by Joan Jonker
Then Molly remembered her promise to Corker, that she’d keep an eye on his mother. ‘That was a nice cup of tea, Mrs Corkhill.’ She placed the cup and saucer carefully on the table. ‘Now yer’ve asked about everyone that God ever made, are yer goin’ to tell us what’s botherin’ yer?’
Mrs Corkhill’s hand fluttered to her throat. ‘Why, I don’t know what yer mean. There’s nothin’ bothering me.’
Nellie couldn’t lean forward, so she passed her cup to Molly. ‘Come off it, Mrs C! Yer a nervous wreck, there’s got to be a reason for it.’
The old lady dropped her head. What was the use of pretending when she was worried to death? And if she couldn’t tell these two, who could she tell? ‘It’s that family over the road again. They’re makin’ my life hell.’
Molly sighed. ‘What ’ave they been up to now?’
‘Just the usual … borrowing … borrowing … borrowing. It never ends.’
‘I think there’s more to it than that,’ Nellie said, her eyes screwed up. ‘They were doin’ that yesterday, but you weren’t as upset as yer are today.’
‘Nellie’s right!’ Molly took a frail hand in hers. ‘Come on, sunshine, yer can tell us. Anythin’ yer say won’t go any further than these four walls, I promise.’
Taking a deep breath, Mrs Corkhill said, ‘You’d only been gone five minutes yesterday when that Joyce came over to borrow some tea. I know I told yez I wouldn’t lend them any more, but with bein’ on me own I don’t want no trouble from them. So I gave in, but I made her wait on the step while I fetched it from the kitchen.’
Molly could feel her temper rising, but she kept quiet because she had a feeling there was more to come. And there was.
Her voice shaking, Mrs Corkhill continued, ‘An hour later she was back to ask for some marg. Like a fool I gave in again. But this time, when I came out of the kitchen, the cheeky thing was standing in here, by the sideboard. I shouted at her, told her she had no right to come into my house, but she just laughed, grabbed the marg from my hand and ran.’
‘Ooh, I’d like to get me hands on that little faggot for five minutes.’ Nellie’s face was red with anger. ‘I’d belt the daylights out of her.’
‘It’s her mother I blame,’ Molly said. ‘What sort of a mother is she to send her kids out scrounging off people? Fine example she is.’
‘They’re not only scroungers, Molly, they’re thieves.’
Molly closed her eyes briefly, afraid to ask what she knew had to be asked. ‘They’ve stolen somethin’ off yer?’
Mrs Corkhill nodded. ‘I’d left me purse on the sideboard, like I always do, and when I went to get the money out to buy the Echo there was half a crown missing. The girl must have taken it while I was in the kitchen.’
‘Oh, dear God, are yer sure?’ Nellie’s face, like Molly’s, had drained of colour. ‘Could yer be mistaken?’
‘No, I know exactly how much I had in the purse. Yer see, I only had a ten-bob note to me name yesterday, and I changed it when I went to the corner shop for a few things. I got two half-crowns in the change, a two-bob piece, a shilling, a sixpence, threepenny bit an’ some coppers. An’ the only time I opened me purse after that was when the insurance man came an’ I gave him twopence.’
‘Have yer had a good look on the floor?’ Molly asked, not wanting to believe that a young girl would steal from an old woman. Being cheeky was one thing, but stealing, that was serious. ‘It might have rolled under the table, or the sideboard.’
‘I’ve looked, Molly, but I knew I was wasting me time. The money was all there when I took the twopence out for the insurance man, and I never had cause to open the purse after that.’ Corker’s mother clenched her fist and banged it on the table. ‘I know that cheeky bitch took it! Me purse was on the end of the sideboard and she was standing right by it when I came in.’
‘Are yer sure Maisie gave the right change?’ Molly asked. ‘Could yer ’ave been mistaken?’
‘Molly, I’m not in me dotage, not yet anyway. I counted the change out on me knee, sittin’ in this very chair, so I know to the penny what I had. I might not ’ave noticed it so soon, ’cos I don’t usually count me money, but it was with the insurance man coming. I had eight shillings and elevenpence. Takin’ off me insurance money and the Echo, I should ’ave eight and sevenpence ha’penny. Instead, I’ve got six shillings and three ha’pence.’
‘Oh, dear, I don’t know what to say,’ Molly said. ‘There’s not much yer can do about it.’
