by Jonker, Joan
Rita had been replying to Bessie’s silent questions by pulling faces and rolling her eyes. She wasn’t sure herself how Milly had got hold of the clothes, so couldn’t have told her mate anything even if she’d wanted to. Then, knowing the girl was playing for time by standing warming her hands by the fire, she mouthed, ‘Ask her!’
Bessie nodded before saying, ‘Sit down, Rita, and take the weight off yer feet. I’m sure Milly will solve the mystery of the clothes when she’s ready.’
‘Oh, there’s no mystery, Auntie Bessie.’ Milly turned to face the two women. ‘They belong to my mother. I’ve been naughty, though, because I didn’t ask her if I could wear them.’ She lowered her head so she didn’t have to face them. ‘I’ve been naughty two times over, because the clothes were in a big trunk in Mother’s bedroom, and I only knew they were there, yesterday. I knew the trunk was there, ’cos you can’t help but see it, but I never knew what was in it, and I didn’t like asking my mother. As far as I know, she never opens it.’
‘Oh, it was very naughty of yer to look in the trunk without asking your mother. There may be things in there that are important to her, like memories from the past.’
‘I only wanted to put these things on to show you.’ Milly fingered the dress and the feather boa. ‘I was going to be very careful with them, and put them back exactly as I found them.’ She was close to tears now, couldn’t bear to think her actions had upset her Auntie Bessie. ‘If the boys hadn’t started making fun of me, and then fighting, I would have got here without causing any trouble. I’m sorry I’ve been naughty, Auntie Bessie, I won’t ever do anything like this again.’ Then, her lips quivering and eyes wet with tears, she asked, ‘You won’t stop me from coming here, will you?’
That did it for Bessie. She pushed herself off the couch and put her arms around the trembling girl. ‘Of course not, sweetheart, why would I do that? I know yer didn’t mean any harm, even though, as I’ve said, yer shouldn’t have touched anything in the trunk without asking yer mother first. But everyone does things they shouldn’t when they’re young. I was no angel meself at your age.’
‘Me neither!’ Rita didn’t like seeing the girl so upset. What she did was nothing compared with what her two sons got up to. ‘And our Billy and Jack get in more trouble in one day than you will in a lifetime, sunshine. They’ll both get a thick ear when I get home, fighting in the street like hooligans.’
Milly was biting on her bottom lip, for laughter was fighting with the tears, and she didn’t know whether this would be the proper time to laugh. But it came out regardless. Peals of infectious laughter filled the room. ‘It was funny, wasn’t it? I was standing there, holding the wall so I wouldn’t fall over in those shoes and at the same time trying to hold the dress up off the ground, when the next thing I know there’s about six boys pushing and punching each other.’ But the girl never forgot where her loyalty lay. ‘It wasn’t Jack that started it, though, Auntie Rita, I’m sure it wasn’t.’
Rita chortled. ‘Yer’ve got a soft spot for our Jack, haven’t yer, sunshine? And he’s got one for you, ’cos that’s how the ruddy fight started. From what little I’ve heard, our Billy was laughing at yer, with Tommo, and Jack thumped him one. It started off with just the two of them, then before they knew it, a gang had joined in. But I’ll get it all out of them later and let yer know the ins and outs. Anyway, right now, don’t yer think yer should take those clothes off before yer do any harm? If yer rip that dress then yer mother will be very annoyed.’
A smile was lurking behind Milly’s eyes when she said, ‘I can’t take them off because I’ve left my clothes on top of my mother’s bed. I thought I would only be away for about five minutes, and then I was going to sneak back home, change into my own clothes and put Mother’s things away neatly, so she wouldn’t know I’ve been naughty.’
Bessie held out her hand. ‘Let me have the key, sweetheart, and I’ll go and pick up your clothes. Then, when yer’re dressed, and yer look like my little sweetheart once again, I’ll help yer with those very posh clothes ye’re wearing. Yer could pass for a proper princess in them, and we’d all have to curtsey to yer.’
In her auntie’s good books once again, Milly regained her sense of fun. She had a very vivid imagination and it was up and running now. With green eyes shining with devilment, and her cheeky grin, she held up the back of her hand to Bessie. ‘You needn’t curtsey, Auntie Bessie, because you are my friend. You may kiss my hand instead.’
