by Anne Bennett
She sighed as she leant her head against the windowpane. There were so many people and so much noise that she didn’t think she would ever get used to actually living here. She reflected on what it was like to awake in the farmhouse. The only sound after the rooster crowed was the cluck of the hens as she threw corn on to the cobbles in the yard, the occasional bleat of a ewe searching for her lamb, the odd bark of the dogs, or the lowing of the cows as they gathered in the fields for milking.
Birmingham seemed such an alien place, and yet Kate had seemed to settle into it so well. Now Sally was anxious to see the city centre; the previous evening she had been too distracted and it had been too dark to get more than just a vague impression.
In the cold light of day she wondered what on earth had possessed her to take flight. Why hadn’t she at least tried to talk to her parents? Tell them how she felt? Maybe if she had explained it right they would have agreed to let her spend a wee holiday with Kate the following spring when she would be seventeen. Well, she thought ruefully, God alone knew when she would ever get the chance again. She imagined, after this little caper, her mother would fit her with a ball and chain.
In her heart of hearts she had known she had made a terrible mistake as soon as she had seen the grey hulk of the mail boat waiting for her as she alighted from the train in Dún Laoghaire. Ulster Prince, she’d read on the side, and she had almost turned back then, but the press of people behind her had almost propelled her up the gangplank and on to the deck, which seemed to be heaving with people.
She hadn’t been on the deck long when there was a sudden blast from the funnels and black smoke escaped into the air as the engines began to pulsate and the deck rail to vibrate as the boat pulled away from the dock. Sally watched the shores of Ireland disappear into the misty, murky day, and wished she could have turned the clock back. She felt her insides gripped with a terrible apprehension, which wasn’t helped by the seasickness that assailed her as the boat ploughed its way through the tempestuous Irish Sea. Cold, sleety rain had begun to fall too, making it difficult to stay outside. Inside, however, the smell of whisky and Guinness mingled with cigarette smoke, and the smell of damp clothes and the whiff of vomit that pervaded everywhere made her stomach churn alarmingly, while the noise, chatter, laughter, singing and the shrieking of children caused her head to throb with pain. Like many of the other passengers, she’d ended up standing in the rain, being sick over the side of the mail boat. By the time she’d disembarked and thankfully stood on dry land again, she had never felt so damp or so wretched in the whole of her life.
She tried to gather her courage as the train thundered along the tracks towards Birmingham. She told herself that – even if she was cross with her – Kate would look after her and make everything right, because she always had in the past. But she was so unnerved by her own fear and the teeming platform that she was almost too scared to leave the train at New Street Station – she had never seen so many people in one place before.
She’d never heard so much noise either. There was the clattering rumble of trains arriving at other platforms and the occasional screech and the din from the vast crowds laughing and talking together. Then there were porters with trolleys loaded with suitcases warning people to ‘Mind their backs’. A newspaper vendor was obviously advertising his wares, though Sally couldn’t understand a word he said, and over it all were equally indecipherable loudspeaker announcements.
She felt totally dispirited as she breathed in the sooty, stale air, but she knew that if she didn’t soon alight, the train would carry her even further on, and so she clambered out on to the platform, dragging her case after her. She realized that the boldness that had enabled her to get this far had totally deserted her, and she had no idea where to go or what to do next. She looked around, feeling helpless and very afraid.
Most people were striding past her as if they were on some important errand; they seemed to know exactly where they were going, so she followed them and in minutes found herself in the street outside the station. If she had been unnerved inside the station, she was thoroughly alarmed by the scurrying crowds filling the pavements and traffic cramming the roads outside it. The noise too was incredible and she stood as if trans-fixed. There were horse-drawn carts, petrol-driven lorries, vans, cars and other large clattering monsters that she saw ran along rails – she remembered Kate had said they were called trams – all vying for space on the cobbled roads. And because of the gloominess of the day, many had their lights on, and they gleamed on to the damp pavements as she became aware of a sour and acrid smell that lodged at the back of her throat.
