The Clippie Girls

by Margaret Dickinson

  Bob shrugged as if he couldn’t care one way or the other. ‘Yeah, come whenever you want.’ And then, as if he suddenly realized how ungrateful he sounded, he added, ‘You’re a good sort, Rose.’

  She left the house with a half-smile on her lips. It wasn’t quite the compliment she had hoped to get from Bob, but it would do for now. If Peggy didn’t want Bob, then Rose most certainly did and she was determined to seize her chance. As she walked home, Rose was deep in thought. Another of her older sister’s cast-offs she thought wryly, yet she didn’t care. Where Bob was concerned she had no false pride. She’d do anything to make him happy. It might take a long time, but Rose vowed to make Bob Deeton forget all about her sister.

  The atmosphere in the household of women did not improve. Rose and Peggy only spoke to each other when they had to, and Myrtle continued to watch the proceedings with nothing short of glee, while Mary looked on helplessly, feeling as if her little family was disintegrating around her and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Only Grace continued as usual, rising above what she considered petty family squabbles.

  Through the early months of 1941, Grace still followed the war news avidly. In the middle of February, she read that an advance guard of the German Afrika Korps, commanded by Rommel, had arrived in Tripoli. A month later, during more night raids on London and the south-east, it was said that a deliberate attempt had been made to destroy Buckingham Palace, but although incendiaries were dropped the palace escaped a direct hit. She did not relay this to her family, for only a week earlier landmines had been dropped on part of their own city, when eight people had been killed and several injured. Did this herald another concentrated spring offensive on British cities? Grace wondered, but she kept her worries to herself. In March, too, the official call came for women to do war work. ‘Reckon our family’s doing its share,’ Grace muttered as every day she was left on her own to cope with the privations of war whilst three of her family worked on the city’s transport system, which was valiantly trying to get back to something like normality. Grace went to the shops almost every day, joining the endless queues in an effort to feed her family. Every day she collected wartime recipes from the newspapers and magazines. I might not be doing what they class as war work, she thought, but I reckon I’m doing my bit too. What was that song they used to sing in the Great War? ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ – that was it. Well, Grace told herself, that was exactly what she was doing.

  Try as she might – and she did try very hard – Rose was unable to persuade Bob to change his mind about enlisting. This did not improve her temper or her resentment towards Peggy. And then a knock came at the door one cool wet afternoon at the end of April, which threw the family into even greater turmoil and forced even Grace and the gentle Mary to decide whose side to take. Only Myrtle remained neutral – watching rather than participating.

  ‘You!’ Rose said with undisguised belligerence. ‘What d’you want?’

  ‘That’s not a very nice welcome for a soldier home from the wars, now is it?’ Terry Price grinned cheekily at her, the laughter lines around his eyes crinkling.

  ‘I doubt you’ve been anywhere near the war,’ Rose snapped, ‘or you wouldn’t be able to keep turning up like a bad penny. You’re not welcome in this house.’

  Terry raised his eyebrows. ‘And is that what the head of the house says?’

  Rose stepped towards him, pulling the door to behind her. ‘Look, we don’t want you here. None of us. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is.’

  Now the saucy grin slid from Terry’s face. He frowned. ‘Trouble? What sort of trouble?’

  Forgetting, in her anger, to guard her tongue, Rose blurted out the truth and so gave her unwanted visitor just the ammunition he needed. ‘Peggy’s thrown Bob over, that’s the trouble you’ve caused.’

  Terry raised his eyebrows. As he murmured, ‘Has she now?’ and began to smile, Rose realized her mistake.

  ‘Now why do you think she’d do a thing like that?’ he said slowly.

  ‘Just go away, you’re not wanted here. We used to be a happy, united family before you poked your nose in where it wasn’t wanted. Now we’re all at loggerheads.’

  Terry shrugged. ‘Sorry, I’m sure.’ There was a note of amused sarcasm in his tone, but suddenly he was deadly serious. ‘Look, Rose, if Peggy tells me to go and means it, then I will. I’ve no wish to upset her or her family, but I need to hear it for myself. From her. OK?’

