by June Francis
A red-faced Peggy straightened up slowly. ‘Well, I don’t want to talk to you, Greg Riley, if you’re going to take that tone,’ she said tartly, slipping her arm through Jeanette’s. ‘Let’s get out of here, Jeanette!’
‘What about our chips?’ she said, forgetting that she too had thought of leaving in a hurry earlier.
Peggy pulled on her arm. ‘We can live without chips.’
‘But I’m hungry,’ protested Jeanette. ‘Besides, we’ve been in this queue for ages and it seems daft to leave after waiting all this time.’
Greg seized hold of Peggy’s sleeve. ‘You have some explaining to do, girl, and yer not getting away from me that easy. What did you tell your Marty about me? I didn’t get a chance to get a word in edgeways with him!’
‘Ouch, you’re hurting me,’ said Peggy, flushing and attempting to tug her sleeve out of his grasp.
‘You leave her alone,’ said Jeanette, wondering if his black eye and bruises had been inflicted by Peggy’s brother. The next moment, not only was Peggy catapulted against Greg, but because she and Jeanette were linking arms, Jeanette was dragged along with her. ‘Let her go! You’ve no right to treat her so roughly.’
Greg squinted at Jeanette. ‘This is none of your business, doll, so keep out of it or you’ll be sorry,’ he snapped.
Jeanette did not live in a household of three members of Liverpool’s police force for nothing. ‘Are you threatening me?’ she said icily. ‘Because if you are I tell you now my dad and brother are policemen, and my sister is on the force, too.’
His face hardened. ‘So what? I can’t see any sign of them here, so shut your mouth!’
‘Don’t you speak to me like that,’ said Jeanette, glaring at him.
‘I’ll speak to you anyway I like,’ said Greg. ‘You’re not from around here, are you, doll?’
‘So what if I’m not,’ said Jeanette, tilting her chin. ‘You can’t go round bullying me just because of that!’
Greg’s lips tightened and then he called over his shoulder, ‘Hey, Billy, grab hold of this one who doesn’t know when to keep her bloody trap shut. I don’t want her interfering with what’s between me and Peggy.’
Jeanette felt her shoulder seized in a vice-like grip and gasped in pain. ‘Let me go!’ she said through gritted teeth, her green eyes flashing as she stared up at the other youth.
‘Yous heard her, Billy,’ said one of the women in the queue. ‘Leave the girl alone! You Teddy Boys are nothing but trouble. You’ll end up in hell if you don’t change your ways.’
‘Mind yer own business, yer old cow,’ said Billy, swivelling his head briefly before giving his attention to Jeanette again.
She would have been a liar if she had said that she was not scared at that point. He was a big fella with shoulders as wide as a giant coat hanger beneath his drape jacket with velvet lapels. She felt not only powerless to prevent Peggy from being dragged outside by Greg, but unable to defend herself against this monster.
Then to her surprise came a voice from a different quarter. ‘Let her go!’
She had temporarily forgotten about the young man in the sou’wester, and obviously Billy and Greg had not given him a single thought. Billy looked round to see who had spoken and Jeanette made the best of the opportunity presented to her to grind her high heel into his ankle. He swore and tightened his grip on her shoulder, causing her to scream.
‘Didn’t you hear me, you bloody bully?’ said the young man, squaring up to him.
Jeanette could only stare at him in admiration, for he was not a big fella. In fact she could not help comparing him to the biblical David who had confronted the giant Goliath.
A smirk crossed Billy’s face. ‘Wait yer turn, mate! I’ll deal with you after I’ve finished with her.’
Jeanette’s gaze flew from Billy’s face to that of the young man and she saw his eyes turn the colour of flint. Oh dear! He must think he can beat this gorilla! Her thudding heart began to beat even faster.
‘If you know what’s good for you, boyo, then you’ll stop behaving like a louse and let the young lady go,’ her David said softly.
Jeanette was not prepared for what happened next. Billy shoved her to one side and from his pocket he dragged a bicycle chain. She gasped in horror as he swung it and instinctively ducked as it whizzed through the air. She had no idea where it landed. Two women screamed and one threatened to send for the police. Then the two males grappled with each other. Jeanette could hear the breath whistling in their chests and the scrabbling of their feet on the floor. She had not expected them to fight over her and was at a loss how to stop them.