How thankful she had been to see taxis banked up waiting for passengers just a short way away. Not that she was that familiar with taxis, either; in fact she had never ridden in one before. It didn’t help that the taxi driver couldn’t understand her accent when she tried to tell him where her sister lived and she had to write it down.
Eventually, he had it, though, and Sally had gingerly slid across the seat, and then the taxi started up and moved into the road. She looked about her but could see little, despite the pools of brightness from the vehicles’ headlights and the streetlamps and lights from the illuminated shop windows spilling on to the streets, because low, thick clouds had prematurely darkened the late afternoon.
And then when Sally had arrived at the address that Kate always put on her letters home, the door had been locked, so she’d lifted the heavy knocker and banged it on the brass plate. No one came, and no one answered the second knock either, but at the third the door was suddenly swung ajar and a scowling young woman peered around it. In the pool of light from the lamppost, Sally could plainly see the scowl. And she demanded brusquely, ‘What d’you want and who are you anyway?’
‘Kate,’ Sally said, unnerved by the woman’s tone. ‘I want to see Kate Munroe. I am her sister from Ireland.’
The woman’s voice softened a little as she said, ‘Are you now? Kate never said owt about you coming.’
‘She didn’t know.’
‘Nothing wrong I hope?’
Sally shook her head. ‘I just wanted to give her a surprise.’
The other woman laughed. ‘Surprise?’ she repeated. ‘Shock more likely. Any road, she ain’t here, ducks. She lives upstairs but she won’t be in yet. She’s at work, see, and I think she comes home at six or thereabouts.’
‘Oh.’
‘You’d best wait for her here,’ the woman said, ushering her into the entrance hall. ‘I would take you into my place, but I’m off to work myself ’cos I work in a pub, see. I was getting ready, and that’s why I was so mad at you nearly breaking the door down.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Well, it ain’t your fault,’ the girl conceded. ‘But if I hadn’t opened it I don’t reckon you would have got in at all because I don’t think anyone else is in from work yet.’
‘So, can I wait for Kate here?’
‘Oh yeah, no one will stop you doing that,’ the woman said. ‘And she’ll be in shortly, I would say. Any road,’ she said, ‘I got to be off or I’ll be getting my cards. Might see you around if you’re staying a bit.’
It was very quiet when the woman had gone, and dark and quite scary, and Sally wished she hadn’t had to leave. But she didn’t want to take a chance on meeting any more of Kate’s neighbours until she had met Kate herself and gauged her reaction, since she had a sneaky feeling that Kate wouldn’t be as pleased to see her as she might have hoped. And so she had slunk under the stairwell and sank into a heap and, totally worn out, had fallen into a doze.
Sally had gauged Kate’s reaction very well. She had been very angry, and remembering that now, Sally decided to get dressed and start to help in the hope she might put her sister in a better frame of mind. She wanted them both to enjoy their day in Birmingham. She sorted out clothes from the case on the floor, as Kate had said there was no point in unpacking it, but, quiet though she was, Kate heard her and turned over. ‘You’re an early bird.�
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‘Yeah, suppose it’s living on a farm,’ Sally said. ‘Anyway, you said that there was a lot to do today before we can go and meet Susie.’
‘And so there is,’ Kate said, heaving herself up. ‘And I suppose the sooner we start, the sooner we’ll be finished. So we’ll have some breakfast now and then we can really get cracking.’
Kate was impressed with the enthusiasm Sally seemed to have for cleaning and tidying the flat and coping with the laundry, an attribute she had never seen in her before. By the time they were scurrying up the road to meet Susie, everything was done.
‘Don’t you mind the noise of all the cars and stuff?’ Sally suddenly asked Kate as they walked along.
‘You know,’ said Kate, ‘I seldom hear it now.’
Sally looked at her in disbelief. ‘You can’t miss it.’
Kate nodded. ‘I know. It’s hard to believe but that’s how it is now – though when I first came I didn’t think I would ever be able to live with the noise. But now it sort of blends into everything else.’
