they were from someone called Jo-Ann Halstead, because she was the one he asked to post his frequent replies. It was so much easier for Melly to get about, and he liked involving her, enjoyed her knowing that Jo-Ann Halstead, whoever she was, had captured her brother’s tender heart. They shared the secret between them.
‘All right.’ In truth she was relieved. Gladys wanted her help on the market. Now that Gladys had been back at work for a couple of weeks, building up the stock again and running her stall, she still expected Melly to come and help.
‘Auntie – you go on with Dad,’ she said. ‘I’ll be in a bit later, on the bus.’
They went outside to get out of the way of Mom and the others and had to keep telling Sandra to go back in and mind her own. Sandra pouted and slammed the back door.
Tommy sat himself in his wheelchair, which Melly pushed out for him, and she perched on the wall at the end of the little lawn. It felt nice, that Tommy wanted something from her.
‘What’s up?’ she asked, once they had got shot of Sandra. ‘Is this about the letters?’
Tommy put his head on one side. Melly saw that her little brother was blushing. A smile broke out over his face.
‘Tom – who is she?’ Melly laughed.
Tommy looked down, blushing even more. ‘I like – her – a lot.’
‘Well?’ Melly said, though her mind was jumping with questions. None of them had ever thought about Tommy having a girlfriend, doing the things other boys did. She found a blush moving thickly through her own blood as she wondered exactly what Tommy was capable of. Tommy, a man? This was a new thought. And this girl – was she like him? Or was she . . . Normal? She felt sorry, for not thinking of these things before. And awkward. How were you supposed to talk about this?
‘Why don’t you tell me a bit about her?’ she said, hoping this was a safe way to begin. Already her big-sister protectiveness was taking her over again. Was this girl nice? Would she hurt Tommy’s feelings?
‘She’s – called – Jo-Ann.’
‘Yes, you said before. Is she your age, Tommy?’
‘Yes. Eighteen – like me. She – had – polio,’ he said. Gradually he explained – about the swimming, the hospital and wheelchair. About Jo-Ann’s family, her job in the shop.
‘Well, that’s good,’ Melly said carefully. ‘Nice that her dad has a business she can work in.’ She was still wondering what the problem was. ‘So what’s up, Tommy?’ she repeated.
He gave her a look of naked longing. ‘I – want to – see her. And – she – wants – to see – me.’ He was worked up, almost tearful.
‘Careful – deep breaths,’ Melly said. ‘I suppose Wolverhampton is a bit of a way away.’
Tommy was shaking his head. ‘She said . . . She wrote . . . She’d – come down here. In – her three-wheeler.’
But, he explained, her mom and dad had said he couldn’t see her. That she was not to see him.
‘Why not?’ Melly’s fear for him, her protectiveness, made her instantly angry on his behalf. ‘Why shouldn’t you see each other?’
‘They – don’t let her – do – anything,’ he said. ‘And they – don’t – want – me.’
His face was working, his left arm going more into spasm, as it did when he was mithered.
‘It’s – not – right.’ Melly had never heard such passion in his voice before. ‘She – wants – me. She wants – to run – away. And I – love – her.’
‘Oh, Tommy.’ Tears rose in Melly’s eyes at the sight of his anguished emotion, at the unfairness of all of it. That he and Jo-Ann were so incapacitated at all; that other people were ruling their lives.
Tommy explained about Mr and Mrs Halstead, that he had met them, that they hadn’t been nasty to him, not then. They were nice people really, he thought, but they were so worried about Jo-Ann and what had happened to her, that she was wrapped in cotton wool at all times.
‘Look,’ he said. From his pocket he took out one of the white envelopes, folded in half, and pulled the letter from it. ‘Read the – last – bit.’
Melly looked at the tidy blue handwriting.
I feel so down, Tommy. Ever since polio I’ve been here like a child, feeling as if I’ll never be anything else. Writing to you is the best thing in my life now. It’s made all the difference, us getting to know each other, because for once I can say what I actually feel. I wish so much that you lived nearer. Even then, Mom and Dad would be a problem. All I asked is to go and see you or for you to come here. They were so against it, it was . . . Well, it’s just silly. I know they’re just frightened about me doing anything – but they’re more frightened than I am! When I said I’d go on my own, in my three-wheeler, whatever they said, they had a pink fit. But we’ve got to find a way, Tommy. You’re my friend. Do they think they’re just going to keep me locked up forever, as if polio has taken away any other feelings I might have? I’ll talk them round – I will. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll run away – run on my little wheels!’
‘She sounds nice,’ Melly admitted, handing the letter back, with its signature, ‘Love Jo-Ann’, at the bottom. She sounded genuine and brave.
