by Anne Bennett
‘Right then,’ Susie said decisively. ‘Let’s see Birmingham’s answer to Houdini first.’
Sally hadn’t been sure who Houdini was, but she was soon enlightened when she saw the man standing with coils of chains all around him: he was urging the audience gathering around him to test their strength. Kate and Susie dropped coins in the hat that was lying on the floor watched over by an assistant, and Kate whispered to her sister, ‘He will do nothing until there is a pound in the hat.’
‘Then what does he do?’
‘Well, his assistant ties him up with chains, pulls a curtain around him and he frees himself.’
‘How?’
‘I don’t know,’ Kate admitted. ‘And you can test those chains. Anyone can. Me and Susie have done and neither of us can see how it can be a swizz. He does the same thing every week.’
However, the money in the bucket rose only slowly and it was cold to stand in one place for long, so after a while the girls wandered away. The stilt walkers were still parading around, bowing to people and proffering their raised hats, and Sally heard the chink of coins as people showed their appreciation of such skill.
When she got her first glimpse of the seafood being sold from a van, she thought that she had never seen anything so disgusting in her life. It didn’t seem to her like any food a person should eat and the jellied eels looked positively slimy. ‘Fancy some?’ Susie said, seeing the distaste on her face.
‘Not likely,’ Sally said. ‘I’d say that I would have to be well hungry before I ate anything like that – near starving, in fact.’
‘I feel exactly the same,’ Susie admitted as they wandered back to the man now being encircled by the chains. Sally watched with awe. The man was trussed up like a chicken and she didn’t see how he was ever going to escape. The curtain was pulled and the assistant began a drum roll. The curtain billowed out in places as the man struggled inside it.
People watched, some as anxiously as Sally, but she was also enthralled by the excitement of it all. And then the drum roll reached a crescendo, there was one last billow of the curtain, and then the man was standing before them, unharmed and unfettered, as he rolled up the curtain and tossed it to his assistant while he took a bow.
Sally clapped as energetically as anyone and was still talking about it as they walked away. Kate remembered Susie taking her around the Bull Ring one Saturday night not long after she’d arrived in Birmingham and how amazed she had been by everything, so she knew just how Sally was feeling. ‘Another treat in store for you,’ she said.
This time it was a man lying on a bed of nails. All he had on was a white sort of nappy and another white cloth on his head that Susie told her was called a turban. In the light from the spluttering gas flares, Sally saw his brown body gleaming, as if he had oiled it. ‘Wouldn’t you think that he’d be cold?’ she said in a quiet voice to Kate.
‘Probably doesn’t feel it,’ Kate said. ‘I mean, let’s face it, a man who can lie on a bed of nails as if it was a feather mattress is probably not concerned about little things like being a bit chilly.’
‘No, probably not,’ Sally agreed. ‘Is that all he does, just lie there?’
‘No. Watch.’
A fair crowd had collected around the Indian lying on the nails and amongst them a group of about six girls. Those were the ones the assistant targeted. Eventually, coerced by the man, and urged on equally strongly by her friends, one of them stepped forward. ‘Up you go, darling,’ the assistant said. ‘He promises not to look up your skirt. Ain’t that right, Abdul?’
‘That’s right,’ said Abdul, though he still had a great grin on his face.
The girl removed her shoes and then, holding the assistant’s hand for balance, stepped cautiously on to the man’s stomach. A sympathetic ‘Ooh’ ran through many of the women watching because the nails could clearly be seen pressing into the Indian’s skin, but he made no sign that he could feel it and even the expression on his face didn’t change. To Sally it was almost unbelievable, and she watched avidly until the girl had got off Abdul and he had risen to his feet to take a bow. Then she gave a great sigh of relief. ‘Gosh, I thought when he stood up he would be all over holes,’ she said to Susie and Kate as they began to walk away, ‘but he wasn’t.’
‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘We’ve seen him many times.’
‘But how does he do it?’
‘I haven’t a clue.’
‘Come on,’ Susie urged. ‘Stop worrying about him. It’s time for a bit of jollification now because the fiddlers and accordion players are setting up in the corner there, see?’