‘And what is that place over there on the other side of the street?’ Sally said. Trees, bushes and green lawns could just be glimpsed beyond a set of high green railings bordering the pavement.
‘Oh, that’s the grounds of a hospital called Erdington House,’ Kate said. ‘I always think that it’s nice it is set in grounds so that people can at least look out at green, which I shouldn’t think happens often in a city. But then I found that it once used to be a work house and maybe the people in there had little time for looking out.’
‘Maybe not,’ Sally said. ‘But it might have been nice anyway because I imagine any green space is precious here, I have never seen so many houses all packed together.’
‘Remember, there are a lot of people living and working in Birmingham and they have to live somewhere,’ Kate said. ‘They have to shop somewhere too, and so while there are a few shops here on Slade Road, in a few minutes we will get to Stockland Green and you will see how many shops there are there – all kinds, too: grocer’s, baker’s, butcher’s, greengrocer’s, fish-monger’s, newsagent’s, general stores, post office; even a cinema.’
Sally was very impressed. ‘A cinema!’ she repeated in awe. ‘I’d love to see a film.’
Kate remembered how impressed she had been when she arrived here, knowing a cinema was just up the road. ‘You play your cards right and I just might take you tomorrow.’
Sally gasped. ‘Oh, would you really, Kate?’
Kate nodded. ‘And if there is nothing we fancy at the Plaza, we can always go to the Palace in Erdington Village – that’s just a short walk down Reservoir Road and over the railway bridge.’
‘Oh, anything will do me, Kate.’
‘Yes, I know, it’s just in case I’ve already seen it,’ Kate said. ‘Anyway, what do you think of Stockland Green? We’re coming to it now,’ and Sally was impressed to see that there really were all manner of shops virtually on the doorstep.
‘Oh, that’s a nice pub,’ Sally exclaimed as they came to the top of Marsh Hill where the Masons lived.
‘The Stockland,’ Kate said. ‘It does look nice, doesn’t it? Not that I’ve gone inside it, but Susie said that though it was built not that many years ago, it was based on the design of a Cotswold manor house.’ And then she gave a sudden wave because she saw Susie coming up the hill.
Susie had not seen Sally for three years because she had not been back to Ireland since Kate had joined her in Birmingham, but she was able to have a good look at her as she approached. The Sally she remembered had been little more than a child; she saw she was a child no longer, but a young lady. It was hard to believe that she was Kate’s sister, for they were so different.
Kate had always claimed that Sally was the beauty of the family, and while Susie had to own that she was pretty enough with her blonde curls, big blue eyes and a mouth like a perfect rosebud, she didn’t hold a candle to her sister. Kate didn’t see it in herself, but she wasn’t just pretty, she was beautiful. She also had a fabulous figure, while Sally was much plumper. Kate’s hair was dark brown, with copper highlights that caught the light, and her dark eyes were ringed by the longest lashes Susie had ever seen. She might have looked quite aloof, because she had high cheekbones and a long, almost classic nose, but her mouth was wide and generous and her smile was warm and genuine and lit up her eyes.
However, there was another quality to Kate, and that was her ability to see good in most people. She was a genuinely nice person, and it was her personality as well as the way she looked that drew people to her. The combination drew men as well, but Kate never took advantage of that – in fact quite the opposite, for she never encouraged them at all. At the dances she was lovely, polite and courteous, and danced with any man who asked her up, but it never went any further than that.
That had never bothered Susie much before, but three years had passed since Kate had come to live in Birmingham and Susie had met a man called Nick Kassel at the weekly dance. She thought he was one of the handsomest boys she had ever seen: his hair was jet black and so were his eyebrows, while his eyelashes ringed eyes of the darkest brown. He had a classic nose, beautiful, very kissable lips and an absolutely fabulous body, and it had seemed perfect when she realized that his mate, David Burton, was smitten with Kate.
