There was a tap on the door and his head jerked up to see a woman standing there. She was in her late thirties, not bad-looking in a trashy way; brunette hair backcombed high in a fashionable beehive, tight-fitting dress hugging the curves of her hourglass figure. He had noticed she had been at the fair for the last couple of nights; she had ridden on the ride he had been operating at the time. It was obvious to Sonny the woman fancied a bit of fun with him of the carnal kind; he was a good-looking, sexy man – he was well aware of that – so who could blame her? As her attempts to catch his eye had failed up to now, she was clearly taking matters into her own hands. Sonny had no doubt that, were he to oblige her, her time with him would be kept secret; a thrill to look back on when she was old and grey. Based on past experience, should she ever see him in the street afterwards, she would either totally ignore him or sneer disgustedly as she crossed the road out of his way, same as most of her type did.
Reaching over, he opened the door and said nonchalantly to her, ‘Yeah? What can I do for you?’
Leaning provocatively on the door frame, she ran her tongue over her lips and said seductively, ‘I’m sure you know fine well what you can do for me without me having to tell you?’
He slowly travelled his eyes up and down her body before he brought them back to rest on hers and, in a mocking voice, he told her, ‘I wouldn’t touch you with a barge pole, lady. Don’t like the thought of what I might catch off a tramp like you. The way to get off the ride is that way.’ He pointed over her shoulder.
Her face screwed up with anger. ‘Why you… you… bastard. Call me a tramp when you’re nothing but a dirty, robbing, gyppo. You… you…’
Before she could finish her tirade he had jumped up, hands on her shoulders, and he was pushing her away from the door. ‘Fuck off my ride before I throw you off. Go and prostitute yourself with someone who ain’t fussy where they dip their wick. I am and, as I’ve already told you, it ain’t with a common slut like you.’ With that, he pushed her back against a stationary waltzer carriage and pulled shut the operating room door. Taking his place back on the stool with one leg propped up on the counter, he proceeded to roll himself another cigarette, his thoughts returning to focus on what the evening ahead held for him.
* * *
In the pay booth of the Tunnel of Love, Gem was so lost in her thoughts that her sister-in-law, Fran Grundy, widow of her husband’s eldest brother, Joshua, who had died in the war, literally had to bellow in her ear before she got Gem’s attention.
‘I left Rosa and Nita in charge while I went to powder my nose, so just popped in on my way back to see how you are,’ Fran told her. ‘You were miles away.’
‘I was just watching that girl over there.’ Gem pointed a finger in the direction of the waltzers.
Fran looked out of the pay booth window in the direction Gem was indicating. She could see numerous girls of varying ages coming and going or hanging around on the steps awaiting their turns. ‘Which one?’ she asked.
‘That one in the blue slacks and beige jacket.’
Fran spotted her and studied her for a moment. The girl looked harmless to her, not doing anything untoward, she was just leaning against a post smoking a cigarette. ‘What about her?’
‘I’m sure she’s watching me?’
Fran, a matronly, homely, attractive woman in her late forties, was wearing a worn-looking fur hat pulled over her short, dark, tightly home-permed hair. She was wearing an A-line skirt and hand-knitted jumper with a woollen coat over the top as the night had turned chilly. She squinted over at the young woman in question. ‘She does keep looking over this way but it doesn’t look like she’s watching you in particular, to me. I’d say she’s more got her eye on Phil the gaff lad. Do you know her?’
Gem shook her head. ‘From this distance it’s hard to see her properly but, as far as I know, I’ve never seen her before in my life. She might not be watching me right this minute but I swear she has been.’ Gem then forgot about her as a more important matter popped into her mind. ‘How did your date with Jonny go last night? I like him, Fran. He seems the gentle giant sort to me. He reminds me of the film star Stanley Baxter; tall, muscular and brooding. He’d certainly protect you if you were in a sticky situation. Solly speaks very highly of him, too. Jonny’s not hidden the fact that he’s had a fancy for you since he came to work for Sam so I’m glad you finally agreed to give him a chance. You’ve had a couple of dates with him now, haven’t you?’
