Child of the Mersey

by Annie Groves

  ‘We’ll have great memories of the good times, Glor. And we can still always go to the pictures during the week,’ Nancy said, trying to cheer her up.

  ‘Ah, thanks for that, Nance,’ Gloria said sardonically. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’ She knew that Sid wouldn’t let Nancy move before they were wed, so there was little chance afterwards.

  ‘Don’t be like that, Glor,’ Nancy said, smoothing her straight dark skirt, which fitted more snugly than it had last month. There wasn’t much she could do about it now, was there?

  Gloria looked at her best friend. Nancy had a total blind spot to Sid Kerrigan’s domineering ways and she could not understand why. Surely, she could not love such an uncouth and shady man. Nancy had been brought up in a decent family who went to church and grafted hard even when work was scarce.

  ‘He doesn’t like me going to dances and being eyed up by other men.’

  ‘Maybe he knows his own tricks best,’ Gloria said, then put her hand to her lips, immediately regretting her slip of the tongue. It was one thing knowing Nancy was too good for Sid Kerrigan, caught up in the seedy criminal underworld she knew nothing about, but quite another to enlighten her about it on the eve of her wedding.

  If only I had known sooner, Gloria thought. Sid had been having a fine old time last night in the Adelphi Hotel. Gloria recognised his lady friend, whose brother had connections in late-night drinking clubs, and he was not keen on shifty characters seducing his sister. Gloria knew Sid was playing with fire. But what could she do about it now?

  It was too late to say anything, surely. Nancy was besotted with Sid.

  ‘Sid’s very good to me. He’s out looking for a house for us as we speak.’

  No doubt, it would be some run-down rooms in a dilapidated old house barely fit for pigs to live in, convenient for Sid to make a few bob on the side smuggling contraband off the dock and selling it cheaply around the area. What the hell had her best friend let herself in for? Gloria was so angry she could scream!

  There was one thing Gloria was certain of: the man she married would have to be very special. Her man would have money, status, and would wine and dine her in style at exclusive restaurants and … Until last night she had drawn the line at meeting in hotels.

  ‘So, what kept you out until now?’ Nancy asked, eager for details.

  ‘I can’t talk here,’ Gloria took Nancy’s arm, ‘and … if by any strange chance my mother asks where I was … I slept in yours last night.’

  ‘She’s bound to have talked to my mam today already,’ Nancy said.

  Gloria shook her head. ‘My mother seldom asks questions, especially about me.’

  ‘You are so lucky, Glor.’ Nancy linked Gloria’s arm. ‘My mam knows what we’re doing before we even think about doing it.’

  ‘It must be nice to have a mother who cares.’ Gloria opened the side door, then, popping her head inside the passageway, she listened before leading the way up the narrow staircase.

  ‘I’ll get changed and come with you into town.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got to give me every last detail.’ Nancy followed in eager anticipation of a good old jangle, hurrying up the sumptuously carpeted stairs leading to the Ardens’ private quarters.

  Pop and his sons made themselves scarce and, disappearing into the Sailor’s Rest, let the women do what they had to do the night before a wedding. Both his sons being home at the same time was a rarity these days, and Pop was in his element. Looking after them gave his lovely wife, Dolly, something to keep her mind occupied other than on what he was doing, for a change.

  It was a great relief to know he could go about his ARP training without Dolly wanting to know the ins and outs of it all. Not that any of them would have her any other way; his Doll was the mainstay of the family, and he did not know where he would be without her.

  Having the boys home made for lively discussions around the tea table. He smiled recalling the way each tried to outdo the other with his naval stories. He loved every minute of it. He had hoped they would take up the cartage line of work like him, get their own team of horses and be out delivering goods from one end of the docks to the other. Pop had a roving soul and loved the open road, but the rolling seas called his sons like many who lived in and around the docks and they were quick to answer. Frank had joined the Royal Navy three years ago, and Eddy had joined the Merchant Navy not long after. Both were proud they had salt water running through their veins and would not give it up for anything.

  Outside the Sailor’s Rest the cobbles rang with children’s voices as they skipped in a rolling rope.

  Under the spreading chestnut tree,

  Neville Chamberlain said to me:

  ‘If you want your gas mask free,

  Join the blinking ARP.’