‘Oh, aye, Miss High and Mighty.’ Rita pretended to get on her high horse. ‘If Bessie is yer friend, what does that make me? An enemy?’
‘Oh, no, Auntie Rita, you’re not an enemy.’ Her childish laughter ricocheted off the walls and brought a smile to the faces of the two women. ‘You may kiss my other hand.’
‘While you two are deciding how to address each other, I’ll nip next door and get yer clothes, sweetheart, so hand the key over.’ Bessie lifted her coat down from a hook. ‘It’ll be freezing in there with no fire lit, and I don’t want to come down with a cold. Keep Milly company till I get back, Rita, there’s a pal.’
‘Don’t be long, Bessie, ’cos my feller will be wondering where I’ve got to. Unless he’s still asleep, of course, and that wouldn’t surprised me. Stick him in front of a fire and he’s away in no time. The only thing that would wake him would be his tummy, and I imagine it’ll be starting to rumble any minute now. So get yer skates on, kiddo.’
Bessie was in and out of her neighbour’s house in less than a minute. She grabbed Milly’s school clothes off the bed, ran down the stairs and out of the front door. She didn’t give a second glance to anything in the bedroom or living room, feeling as though she was trespassing. She wouldn’t like a stranger wandering around her house, and was sure Evelyn wouldn’t either.
‘Blinking heck, that was fast!’ Rita said. ‘I asked yer to be quick, but I didn’t tell yer to fly.’ She stood up from the couch. ‘I’ll get over to my feller. Probably see yer tomorrow, Bessie.’
Her mate tried to send a message with her eyes. ‘Oh, I was going to ask you and Aggie to come over tonight, I’ve something to tell yer.’
‘Ooh,’ said Rita, who had received the message, ‘what time would yer like us?’
Bessie rolled her eyes towards Milly. ‘Not until about half-eight, if yer get me meaning.’
‘I’ll be glad to get out of the house for an hour,’ Rita said. ‘Me and Aggie will be over around eight-thirty then, sunshine. Ta-ra for now. Ta-ra, Milly.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘I think it’s time yer were in bed, sweetheart,’ Bessie said, ‘it’s half-past eight and yer know I’m expecting me friends.’
‘Ah, can’t I wait up and see them?’ Milly asked, running a comb through the doll’s hair. ‘I promise to go to bed when I’ve had a goodnight kiss from them.’
‘That won’t be long, ’cos they’re on their way.’ Bessie said, making for the door. ‘I can hear Aggie’s voice. It’s like a foghorn, I bet the whole street can hear her.’
‘I heard that!’ Aggie said when Bessie opened the door. ‘If I was the kind what got upset easy, I’d take the huff over that. A foghorn indeed, I’m surprised at yer. I’ll have yer know I can beat a foghorn any day. If I put me mind to it, or someone says something what they shouldn’t, then I bet they can hear me down at the docks, never mind just in this street.’
Rita let her neighbour go up the steps first, then jerked her head at Bessie. ‘Fancy bragging about having a voice like a foghorn. Honest to God, she’s as common as muck and yer can’t take her anywhere for fear she makes a show of yer.’
Aggie took her coat off, threw it over the back of a chair, then winked at Milly. ‘Hark at her, queen, yer’d think she was born with a silver spoon in her gob to hear her talking. But it’s all put on, ’cos she forgets I live next door and can hear everything what goes on in her house. And although she’s me mate, and I shouldn’t be snitching on her, I’ll let yer into a secret ’c
os I know yer’ll keep it to yerself. Sometimes her language is so bad I have to cover me ears. And because I haven’t got no cotton wool, I make the kids put their fingers in their ears until the worst of it is over. Anyone who didn’t know her would think she was as innocent as a new-born babe, but yer have to live next to her to know what she’s really like.’
‘Just listen to her,’ Rita said, handing her coat to Bessie, ‘talk about the kettle calling the pot black isn’t in it. Everyone knows she invented most of the swear words, half of which I don’t even know the meaning of. When she takes off in one of her tempers, I go down the yard and sit on the lavvy until I think she’s finished, ’cos I don’t know where to put me face with my feller sitting there listening.’