However, Kate didn’t feel the same way about David. They met them every week at the dance and, though when Susie pressed Kate she admitted that she liked David, that was all she would agree to. So when Nick eventually asked Susie out, she had shaken her head regretfully; although she had longed to accept, she felt that after urging Kate to come to Birmingham, she could hardly just swan off and leave her, as she knew that Kate relied on her. Nick hadn’t really understood this and he had been quite grumpy when she’d tried to explain.
She had promised to redouble her efforts to try to get Kate and David together, but she knew that the time to talk about this was not on the tram on the way to town, especially with Sally there. So she pushed her concerns about David and Kate from her mind and there was a smile on her face as she greeted them both. ‘We don’t have to go into town to please Sally,’ Kate told her. ‘She is impressed enough by this place.’
‘You haven’t seen the cinema yet,’ Kate said. ‘The Plaza.’
‘The Plaza,’ Sally repeated, enthralled. ‘Even the name sounds exotic,’ she added, and was surprised when the two older girls laughed.
‘It’s all right for you two,’ Sally said hotly. ‘But I have never even seen inside a cinema. I can hardly believe that Kate is taking me in there to see a film tomorrow afternoon.’ And she spun around with the excitement of it all and hugged herself with delight.
Susie laughed. ‘Let’s go and have a dekko on the boards outside now and see what’s on.’
‘What about the tram chugging up the hill at this very moment?’ asked Kate.
‘What about it?’ Susie said. ‘There’ll be another one. Trams to town of a Saturday come every few minutes, you know that, and it won’t take us long to have a look outside the flicks.’
Kate gave in, and when they passed the chip shop, which was opposite the cinema, Sally said to Kate, ‘I can’t believe either that you have hot food like this on your doorstep – and such delicious food as well. Is that the chip shop you used last night, Kate?’
‘Yeah,’ said Kate. ‘There is one nearer down the Slade, but this one is better and gives bigger portions. And I was going to Susie’s anyway, so it seemed sensible.’
Sally nodded, but then they crossed the road and the cinema took all her attention. Just to stand so close to that wonderful emporium while they studied the boards outside gave her butterflies in her stomach.
‘The Lady Vanishes is on at the moment then,’ Kate said to Sally. ‘That all right for you?’
‘Are you kidding?’ Sally said with a squeal of excitement. ‘Going to the pictures is another thing I’ve never done in my life. I’d like to see anything.’
‘It’s just that it’s a Hitchcock thriller and that means it might be a bit frightening for you, that’s all.’
Sally shook her head. ‘No, I promise, I won’t be the least bit frightened.’
Kate smiled at the look of excitement on her sister’s face and she linked her arm and said, ‘Come on then, Sally. Birmingham, here we come.’
‘Yes,’ added Susie, taking hold of Sally’s other arm. ‘And if you think these shops are something special, girl, you ain’t seen nothing yet.’ And the three giggling girls hurried off to the tram stop. They had only to wait a few minutes before they spotted a tram at the bottom of the Streetly Road. As Sally watched it clatter up the hill, she said, ‘I saw trams when I came out of the train station last night, and I don’t mind admitting that I am really nervous of them.’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Kate said with a laugh. ‘I was the same at first. Do you remember my telling you so in one of the letters I wrote when I first came to Birmingham. I was terrified the trams were going to jump off the rails when they took a corner at speed or something, especially as Susie had told me that there had been some accidents in the early days.’
‘Yeah, there were,’ Susie said, as the tram drew to a clanking stop beside them. ‘They are safer now, though,’ she assured her as they boarded.
‘We’ll take your mind off the journey,’ Kate promised. ‘Let’s go upstairs and it will be easier to point things out along the way.’
As the tram rattled and swayed down Slade Road towards the city centre, Kate and Susie told Sally all about the canals of Birmingham that ran behind the houses. ‘A lot of them meet at a place called Salford Bridge,’ Susie said. ‘But you’ll see this for yourself when we cross over the bridge in a minute.’