Book Read Free

All the Fun of the Fair

Page 12

by All the Fun of the Fair (retail) (epub)


  Gem gawped in amazement at her and stammered, ‘How… how on earth did you manage that? Quiet the kids down and get them to get on with their work?’

  She smiled. ‘I just asked them to.’

  Gem felt affronted that this austere-looking woman had managed something she had hopelessly failed to and said defensively, ‘Well so did I but they just ignored me and played up even more.’ She sighed. ‘I can’t understand it. The children are usually so well-mannered and polite to me, yet today they are acting so naughty. I wish I’d never offered to act as their teacher now.’

  ‘Children are very perceptive; they would have sensed your reluctance which would have made them feel awkward and unwanted. And so, by them being naughty, they were allowing you the opportunity of getting rid of them.’

  Gem stared at her, having difficulty digesting what the woman had just told her. Then it suddenly registered and a surge of utter guilt rampaged through her. It was herself that had evoked this bad behaviour within the children today because they had picked up on the fact that she resented having to spend her time with them when she would far sooner have been elsewhere. How on earth though did she put this right, put the children at their ease, when in fact her resentment of having to teach them when she’d sooner not, was still as virulent?

  ‘Look, while the children are quiet, what can I do for you?’

  ‘I’m hoping it’s what I can do for you.’ She paused for a moment before she ventured, ‘I heard what happened yesterday at the school with the fairground children. I was horrified by the way the teacher treated them and felt it was very admirable of you how you put her in her place. I suspect that the teacher’s behaviour with the children isn’t an isolated case either.’

  ‘No, no, it’s not. The children are very lucky if, during our season on the road, they receive any schooling at all because of teachers’ attitude towards us fairground folk. The local children don’t always give them an easy time either.’

  ‘And I doubt very much that will change unless people’s attitudes to travellers do. I feel it’s wrong that any child from any walk of life be denied learning for any reason.’ She then shocked Gem to her core by offering, ‘I could teach the children for you.’

  ‘You would?’ Gem exclaimed, most surprised.

  ‘I’d really like the opportunity to, if I’d be allowed.’

  The way she said it left Gem in no doubt of her sincerity. She couldn’t believe that this was happening, that an actual teacher was volunteering their services to them. ‘Oh, this is wonderful news. At least the children will receive some learning while we are here.’

  ‘I was thinking for longer than that. Of being their permanent teacher.’

  Gem gawped at her, stunned. ‘Joining our community and travelling with us, you mean?’

  ‘I’d very much like to.’ She held out her hand. ‘My name is Emily Dunn.’

  She was speechless that this prim-looking woman – the sort of woman that was usually found amongst those that banded together to petition those in authority to ban the fair from coming to their towns and villages, deeming them dens of iniquity – was offering her services! Before she changed her mind, she accepted the proffered hand and happily shook it. ‘Gemma Grundy. Gem. I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss Dunn.’

  Emily Dunn said, ‘I wish I could offer my services for free but I’m afraid I am not a woman of means and would therefore require some remuneration.'

  Of course she would as she had to live. Gem felt foolish for thinking that this woman was offering her services for free.

  Emily Dunn was continuing, ‘I’m not asking for a lot, just enough of a wage to keep me in the basics I need. Three pounds a week would be sufficient.’

  Gem had no idea how much a teacher earned but was aware that it was usually far more than three pounds weekly. For what she was offering, this amount sounded very reasonable to Gem. ‘After the time I’ve had this morning, I would snatch your hand off for you to take over the responsibility of the children’s education but, unfortunately, the decision isn’t mine to make. I’ll have to speak to Mr Grundy.’ Sam didn’t easily part with his money so it wasn’t going to be an easy task to persuade him to go ahead with this but Gem was determined not to give up without a fight as she doubted an opportunity like this would ever come this way again. But then another problem presented itself. ‘Oh, but of course there is the question of living accommodation? People who work for us provide their own, you see.’