‘She’s got no flaming manners, either,’ Bessie said, her hands on her hips and her jaw set. ‘Just look at the way she’s flung her coat down. Ye’re not at home now, Aggie Gordon, so yer can just hang that coat up in a proper manner.’
Aggie gave Milly a very exaggerated wink as she picked up the offending coat. ‘Miserable buggers, if they smiled their faces would crack. But I’d better hang me ruddy coat up or I’ll be the talk of every wash-house from here to the Pier Head.’
Milly was rocking with laughter as Aggie ambled out to the narrow hall where the hooks were. She had never known anyone like these three women in all her life. She knew her mother would disapprove of their bad language, but coming from them it was funny and you couldn’t help but laugh at the expressions on their faces. Her life had changed so much since the day her mother had asked Miss Maudsley if she would mind her. It was the luckiest day of Milly’s life, for she had made new friends that day and found love and happiness with the woman who was now no longer Miss Maudsley but her Auntie Bessie.
When her two mates were settled, Bessie looked at Milly meaningfully. ‘Get yer kisses, sweetheart, and then up the wooden stairs to dreamland. Me and me mates want to sit and have a good old chinwag.’
Milly pouted. ‘Can’t I stay up for a while? Not even if I promise not to listen?’
‘God bless yer cotton socks, sweetheart, but it would be really hard not to listen with us three women talking fifteen to the dozen.’ Bessie held her arms wide and the girl ran into them. She hugged her tight, then said, ‘The reason I want yer to go to bed is that me and me mates are going to be talking about the Christmas party we’re hoping to have. We don’t want any of the children to know what’s happening, we want it to be a surprise. And it wouldn’t be fair to the other kids if you knew and they didn’t. You can understand that, can’t yer, sweetheart?’
Milly moved away a little so she could look up into Bessie’s face. ‘Will I be coming to your party, Auntie Bessie?’
I don’t want her to go to bed feeling sad, Bessie thought, so I’ll tell a little lie, it won’t do no harm. ‘I’m not sure yet, me and yer mother haven’t discussed Christmas. But I think I can safely say I’ll be able to get around her. Perhaps her friend is having a party, most people do, so when I ask if yer can stay here, I’m pretty sure she’ll be agreeable.’
She was rewarded by a big hug, and a muffled voice saying, ‘I love you, Auntie Bessie, more than anything in the whole world.’
‘After yer mother, sweetheart, for she must always come first.’
Green eyes gazed up at her. ‘I do love my mother, Auntie Bessie, but I love you too.’
‘And I love you,’ Bessie told her as she gently pushed her away. ‘Now give my guests a big kiss, and then take Daisy to bed with you, there’s a good girl.’
Kisses and hugs exchanged, and then Milly climbed the stairs with her beloved doll. It was only when they were sure she was in her bedroom, out of earshot, that Rita said, ‘It’s to be hoped that kid’s mother doesn’t take her away to live somewhere else ’cos she wouldn’t half fret. It would break her heart if she lost you.’
‘D’yer think I don’t worry meself sick about that? Every night when I go to bed it plays on me mind so much I lie awake for hours. But last night I made an early New Year’s resolution, and that was not to worry about something I can’t change. So I’m going to enjoy Milly for as long as I can, and pray to God she is never taken far from me.’ Bessie bustled towards the kitchen. ‘I’ll make us a pot of tea, and yer’ll be glad to know I’ve mugged you and meself to a cream slice. I didn’t leave Milly out, she had hers with her tea.’
‘What’s the celebration,’ Rita called, ‘it’s not yer birthday, is it?’
‘I’m not telling yer what the celebration is until the tea’s made and we can sit round the table while I tell yer me news. And yer’ll be bowled over when I tell yer, but that’s all ye’re getting until we’re all sitting comfortably.’
‘In the name of God, Bessie, this is bleeding torture, this is.’ Aggie plonked her cup down so hard on the saucer she even frightened herself in case she’d cracked it. Bessie was fussy about her crockery, didn’t like cracks or chips in anything. And she never gave yer a drink in a cup with no handle. ‘It’s all right, queen, I haven’t put no crack in it. But if yer don’t tell us quick what yer news is, I might just break this over yer bleeding head.’
‘I’m with Aggie on this,’ Rita told her. ‘I don’t know what ye’re keeping us in suspense for, ’cos if yer don’t tell us soon we’ll both have heart attacks.’