‘Of course there is!’ Nellie shouted. ‘I’ll go over an’ have it out with them! We can’t just let them get away with it, they’ll be laughin’ their ruddy socks off!’
‘Calm down, Nellie!’ Molly warned. ‘Yer can’t just go over an’ accuse someone of stealing, not when yer’ve no proof.’ She gazed at the worried face of Mrs Corkhill. ‘When’s Corker due home?’
‘His ship’s supposed to dock today, so he should be home in the morning, all being well.’
‘Then see what he’s got to say, that’s the best thing,’ Molly advised. ‘In the meantime don’t open the door to them, not even if they threaten to break it down.’
‘What about yer neighbours, Mrs C?’ Nellie asked. ‘Do they know about this borrowin’ lark?’
‘A few of them ’ave stopped me in the street an’ told me not to be so daft. Apparently those kids tried it on a few people and got chased. But me, soft girl, haven’t got the guts to chase them. Mrs Chambers from next door but one, she said they’re as common as muck an’ real hard cases. Told me to have no truck with them, shut the door in their faces, she said. But when yer get to my age, an’ yer livin’ on yer own, it’s not that easy.’
‘I’ve got an idea that might put a halt to their gallop.’ Nellie smacked her lips together. ‘Nothin’ for you to worry about, Mrs C, I won’t do anythin’ that’ll make trouble for yer.’
‘What are yer cooking up now?’ Molly asked, knowing some of the tricks her friend could get up to. ‘Whatever it is, yer can leave me out of it.’
‘I’ll tell yer when we’re outside.’ Nellie made three attempts to push her enormous body up, but to no avail. In disgust, she turned to Molly. ‘Give us a hand.’
‘Give yer two, yer mean.’ Molly held her hands out. ‘If I tried pulling yer up with one hand, I’d end up on top of yer.’
Mrs Corkhill put a hand on Molly’s arm. ‘Don’t let her do anything to cause trouble, will yer?’
‘Oh, don’t be worryin’ about Nellie, her bark’s worse than her ruddy bite.’ Molly kissed the wrinkled face. ‘I’ll be up tomorrow if Corker doesn’t call to ours first.’
They said goodbye in the living room, telling Mrs Corkhill they’d close the door behind them. Outside, Molly went to walk down the street but Nellie pulled her back. ‘I’m goin’ over the road and I want yer there as a witness.’
‘Oh no you don’t!’ Molly shook her head vigorously. ‘Yer not gettin’ me involved in a fightin’ match.’
‘There’ll be no fightin’, I promise. I’ve got a gem of an idea an’ I think it might just pay off.’ Nellie pulled Molly off the kerb. ‘Come on, all yer’ve got to do is stand there an’ look intelligent.’
Molly’s tummy started to flutter with nerves, but she knew if she didn’t go with her friend, Nellie would go on her own. So even though she was afraid, she wouldn’t let her mate down.
The young girl, Joyce, answered their knock. ‘What d’yer want?’
‘I’d like to see yer mother,’ Nellie said, bracing herself. ‘Ask ’er to come to the door a minute.’
The girl folded her arms and leaned against the door jamb. ‘Mam, there’s someone wants to see yer. It’s that fat woman from yisterdey.’
Oh, that did it! If Nellie had had qualms about what she was doing, the girl’s description of her dispelled them and got her dander up. So it was an angry face that confronted the girl’s mother when she came down the hall wearing the same dirty pinny and cardigan. ‘What the ’ell d’you w
ant?’
‘I believe you borrowed some margarine off the old lady across the street? Not the first time you’ve borrowed from her, either, apparently. But yesterday she gave you all the margarine she had in the house and had to eat dry bread because she didn’t have a penny to her name.’
‘That’s a lie!’ young Joyce said hotly. ‘She did ’ave money, I saw it in ’er purse.’
‘Oh, did you?’ Nellie raised her eyebrows until they were nearly touching her hairline. ‘Now I wonder how that came about?’
After giving Nellie a look to kill, the woman turned on the girl and gave her such a belt across the ears it sent her reeling and crying out in pain. ‘Get in before I give yer another one, yer soddin’ little bleeder.’
‘Charming language, I must say.’ Nellie drew herself up to her full height, shoulders back and huge bosom thrust forward. ‘I’ve said all I want to say, heard all I want to hear, so my friend and I will bid you goodbye.’
The woman shook her fist in Nellie’s face. ‘Don’t think yer gettin’ away with callin’ my daughter a thief, yer bleedin’ fat cow! Just yer wait till my feller gets ’ome, he’ll soddin’ pulverise yer.’