  ‘I am in a position to fund a small caravan adequate enough for me that I can tow around with my trusty old station wagon.’

  That bridge was crossed then but yet another problem presented itself and she frowned in thought. ‘It’s where we would hold the lessons, though? Continuing using my living van wouldn’t work.’

  ‘I have given thought to that problem and I came up with the idea that a military tent would more than do the job. They are not expensive to purchase from an army surplus store and, in the winter, it can be heated with a wood stove.’

  Emily Dunn had obviously given this all a lot of thought, so it was not some idle gesture on her part but something she really wanted to do. Despite struggling to accept that someone so prim and proper, the type Gem pictured residing in a Victorian terrace littered with dust-collecting ornaments and an aspidistra plant in the window – the complete opposite of the usual runaways, ex-prisoners and those that believed a life with the fair was a glamorous one ­– was so keen to join their community and live their nomadic lifestyle, she was worried this answer to her prayers might just change her mind and vanish as suddenly as she’d arrived. ‘I’ll just check on the children and, if you wait here, I’ll find Mr Grundy and have a word with him. If he’s keen on the idea I’ll bring him to meet you.’

  ‘I would be delighted to check on the children for you while you go off and find the owner.’

  Gem looked towards her van, amazed that the children were obviously still working away as no noise could be heard. Emily Dunn’s magic was still having its effect on them, it seemed. Accepting the woman’s offer, she went off.

  She found a not-too-happy Sam having strong words with one of the teenage sons of a ride owner. He had been despatched that morning to the printer’s to collect a parcel of pre-ordered leaflets advertising the arrival of the fair in the next town they were due to visit, which he and two other workers had been going to travel to tomorrow to hand around to the general public and also put up in shop windows. Trouble was though, the lad had returned with someone else’s order, advertising the opening of a new furniture shop. The repercussions of this meant a return journey for the lad using valuable time. Knowing Sam as well as she did, this would normally not be a good moment in respect of his bad mood to tackle him on spending money paying for a service he didn’t feel fell to him to provide, but then the costly mistake the lad had made was all down to the fact that he couldn’t read the name on the front of the package to realise the mistake the assistant had made, so maybe this moment was the perfect one for Gem to put her case to him.

  His first response was a flat no, along with a reminder to her that, as far as he was concerned, the education of the fairfolk children was the responsibility of their parents.

  As they were discussing this matter, a disinterested Sam was hobbling along as he wove his way around the stalls and rides on his way to the boxing ring to have a catch-up chat with the man he employed to run it so Gem was having to trot alongside him to keep pace.

  Despite his flat refusal to even to consider it, Gem was not giving up. ‘But, Mr Grundy, this woman… Mrs… Miss… Dunn is offering her services so cheaply. At least we should consider it.’

  ‘We!’ he snapped. ‘It’s me that pays the bills, not you, so there’s no “we” about it. The answer is still no.’

  ‘Well, what about the money it cost you this morning when Trevor came back with the wrong order from the printer’s and had to go back again. That was all down to the fact he couldn’t read.’

/>   ‘Well he won’t be making that mistake again after the bollocking I gave him. Whether he can read is neither here nor there as he should have checked with the assistant who gave him the order that he’d got the right one before he left. Anyway, I take it that this teacher woman is an outsider? We’ve got enough outsiders in the Grundy community already without any more invading us.’

  Gem was well aware that this wasn’t Sam being bigoted, that he was purely using any excuse not to lay out money he didn’t need to if he could help it. Sam had many friends that he deeply respected amongst outsiders he had met over the years in different towns and villages. She snapped, ‘If I wasn’t here and doing your books for you then I dread to think how much it would cost you to employ the services of a book-keeper when you don’t pay me anything, nor do you for all the other jobs I do around the fair either, come to that.’ Stabbing a finger into her chest, she added, ‘This outsider is worth her weight in gold to you and you know it. And may I remind you that Velda is an outsider and you are such good friends with her. Or had you forgotten that? And don’t forget the money you make out of her? And most of the gaff lads are outsiders too and the fair wouldn’t function without them.’