Bessie leaned forward and put both elbows on the table. Oh, how she was going to enjoy seeing their faces. This sort of luck didn’t come their way very often. ‘Well, how would yer like to be Father Christmas’s helpers for two days before Christmas?’ She laughed when she saw their blank expressions. ‘I’m not pulling yer legs, I wouldn’t do that to yer, not over something that will make a lot of poor people happy.’
‘Yer’ll have to tell us more than that, sunshine. Explain to us in simple terms – what and where, when and how?’
‘Now I know we’ve all called Mrs Sinclair fit to burn over the years, but for the last few months she’s been different, changed like. She’s friendly with me and doesn’t talk down to me like she used to. And although it’s not her herself who’s being generous over Christmas, ’cos she’s not well off, it’s through her in a roundabout way.’ Bessie pushed her chair back. ‘Hang on until I get me notebook out, and I’ll show yer how I want us, me and you two, to give certain things to certain people through the goodwill of someone that Mrs Sinclair knows. He’s very rich apparently, and wants to help some poor people who are in dire straits. When Evelyn heard this, she remembered the kids in the street who have no shoes, and those families where the father is out of work. She told this person she knew of people in need, and that’s how come we are going to be Father Christmas’s little helpers.’
Bessie took the notebook out of the sideboard drawer and threw it on the table. Then she took the whole drawer out and stretched her arm to reach the envelope at the back. She threw this on the table, too, so she could manoeuvre the drawer back in place. Then she sat down with the notebook and envelope in front of her. ‘I’ve made a list of the families I think are worst off, so will you and Aggie look at it and see if I’ve left anyone off?’
Rita pulled her chair nearer to Aggie’s, their faces expressing their doubt that Bessie could possibly have enough money to do all the things she said she would. It would cost a fortune, and no one in their right mind gave a fortune to strangers. After a quick glance down the list, Aggie growled, ‘I see yer haven’t put me or Rita on the list. Is that because yer think we’re rolling in money?’
‘Don’t start crying before ye’re hurt, Aggie, just hold yer horses until we sort that list out. Can yer think of anyone I haven’t got down, Rita?’
‘Yeah, old Mrs Ponsonby, she’s probably worse off than anyone in the street. She’s still scrubbing steps, at her age, just to earn enough to pay the rent and keep the wolf from the door. She’s had that coat she wears for at least ten years to my knowledge, and it’s practically in tatters.’ Rita ran her eyes down the page again. ‘The money yer’ve got by each name will
come to quite a sum. With the best will in the world, sunshine, yer’d never be able to cope with all this.’ She waved the book before handing it back to Bessie. ‘I bet if yer add it up, it would come to about six or seven pound, and no one is that generous with money.’
Bessie pushed the envelope over to her. ‘I don’t know the gentleman’s name, so I can’t tell yer, but take the money out of the envelope and yer’ll see for yerself how generous he’s been.’
Intrigued, Rita took the contents out of the envelope, Aggie’s head on her shoulder. ‘If yer got any closer, sunshine, yer’d be sitting on me ruddy knee! Move back a bit, will yer, and stop breathing down me ear.’
‘I’m just as keen to see how much there is as you are, so don’t be getting narky with me, queen, ’cos ye’re not the only pebble on the beach.’
‘It’s a five-pound note.’ Rita turned her head quickly and found herself rubbing noses with her mate. ‘It’s one of those five-pound notes what only the rich can afford. Ay, I’ve never had one of these in me hand before.’
‘Let’s have a feel.’ Aggie went to snatch the note, so she could brag to her husband about it, and anyone else who would listen. Mind you, when Aggie spoke everyone listened, they were afraid not to. But Rita pulled her hand away quick. ‘If ye’re not careful, yer’ll tear it, and then they won’t take it off yer in the shops.’
‘Open it up, Rita,’ Bessie said, waiting with mounting excitement to see the look on their faces. ‘Go on, it won’t bite yer.’
Rita was very careful unfolding the thin white piece of paper which was more than her husband earned in a month. It had been folded four times to fit the envelope, and when she opened it up and saw there were four notes in all, the colour drained from her face. ‘In the name of God, Bessie, I’ve never seen so much money in me life. There’s twenty pound there!’