A Nest of Singing Birds

by A Nest of Singing Birds (retail) (epub)

  ‘I’d love to,’ Anne said eagerly. ‘If you feel all right.’

  Sarah looked down and said in a low voice, ‘Grandma suggested it and Mum thinks it’s all right too. You know she goes to work for a catering firm? She says the women are so funny it’s the same as going to the pictures.’

  ‘I’ll see what’s on,’ Anne said. ‘I saw a newspaper in the storeroom.’

  The girls thoroughly enjoyed their night out and the opportunity to talk as much as the film. As they walked home Anne said, ‘Isn’t it lovely not to be slipping about on ice? I’m really looking forward to the summer.’

  ‘So am I,’ said Sarah. ‘I don’t want to forget Grandad, but it’s true that it gets easier to bear as time goes on.’

  Anne pressed her arm in silent sympathy and the next moment Sarah exclaimed, ‘There’s our John.’ She called his name and a tall young man crossed the road to them. Sarah introduced him to Anne and he smiled and raised his hat then shook her hand firmly.

  They were near a street lamp and Anne stole a look at him. She had a swift impression of a handsome face with a cleft chin and dark wavy hair falling across his forehead. He looks nice, she thought, not a bit like the moody youth Sarah talks about.

  John asked about the film and they confessed that they had spent as much time talking as watching the programme.

  ‘I love Charles Boyer though,’ Anne said and that led to a discussion about their favourite film stars, until Anne realised that the Redmonds were making a detour to take her home to Magdalen Street.

  ‘You shouldn’t have come out of your way to see me home,’ she exclaimed and John said, smiling at her, ‘We had to know what you thought about Joan Blondell and Henry Wilcoxen.’ Anne saw the flash of his white teeth as he smiled.

  The following day she took the first opportunity to tell Sarah that she thought her brother was very nice. ‘He was all right last night,’ Sarah said. ‘But he’s a moody beggar sometimes. Most of the time, in fact, although he’s been a bit better lately.’

  ‘I didn’t think he looked moody,’ Anne said. ‘Perhaps it’s because he’s so upset about your grandad.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Sarah said doubtfully. ‘They were very close but it’s no excuse for the way he speaks to Dad. He’s always been like this anyway, thinking he knows everything.’

  Anne said nothing and Sarah glanced at her and said, ‘He’s mad about politics. You know that thing that was on the Pathé News last night, about Herr Hitler invading the Rhineland? It was in the Echo and John was ranting on about it and about Signor Mussolini invading Abyssinia. He says they’re fascists. Are your brothers like that?’

  ‘Not really,’ Anne said. ‘Tony goes on about things sometimes, but they don’t take much interest in politics. There’s so much else going on in Liverpool that’s interesting, isn’t there?’

  ‘It’d be more peaceful in our house if John thought like that,’ Sarah said ruefully. ‘He’s forever arguing with Dad. He can’t argue with Mick because he’s interested in nothing except aeroplanes.’

  Anne felt that Sarah was being unfair to John, but also wondered whether she was trying to warn her not to become too interested in him. She had hinted several times that John was too obsessed with politics to be interested in girls.

  Joe came home at the end of April and seemed shocked by the change in his mother. He sat beside her talking until Maureen said, ‘Don’t you think you should go to bed now, Mum, and be fresh to talk to Joe tomorrow? I’m sure he needs an early night too.’

  She looked meaningfully at Joe and he said immediately, ‘Good idea, Mo. I’m looking forward to a night in my own bed and not being called to go on watch.’ His mother went to bed soon afterwards and Maureen took cocoa up to her and Grandma Houlihan.

  Pat and the rest of the family were gathered in the kitchen and Joe said sombrely, ‘I didn’t realize Mum had been so ill.’

  ‘She was bad after Christmas but she’s fine now, thank God,’ his father said. ‘She’s a bit tired with looking after the old lady but it’ll do her good to see you, Joe.’

  No one disagreed with him and Anne wondered whether they were deliberately deceiving themselves or whether they truly believed that their mother was well again. She thought that her mother looked years older than before her illness at Christmas.

  Joe sat down beside her and put his arm round her. ‘Here’s another change I hadn’t bargained for,’ he said, smiling at her. ‘I didn’t recognise you at first, Anne. I thought we had a strange young lady in the house.’

