Swansea Girls

by Catrin Collier

  ‘Nice to hear yourself think again,’ Adam commented as the band crashed out the final chord of the second jive of the evening.

  ‘Next one’s bound to be slow.’

  ‘Martin’s hanging on to Lily but there’s two stunning girls sitting over there.’

  Brian followed Adam’s line of vision. ‘I trust you’re suggesting I take the one in the red dress, her friend looks like a sheep.’

  ‘If you don’t fancy either of those, there’s Martin’s sister over there.’

  ‘She looks about twelve.’

  ‘She’s eighteen and a really nice kid.’ Adam’s tone revealed more than he’d intended.

  ‘Then why don’t you ask her to dance?’ Brian suggested.

  ‘Friends’ sisters are out of bounds.’

  ‘First I’ve heard of it. Unless, of course, you have dishonourable intentions.’

  ‘She’s the kind of girl you court, not mess around with.’

  ‘Ask her to dance, Jordan.’

  ‘You think I should?’

  ‘As you so obviously want to, yes.’

  ‘I might just do that.’

  ‘What about the one you jived with?’

  ‘Judy? She lives in Carlton Terrace too.’

  ‘Anyone’s girlfriend?’ Brian tried to sound disinterested.

  ‘No one I know anything about. But she’s fit.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Well able to put anyone who steps out of line back in place.’

  ‘Now that’s a challenge.’

  ‘I can’t see her ...’

  ‘Jordan, I don’t need anyone to hold my hand. I’ve been around a dance hall before and I’m quite capable of asking a girl to dance, including the redhead when she reappears.’

  ‘In that case, see you.’

  Brian took another long pull at his pint, then realised it was his fourth and it was only nine o’clock. If he didn’t slow up he’d be waking with a hangover and that was no way to impress a new landlady. He stood back as the familiar melody of ‘Twilight Time’ filled the room.

  Martin was dancing with Lily but if he was besotted he was showing no signs of it. He was holding her at arm’s length and their conversation was too animated to be romantic. Adam hadn’t wasted any time in getting Martin’s sister out on to the floor. He glanced at the table where Lily and Martin’s sister had been sitting in the hope of seeing the redhead again and did a double take. A girl was sitting alone there, an exceptionally well-endowed blonde judging by the amount of flesh bulging from the top of her dress. And what a dress! She could have escaped from Ladies’ night in the officer’s mess to slum it with the masses.

  ‘One of those, six of the other,’ he murmured to himself, quoting one of his father’s favourite phrases. If he’d been moving on and out of Swansea he might have opted for the blonde, but he sensed she was trouble. He looked around again and saw the redhead leaving the other end of the bar with two orange juices. As he watched, she carried them to the table where the blonde was sitting. Almost falling over his feet in his eagerness to get to her, he rushed to their table.

  Helen was finding it increasing difficult to sit within the confines of her hooped petticoat, watching her friends dance and smiling insincerely at the room in general without receiving any offers herself. After dancing with Judy, Adam Jordan hadn’t left Katie’s side – which really hurt. The knowledge that tall, blond dreamboat Adam Jordan preferred small, nondescript Katie to her in all her finery stung more than her pride. To add insult to injury, Martin had claimed Lily the moment he’d spotted her and Judy had found herself a dark, good-looking stranger who evidently knew both Martin and Adam, judging by their exchange of conversation between dances.

  ‘By yourself?’

  She made a face. ‘Hello, Jack.’

  ‘That’s no way to look at a man who’s come to ask you to dance.’

  She remembered her mother’s admonition ‘You stay away from Jack Clay, he’s a bad lot’ and decided the warning lent him new charm. ‘All right.’ Careful of her petticoat, she rose to her feet.

  ‘That’s some dress. It must have taken hours to sew on those beads.’

  ‘I don’t sew.’

  ‘I thought every woman sewed.’ He pulled her close and looked down her bodice.

  ‘Not me.’ She straightened her arms, pushing him away from her.

  ‘Funny isn’t it,’ he commented after a few minutes’ silence. ‘You and me, living so close and this is the first time we’ve danced.’

