by Joan Jonker
‘I’m sure it was said in jest, Lizzie,’ Albert told her. ‘All the men seem to think very highly of you.’
‘Yeah, they’re not a bad lot. It’s a good job I’ve got a sense of humour, though, which is more than can be said for those two buggers when I belted them.’
George chuckled. She was a real pick-me-up was Lizzie. ‘They’ll be cursing you now if they’re waiting for their tea. It’s bitterly cold out there, they need something to warm them up.’
‘I took theirs out to them before I brought yours.’ Lizzie’s bosom moved up and down as the laughter came. ‘I told yer about Phil Easton, didn’t I? He’s the feller what works with Bill now, and what a long string of misery he is. I don’t think a day goes by that he doesn’t have something to moan about. Either the tea’s too hot, too strong, or I haven’t put enough milk in. His moan today was not enough sugar. I’d put two spoonfuls in, but he had the cheek to say he was used to getting three at home. I told him it wasn’t the bleedin’ Adelphi Hotel, and he should count himself lucky to be getting three free cups of tea a day. I mean, Mr Fisher is good enough to supply the tea, sugar and milk, and I’m not going to be dishing it out willy-nilly to some silly sod what’s got a sweet tooth. Yer should have seen the gob on him, honest, it was enough to stop the clock on the Liver Buildings.’
‘Is he a good worker?’ George asked.
‘Oh yeah, he keeps up, but he never stops moaning. Bill doesn’t take any notice now, he just lets it go in one ear and out the other. He’ll tell yer himself when he sees yer. If he gets down on his knees, yer’ll know he’s begging yer to come back to being his mate.’
‘I’m looking forward to seeing Bill again, and all the others. I’ve brought my carry-out, so I’ll sit with Bill and we can have a good natter.’
‘Are yer not having chips, then?’ Lizzie asked. ‘Yer need something warm in yer tummy this weather.’
‘I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, so I brought some sandwiches to be on the safe side. Perhaps I’ll have chips tomorrow.’
Lizzie moved away when the bell rang. ‘I’d better go and collect the mugs. But I’ll get yer a pennyworth of chips, George, and you can put them in yer butties.’
Albert called after her, ‘If it wouldn’t inconvenience you, Lizzie, I’d like some chips too.’
‘No trouble at all, Mr Hancock.’ She came back and held out both hands. ‘I’ll take a penny off each of yer. If I don’t get the money first, then I charge a farthing interest.’
‘You strike a hard bargain, Lizzie,’ Albert said, handing over a threepenny bit. ‘You can take George’s out of that, I’ll treat him seeing as it’s his first day back.’
George shook his head. ‘It’s very kind of you, but there’s no need to do that!’
Lizzie bent to look in his face. ‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth, soft lad, ’cos if yer refuse once, you might never be asked again. Besides, it’s bad manners to refuse a kind offer.’ With that she walked away, slipping the threepenny bit into her overall pocket and muttering, ‘Pride has got a lot to answer for, and I’m glad I haven’t got none.’
‘George, me old mate, it’s good to see yer!’ Bill’s handshake was strong, his smile warm and welcoming. ‘Are yer feeling all right now? No pain or anything?’
‘No pain now, thank goodness, but the first few weeks I was in agony. The doctor says as long as I don’t push myself, I should be all right.’
‘I haven’t half missed yer, it’s not been the same here since yer left.’ Bill pulled a face and jerked his head. ‘I’ve got a right one working with me now. Miserable as bloody sin he is, and never stops complaining. The whole day long he’s at it, and when I lose me temper and tell him to put a sock in it, he sulks! A grown man, sulking! It’s enough to give yer the willies.’
All the gang came around then, and George realised how much he’d missed them. Vin, Greg, Charlie and Joe, all the men he’d worked with for years. And they looked as happy to see him as he was to see them as they shook his hand and slapped him on the back. ‘I still have nightmares about that day, George,’ Vin told him. ‘I see it in slow motion, the rope beginning to slip and you and Bill standing right underneath it. There wasn’t a thing I could do about it, only shout me flaming head off. I really thought yer were a goner, and I was sick with fright.’