  Everyone laughed and she blushed. ‘I told you in my letter that I felt quite grown up now,’ she said.

  Stephen was fiddling with the wireless and some dance music came on.

  ‘Come on, Eileen, try this,’ he said. ‘It’s a quickstep.’ He seized her and they began to dance, bickering as Stephen trod on her toes or she fell over his feet.

  Anne hugged Joe. ‘I have missed you,’ she said.

  ‘I’ve missed you too, pet,’ he said and sighed. ‘This is the worst part, being away while everything’s happening.’

  ‘What are you two whispering about?’ Eileen asked. ‘Come on, Joe, let’s try a waltz.’

  He told Anne that the American papers were full of reports that the king was going to marry an American divorcee, Mrs Herbert Simpson, but when Anne told Mabel she indignantly dismissed the news.

  ‘Another tall story from America,’ she scoffed. ‘They’ll write anything to fill the papers over there. No, he’ll marry an English girl or a foreign princess. She’ll be a lucky girl, whoever she is.’

  Sarah also refused to believe the story. ‘It’d be in the papers here too,’ she said, and when Anne told her that Joe said Mrs Simpson had been divorced from her first husband and planned to divorce her second to marry the king, Sarah laughed. ‘No wonder Mabel said it was a tall story,’ she said.

  ‘Joe was only saying what was in the papers in America,’ Anne said defensively and Sarah said quickly, ‘Yes, I know that.’

  ‘We were hoping he might get a job while he was home this time,’ Anne said sadly. ‘Everybody’s been looking out for one for him, now that trade’s picking up again, but no luck. The trouble is you have to be on the spot to grab a job when it comes up.’

  ‘Couldn’t he work for your dad?’ Sarah said.

  ‘No, he’s not a tradesman and the labourers have all been with Dad for a long time. Maureen told me that Dad would have to lay a man off to take Joe on because he’s just keeping going and can’t expand the business yet.’

  * * *

  The usual Easter party had not been held at the Andersons’ but now that the weather was better and Carrie had recovered they decided to give a party to celebrate Theresa’s engagement. Joe had to go aboard his ship the day before the party but Anne told Sarah that it might help to cheer the family after he left. ‘We always feel so downhearted when he goes so I suppose the party has come at a good time for us,’ she said. ‘It’s just such a pity that he’s missing it.’

  Fred had told Eileen to bring the young man she was currently going out with and Stephen, Tony and Terry were all taking girls there. ‘The more the merrier,’ Fred said and invited Anne to bring Sarah and Maureen to bring her friend Mary Mullen.

  Theresa had brought her fiancé to meet Grandma Houlihan, and those of the Fitzgeralds that he had not already met, and everyone had liked the quiet young man. Grandma Houlihan had blessed the young couple and sprinkled them with Holy Water and Theresa had declared afterwards to Eileen and Anne that she would keep Jim away from her grandma until after the wedding.

  ‘I don’t want him dead of pneumonia before he even gets to the altar,’ she said. She was a slim vivacious girl who seemed to dance through life and a favourite with all the family. She was a hairdresser and could copy any hairstyle that she saw on film stars so was in great demand.

  On the night of the party the Andersons’ house was filled with Jim’s relations as well as the usual Andersons and Fitzgerald
s and many friends, but the young people still managed to find room to dance, either to records on the gramophone or Eileen playing the piano.

  Fred’s speech was as embarrassing as Theresa had predicted it would be, but by the time it was made everyone was in high good humour. A toast was drunk and the cake cut and Fred’s speech received loud applause. Theresa and Jim looked blissfully happy as they stood smiling at each other and clinking their glasses.

  Afterwards the party separated, the older people gathering in the kitchen and the younger ones in the parlour. A friend from the church had offered to sit with Grandma Houlihan, who had refused to go to the party, so Julia was able to go. She wore a brown silk dress with the cameo brooch which had been Pat’s wedding present to her, and Anne was delighted to see how much better she looked.

  ‘Mum looks awfully well tonight, doesn’t she?’ Maureen whispered to her. She nodded, realising that Maureen too had been worried about their mother.

  Sarah was thrilled. ‘I’ve never been to a party like this before,’ she said to Anne. ‘We always have a family gathering for Christmas, but there’s only a few of us. We had a sort of party when my aunt was home from America but not like this.’