‘Oh yes,’ Sally said, following the direction of Susie’s pointing finger. As they approached them, Susie said, ‘They will play songs and tunes from your homeland first. It used to make Kate feel really homesick sometimes, didn’t it?’
‘It did. I’ll not deny that,’ Kate said. ‘But it was the people I missed rather than the place and now I think it’s nice to hear the tunes I grew up with.’
Sally agreed with that, and even more as the music began and it made her feet tap. ‘A lot of this is really music to dance to,’ she said.
‘I know,’ said Kate. ‘But if you tried that here you might end up being locked up. They’d probably think you’d gone doolally tap.’
‘Yes, they might,’ Sally said with a smile. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t do anything. I just wish I could.’
Seeing the two of them so engrossed in the music, Susie stole away to where she had seen the baked-potato man park up. She could smell the delicious aroma of the potatoes cooking as she approached, and a little later, Kate and Sally were delighted to be given one each, served in a poke of paper folded over into a triangle to protect their hands. ‘Aw, that was really nice of you. Thanks,’ Sally said, tucking into the potato with relish.
‘That’s all right,’ Susie said. ‘Like Kate said, as soon as the smell wafted down, I felt hungry.’
‘Well, we did only have teacakes earlier,’ Kate said. ‘They don’t fill you up over much.’
‘Yeah, and I thought you needed your strength built up for the singing,’ Susie said.
‘What singing’s that then?’
‘Songs from the music hall,’ Susie said. ‘That’s quite popular in Birmingham. You probably won’t know any of the songs, but they’re easy to pick up. It’s mainly funny stuff, you know?’
And Sally found that it was just as Susie said – she was able to pick up the choruses when she’d heard them a couple of times. They started with ‘Hello, Hello, Who’s Your Lady Friend?’, and then went on with ‘If You Were the Only Girl in the World’. ‘I’m Henery the Eighth I Am’ made Sally laugh, and so did ‘Oh Mister Porter’, and she loved ‘Tar-ar-ar Boom-de-aye’, and the fact that it was repeated eight times, which meant that she could belt it out with as much gusto as the rest. ‘Daisy Daisy’ got everyone swaying, and when they announced ‘Roll Out the Barrel’ was the last one, the noise was incredible.
It was as the strains of the music faded away that Sally heard the sound of more music in the air. ‘Yeah, that’s the Sally Army playing “Jerusalem”,’ Susie said.
‘Sally Army?’
‘Susie means Salvation Army,’ Kate said, seeing her sister’s confusion. Just then the band turned into the Bull Ring filling the air with the sound of their trumpets and trombones and the big bass drum at the front, keeping the beat of their marching feet. Those not playing a proper instrument were shaking or banging a tambourine and everyone was singing with all their might.
‘I’m ready to call it a day, if you are,’ Susie said to Kate and Sally as the Salvation Army launched into ‘The Old Rugged Cross’.
It was as they were threading their way between the stalls that Sally caught sight of a few women standing behind them. Most had shawls about their shoulders and they all had children with them. Kate followed her gaze. ‘They are the city’s poor,’ she said, putting her arm through her sister’s and leading her away. ‘The stalls will
be closing up soon, see, and they wait there for anything the butchers and greengrocers might be giving away. There used to be a fair army of them some nights. There are fewer now.’
‘Yeah,’ Susie said. ‘Dad said that’s because we’re going to have a war.’
Kate looked at Susie in amazement. In the light of the gas flares, she saw her face seemed very white as she said, ‘Don’t be daft, Susie. Chamberlain only came back from Munich a few weeks ago and said that it would be peace for our time.’
‘Yeah, I know,’ Susie said. ‘Dad reckons that’s a ploy to give us time to get ready and that.’
‘I think that’s a daft notion,’ Kate declared. ‘And even if it was, what’s that got to do with the poor?’
‘Well, Dad said that there’re more jobs about,’ Susie said. ‘Like the BSA going over to making guns. Military guns for the army and that.’
‘How does he know that?’ Kate asked. ‘The BSA is miles away.’