  ‘Nothing funny about that.’ She looked at him, really looked, for the first time. She knew his brother Martin better because he’d been a friend of Joe’s before Joe had won a scholarship to grammar school and Martin had been sent to the secondary modern. Jack had the same dark features, black curly hair and eyes as Martin, and was, if anything, more handsome, but there was something hard – dangerous – almost brutal about Jack that was missing in his older brother. She recalled some of the stories she’d heard, that Jack had been toughened but not broken by his two years in Borstal. That since his release he’d done nothing but get into trouble, fights, dodgy business and worse – whatever ‘worse’ was.

  ‘I could take you home.’

  ‘You could, but I’m going with the girls.’

  ‘On the bus,’ he scoffed. ‘I’d take you home on my bike.’

  ‘Push bike,’ she sneered.

  ‘Motor.’

  ‘Bought it?’

  ‘No, stole it.’

  ‘From the way people talk, I wouldn’t put it past you.’

  ‘I earn good money on the building site; I can afford to buy whatever I want. So what do you say?’

  ‘I say no thanks.’ Suddenly conscious of his hand on her naked back and his legs pressing against hers, she moved away from him again.

  ‘You all right?’

  ‘Hot.’

  ‘Then why don’t we cool down with a drink?’ Taking her hand, he led her towards the bar. ‘What’s it to be?’

  She blushed and turned away as the barman studied her cleavage. ‘Something long and cool.’

  ‘Gin and tonic and half a bitter.’

  She drew him to one side. ‘I’m not supposed to drink.’

  ‘You’re over age.’

  ‘Just.’

  ‘Then get it down you.’ Paying the barman, he handed her the gin. ‘Let’s find somewhere quiet where we can sit and talk, and I can tell you about my bike.’

  ‘Here is fine.’ Helen sat at the nearest table. Judy had returned to their table with the stranger. The orchestra was playing her current favourite, ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’, Lily was still dancing with Martin, only closer than before; Katie and Adam were behind them. As she watched, Adam moved his head down to Katie’s and kissed her on the cheek. Taking the gin and tonic, she emptied the glass in one gulp.

  ‘You were thirsty.’

  ‘Yes, I was,’ she replied defiantly.

  ‘I’ll get you another.’

  ‘The bar’s crowded and they’ll be calling last orders soon.’

  ‘I know the barman.’

  ‘In that case, thank you.’ She smiled as she looked into his eyes. ‘Tell you what, Jack, as you can’t take me home, how about we go outside for some fresh air?’

  ‘And when we want to get back in?’

  ‘After another of these, I wouldn’t want to come back in.’

  He picked up her glass. ‘I’ll meet you round the corner by the cliff.’

  ‘I’ll be waiting.’

  ‘So, Judy Hunt, you like dancing, you come here most Saturdays, you’re a trainee hairdresser and you live in Carlton Terrace.’

  ‘I can give you a rundown on my friends as well if you like. It’ll save you having to ask them to dance.’

  ‘I’m more interested in you.’ Brian gave her the full benefit of his most winning smile.

  ‘So, Brian ...’

  ‘Powell.’

  ‘Now you know all about me, what about you?’
As Judy looked up at him she wondered how she could have ever thought fair boys more attractive than dark.

  ‘I’ve come to Swansea to work.’

  ‘As what?’

  ‘Sort of civil servant.’

  ‘What sort?’

  ‘Can I take you home?’

  ‘You don’t waste time, do you?’

  ‘I’m new to the area, I need a guide, someone to show me where the locals go and what they do, and you’re the prettiest native I’ve met.’

  ‘I always go home with my friends.’

  ‘I could take them home too.’

  ‘All three of them?’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘You wouldn’t be able to handle them, they’re man eaters.’

  ‘Then how about you take me to one of the cinemas next week? My treat, tickets, ice cream, chocolates and fish and chips afterwards?’

  ‘Sounds like I’ll be sick.’

  ‘We’ll forget the chocolates.’

  ‘I have to work.’

  ‘First I’ve heard of a hairdresser working nights.’

  ‘I have homework. I study two days a week in college.’

  ‘Two days! If that’s all, you can afford to take a couple of hours off.’

  ‘I can’t, really.’