‘I didn’t call your daughter a thief, so I wonder why you think I did? Guilty conscience, perhaps?’ Nellie spoke calmly but her tummy was churning with anger. For two pins she’d have put her fist in the woman’s face, and it was only the thought of Molly that stopped her. ‘By the way, I live in number twenty-six if your husband is interested.’
‘Yer big fat bleedin’ cow! Once round you, twice round the bloody gasworks.’ The woman searched her mind for insults. ‘Yer’ve got a bigger bleedin’ arse than Fatty Arbuckle.’
Molly stepped forward. She wasn’t going to stand there and listen to her friend being insulted. ‘You’re a fine one to talk, I must say! Have yer tried lookin’ in the mirror lately? I’d say it was a toss-up which is the biggest … your mouth or the entrance to the Mersey Tunnel!’
Nellie had been hurt by the insults, but she had no intention of letting the woman know. ‘Don’t waste yer breath on her, Molly, she’s not worth it.’ She slipped her hand through her friend’s arm and turned her to face down the street. They’d taken two steps when Nellie turned. Sounding a lot calmer than she felt, she called, ‘Oh, by the way, Mrs Whats-yer-name, next time you send your children scrounging, make sure they don’t go to Mrs Corkhill’s. And if you must borrow anything, make it something you really need … like a block of carbolic to scrub your filthy mouth out with.’
The friends didn’t speak until they were crossing the road that cut through their street, then Molly found her voice. ‘Honest to God, Nellie, yer were a bloody hero! Yer didn’t half put her in her place. An’ the posh voice on yer, as well!’
‘I can put the talk on when I want to.’ Nellie’s hurt was soothed by her friend’s praise. After all, a few insults weren’t going to kill her. And all in all she felt she’d got the better of the woman. ‘Mind you, I couldn’t keep talkin’ as though I ’ad a plum on me mouth for long, I was beginnin’ to get on me own nerves.’
‘An’ that girl did pinch the money, didn’t she?’ Molly said. ‘But fancy you catchin’ her out like that, yer crafty beggar.’
‘I took a chance an’ it paid off. But now we know, what do we do about it?’
‘Nothing!’ Molly sounded very definite. ‘From now on it’s up to Corker, he’ll know ’ow to deal with them.’
They’d reached Nellie’s front door by this time. ‘Are yer goin’ to the shops?’
Molly shook her head. ‘No, I only want bread an’ I can get that at Maisie’s. Why, d’you need messages?’
Nellie’s tongue darted out to lick her lips. ‘D’yer know where I could buy a pair of boxing gloves? If that Bradley feller comes down, George will need them.’
‘Nellie McDonough, I don’t think it’s funny, an’ I’m damn sure George won’t, either!’
The gurgle started deep in Nellie’s tummy and built up to a roar of laughter. ‘Molly, yer should see yer face! Honest to God, yer’d fall for the flamin’ cat, you would! Of course what’s happened isn’t funny, neither is me gettin’ called a fat-arsed cow! But the thought of George with a pair of boxing gloves on his mitts, well, I think that’s bloody hilarious! My feller couldn’t fight ’is way out of a paper bag, an’ you know it!’
Molly wanted to say she couldn’t see anything remotely funny in getting a gentle man like George involved in fisticuffs. She’d never known him raise his voice, never mind his fists! But her imagination was as vivid as Nellie’s, and when a vision flashed through her mind of George wearing a pair of boxing gloves and wading in, she had to admit Nellie was right, it was hilarious. ‘What happens, then, if the bloke comes down determined to knock the stuffin’ out of someone for callin’ his daughter a thief? I suppose you’ll be the one to take ’im on?’
‘Nah! George will lick ’im, have no fear.’ Nellie grabbed Molly’s arm and held on tight as she gasped for air. ‘My feller can’t fight, but by God, he can run. By the time the feller caught up he’d be at the Pier Head and the poor bloke would be so out of breath he wouldn’t be able to fight ’is own flamin’ shadow.’
Mary Watson across the street came out of her door and saw the two women clinging to each other, their laughter filling the air. ‘Well, it’s nice to be some people, I must say! Have you two got nothin’ better to do?’
Nellie wiped her hand across her eyes before calling back, ‘Haven’t yer heard, Mary, Molly’s come into money? She’s hired a maid now, an’, bein’ her best mate, like, she’s kindly offered to let ’er clean my ’ouse as well.’