  A young girl was sitting on a looped rope lashed and knotted to the outstretched arms of the gas lamp while her friends swung her around it. A ship’s horn could be heard on the Mersey.

  Pop, trying to push the anxious worry about what the war held for his family to the back of his mind, had thrown the singing children a few coppers as he passed. They scrambled in the dusty gutter, where a thrupenny bit landed on one of its twelve flat sides. Pop knew his wife hated the thought of another war, especially now her sons would both be in the front line. ‘But, Pop, it’s only been twenty-one years since the last war,’ Dolly had cried – as if that would prevent another one. Pop took a sip of his pint while his sons caught up with old pals … What had the world learned in the last twenty-one years? Here they were, on the brink of war again. Pop had seen many terrible things in the Great War and it made his blood run cold to think that his sons would do the same. But Pop knew that his boys would stand up to Hitler, no matter what.

  ‘Don’t fret about it now, Doll,’ he had said. Dolly was a strong, dignified woman, but first and foremost she was a mother. Fretting over her offspring came as naturally as breathing. ‘You’ve got a wedding to think about.’ If Dolly knew he had been humping corrugated cardboard, flat-packed coffins into the local swimming baths in Balliol Road all day she would have had a fit and refused to speak to him. However, the authorities had ordered them in case of war, and someone had to shift them …

  Pop glanced at the huge round clock over the bar and wondered if Sid would get here before closing time.

  Enjoying his rare night out with Frank and Eddy, Pop joined in the singing while Frank played the old upright piano. By nine o’clock, the whole pub seemed to be full of voices all happy to throw their opinions into the ring. They were all listening with interest to war stories from veterans of the last lot. By nine thirty, his sons were talking as if they would guide the British fleet to victory all by themselves, if need be. However, Pop laughed when he thought of thick heads in the morning, because tonight the only thing they were sinking was their beer.

  ‘Here, where’s the bridegroom got to?’ Eddy asked when he saw Pop looking at the time again.

  ‘This is a fine carry-on,’ said Frank, ‘a stag do and no stag.’ The die-hard regulars standing at the bar joined in Frank’s cheery banter.

  ‘Well,’ said one, ‘who wants to spend their last night of freedom with their future outlaws?’

  ‘Don’t you let my Dolly hear you talking like that, Fred,’ Pop replied. ‘We only got out of the house on the promise of looking after Sid …’ Pop, with theatrical exaggeration, looked right and left before he spoke again. ‘If she finds out he’s not turned up, she’ll be in here, evacuate the lot of us and have us making fairy cakes.’ The bar erupted with good-natured laughter and before long Frank started a medley of sea shanties.

  Much to Eddy’s delight, Gloria came into the pub and silently beckoned him to the end of the bar. She was looking particularly fetching in a pale cream dress with puffed sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, and with her hair swept up in those fabulous Betty Grable curls, she looked very sophisticated.

  ‘Hello, gorgeous,’ Eddy said, giving Gloria a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek. T
hey hugged and passed the usual pleasantries. How long are you home? Are you courting yet? Do you fancy going to the pictures sometime? Gloria saw the Feeny boys as welcome extensions of her own family, the brothers she did not have, especially Eddy, who always took the mick and made her laugh. But the boy next door wasn’t for Gloria, she had other ideas about the sort of man who would be worthy of her.

  ‘Eddy, listen to me,’ Gloria said as he started to hum along to the piano. ‘Eddy? Eddy, are you listening?’ She turned his face towards her and could see by the silly grin and half-closed eyes that he was already half-cut. Eddy nodded like an adoring two-year-old.

  ‘It’s about Sid.’ Gloria voice was urgently solemn now and she saw his expression change. His brow pleated and his head went up.

  ‘What about him?’ Eddy asked, alert now.

  Gloria leaned over and whispered in his ear. Concentrating hard, Eddy felt his head begin to clear.

  ‘Frank,’ he said in a low voice, summoning his brother with a slight nod of his head. Frank dutifully left the piano and joined Eddy at the end of the bar.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Frank asked. Able to take his ale better than his younger brother, he was listening intently.