‘Look, they can’t just stop her, can they?’ she said. ‘Not forever. I expect they�
��re just worried for her.’ She thought for a moment. Dad could take Tommy up there . . . But that didn’t seem right and she couldn’t see him agreeing to do it anyway.
‘How about if I come with you? We can find a way, somehow, can’t we?’
‘Would you, sis?’ Tommy said desperately. But he did start to look a little more hopeful.
Sitting on the bus into town, Melly thought about the strength of feeling in her brother and remembered herself, young and silly and head over heels in love with Reggie. How painful it all was. How full of awkwardness and longing. But Jo-Ann sounded as if she really cared for Tommy. Whereas when she was young, Reggie barely even noticed her. He did now, though. A warm, affectionate feeling filled her. She sat thinking of Reggie, his smiling face, the love in his eyes. By the time she reached the Rag Market she was ready to deal with grumpy Gladys and be ordered about all day.
On the way in she stopped to see her father but he was already busy. He gave her a wave.
‘Tell Auntie – the Adam and Eve after. A drink’ll cheer her up!’
‘All right.’ Melly knew Dad looked forward to his pints in the Adam and Eve once trading was over and he could chew the fat with some of the other traders from round the markets.
She settled into the day, managing a smile at the man – even more grumpy than Gladys – who sold toys some distance away from them, and at the antics of the crockery seller. She spent a while talking to a lady who sold tatty knick-knacks, glass vases, brass ashtrays, candlesticks and suchlike.
Gladys had paid the Toby Man and was doing a brisk trade. Melly looked around her. It was all so familiar. A rush of fondness came over her. Maybe, once she was married to Reggie, this really could be her life. She could take over from Gladys. After all, she knew the trade back to front. And Dad was branching out – selling furs as well now. She could do a lot worse, she told herself.
Once the Rag Market was cleared and they had stowed away their remaining stock, Danny drove them the short distance up Bradford Street.
‘No Reggie today?’ he said, as they parked near the pub.
‘I’m seeing him later,’ Melly said. Sometimes Reggie came to help on the market, but not always. ‘So I’ll not stop long.’
‘All right . . .’ The three of them pushed their way into the heaving pub, the air full of smoke and ale and loud talk and laughter. ‘Dubonnet for you, Melly?’
She nodded. ‘You want to learn to drink pints, wench,’ he grumbled. ‘Auntie – your usual?’
Gladys, without fail, had a glass of stout. She looked round to see if there was anywhere to sit but the place was so full they could barely move.
As they were sipping their drinks, Melly enjoying the sweet, heady taste of hers, she saw a face through the crowd – Freddie Morrison. She pushed through and went to talk to him.
‘All right, Melly?’ he greeted her. ‘How’s the family? What about Cissy?’
He grinned, as if remembering his flirtations with Cissy.
‘Oh, you know Ciss,’ Melly laughed. They had to talk very loudly, heads close together, to hear each other over the racket. ‘Always falls on her feet. Living the life of Riley out near Coventry. She’s got a little boy – Andrew. Dear little lad – we hardly ever see her, though.’
Freddie laughed. ‘Good old Cissy. And you and Reggie – eh? You’ll soon be my sister-in-law.’
‘So I will!’ Melly laughed. ‘Who’d have thought, eh?’
‘Got a date yet?’
‘Not for sure. April probably. How’s your . . . Sal, isn’t it?’
A happy smile came over Freddie’s face. ‘Yeah. She’s all right.’
They chatted about the family a bit more, Jonny with his teaching job and Freddie at one of the foundries nearby. He downed the last of his pint. ‘Wait there. I’m going back for another – get you one?’
‘I’m all right, ta, Freddie.’ Her glass was still half full.
She was enjoying talking to him, especially with the added thought that they were to be family. Freddie had always been all right. All the Morrisons were all right, she thought, a warmth spreading through her. She was very lucky. It was as if family was wrapping itself around her in a safe cocoon that she need never leave.
Freddie came back, shouldering through the crowd with his pint.
‘Who’s that Auntie’s talking to?’
Melly turned. ‘Where?’
‘She’s there – behind that big bloke.’ Since she left Gladys, she had moved further towards the bar. ‘Talking to the tall one. He’s a size – must be six foot four!’
Melly could make out a man who was at least a half-head taller than most people in the room and a whole head taller than some. He had very short, grizzled hair and a strong, comical-looking face which, as she watched, she saw break into a smile. She presumed he was smiling at Gladys, though she could not see her.
‘I dunno,’ she said. ‘Never seen him before. He’s a wopper.’