  ‘If it will make you feel any safer, I’ll get one of my mates to take out one of your friends and we’ll make it a foursome.’

  ‘Safer? You’re dangerous?’

  ‘You obviously seem to think so judging by the number of hoops you’re making me jump through just to get you to go out with me.’

  ‘Something’s amusing Judy.’ Martin released Lily’s hand as the music finished so they could applaud the band. ‘Would you like an orange juice?’

  ‘No, thank you.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Another five minutes and I’ll have to get my coat.’

  ‘Can I take you home?’

  ‘I’ve arranged to go with the others – Judy, Katie and Helen.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘I can’t leave them, Martin, I promised my uncle ...’

  ‘I said I understand. I’m sorry I haven’t been good company. I’m a bit preoccupied. Thinking about my future,’ he clarified hastily, not wanting to go into details about his family. ‘Leaving the army – job prospects –’

  ‘I thought they’d kept your job open in the council garage.’

  ‘They have, but I don’t want to stay there long term. After I pass my mechanic’s exams I intend to open up my own place. Do repairs, resprays, you know the sort of thing.’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘I can’t believe I’m talking to you about resprays. I’m sorry, I’m boring you.’

  ‘You’re not.’

  ‘Then you won’t mind if I ask you to come out with me. Perhaps we could ...’

  ‘Lily, there you are.’ Joe, Robin at his heels, both resplendent in their dinner jackets, strode across the dance floor. ‘We’ve come to pick you up.’

  ‘It was a good idea of Larry’s to leave the party early.’ Robin leered at Lily as he moved in on her.

  There was a slur in Robin’s speech that rang warning bells. Lily glanced at Martin who stepped back.

  ‘I always go home with the girls on a Saturday, Joe.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to leave them here.’

  ‘Your car only seats five and as you have a friend ...’

  ‘One of you will have to sit on my lap,’ Robin slid his arm round her waist. ‘And I think it should be you.’

  ‘This one’s spoken for, Robin.’ Joe calmly removed his friend’s hand.

  ‘Hardly,’ Lily asserted forcefully, looking at Martin, who refused to meet her gaze.

  ‘Come on, Lily,’ Joe broke in impatiently. Compared with Larry’s party he was, if not exactly on home territory, on familiar ground, and he intended to press the advantage for all it was worth, especially in front of Robin. ‘Let’s go,’ he ordered abruptly, ‘Larry’s waiting in the car.’

  ‘If you’re giving two people a lift, you really won’t have room for us.’

  ‘If the other girls are as small as you we’ll have room for lots.’ Robin breathed brandy fumes into her face.

  ‘I won’t go without the others.’ Lily looked around for Judy, Helen and Katie.

  ‘They’ll be along in a minute.’

  ‘I have to get my coat and, as Judy and I have the tickets, the others won’t be able to get theirs without us. Helen’s not sitting at our table. Why don’t you look for her, Joe, while Judy and I go to the cloakroom? Martin ...’ She turned, but he had already gone.

  Drunk, Larry rested his head against the back seat of Joe’s car and waited for the world to stop spinning. As it steadied, he glanced towards the cliff. A girl was standing in front of it. A tall girl, with pale blond hair, white arms and shoulders in a dress that had no top. Deciding there was only one reason why a girl would stand half-naked outside a ballroom late at night, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a crushed five-pound note he’d extracted from one of his birthday cards. Slowly, cautiously, so as not to send his head spiralling again he fumbled with the door catch. A couple of seconds later he succeeded in opening it. Humming the opening bars of ‘I’m in the Mood for Love’, he staggered towards his unexpected birthday present.

  ‘All alone, little lady?’ His tongue was suddenly too large for his mouth.

  ‘I’m waiting for someone,’ Helen countered primly, moving away.

  ‘Me.’ He lurched beside her, steadying himself against the cliff. ‘And I’ve arrived.’

  ‘I hardly think so.’ Realising he was drunk, she tried to head back to the safety of the ballroom but he slumped over her, effectively imprisoning her between his arms. Bending his head to hers, he kissed her full on the mouth.