Fran mused thoughtfully. ‘He reminds me more of Sean Connery, only not quite so dark-haired and, of course, he’s not Scottish but from Huddersfield. Still, I do feel very protected when I’m with him and he treats me very well.’
Gem eagerly asked, ‘So, do you think this might become serious between you both?’
Fran sighed. ‘It would be nice to have myself a man again and the more I’m with Jonny the more I’m getting to like him, but… well… I feel I’m being disloyal to Josh. The girls don’t know about us yet and I have no idea how they’ll feel about me replacing their father with another man.’
Gem told her sternly, ‘I know you two had a really good marriage but he’s dead, has been for over ten years. Josh was a good man and if he was still here, he’d be telling you that you’ve mourned him long enough and to grab some happiness while you can.’
Fran looked thoughtful for a moment before she smiled and said, ‘Yes, he would. Before he went off that last time, he told me that if he didn’t come back I was to find myself and the girls someone to look after us and to be happy. When he didn’t, finding myself another man… well… that was the last thing on my mind. I coped by throwing myself into raising the girls and trying to make up to them for the loss of their father, as you know, but now they’re grown up and don’t need me as much, I’m on my own a lot. I really feel I’m ready to share my life with another man, someone like Jonny who makes me feel special. Still, as I said, I can’t shake off this feeling of being unloyal to Josh.’
Gem affectionately patted her arm. ‘Josh will always have a special place in your heart, Fran. He was your first love and the father of your children. But he’s no longer here to hold you in his arms and comfort you in bed, but Jonny is. It might not work out between you both, but at least give it a proper chance. It might turn out that you’re as happy with Jonny as you were with Josh.’
Fran thought on this for a moment before a slow smile spread across her face. ‘Yes, you’re right. I’m meeting Jonny after we finish up tonight for a drink and a game of cards with Ivy and Bert and some of the others if they fancy joining us and, if that goes well, I’ll ask him to come and have dinner with us on Sunday, see how the girls take to him.’ She then glanced at her watch. ‘I need to get back. The girls are going out tonight with your Jimmy and Robbie and a few of their other friends so I’ve told them that, as soon as the last ride is finished, they can scoot off to get themselves ready and leave me to close down.’
‘Enjoy yourself tonight and don’t forget to pop in and see me tomorrow to tell me how it went.’
‘I won’t,’ Fran said as she left the tiny booth and shut the door behind her.
Gem saw the signal the gaff lad gave her announcing that he was ready for her to start off the ride. Having done the deed, her eyes then strayed over again to where the young woman had been standing. The girl was gone. Maybe Fran had been right and it wasn’t herself, after all, the girl had been watching but Phil. He was a good-looking young man, after all. She stifled a yawn. She was tired tonight, would like nothing more than to arrive back at her van, find a cup of tea waiting for her, and then crawl into bed. Her work wasn’t finished for today yet. Her sons might not want feeding as they were going out but her husband and father-in-law would and the clearing up still needed to be done afterwards.
* * *
Donny wasn’t particularly looking forward to finishing work that night and spending the rest of it alone, although he did genuinely hope that his wife enjoyed herself. He would see t
o any chores; there was bound to be some clearing up to do. Clothes would be left all over the bed as Suzie sorted through what to wear and take with her for her overnight stay. There’d be pots to wash, a pile of washing in the basket, the floor to sweep. Suzie was lax when it came to anything domestic and his mother was always nagging him that he should be far less tolerant of her; make her do what wives were supposed to and that was to take responsibility of all their husband’s needs, not just in the bedroom. But Suzie had the ability to render him useless when it came to him showing her that he was not happy with her in any way. It always saw him ending up apologising to her and feeling guilty for being unreasonable and challenging her in the first place. He wasn’t stupid enough to know that Suzie took advantage of his good nature but, when all was said and done, his wife was everything to him. He couldn’t love her any more than he did; nothing was more important to him than her happiness. If that mean he was deemed as being under her thumb by the rest of the Grundy community because he helped her in what was deemed as women’s work around their home, then so be it.