Then the other youth who had been in company with Greg and Billy launched himself onto her rescuer’s back. She attempted to claw him off. He lost his balance and toppled backwards, knocking her off her feet, so that she landed on the floor with him on top of her. She could hardly breathe. As she struggled to push him away, she noticed the bicycle chain on the floor within arm’s reach. But before she could seize hold of it, the youth on top of her grabbed it and threw it, shouting, ‘Here, Billy!’
Billy managed to catch the chain, but it whipped around in his hand and caught her rescuer on the side of his face. He let out an agonized yell as it tore into his flesh.
‘Oh my God!’ gasped Jeanette, and pushed with all her might to rid herself of the youth who still had her pinned to the ground. He toppled sideways and she got to her feet. She hurried over to her rescuer, terribly aware of the blood seeping from his torn skin. She caught a whiff of oil as, with hands that shook, she removed the chain from about his head.
He was ashen beneath his tan and stumbled backwards against the counter, stretching out his arms and resting them on the ledge beneath the metal top. Blood dripped from his chin onto his yellow oilskins and he was gasping in pain. She was aware of the rain beating against the window and of her own rapid breathing. Then she felt a waft of cold, damp air on her neck as the door opened and someone entered the shop.
A deep male voice asked, ‘What’s going on here?’
The tension broke and the woman behind the counter, who was twisting her hands nervously, said, ‘Father Callaghan, you’ve got to help us. I don’t want to be losing me job by getting this place a bad name. I was just about to call the police, but if you can sort it out I’d really appreciate it.’
‘Calm down, Mary,’ ordered the priest, his eyes scanning the faces of those present and coming to rest on the bleeding face of the man resting against the counter. ‘What happened here?’
‘None of your business, Father,’ sneered Billy. ‘Why don’t you just turn round and go out again?’
‘And why can’t you stay out of trouble, you young fool!’ Father Callaghan shot out a hand and thrust it in Billy’s face, sending him sprawling against his mate. ‘If you must fight, come to the church hall. You can do a few rounds in the ring.’ He turned to the young man in the sou’wester. ‘What happened to your face?’
‘Thanks for your concern, Padre, but I’m not of your flock,’ gasped the young man.
‘Anyone in trouble is my concern, lad! That looks nasty and I think the police should be informed. Mary!’ he bellowed. ‘Get on the phone!’
She scurried off to do what the priest said.
Immediately Jeanette wanted out of there. If this got back to her father and great-aunt there would be hell to pay, but she had to say her piece. ‘He didn’t make the first move,’ she said hastily. ‘It was those two,’ she nodded in Billy and his mate’s direction. ‘This man here only got involved because he came to my aid. You ask anyone here.’
‘It happened so fast, I couldn’t see properly what was going on,’ said one man.
‘Yous’ll need to speak to Gregory Riley, Father,’ said an elderly woman, dragging her black shawl tightly around her humped shoulders. ‘You knows him, and it was Billy who dragged the bicycle chain from his pocket. He needs a few rounds with yer champion in the boxing ring at the boys’ club. Do him more good
than being sent to any ol’ Borstal.’
‘Thanks for your advice, Josie,’ said the priest, grabbing hold of the youth as he attempted to sneak out of the door. ‘But it’s too late for that now.’
‘I must go,’ rasped the young man, straightening up from the counter, ‘I’ve a boat to catch.’
‘I have to go, too,’ said Jeanette hastily.
Father Callaghan blocked their way. ‘Not so fast, the two of you!’
‘Padre,’ said the young man wearily, ‘I really do need to be somewhere else. I can’t afford to miss the boat.’
‘And I have to get home,’ said Jeanette. ‘I’ll be skinned alive if I’m late.’
Father Callaghan hesitated. ‘You don’t want to press charges for what happened to you, son? That’s going to leave a scar.’ He reached out and touched the young man’s face. He winced and shook off the priest’s hand.
‘I’ll see a doctor, don’t you worry. Thanks for the concern. Now, please, let me past.’
Father Callaghan hesitated and then moved aside. ‘Go! But if you’re ever in Liverpool again and need help, you only have to ask here and they’ll tell you where to find me.’