  Eddy wagged a finger in front of his nose and said in a low voice, ‘I don’t want Pop to hear this, but we’ve to go on a mission.’

  ‘A mission? Where to?’ Frank asked. ‘And why don’t you want Pop to hear?’

  ‘First things first,’ Eddy answered, putting his full pint of best bitter on the bar. ‘We are going to the Adelphi Hotel.’

  ‘What? Now?’ Frank asked, puzzled, and Eddy nodded. ‘It’s a bit late to be going into town; Ma will have our guts for violin strings if we get up to mischief and spoil the wedding.’

  ‘She’ll do more than that if she ever finds out what I’ve just heard.’

  ‘Oh, aye,’ said Frank, suddenly interested, ‘and what was that?’

  ‘I’ll tell you outside,’ Eddy offered, before letting Pop know he would see him back at the house later.

  ‘Sailors, hey?’ Pop’s laughter was drowned out by the cheers of the other men at the bar, all of whom had been away to sea at one time or another. ‘You can’t keep good men down.’

  ‘Thanks, Glor.’ Eddy gave her a peck on the cheek, quickly followed by Frank, who did not want to miss a female hug. A cheer went up as the two brothers left the pub.

  ‘So, what’s the mystery?’ Frank asked, hands in pockets, as they ambled across to the dock road. A striking pair of handsome sailors, the same height, weight and jovial manner.

  ‘I think Sid might be in a bit of bother,’ Eddy said in a low voice as they crossed over towards Seaforth and the terminus of the overhead railway. ‘He certainly will be if we don’t go and fetch him.’

  ‘What kind of bother?’ Frank felt his heartbeat quicken. He never went looking for trouble but if it came to visit, he was always ready.

  ‘Gloria saw him in the Adelphi Hotel last night and again tonight. And he was not on his own.’ Eddy filled Frank in on the details Gloria had told him about Sid enjoying the company of a woman whose brother, infamously, was not averse to the use of violence.

  ‘I’m more Queensberry rules than the rough stuff,’ said Frank, who knew how to handle himself if need be. Coming from a neighbourhood where being tough was a state of mind, as well as body, you had to learn very quickly.

  ‘And what about Gloria?’ he asked. ‘How come she was in the Adelphi?’

  ‘She’s a singer, is Glor,’ said Eddy. ‘Didn’t you know? Nancy told me that she’s got a regular spot at the Adelphi. She’s going places, that girl.’

  ‘Have you gone a bit soft on her?’ asked Frank, nudging his brother playfully in the ribs.

  ‘Who wouldn’t be? That figure, those hips! She drives men wild.’

  Frank was amused by his brother’s glowing assessment of Gloria. The drink had clearly loosened his tongue.

  ‘But I’m not daft, Frank. She’d no more look at me than she would a scrape of mud on one of her shoes. I’m not in her league.’

  Frank clapped his brother on the shoulder. ‘Who dares wins, Edward, who dares wins …’

  The dance floor at the Adelphi was heaving with couples entwined in the last waltz of the evening. Soldiers, sailors and airmen were taking a chance to enjoy the tranquil ambience, the good music and fine wine before they were to be shipped off at a moment’s notice to God knew where.

  It took only a moment before the Feeny brothers caught sight of Sid Kerrigan swishing around the polished floor like Fred Astaire, obviously enjoying himself. Perhaps a little too much. They both recognised his dance partner immediately and they were shocked to see Queenie Calendar, sister of the infamous gang leader Harry Calendar, hanging around Sid’s neck like a barnacle. Sid appeared to be whispering sweet nothings into her ear and she was lapping up every minute. They certainly looked like more than dance partners. Before Sid was aware of it, a handsome sailor had whisked his ravishing partner away and was twirling her around the dance floor himself.

  ‘Oy, this ain’t a gentlemen’s-excuse-me,’ Sid protested. Then he noticed who it was leading him off the dance floor and he gave a sickly grin. ‘Oh, hello, Eddy, me old cock sparrow, where did you come from?’

  ‘We just thought we’d escort you home, Sid,’ Eddy offered with a tight smile. ‘A nice fish supper and an early night would do you the world of good, don’t you think?’ Sid looked flummoxed but nodded all the same.