‘We all were,’ Joe said. ‘Seeing yer lying on the ground, not moving or speaking, I didn’t think much of yer chances.’
‘From what I’ve heard, I could have been killed if Bill hadn’t had the presence of mind to pull me that fraction forward. The weight of one of those sacks on me head, I would never have survived it. But,’ George rubbed his hands and grinned, ‘I’m here to tell the tale, thank God.’
‘How d’yer think yer’ll like yer new job?’ Joe asked.
‘Beggars can’t be choosers, Joe, I’m stuck with it whether I like it or not.’ George wasn’t going to mention the drop in wages, it was his worry, not theirs. ‘It’ll take some getting used to, ’cos it’s many a long year since I did adding, subtraction and multiplication. But according to Mr Hancock, I’ll get there in the end.’
‘If yer get stuck, George, yer can always come and ask me,’ Bill said jokingly. ‘I was good at arithmetic in school.’
‘He’d be better off asking yer mate Phil Easton.’ Vin’s words brought forth loud guffaws. ‘He’s got counting chips off to a fine art.’
‘Ay, George, he’s caused Lizzie some grief.’ Bill started to laugh and almost choked when a chip he was eating went down the wrong way. ‘Did she ever tell yer about emptying a bag of chips and scallops on his head?’
‘Yes, she did tell me. It must have been very funny.’
‘Funny! It was like something out of Laurel and Hardy.’ Vin conjured up the scene in his mind and doubled up. ‘She did no more than plonk the open paper on his head and walk away. Chips were hanging from his head and shoulders, he looked a scream. And d’yer know what he shouted after her? “I’m going to count these chips, Lizzie, and if I’m any short, I want me money back.”’
‘Where is he now?’ George asked. ‘Doesn’t he eat with you?’
‘Not on yer life,’ Bill said. ‘I have enough of him in working hours, that’s all I can take. Me dinner break is for nourishment, not punishment. He goes for his own chips now, and God only knows where he eats them. But I don’t care, as long as it’s not sitting by me and moaning.’
George was enjoying the company of his mates and he grimaced when the bell rang. ‘It’s great to see you all again and be back in the fold. I’ll probably see you on my rounds, but I’ll definitely be here every day for my lunch.’
‘Don’t worry, George,’ Bill called as he walked away. ‘Yer’ll soon get the hang of it.’
George waved over his shoulder. He’d get the hang of it all right, it was a case of having to, there was no choice.
Ann lifted her face for a kiss, then helped George off with his coat and hung it on the hall stand. ‘How did it go, love?’
He shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands. ‘Well, I didn’t break eggs with a big stick, but I didn’t make a fool of myself either.’ He walked through to the living room to find Maddy and Tess with their heads bent over exercise books, busy with their homework. ‘Are you too busy to give me a kiss?’
Two chairs scraped back and four arms reached out to him. ‘Never too busy for that, Dad,’ Maddy said. ‘We just started doing homework to pass the time until you came in.’
‘I’ve nearly finished my sums, Dad,’ Tess said. ‘Then I’ve got to study a map of the world that Miss Harrison lent me. Maddy’s going to help me with it after we’ve had our dinner.’
He held his daughters close. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we were rich enough to sail around the world, instead of looking at a map?’
Tess, her head always full of fanciful dreams, said, ‘If we could find a magic lamp, Dad, with a genie who told us we could have three wishes, we could ask for a magic carpet to
take us way up in the sky and fly us around the world. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?’
‘It would indeed be wonderful, pet, but where do we find a magic lamp?’
‘In a pawn shop! There’s one on Stanley Road and it’s full to the brim of everything you can imagine. They’re all old things, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if somewhere under all the old chairs, pictures and furniture there was a lamp just waiting for someone to find it.’
Ann tutted. ‘Come along, Theresa, clear your things off the table so I can serve the dinner. And if you ever do come across this genie in a lamp, you and Madelaine can wish for the magic carpet. Then your father and I would like the other two wishes.’
Maddy turned after placing the books and pencils on the sideboard. ‘What would your wish be, Mam?’
‘A cottage in Wales and enough money to keep the wolf from the door.’ If only this wasn’t just make-believe, Ann thought, then life really would be wonderful. ‘What would you wish for, George?’