  He made no response but, regardless, Gem knew that her words had hit home.

  ‘So will you take her on or not?’ Gem asked him.

  He suddenly stopped his pacing to look at her stolidly. ‘I ain’t daft, you know. You didn’t want to teach those kids it in the first place so you only want me to take this woman on so it saves you having to.’

  She readily admitted, ‘Yes, it is. But not entirely. I don’t enjoy teaching the children, I haven’t got the patience, but mostly I want you to take this woman on for the children’s sake. Because their parents want better for them… and there’s nothing wrong with that. Didn’t we all want the best for our kids when they were young and still do, in fact. But you know what those poor children face each week when they have to go to a different school and is that fair to them, not knowing what awaits them? When they’ve been treated badly knowing they have no choice but to face it again for the next four days, the only saving grace they have is the hope that the next school might be nicer to them.’ Despite her reminding him the trauma the children faced every week during school term times in the hope it might prick his conscience, she could still see that what it was going to cost him was the principle reason Sam was not receptive to this idea. She understood why. She did the business accounts and knew that the profits at the end of the year were not that much and usually ploughed back into the business, buying new rides and replacing old equipment no longer repairable. Three pounds a week might not be a huge amount but, over a year, it was a large chunk of money that could be used to replace a clapped-out old lorry or put towards a new attraction to pull the punters in with.

  Then an idea came to her that might help change his mind. ‘Just think how much good this is going to do your reputation amongst the rest of the showmen community up and down the country. You will go down in fairground history as the ringmaster that was the first to provide proper schooling for his workers’ children.’

  He looked at her blankly and she could see the cogs in his brain whirling. To her great delight it seemed that the thought of his name gracing the pages of the history books, alongside the other great showmen such as P.T. Barnum and Tom Norman, was enough to sway him. He gruffly said, ‘Alright, you win, I’ll pay for the bloody teacher.’

  She blurted, ‘Oh, and, er, a tent as well to hold the lessons in. They don’t cost much. We’ll have to consider getting tables and chairs for the kids to sit at, but they can sit on the floor for now. And also a stove to heat the tent in winter.’ Before he could change his mind she spun on her heels, calling behind her, ‘I’ll go and tell Emily Dunn she’s hired and welcome her into our community.’

  To say Emily was delighted with the acceptance of her proposal would have been an understatement as she was positively overjoyed. Having made arrangements to arrive that coming Sunday in time for their collective departure for their next venue, she left. As Gem returned to tell the good news to the children and release them from any more lessons until their very own teacher took up her duties the following Monday morning and then on to inform their parents of this turn of events, it was then she began to wonder just why a woman like Emily, and especially at her mature age, would want to leave her old life behind? It was indeed puzzling to Gem.

  Early that evening, holding his wife in his arms, Solly was looking at her with unadulterated love and awe. ‘I can’t believe you got the old man to agreed to put his hand in his pocket and pay for something he doesn’t think is his responsibility to pay for.’

  She chuckled. ‘It wasn’t easy. Your father can be a stubborn old cuss, as you well know, and I seriously didn’t think I was going to until, thankfully, I had the brainwave to convince him that he would stand beside the greats in showman history as a pioneer for the education of fairground workers’ children.’

  Solly’s love and admiration for his wife radiated all the brighter. In all their twenty-odd years of marriage, never a day went by when he didn’t bless the day he met her. He still marvelled that, considering his young age at the time, he’d summoned the courage to go against his parents and their staunch belief in fairground traditions and married her. He never forgot the fact that she gave up a very privileged life with her prosperous parents and that with her good looks and personality would not have failed to attract a man of her own ilk that could have provided for her handsomely. She had given him two wonderful sons, raising them to be decent, honest, hard-working young men any father couldn’t fail to be proud of. Even after all these years they still giggled over private jokes together, same as they had as teenagers, never kept secrets between themselves, and their lovemaking was still as frequent, rampant and satisfying. Despite the numerous times he had seen her in conversation, even flirting with male punters as part of her job to entice them on rides or stalls she was manning, never did he question her loyalty to himself. She never gave him reason to worry over her straying from him, so complete was his trust for her. He did indeed bless the day she came into his life and decided to stay.