  Just then, Queenie, who had extricated herself from Frank, came up to Sid, and with her hands on her hips said, ‘What happened to my dance?’ Queenie was all woman, with large breasts and hips that strained against her tight-fitting dress, and a mop of dark brown curls that she had pinned up in the latest style.

  ‘I’m just having a chat with some old friends, Queenie,’ said Sid, ushering her away, his face flushing as he tugged nervously at his necktie, which suddenly felt too tight.

  He turned back to the Feeny brothers. ‘Yes, a nice fish supper, that’s just what I was saying to that nice lady over there,’ Sid recovered himself quickly, ‘before she dragged me up to dance. I don’t have a clue who she is. Never seen her before in my life.’

  ‘Is that right, Sid?’ Eddy, level-headed now, was in no mood for excuses. He had left a full pint on the bar at the Sailor’s and was not pleased about it one bit. However, his sister’s good name was at stake and it was his job to make sure that Sid did nothing to embarrass her in any way.

  ‘And your white lies are turning darker by the minute, me old mucker,’ Frank advised Sid. He went on to inform his future brother-in-law about the danger of plank walking over the River Mersey. ‘… A man might miss his wedding day and that would never do. We have to think of the poor bride in all of this.’

  ‘I agree wholeheartedly!’ Sid nodded as the music finished. A polite round of applause filled the air, preventing any further communication as he left the dance floor.

  ‘I am so glad you agree, Sid,’ said Eddy, ‘because we are taking you back to your digs now. And just in case you sleep in, our Frank is going to stay with you tonight, because that’s what a best man does: he looks after the groom and makes sure the bride has a happy day.’

  ‘There won’t be any need for you to stay, Frank,’ Sid began. ‘I have an alarm clock and—’

  ‘I don’t mind, Sid,’ Frank insisted. ‘I wouldn’t want you to miss your wedding day because you’d ended up on the wrong end of someone’s fist.’

  ‘I get your drift,’ Sid replied uncertainly as they made their way on foot along the dock road, having stopped by the chippy for their supper.

  ‘Have you ever seen a bloated body that’s been in the water too long, Sid?’ Frank asked conversationally. ‘One that’s been washed up many miles from where it started?’ He was enjoying his future brother-in-law’s discomfort. Serves him right, he thought. ‘A body becomes so grey it’s barely recognisable, and hardly ever reunited with its grieving family.�
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  ‘Such a shame,’ said Eddy, tucking into his cod and chips out of a newspaper.

  ‘A terrible shame,’ Frank added, offering Sid half his fish. Sid shook his head. He was in no mood for a fish supper now. ‘Aye,’ Frank continued, ‘we’ve seen many a good man driven to tears at the loss of his bachelor freedom. But a promise is a promise, don’t you agree, Sid?’ Frank smiled at his future brother-in-law, who quickly nodded.

  ‘Our Nancy’s good name means everything to the family, don’t you agree?’

  ‘Certainly,’ Sid replied.

  ‘And the life of luxury in the arms of a rich woman would never have suited you, Sid.’

  ‘I do believe you are right, Frank,’ said Eddy as they ambled along the dock road whistling a happy tune.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Nancy went over to close the window in the parlour. The weather had been very hot of late although an earlier thunderstorm had cooled the air down a little. She hoped that the sun would shine tomorrow and that they had seen the last of the rain for now. The summer had been glorious, and Nancy, choosing to wear white satin shoes with her wedding dress, had not envisaged rain. She felt the electric zing of excitement shoot through her each time she thought of her wedding day. She was in a constant state of anticipation and delight. In a few short hours Pop would walk her up the aisle to Sid and happy-ever-after.

  A small breeze made her shiver slightly. The sash window was open just enough to allow a gentle breeze to ripple the new curtains Mam had made on her treadle sewing machine.

  Mam and Sarah had gone to bed already and the others would be home any minute. She could hear Pop’s deep resonating voice in the distance, a little louder now after a few pints. It was funny how sound carried at night, Nancy thought as she smoothed an imaginary crease from the immaculate, virginal white tablecloth. She could feel the heat flood her face; it was a good thing she was getting married tomorrow. Any later and her pregnancy would start to show. This way she could hold her head up and say her ‘honeymoon’ baby was six weeks early.