‘The one thing I’d ask for would be for your wish to come true, love, then we’d all be happy.’
Maddy came to put her arms around his shoulders. ‘We’ll never be able to afford our own cottage in Wales, Dad, but we’ve got the next best thing. Mam hasn’t told you yet, but we’ve had letters from Wales today.’
‘I haven’t had a chance to tell him! I was going to leave it until we were all seated and having our meal.’
‘Then leave it, love, and you see to the dinner while I have a swill.’
For the first time Ann noticed her husband’s pallor. ‘You look worn out, love, has today been tiring for you?’
‘I do feel tired, yes, but it’s more to do with my body being out of the routine than anything else. It’s certainly not due to hard work, because the job involves using your mind rather than your body. A couple more days and I’ll forget I’ve even been away from the place.’
‘Well, after dinner you can stretch out on the couch and relax for a few hours. You can’t expect to get over what you’ve been through so soon, it’s asking too much.’ Ann bustled out to the kitchen where a pan of stew made with shin beef was simmering and smelling delicious. ‘Knives and forks out, please, girls.’
They had started their meal when George said, ‘Tell me what our friends in Wales had to say, save me waiting. I’ll read the letters later.’
‘Gwen and Mered send their best wishes and hope you are well on the way to recovery. They said if you need to convalesce then we are very welcome to stay with them as friends, not paying guests. Gwen said she’d look after you and build you up. And her and Mered would love to see us again.’
‘That’s very nice of them, what lovely people they are. I only wish we could take them up on their offer, I rather fancy a week in the country.’
‘Ooh, don’t we all!’ Tess was swivelling her bottom on the chair, her eyes bright with the knowledge she was carrying in her brain and couldn’t wait to impart. ‘And Mrs Thomas said the same in her letter, Dad. That we would be welcome any time, they would be delighted to have us.’
George smiled at her. ‘We are very popular, aren’t we, pet? I suppose Alan and Grace wrote as well?’
‘Of course!’ Maddy said. ‘They put their letter in with their mother’s. And Grace said she wished we could go down for a few days. They can’t come here because they can’t leave the farm and the animals.’
‘Alan said we wouldn’t know Pinky and Curly now because they’ve grown so much.’ Tess went from swivelling her bottom to swinging her legs. ‘I bet when we go next year they won’t know us ’cos we’ll have grown too! I’ll be as tall as Alan.’
When Maddy glanced at her sister there was tenderness in her eyes. ‘Oh, so Alan’s not going to grow any more, eh? He’s going to wait for you to catch up?’
Tess giggled. ‘Aren’t I a silly girl, I never thought of that.’
Maddy hadn’t missed the look exchanged between her parents when next year’s holiday was mentioned, and she was thoughtful as she chewed on a piece of meat. Her parents didn’t know, but she’d overheard them talking one night about the difficulty they’d have trying to manage with less money coming into the house. She was old enough to understand that if they were having a struggle to make ends meet, a holiday would be out of the question. So it would be better if Tess didn’t keep on about it, making them feel guilty. ‘Anyway, something might turn up to stop us going next year.’
‘No it won’t!’ Tess was adamant. ‘Dad promised us, didn’t you, Dad?’
‘Yes, I did, pet, and I promise that I’ll do all in my power to bring it about. But, as Maddy rightly said, you never know what’s going to crop up.’
‘Nothing is going to stop us, I know in my heart it isn’t, so there!’
‘Theresa, don’t tempt fate, love,’ Ann said. ‘No one knows from day to day what’s going to happen, or what’s in store for us. And it is not in our power to change things. So put it out of your mind until nearer the time.’ When she noticed her younger daughter’s mouth open in protest, she lifted a hand. ‘Get on with your dinner and let’s hear no more about it.’
The meal continued in silence, but George had lost his appetite. He couldn’t bear the thought of letting his children down, but there would be bigger hardships ahead than the loss of holidays, and there was little he could do about it. Unless he found himself a job that paid better wages. He could ask around, but he was only a labourer and most jobs would require lifting of some kind. He sighed. It would be best to do as Ann said, put it out of his mind and see how things went.