The young man gave a twisted smile and brushed past him.
Jeanette hurried after him. ‘You really will get that wound seen to, won’t you?’ she asked.
He gazed down at her as they stood in the rain. ‘I’m a big boy now, luv. I can look after myself.’
‘I’m not saying you can’t,’ she said hastily. ‘But men think they’re invincible. Thanks for coming to my rescue. I’m Jeanette Walker, by the way.’
To her surprise, he lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers. The moment seemed frozen in time, until after several seconds he lifted his mouth. ‘Bye, Jeanette Walker. Maybe I’ll see you again some day.’ He touched her damp cheek with a finger and was gone.
Jeanette watched him cross the road. A bus pulled up on the other side and he vanished from sight. Where did he have to be that he could not delay long enough to have that wound attended to? And what was he thinking of, kissing her?
She felt a hand on her shoulder. ‘Come inside, Miss,’ said Father Callaghan. ‘He’s made it obvious that he doesn’t want any interference from either of us and I want to speak to you.’
Jeanette said, ‘He didn’t even tell me his name.’ She sighed and pushed a strand of sodden hair inside her scarf. ‘I’d best be going.’
‘Hang on a little longer. You could be needed as a witness if you want justice to be done here,’ said Father Callaghan, guiding her through the doorway. ‘The police have been called and should be here soon.’
She pulled away from him. ‘I have to go. My great-aunt will go mad if this gets back to her. She’ll blame me for what happened. There’s enough witnesses here to testify that Billy is guilty of GBH. If it’s his first offence he’ll probably get off with a warning and a fine. Whichever, I’d rather not have to go to court.’
‘That lad needs a taste of the birch,’ said one of the women behind the counter who had been listening to their conversation. ‘It’s all this rock’n’roll, it does their heads in. Jungle music, my fella calls it. I’ll testify against him. Now what about your chips, girl?’ she asked, changing the subject.
Jeanette rested her arms on the counter. ‘Make it fast and be sure and put plenty of salt and vinegar on them if you don’t mind, please. I’m starving.’
The woman glanced at the priest and he gave a ghost of a smile. She shovelled the chips onto paper and then sprinkled them liberally with salt and vinegar before wrapping them in newspaper. Jeanette handed over the fare she’d been saving for tomorrow and stared at Father Callaghan. ‘You’re not going to try and persuade me to stay, are you, Padre? You can’t want me to get in to trouble with my family – and I’m a free citizen of this country.’
‘Go on, off with you!’ he said abruptly, jerking a thumb in the direction of the door.
She smiled at him. ‘Goodnight!’
To her relief the rain had eased and she wasted no time making a hole in the steaming newspaper-wrapped parcel and digging out several chips. She ate as she strode to the bus stop, wondering where Peggy and Greg had gone. She hoped her friend was all right, but it looked as if she was going to have to wait until Monday to find out.
Her thoughts turned to the young man wearing the sou’wester. He had a bit of a cheek kissing her without a by-your-leave. Why had he done it? The kiss had made her feel weak at the knees. It would have been better if she had found the touch of his lips on hers distasteful instead of being set all atremble. She would probably never see him again.
She finished the chips and spotted a bus approaching, so she scrunched up the newspaper and stuck it in the bin attached to the bus stop. There was still no sign of a policeman responding to the call from the chippy, and for that she was glad. All she had to do now was gather her wits and courage and stand up to the old cow when she arrived home. Fingers crossed, Hester would be there to provide her with some support.
Two
As Jeanette jogged up her street, she spotted the squat figure of her great-aunt silhouetted in the light of the street lamp outside her father’s house. For Ethel to have left the warmth of the fireside on that rain-soaked evening meant that her mood was probably meaner than usual, and Jeanette slowed down, needing to get her breath back before facing the old woman. As a kid, Jeanette had prayed and prayed that she would inherit the genes that made her half-brother, Sam, as tall as their six-footer father, and her half-sister, Hester, a good five foot seven inches, but fate had decreed that she inherit her mother’s genes.
Jeanette was glad she was no longer a kid because the odds were that Ethel would not clout her across the head. A couple of years ago she would have done, depending on whether the old woman had given any thought to whether the neighbours, hearing the tap-tap of Jeanette’s heels on the pavement, were peering through the bedroom curtains.