  She was fascinated by the fun and games. Stephen and Anne danced an Apache dance, with Stephen wearing one of the girl’s berets and Anne with a brightly coloured scarf around her shoulders. It finished with her falling flat on the hearthrug after Stephen had inexpertly whirled her around and Tony called, ‘It’d be better if you could dance, Steve.’

  ‘Oh, la la,’ Anne said. And Stephen said, ‘Eez that so, Monsoor?’

  ‘Oh, very Latin Quarter,’ Tony said, laughing. They played games of forfeits and Postman’s Knock which involved a lot of scuffling and kissing in the hall. Everyone was sorry when the party was over and then someone said tactlessly, ‘Work tomorrow.’

  ‘Only half day,’ someone else replied.

  For Anne and Sarah Saturday meant a full day’s work but they looked forward to seeing each other then and talking over the party.

  ‘I thought it was wonderful,’ Sarah said. Her eyes were still bright with excitement and Mabel laughed.

  ‘It sounds as though you enjoyed yourself, anyway.’

  ‘We all did. Anne’s family are such fun, Mabel. Anne was the life and soul of the party too.’

  ‘You might as well enjoy yourselves,’ Mabel said tolerantly. ‘You’re only young once. I suppose there were plenty of lads there?’

  Anne and Sarah looked at each other and laughed. ‘We’ve made a date with two of them for tonight,’ Anne said. ‘They’re Jim’s cousins. You know, Mabel, Theresa’s fiancé.’

  ‘You should be safe enough with them, they’re almost family,’ she said. And Anne replied gaily, ‘We were spoiled for choice, weren’t we, Sar? I think our Terry was sorry he’d brought a girl. I think he fell for Sarah.’

  ‘Has he been going out with his girl for long?’ Mabel asked.

  ‘No, only a week or two,’ Anne said. ‘He doesn’t bother much with girls usually. He’s just football mad and goes with a crowd to the wrestling and sometimes plays billiards in the club.’

  ‘It’s a pity that your brother Joe missed such a good party, isn’t it?’ Sarah said and Anne said impulsively, ‘I do wish you’d been able to meet Joe, Sarah. His time ashore seemed to go in a flash but I thought you’d meet him at the party.’

  ‘When did he go aboard?’ asked Mabel.

  ‘Only the day before. I’m sure you’d have liked him, Sarah.’

  ‘I’m sure I would,’ she agreed. Neither of the girls realised how much heartache a meeting then would have saved Sarah in later life.

  The girls enjoyed their visit to the cinema with Phil and Charlie and arranged to go out with them again. The boys were cousins, Phil who was Anne’s escort as dark as Charlie was fair. The next morning Sarah and Anne compared notes. ‘Was it just a handshake?’ Anne asked quizzically and Sarah laughed. ‘No, but he did ask permission before he kissed me.’

  ‘Phil didn’t,’ Anne said. ‘You must inspire more respect than I do.’

  ‘Tell me how to cure it,’ Sarah giggled. ‘Preferably before Saturday night.’ She was to see Michael again then.

  Tom Dodd wrote to Anne from Scotland and she replied but gradually the intervals between the letters became longer until they petered out altogether.

  ‘He’s probably found a wee Scots lassie,’ Anne said to Sarah. ‘I can’t say he’s broken my heart.’

  ‘I don’t know when you’d find time to write anyway,’ Sarah said, laughing.

  Anne’s brothers and Eileen were keen cyclists and Anne and Sarah decided to buy bicycles for five shillings deposit and two shillings and sixpence a week. As the evenings lengthened they cycled through the farmland which surrounded Liverpool or beside the Mersey.

  Anne was invited to Sunday tea by Sarah’s mother and dressed very carefully for it, hoping to see John again, but she was disappointed. When she had been introduced to the rest of the family, Sarah’s mother said casually, ‘I’m sorry our eldest son isn’t here to meet you. He belongs to a rambling club and they go out on Sundays.’

  ‘It’s all right, Mum. Anne met John when we were coming home from the pictures one night,’ Sarah said.

  Anne’s mother had been pleased by the invitation and interested in hearing all about the family when she returned home.