  Nauseated by the reek and taste of stale brandy, salmon and sour cream on his breath, she forced her fists up and pushed against his chest with all her strength, but, heavier than her, he continued to pin her to the cliff wall. Fighting for air, she brought up her knee and dug her stiletto into the toe of his shoe.

  As the point hit home, he moved back just enough for her to free one of her hands. ‘I’m wearing handmade shoes you bitch!’ he bellowed as she hooked her fingers into his hair and wrenched his head away from hers. Slamming her back against the cliff with one hand, he plunged his free hand into her bodice.

  Stunned by the blow, the back of her head and neck stinging from the impact of the rock, her cry for help was reduced to a whimper. She began to shake uncontrollably.

  Encouraged by her trembling, his fingers closed round her breast. ‘Fiver do it?’ He tweaked her nipple as he dragged her further into the shadows.

  ‘Let me go,’ she begged.

  ‘You want it. Girls like you always do. I have the money. I bet you don’t see five pounds from one week to the next.’ He delved for the note.

  As his hand slid into his pocket, she lashed out again with her foot but he was ready for her. Side stepping to avoid the point of her heel, he made no attempt to stop her toppling backwards. His watch strap caught on the bra cup inside her dress. A resounding tear was accompanied by the ominous rattle of beads falling on to tarmac. Finally finding her voice she screamed, clutching her torn bodice as the bra cup fell from his wrist.

  ‘You were the one who wanted to play rough.’ He stood back as she struggled to her feet. ‘Now that’s a sight to get a man going.’

  Helen glanced down. Her left breast hung exposed above the torn dress. She crossed her arms tightly. ‘You ... you beast!’ Swinging her right hand back, she slapped him hard across the face.

  He caught her hand and held it high while stroking her naked breast with the back of his fingers. ‘Very nice.’ He waved the note in front of her eyes, ‘but service first, payment later. How about another kiss.’ Pulling her towards him, he crushed her body with the weight of his, pinning her arms to her waist before kissing her again. As the woollen cloth of his dinner jacket scratched her bare sk
in she realised the other side of the bodice had fallen to her waist.

  Terrified and panic-stricken, the animal instincts of her childhood fights with Joe kicked into play. Sinking her teeth into his cheek, she kneed him in the groin. Recoiling, crying out in pain, he released her wrist. She crossed her arms again and tried to run to the safety of the ballroom.

  Anger overriding caution, he followed. Catching her by the waist, he hurled her back against the cliff. ‘I want my money’s worth ...’

  Helen opened her mouth and shrieked ‘Help’ with all the strength and force she could master. Suddenly Jack was in front of her. Dropping the drinks in his hands, he raised his arm and aimed his clenched fist directly at her assailant’s jaw.

  Chapter Five

  ‘Lily, there you are.’ Ignoring the protests of the other ten-thirty-curfew girls crowding around the cloakroom hatch, Judy bulldozed her way through to her friend. ‘Excuse me,’ she snapped at a girl with dyed, blue-black hair who deliberately tried to block her progress by elbowing her in the chest.

  ‘And excuse me for living,’ the girl bit back tartly.

  ‘I have her ticket,’ Judy lied. Pushing two tickets into Lily’s hand, she looked around. ‘Where’s Helen?’

  ‘Last I saw she was with Jack.’

  ‘Jack Clay! Her mother will fry her alive.’

  ‘Not if Joe finds her before she stays with Jack long enough for her mother to hear about it.’

  ‘Joe’s here?’

  ‘He came to take us home but he has another boy with him who’s been drinking and one waiting in the car.’

  ‘He came to take you and Helen home,’ Judy corrected. ‘Katie and I are catching the train.’

  ‘With Adam Jordan and Brian Powell?’

  ‘What if we are? And there’s no need to look at me like that.’

  ‘I’m not looking at you like anything.’

  ‘Come on, Lily, I know you. What’s wrong with us going home with Adam and Brian Powell?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘You don’t even know Brian.’

  ‘He’s our new lodger.’

  ‘And you saw him first, is that what you’re saying?

  God, this is Helen and Adam all over again ...’

  ‘It’s not Brian,’ Lily contradicted firmly, ‘it’s Helen. We shouldn’t have left her by herself in that dress.’