When George put the key in the lock on Saturday afternoon, it was with a heavy heart. The wage packet in his pocket was six shillings lighter, and although he’d known it was coming, he felt saddened. But when his wife came into the hall to meet him, he kissed her with a forced smile on his face. ‘Always a nice welcome, love.’
‘That’s because I’m always glad to see you.’ She reached up to take her coat from the hall stand. ‘I had nothing in the house to make dinner with, so I made you sandwiches to be going on with until I come back from the shops. The girls want to come with me, so you’ll have the house to yourself for an hour.’
George put a hand on her arm while he reached into his pocket for the wage packet. ‘Bad news, love, I started on the lower wage this week.’
‘It can’t be helped.’ Ann had been bracing herself for this and was determined not to upset him. ‘We knew it was going to come and we’ll just have to get on with it.’ She stroked his cheek with the back of a finger. ‘Don’t look so worried, love, we’ll scrape along. At least we’ve got each other and the girls.’
‘What about the girls?’ Tess asked as she popped her head around the living room door. ‘What have we been up to now?’
‘I was just telling your father that you’re coming to the shops with me. So go and tell Madelaine to get her coat on, and we’ll be off.’
‘I’ll stay in with you, Dad, if you want me to.’
‘No, pet, you go out and get some fresh air.’
‘Is Mrs Lizzie coming today, she usually does on a Saturday?’
‘You know, I never thought to ask her. I was pretty busy this morning as Mr Hancock was going through things with me for the last time. And when Lizzie brought our tea I was up to my neck and it never crossed my mind to ask her.’
‘She’ll come,’ Ann said. ‘She’s never missed a Saturday yet. Lizzie’s visits are the highlight of the day, we’d be lost without her.’
‘Yes, but that was to bring my wages and she had a reason to call. So I wouldn’t be too sure about today.’
‘She’ll come,’ Ann said, ushering the girls through the door. ‘I know she will.’
But when Lizzie hadn’t put in an appearance by seven o’clock, even Ann gave up on her. ‘She won’t come now.’
‘Oh, I hope she hasn’t stopped coming altogether now you’re better, Dad,’ Tess said. ‘We really love Mrs Lizzie, and me and Maddy will be very sad if we don�
��t see her again.’
‘Of course you’ll see her again, she’s our friend now,’ Ann told her. ‘But while your dad was off, she put us before herself. Now she’s able to get back into her own routine.’
Disappointed, Maddy asked, ‘Well, can we go upstairs to do our homework, then? It’s more comfortable sitting in bed and we’ll be out of your way.’
‘You’re not in our way, Madelaine, what a thing to say! And you’ll freeze up there, it’s a cold night.’
‘We can snuggle up together,’ Tess said, ‘and we’ll be as warm as toast.’
‘Let them go,’ George said. ‘They’ll soon come down if they get too cold.’ He wanted to talk to his wife and didn’t want the children to hear his worries. ‘When the tips of your fingers go blue, that’s when you’ll know it’s as cold in your bedroom as it is in Iceland.’
The girls ran up the stairs giggling. ‘We’ll wrap the eiderdown around us and the feathers will keep us as snug as a bug in a rug,’ Maddy said. ‘Last one in bed is a dunce.’
George heard the bedroom door closing and moved to sit on the couch. ‘Come and sit next to me, love.’ He waited until she was comfortable, her arm linked in his, then said, ‘We have to talk about it, Ann, it’s not going to go away. It’s no good pretending everything is fine, and saying we’ll manage somehow, because the drop in money is too much not to make a big difference to the way we live. It isn’t only the six shillings, it’s the odd hour’s overtime I used to get that helped with what few luxuries we did have, like the girls going to a Saturday matinée, or me going for a pint with our Ken now and again. All those things, and many more, will have to go by the board now.’
‘I know,’ Ann sighed. ‘I’ve been doing some mental arithmetic and can’t see any way we’ll manage. You know I put everything away on a Saturday that I have to pay out through the week, like rent, gas, coal and three shillings towards clothing. By the time I’ve done that, there’ll be very little left for food. And I’m careful with money, I don’t buy anything we don’t really need.’