  ‘They’re all very nice,’ Anne said. ‘I felt as though I knew them already because Sarah’s told me so much about them. Her mother’s lovely and really made me feel at home. Her father did too but he’s very quiet and doesn’t talk much. He’s got a lovely deep voice though and an awfully nice smile.’

  ‘Was Sarah’s grandmother there?’ her mother asked.

  ‘Yes. She’s like Sarah, tall and thin with blue eyes, but her hair’s white now. She’s very dignified and yet very welcoming. Sarah’s brother Mick was there. He goes to the College and Sarah said he’s very clever, but he seems a case. A bit like Dom and Des. I didn’t like her sister Kate very much.’

  ‘Why not?’ Julia asked.

  ‘I think she’s very vain. She is pretty. She’s got fair curly hair and brown eyes and a straight little nose, but she doesn’t half know it! The old man who lodges with Sarah’s grandma pays for dancing lessons for Kate.’

  ‘Sarah’s a nice friend for you to have, Anne,’ her mother said. ‘Especially when you’re working together all day. You must ask her to tea next Sunday.’

  Anne said nothing about John Redmond. She often thought of him and pictured his face, but she had an uneasy feeling that on the walk back from the cinema he had only seen her as his young sister’s friend.

  Sarah and Anne were often invited out by various young men now but no one that Anne had met seemed to her as interesting or as handsome as John Redmond.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sarah came to tea the following Sunday. She seemed shy and rather overwhelmed at first by the large crowd of young people, but before long she was joining in the repartee.

  All the Fitzgeralds except Maureen owned bicycles and it was arranged that the following Sunday Sarah would join them for a ride on the Wirral, if the weather was good.

  Sunday was dull but warm, and after early Mass they set off with flasks of tea and parcels of sandwiches in their saddlebags, to take the ferry across the Mersey and ride to Thurstaton, a beauty spot on the Wirral.

  This was the start of a regular pattern. Nearly every Sunday they rode, sometimes to somewhere on the Liverpool side of the river, but more often to somewhere on the Wirral, on the other side of the Mersey.

  Sometimes Tony’s friend Jerry came, or Eileen’s current boyfriend, sometimes friends of others in the group, but Anne and Sarah agreed that they enjoyed outings best with just the family and Sarah. Often Anne thought of suggesting that John Redmond might join them, and even hinted to Sarah, although she added, ‘Of course he’s in a rambling club, isn’t he?’

  ‘Rambling club, my fo
ot!’ Sarah said. ‘Mum and Dad might believe that but I don’t. He spends the day with his cronies from that communist club.’

  ‘But he can’t be a Catholic and a communist!’ Anne exclaimed. Sarah only shrugged.

  ‘John thinks rules are for other people,’ she said. ‘He’s always so sure he’s right.’

  Anne was silent, uncertain what to say, and Sarah grimaced. ‘I make him sound awful, don’t I?’ she said. ‘He’s all right really and I’m very fond of him, but he has some cracked ideas. Grandad thought it wasn’t right that some people have more money than they know what to do with while others are starving.’

  ‘I agree with him,’ Anne said. ‘I don’t think they’re cracked ideas.’

  ‘Neither do I,’ Sarah said. ‘But Grandad was working quietly to get things changed, and our John thinks he can do it in five minutes. That’s why he hangs round with those fellows, because he thinks they’ll get things done quickly, and no one else seems to care about poor people.’

  ‘Well, I admire him for that,’ Anne said staunchly. ‘Although I don’t think he should get mixed up with communism.’

  ‘Remember that night we went to the pictures and met John on the way home?’ Sarah said. Anne smiled inwardly. Did she! Sarah went on, ‘He commented later on your house being big and I said you were a big family. That’s because I was expecting him to suggest that you took a few tramps in to fill up the rooms.’

  Anne laughed and Sarah smiled with her but said, ‘Honestly, Anne, I’m not joking. That’s the sort of daft idea he gets. Mick brings him down to earth though. He says John should give up his own bed to a tramp if he feels like that. He shares the room and says he would agree, because he knows John would never do it.’

  ‘He wouldn’t be able to fit a tramp in our house anyway,’ Anne said. ‘We only have three bedrooms and a boxroom and the bathroom, and the four lads share two attic bedrooms. Maureen had to give up her bedroom and move in with me and Eileen when Grandma came to live with us.’