He made his way through the living van area towards his own, extending a genial goodnight to fellow community members coming or going as they secured down for the night or were sitting outside having a last drink and cigarette. Velda was sitting outside hers and, as he passed, he made to wish her a goodnight but then noticed she had company in the guise of the boss himself, Sam Grundy. They were both deep in conversation together. He often saw them enjoying time together as he was on his way home. The boss and the fortune-teller had been good friends for a long time. He wondered if they would ever become more than that? He supposed at their age though they were too old for such things as romance. He respectfully crept past in an effort not to disturb them. Ren’s van was behind Velda’s and in his endeavour to avoid any contact with her he then veered his path to slink into the shadows of the vans opposite, just in case Ren should be outside hers and an awkward situation arise between them.
He was still reeling from the shock of learning how the woman he had been such close friends with for all of his life, had trusted implicitly with his innermost secrets, admired and thought so highly of, in return thought so disparagingly of him. That she thought him an imbecile to ridicule behind his back to other members of their community. He was surprised that none of his other friends, people he believed he had a good relationship with, had even hinted a warning to him.
He suddenly stopped short and looked over towards Ren’s van as the voices from those gathered outside reached his ears. There were the two Grundy boys, Jimmy and Robbie, their cousins Rosa and Nita and several others, all dressed up ready to go out. Ren was looking very pretty in a full blue skirt with several net underskirts underneath, a white Peter-Pan-collared blouse and a short blue cardigan with flowers embroidered in an assortment of colours running down the front. He remembered then that they were all going to a party tonight. The invite had come from a local girl Jimmy had met earlier that week and been seeing since. Her friend was having the party in her flat and on Jimmy asking if he could bring some friends along, her response had been: Of course! The more the merrier and records, food and booze were welcome also. Unaware of what Donny had learned about Ren’s true feelings for him and his own decision to estrange himself from her now, Jimmy had sought him out earlier that day and asked if he and Suzie were going to join them. Donny would dearly have loved to accept, despite the fact that he would possibly get in trouble with Suzie when she found out he was going to a party without her, even though she was out enjoying herself without him. But as Ren would be going he had made his excuses, aware he’d never be able to relax and enjoy himself. So it was with a heavy heart that he carried on making his way to his own van, letting himself inside to spend the evening by himself, passing the time tackling undone chores.
Chapter Ten
Velda leaned over and gave Sam an affectionate pat on his arm. ‘I’m glad that’s all sorted and you can put it behind you now.’
He nodded. ‘So am I. It’s been causing me a headache for weeks and I really appreciate you listening to me rattle on about it. I finally came to my decision and I can now rest easy when my time comes.’
She chuckled. ‘Well, not yet for a while at any rate or who else will I share a nightcap with? I’m so glad I was able to help.’
He eyed her awkwardly for a moment before he ventured, ‘Well, I wanted to talk to you about that, you being my friend I mean. You see…’ He paused for a moment to take several deep breaths and gather his wits in an effort to say words to Velda he’d wanted to for a while now. In the meantime Velda’s own heart was thumping as she knew the moment that she had been dreading had arrived. Her own thoughts tumbled to remind herself of the words she had already formulated in which to respond to him without damaging in any way the relationship they already shared. She was only drinking tea but she quickly poured herself a small whiskey and swallowed it to afford her some Dutch courage to deal with what was to come. Sam continued, ‘… I… Well, you’ve become more than a friend to me, Velda, much more. I’ve, er, well…’
She put her hand on his knee by way of stopping him going any further and although her emotions were raging internally, she managed to speak evenly. ‘Sam… I care for you too, very much. I’d like nothing more than for us to become much more to each other.’ How much she wished for that, longed for it, but through matters beyond her control it was something that could never happen.