‘Straight as a ramrod an’ all – look at him. Must be a soldier.’
They carried on with their chat until Melly had finished her drink.
‘Got to go, Fred,’ she said. ‘I’m meeting Reggie.’
Freddie grinned. ‘Nice seeing yer, Melly. Ta-ra.’
She noticed then that Gladys was still with the very tall man. Working her way to her father, who was talking in a gaggle of men, she touched his arm and said, ‘I’m off now, Dad. Meeting Reggie in town.’
Danny blew out a whorl of smoke. ‘All right. See ya later, wench.’
‘Who’s that Auntie’s with?’ she asked.
‘I dunno.’ Danny turned, found Gladys with his eyes and narrowed them, suddenly attentive. ‘I dunno who he is – but whoever he is, he’s put her in a good mood.’
Melly moved her head so that she could see Gladys. It took her a moment to recognize her. Her face was alight, smiling, like a new, suddenly younger woman.
Sixty-One
‘What’s this about Auntie and some guardsman?’ Rachel said the next morning.
She was standing resting against the stove, clad in her pink nylon dressing gown, a cup of tea held close to her face. Sandra and Alan were already downstairs, rattling about in the passage. Melly poured herself a cup and pulled out a chair at the table.
‘Guardsman?’ She had got home quite late last night, after her evening with Reggie. Her head was full of him. He was so keen on her, so amorous and in need of affection that she wondered how she was going to keep him at bay until they were married. In fact, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to resist for much longer. But she’d missed any follow-up on what happened in the Adam and Eve.
‘That tall feller, you mean?’
‘Your dad said he nigh-on had to prise them apart!’
Melly laughed. ‘What – Auntie?’ But she had seen Gladys’s face, all lit up. ‘I s’pose they were talking for quite a bit. I didn’t see ’til I left – I was talking to Freddie.’
‘What – Dolly’s Freddie?’
‘Yeah. He’s doing all right. I reckon he’ll be getting wed to that Sal girl he’s with.’
‘He’ll be your brother-in-law soon.’ Rachel lit the gas and reached for the frying pan.
Her words sent another thrill through Melly – of both excitement and misgiving.
‘Melly! Are you there? I said, d’you fancy an egg butty?’
‘Take the lads out of here, for heaven’s sake,’ Rachel said later to Danny. ‘They’re driving me round the bend. Kev’s got a face as long as Livery Street and the other two are like bloody ants.’
‘C’mon –’ Danny hustled Kev, Ricky and Alan along – ‘we’ll go and have a kick-about – bring your ball, Kev.’
‘Can I come?’ Sandra whined.
‘No!’ they all said in chorus.
‘You can help me,’ Rachel told her. ‘You can shell me some peas for a start.’
‘I don’t wanna stay in the house and help you!’ Sandra roared.
Under cover of this, Tom
my said, ‘Sis – come – outside – a tick . . .’
Melly could see he was in a state, pale, and as if he had not got much sleep. They went into the garden and both perched on the low wall.
‘Can – we ask – if – we can – visit?’ he said with no preamble. ‘Mom – maybe?’
‘Mom?’ Melly rolled her eyes. ‘Heaven help us!’
‘But can’t – we – ask?’ Tommy pleaded. His speech was more laboured because he was worked up. ‘How’re – we – gonna – g-go?’
‘If we ask Mom she’ll have a fit,’ Melly said. ‘Can’t you imagine the state she’d be in if she had to drive to Wolverhampton? She’s never even been there and her driving’s . . . Well, anyway. She’d say “over my dead body” – I can hear her saying it. But –’ She held a hand out to stop Tommy interrupting. ‘There’s Dad – but even better, what about Reggie? He can drive anywhere. We could go – the three of us. Why don’t you write to her and see if we could go next Sunday?’
A look of utter joy filled Tommy’s face.
‘Would he?’ He was squirming with delight. ‘Would – Reggie – do that – for me?’
‘Course he would.’
Their eyes met, full of fond, happy light. It was like old times, Melly thought. Her helping Tommy and him not minding, actually wanting her.
‘I’ll ask him,’ she said. ‘Later.’
Melly spent most of the day with Reggie, who of course happily agreed to drive them to Wolverhampton.
They went for a walk round the park in Kings Heath. The trees were lit by mellow, late-summer light. Reggie held her hand, his stick in the other. Melly felt bubbly. Everything in her life was so happy these days. Even Gladys was suddenly lit up like a beacon.
‘I think Auntie’s in love,’ she told Reggie.
‘No!’ He laughed. ‘Auntie? You’re having me on!’
‘I didn’t take much notice – I saw Freddie, in the Adam and Eve last night.’