  In turn, Gem’s thoughts mirrored her husband’s as she felt the love and protectiveness from his hug enveloping through her. Never once in all their years of marriage, even through difficult times – and there had been too many of those to count – had she ever regretted going against her parents’ wishes. Being disinherited from her family and giving up a privileged future was worth it to be with the man whose arms she was now wrapped in. He had been a loving, supportive, completely faithful and devoted husband and there was nothing she would change about him in any way whatsoever. All but one thing though. Solly believed that he and his wife had no secrets between them, were totally open and honest with each other, but Gem hadn’t been so with him. She had a secret that she knew would devastate her husband. The chance to tell him had come and gone many years ago and she had chosen not to inform him purely out of her love for him and unwillingness to cause him the pain it would bring him over something he could have done nothing about at the time. She herself was already suffering enough for the both of them. So, rightly or wrongly, it was her intention that this secret would go to the grave with her; she felt some secrets were kept secret for the best of intentions.

  Solly now whispered in her ear, ‘The boys won’t be back for a bit so shall we take advantage of having the van to ourselves?’

  Her eyes twinkled wickedly and she grinned.

  Chapter Seven

  Ren, Jimmy and Robbie, their cousin Anita (known as Nita) and her sister Rosanna (Rosa for short), along with several other Grundy community members in their teenage years and early twenties were gathered outside Ren’s caravan. Some were sitting on upturned wooden crates, others on the hard ground, some were drinking pop, others beer, and they were eating various snacks they had each brought along with them. It was just after eleven and most fine evenings, sa
me as some adults did, the friends would gather together for a catch-up with each other before they each retired to their sleeping quarters for the night.

  Rosa, a thin, sharp-featured eighteen-year-old with waist-length black hair, which today was plaited and hanging down her back, was wearing a red full skirt with a white short-sleeved, Peter Pan collar-style blouse and an old-fashioned black, heavily fringed gypsy-style shawl around her bony shoulders, and was saying, ‘I saw that woman you’re on about, Robbie. God, did she think she was Marilyn Monroe with her bleached-blonde hair and wearing that dress that was so tight I thought that huge chest of hers was going to burst out the front of it. She was swanning around with that little gnome of a bloke who looked like Al Capone with all them gold rings on his fingers and that fur coat he was wearing. I was worried that at any minute him or any of them men that was with them was going to whip out their machine guns and spray us all with bullets.’

  Nita, in complete contrast to her sister, was chubby and homely looking with a mop of short brown curly hair framing an oval face. She chuckled. ‘You’re just jealous of that woman’s chest, our Rosa, cos you ain’t got one. Not like me, eh?’ she said, cupping her own ample dumpling-like breasts in her hands and giving them a jiggle. While the rest of the gathering laughed at her humorous actions she went on, ‘One of them cheeky buggers tried to get me to go for a bit of hanky-panky around the back of Fun House, offered me five bob, and him old enough to be my dad ’n’ all. Our mam saw what he was up to and sent him packing with a threat of the rolling pin she keeps under the counter. Good job Granddad, Uncle Solly or Uncle Sonny weren’t passing at the time or they’d have made mincemeat of him.’ She ruefully shook her head. ‘Flatties think all us fair women are easy, don’t they? I don’t think he still thinks that now though after Mam said what she did to him. I’ve heard Mam swear before but I never knew she knew language like that.’ She then said to Ren, ‘I heard what those morons did to you earlier today. Are you alright?’

 

‹ Prev