‘I know, but my Uncle Robbie lives that way and has just got a job there,’ Susie said. ‘He’s been out of work for three years and he told us that they are setting up new lines all over the factory. And then, the other day, some bloke was telling him that he heard tell that Longbridge and maybe other car factories were building shadow factories beside the real one to make jeeps and other army trucks and that.’
‘Still, don’t mean we’re going to war though, does it?’
‘Well, no,’ Susie had to admit. ‘But it does mean that we might be getting ready in case we do and that means there are more jobs about and so all them that were unemployed will have more chance of getting one.’
‘Yeah,’ Kate said with a grin. ‘As my Dad would say: every cloud has a silver lining.’ She was annoyed with Susie though. ‘Trust you to spoil a really nice night,’ she said sharply.
‘She hasn’t,’ Sally said. ‘Not really. I think Birmingham must be one of the most exciting cities in the world because I have never had such an interesting time in the whole of my life.’
Susie’s words about war bothered Kate more than she realized – she had lurid dreams all night and even the next day she was preoccupied. Sally was aware that Kate was thinking hard about something, but didn’t know what it was, and eventually, as the two of them walked the damp wet streets to Mass at St Mary’s and St John’s under the partial shelter of an umbrella, Sally said, ‘Penny for them.’
‘What?’ Kate said with a start. Then, seeing Sally’s eyes on her, said, ‘Oh, they’re not worth a penny, Sally, really, but I can’t get what Susie said out of my head.’
‘About preparing for war and that?’
Kate nodded her head. ‘And it’s stupid because no person in their right mind wants another war. I mean, you didn’t see them last night, but in the day those steps to the Market Hall are lined with old lags. Some wander around the market as well.’
‘What do you mean, old lags?’
‘Susie’s dad calls them flotsam from the Great War,’ Kate said. ‘Most of them are injured in some way and can’t get a proper job, so a fair few of them have trays around their necks selling bootlaces and razor blades and stuff like that. I have bought loads of stuff I haven’t needed because I feel sorry for them. It can be quite upsetting to see them too, because some of them have missing limbs, or are shell-shocked or even blind.’
‘Ooh, that’s horrible.’
‘It is, I couldn’t agree more,’ Kate said. ‘Susie’s dad gets really mad about it. He says they laid their life on the line for Britain and now the government should look after them better. But they don’t. They are like thrown on the scrapheap and surely no one wants to risk that sort of thing happening again.’
‘I’d say not,’ Sally said. ‘But Susie was just talking about getting ready, wasn’t she? Maybe it was sort of in case.’
‘Um,’ Kate said pensively. ‘I’d like to believe you are right. What’s more, I know that even if I talk and worry about this from now till doomsday I will not change the outcome one iota.’ She gave a sudden shiver and said, ‘Let’s hurry, this is a foul day. Good job this sleety rain wasn’t falling last night. Anyway, looks like it’s set in for the day so it’s a good job we have that film at the cinema to see.’
‘Ooh, yes,’ said Sally. And then she added, ‘Thanks ever such a lot for taking me out yesterday. I really did enjoy myself, but I was so overawed I don’t know if I ever said thank you.’
‘That’s all right,’ Kate said good-naturedly. ‘I always like going down the Bull Ring, and I know how much it was appreciated because your face was a picture.’
‘Yes,’ Sally said with a sigh. ‘Donegal will seem dreadfully dull after this.’
They walked in silence for a minute or two and then Sally said, ‘I understand the reason you came to Birmingham now I’ve seen it myself, though I couldn’t see the attraction at the time.’
‘I could take you to see more of it if the weather is kinder to us,’ Kate said.
‘Ooh, yes,’ Sally said, ‘I’d like that.’ And then she added: ‘Is Susie coming with us tomorrow?’
‘No,’ Kate said. ‘She would like to, especially as she hasn’t seen The Lady Vanishes yet either, but she has to go with her mother and sister to visit her father’s mother. She isn’t that keen on the old lady, but she has just come out of hospital and her mother has insisted that they all go and see her.’
‘Shame,’ Sally said. ‘I really like Susie. But I suppose we’ll meet her at Mass.’
Kate shook her head. ‘I’m afraid not,’ she said. ‘The Masons all go to St Margaret Mary’s on Perry Common Road – it’s much nearer to them.’