Before she could say any more though, Sam had grabbed her hand, was holding it tenderly between his gnarled ones and was excitedly blurting, ‘We’ll be so happy together, me and you, I know we will. It was dark days for me when my Nell died. Thought it was the end of the world for me. I don’t need to tell you that though do I, Velda, as you helped me through those terrible days. But as I got to know you, saw what a wonderful woman you were, I began to see that it wasn’t the end of the world for me after all, that there was a woman that I could be just as happy with as I was with Nell. You made me see I did have a future without her, Velda. I’m just so happy that you feel the same way about me as I do you. Now, if there’s anything you want to do to the van before you move in…’
Sheer panic was racing through Velda and, holding up her free hand in a warning gesture, she interjected, ‘Sam, please, stop.’
He eyed her, confused. ‘Why? What’s wrong? Oh, I’m going too quick. You want us to court for a bit first before we…’
‘No, no, it’s not that.’ She pulled her hand free from his to wring both of hers together and, face wreathed in grief, told him, ‘Sam, I do care for you as much as I could any man, but I can’t be with you.’
He gawped, taken aback. ‘Can’t? Why?’
She was very aware of how much it had taken a man like Sam to bare his soul to her like he was and she hated lying to him but, regardless, she had no choice. ‘Because… well because my conscience won’t let me.’
He looked bewildered. ‘Conscience? I don’t understand? We’re both free… You are free aren’t you, Velda, not got some husband—’
‘No, no, of course I haven’t.’
‘Well what’s this about your conscience not letting you be with me then?’
‘Nell was a good friend to me, Sam, you know she was. I thought the world of her and, regardless of that fact that she’s no longer with us, if I got together with you I would feel I was betraying her. She would always be standing between us, Sam, so it would never work. You understand, don’t you?’
He shook his head, befuddled. ‘Can’t say as I do. Nell was a generous woman. Last thing she would want is for me to spend the rest of my life mourning her and if I found someone else I could be happy with, I know I’d have her blessing.’
Should Nell have known Velda’s secret she would most definitely not be giving her beloved husband her blessing to pursue a relationship with her. ‘I dare say she would be, Sam, but I just can’t. As I told you, I’d feel I was betraying her. What we have together is so precious to
me, you must believe that, and I don’t want to do anything that would risk causing any harm to it.’ Although she had gone over in her mind several times what she was going to say to Sam, saying it out loud was proving so distressing for her that, by way of ending this situation she said, ‘Would you mind if we called it a night, Sam? Been a long day today and I’ve a few things I need to do before I go to bed. If the weather is fine I’ll see you for your nightcap tomorrow night?’ she hopefully added.
Sam hadn’t been expecting this outcome; he had thought Velda would be very welcoming towards his proposal and they would start planning their future together. He had been looking forward to having her by his side as his companion, someone to share his daily life with, cuddle up to in his lonely bed but, regardless, there was a part of him that did – in a way – appreciate her reasons for not wanting to take their relationship further. Maybe, given time, she might change her mind. He could only hope so anyway. He flashed her a forced smile. ‘Yes, love, you see to your chores and get yourself to bed. And, of course, if the weather is fine, I’ll see you tomorrow night as usual.’
She forlornly watched him go, glad in a way the situation that had been hanging over her for a few weeks now was finally over but so very sad the outcome could not have been different.
* * *
As it was, Solly did not have to take the errant gaff lad to the hospital. He had broken his arm but Solly managed to get one of the labourers to accompany him in a Grundy lorry so he was able to witness the look of pure joy on his wife’s face when she arrived home to find him waiting for her, brandishing a bunch of flowers and glass of wine, with the table set and the food that would fill the empty plates keeping hot in the oven.
As Gem laid her knife and fork down on an empty plate a while later, she looked tenderly over at her companion. ‘That was such a lovely thought, Solly, thank you. The flowers are beautiful and the wine is going down a treat. I am such a lucky woman to have you.’
All the Fun of the Fair Page 17