‘Oh,’ Mary laughed, ‘one of the idle rich now, eh?’
‘Take no notice of ’er, Mary, she’s in one of ’er funny moods.’ Molly gave Nellie a push. ‘I’m goin’ to get some work done. And for heaven’s sake stay out of trouble, will yer?’
‘I ain’t promisin’ anythin’, girl, but I’ll try. Anyway, I’ll be down later for me afternoon cup of tea.’ Nellie waited until Molly was putting her key in the lock before shouting, ‘Don’t bother bakin’ a cake, girl, I wouldn’t want yer puttin’ yerself out.’
‘Will yer go ’ome, Nellie McDonough?’ Molly waved. ‘Ta-ra!’
‘Now we’re all together, shall I read yez the list I’ve made? It’s what I think we should do with the money, an’ I want to know what yez think.’ Molly gazed around the table. ‘I know we’re not all here, our Ruthie’s in bed, but she’s too young to understand anyway.’
‘Go ahead, love,’ Jack said, ‘but I’ve already told yer to spend it as yer see fit.’
‘I know yer have, sunshine, an’ I’m goin’ to. But I’d like us all to talk about it first, as a family.’ Molly took a slip of paper from the pocket of her pinny. ‘I think we should spend most of it on furniture, brighten this place up a bit. That way we’ll all get some enjoyment out of it. So what I thought was, I’d spend the odd ten and six on a new school gymslip and blouse for Ruthie, give these three a pound each to buy whatever they want, and two pound for you, Jack. I’ll get meself a new pair of shoes, and that will leave me twenty-one pound to spend on the house.’ She folded the paper and put it back in her pocket. ‘How does that sound?’
‘Don’t bother about me, love.’ Jack smiled across the table. ‘My clothes ’ave still got plenty of wear in them, they’ll last me a while.’
‘And I don’t need anything, Mam,’ Jill said. ‘So you can put my pound towards the house.’
Molly caught the looks exchanged between Doreen and Tommy and knew they were thinking that if they didn’t offer to go without, they’d look greedy. But they were different from Jill, they didn’t get half the pocket money she did. Doreen worked in Johnson’s dye works, and although she loved her job and the firm were good to their employees, the wages were very low. And Tommy only earned buttons as an apprentice. ‘No, fair’s fair,’ Molly said, ‘yez all get the same.’
When Jill saw the smiles on the fac
es of her sister and brother, she guessed what was on her mother’s mind and didn’t object. She’d find a way around it, perhaps buy something for the room when it was refurnished.
‘Now that’s settled, I’ve got somethin’ else to tell yez that isn’t so pleasant. But if any of yez repeat one word outside this ’ouse, I’ll have yer guts for garters, so remember.’ Molly went on to tell them in detail about the previous day’s visit to Mrs Corkhill’s. Then, when she saw they were going to give vent to their disgust, she held a hand up. ‘Hang on, there’s worse to come.’
Molly related every word and every action from the time they knocked on the old lady’s door this morning until they closed it on their way out.
‘That is despicable,’ Jack snorted in contempt. ‘Only the lowest of the low would do that to an old lady.’
The three children were loud in their anger and revulsion. Tommy said, ‘If it ’ad been a feller did it, I’d go up there an’ knock ’is block oft’
‘If I find out who she is, I’ll belt ’er.’ The look on Doreen’s face told them she meant it.
‘Poor Mrs Corkhill.’ Jill’s face was sad. ‘She’s a lovely little thing, always bright and cheerful. They must be a horrible lot.’
‘I still haven’t finished,’ Molly told them. ‘I don’t think I can do justice to what happened next, but I’ll do me best.’ She rose from her chair. ‘I’ll ’ave to stand up for this. Now, pretend I’m Nellie, an’ I swear that every word I’m going to say is the truth.’ Stretching her arms first, Molly then folded them across her tummy, a pose everyone recognised as Nellie’s. Her head tilted back to look as though she was talking to someone standing on the top step, she began to act out her version of her friend’s encounter with the red-haired woman. Apart from the insults hurled at Nellie, she told the lot, ending up with the laugh they’d had over the boxing gloves.
‘So the girl really did steal the money?’ Jack shook his head sadly. ‘What a state of affairs when a young girl will rob anyone, let alone an old lady.’
‘Auntie Nellie didn’t say all those things, did she, Mam?’ Doreen was biting on her nails. ‘Ooh, I’d ’ave loved to ’ave seen her.’