‘Gosh, there seem to be plenty of churches,’ Sally remarked.
‘Well, there are plenty of people.’ Kate smiled.
Sally gave a sudden shiver and Kate said, ‘Not much further now.’
‘I’m not really shivering because I’m cold,’ Sally said. ‘It’s just … Oh, what I’d do to be able to put the clock back.’
Kate knew exactly what her sister meant. ‘There’s not many of us that haven’t wished that a time or two,’ she said.
‘Oh, I know,’ Sally said disconsolately. Kate didn’t blame her: she knew she wouldn’t be in her sister’s shoes for all the tea in China. It was no good saying that, though. She gave her sister’s arm a squeeze as she said, ‘If I were you I would pray as you have never prayed before – and maybe light a candle for good measure, too, and I will do the same.’
The only thing that spoiled that magical afternoon was the weather: a buffeting wind that attempted to wrest the hats from both their heads and had their coats billowing out around them, and a lashing rain attacking them, despite the umbrella, as they scurried arm in arm up the road.
Sally was astounded by the queues forming all down the side of the cinema when they arrived, and by the sight of the commissionaire standing on the steps. He was the smartest one she had ever seen, even counting the ones she had seen in Birmingham the previous day. His dark blue coat reached his knees and was piped in gold and so were the epaulettes on his shoulders. It was fastened with shiny brass buttons and the belt had a brass buckle; he had a row of medals pinned to his chest, which Kate whispered were from his time spent fighting in the Great War. He also had a shiny peaked military-style cap on his head with an emblem on it, smart black trousers with a razor-like crease and highly polished black shoes.
‘Golly, isn’t he smart?’ Sally said quietly to Kate as they joined the queue.
Kate nodded. ‘He’s all right, though. I mean, he’s always been nice enough to me, and at least if he’s there you know that no one will try pushing in. That would be really annoying if you had queued for hours.’
‘Oh, I’d say it would,’ Sally said. ‘And I hope we haven’t got to wait too long here, ’cos it’s freezing.’
‘I hope not either,’ Kate said. ‘But I know from experience he won’t let anyone in before he gets the signal from inside that they are ready for us.’
I
t wasn’t very long before the doors opened and the crowds began shuffling forward. And when they pushed their way through the doors, Sally felt as if she had been transported to another world, for the foyer was bathed in diamond-bright light from the sparkling chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Kate was shaking her umbrella outside under the cover of the canopy to get the excess rain off, so Sally could stand and stare for a few minutes. She was almost embarrassed to walk with her wet, slightly muddy shoes, on that gleaming floor with patterns set into it, and so she waited for Kate and then followed her to the glass building that Kate said was the box office where they had to buy the tickets.
Either side of the box office were wide stairs; these were carpeted and even the brass stair rods shimmered in the light. Sally mounted the stairs behind her sister and felt her feet sink into the carpet. The walls were decorated with elaborate patterns and it all seemed very grand; she could scarcely believe that soon she would be watching moving pictures.
Then Kate opened the double doors. Sally stepped into the auditorium and it fair took her breath away. It was so vast, with walls decorated to either side and filled with dark red velvet-type seats. A man was playing an instrument like a piano in front of a thick velvet curtain, all ruched up in folds. A very smart lady in a blue uniform with silver embroidery on the front and shoulders of the jacket, which also had silver buttons and a silver torch fastened to her belt, took the tickets Kate had just bought, ripped them in half and directed them to their seats.
It was when she turned slightly to go into the row that Sally noticed the gallery above them also filling up with people behind an elegant and ornate balustrade; she was so astonished her mouth actually dropped open. ‘That’s the circle, where the better-off people go,’ Kate said quietly.
‘I don’t care,’ Sally said. ‘I prefer to be down here. I think I would be feared to be up there.’
‘Well, we’d better take our seats wherever they are,’ Kate said. ‘We’re causing a blockage here.’
Sally obediently shuffled down the row and thought the seats very high and uncomfortable until Kate showed her that they folded down. ‘They’re flip-up seats,’ she said. ‘Then if people want to get past you for some reason you can stand up and the seats flip up behind you and there’s more room for them to get through, see.’