‘Hello, Aunt Ethel,’ she said, resisting the temptation to say, What big teeth you have!
Ethel made a noise in her throat and waited until her great-niece had walked up the step before poking her in the back with two sharp fingers that had enough force behind them to send Jeanette stumbling forwards so that she almost cracked her head on the front door.
‘What time is this to be coming in?’ hissed the old woman, reaching over Jeanette and pushing the door wider. She thrust a hand in the girl’s back and sent her flying up the lobby.
Jeanette managed to grab a coat hanging on the wall, preventing herself from sprawling on the bottom stair. ‘I told you and Dad that I was going to the flicks straight from work,’ she cried.
‘I don’t believe you’ve only been to the cinema,’ said Ethel, her thin lips twisting. ‘Tell me the truth about where you’ve been.’
Jeanette forced herself upright, determined not to show her apprehension. ‘I was hungry so I went with my workmate to the chippy afterwards. I’m sorry I’m late,’ she apologized, although doing so almost choked her.
Ethel prodded her hard in the chest. ‘You’re not sorry at all, but you will be by the time I’ve finished with you. You’ve been with a lad, haven’t you?’
Jeanette bit back an Ouch and wished her father was here to see how his precious elderly relative behaved when he was not on the scene. ‘I have not!’ she gasped, wishing she had the guts to poke her back.
‘Don’t lie!’ Ethel thrust her face into Jeanette’s and sniffed. ‘You’ve been drinking! You’re this late because the pubs have only just let out.’
‘No, I haven’t! Where would I get the money from? You take nearly all of it.’
Ethel gave her great-niece another poke in the chest. ‘Don’t give me cheek!’ Jeanette rubbed her chest. ‘You’re weak and you’re wicked, just like your mother. She was no bloody good for my nephew. A right flibbertigibbet! A spendthrift! Lazy! If she ran a duster over the furniture once a week that was as much as she did to keep the house tidy. It was a bless
ing when she disappeared – no doubt with a fella. She showed little love for you and the rest of this household, leaving the way she did.’
Jeanette exploded. ‘Shut up about my mother! If she left the way you go on about, then she would have left a note. Why can’t you accept that, despite her body never being found, she was killed in the blitz? She was most likely blown to pieces.’ Her voice broke on a sob and she thrust a hand against Ethel’s bosom. ‘I don’t want you speaking in that nasty way about my mother ever again! You wouldn’t dare do it if Dad was here. He loved her despite all your accusations.’
Ethel’s face turned puce and she grabbed Jeanette’s arm. ‘You keep George out of this! He married her for convenience! I won’t believe he ever told you that he loved her.’
‘He did!’ lied Jeanette.
‘Then he was kidding you, just to make you feel better about her. It’s upstairs for you, my girl, and you won’t get out of that bedroom for a week!’
Jeanette ignored the threat. There was no way the rest of the family would allow her great-aunt to lock her in her bedroom for that long. ‘Let me go!’ She tried to prise the old woman’s fingers from her arm. ‘I need a drink of water and to go to the lavatory.’
Ethel ignored her words and, despite all Jeanette’s attempts to free herself, she could not loosen the old woman’s grip and was forced up the stairs. Another shove in the back meant she almost fell into her bedroom. The door slammed behind her and a key turned in the lock.
‘You’ll have to let me out in the morning!’ shouted Jeanette, thumping the bedroom door. ‘I’ve work to go to.’
‘Don’t think you can fool me, girl,’ called Ethel through the wood. ‘It’s your Saturday morning off and you’ll spend it scrubbing floors.’
Jeanette dropped onto the bed, punched the pillow and swore. It was only possible for a woman like her great-aunt to be tolerated by her father because she was bloody crafty. George Walker had never lifted a finger in anger to any of his children and hated violence, so Ethel behaved herself when he was around and was saccharine sweet towards them. Not that it prevented her from saying things about their behaviour, but she said it in a way that made it sound like it was because she worried and cared about them. Sam had said on more than one occasion that he did not understand how his father could not see through her. Jeanette had even heard Sam wonder aloud how their father had managed to last so long in the police force with the belief that there was good in everyone.