  Rose was beaten and she knew it. There was no way that Peggy was going to tell him any such thing and so Rose had to content herself with one of her frosty glares. ‘Whatever she says,’ she hissed, ‘you’ll never get a welcome in this house from the rest of us. You can be sure of that.’

  ‘ ’Tisn’t the rest of you I’ve fallen in love with.’

  Rose snorted. ‘Huh! Love! D’you really expect me to believe that, coming from someone like you?’

  For a moment, the young man looked startled as if his own words had surprised even him. Then he shrugged his broad shoulders again and said, ‘I don’t really care if you do or not. There’s only one person who needs to believe me. Where is she?’

  With a tut of exasperation, Rose pushed open the door once more. ‘Wait there. I’ll get her.’

  ‘Aw, Rose, it’s cold out here.’

  ‘Tough,’ Rose snapped and slammed the door in his face. ‘Peggy,’ she yelled, ‘get down here.’

  Peggy appeared at the top of the stairs. ‘What’s the matter?’ She was surprised and worried too. It was the first time Rose had spoken to her in weeks.

  ‘He’s here.’ Rose jerked her thumb over her shoulder. ‘You’d better get rid of him.’

  Peggy clung to the banister. ‘Who? Bob? I can’t see him, Rose.’

  ‘No, stupid. Him. Your lover-boy soldier.’

  Rose – even though she tried hard not to – couldn’t fail to see the joy that flooded Peggy’s face as she hurried down the stairs. ‘Terry! Is it really him?’ She flew to the front door, dragged it open and fell into his arms.

  ‘Well, that’s more like it. That’s what I call a proper welcome. Aw, don’t cry, darlin’. I’m here now.’

  Rose couldn’t walk away, couldn’t stop herself watching as Terry fished a white handkerchief from his pocket and gently mopped Peggy’s tears. Now she forced herself to turn away, a lump in her throat. If only . . .

  She went into the living room, closing the door quietly behind her. Grace looked up from her newspaper. ‘They’re making inroads into Greece now. Do we know where Walter Bradshaw – the one that’s in the army – is?’

  ‘He’s here.’

  ‘Who? Walter Bradshaw?’

  ‘Eh?’

  Grace sighed. ‘You’re not listening to a word I said. Anyway, what’s going on out there? I heard shouting.’

  ‘Terry Price.’

  Grace’s eyebrows rose. ‘And?’

  Rose sat down heavily and rested her arms on the table. ‘He – he says he loves her.’

  ‘Does he now?’ Grace sniffed. ‘Ah well, we’ll see, won’t we?’ And she went back to reading her paper, leaving Rose straining her ears to hear what was being said in the hallway.

  But there was very little talking going on. Terry was holding Peggy close and kissing her. ‘I’ve missed you so much, my love.’

  Peggy clung to him, returning his ardent kisses in equal measure and whispering when they drew apart. ‘I’ve been so lonely. It’s been awful here.’

  ‘Because of me?’

  ‘Sort of.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t want to cause trouble in your family. I like them – specially your gran.’

  Peggy giggled. ‘Gran?’

  ‘She’s a wonderful old lady. Me and her, I reckon we could get on a treat – ’ he pulled a wry expression – ‘it’s your sister who doesn’t like me, isn’t it?’

  Reluctantly, Peggy nodded. ‘It’s because of Bob. I – I’ve told him, you see, and Rose thinks I sho
uld stick with him. I think she rather – likes him herself.’

  ‘Then you’d think she’d be glad you’ve finished with him. You have, haven’t you?’

  Again, Peggy nodded.

  ‘Then she can have him.’

  ‘I don’t think he’s ready to start another—’ She stopped not sure how to refer to her relationship with Bob. ‘He was very upset when I told him. He – he was about to propose to me, but I got it in first.’

  ‘I see.’ There was a slight pause before Terry asked, ‘What exactly did you say to him?’

  She buried her face against his uniform and her voice was muffled. ‘I told him I knew now that I wasn’t in love with him. That I was fond of him – always would be – we’ve been good friends, but that I didn’t love him in the way two people who plan to marry should do.’

  Terry put his fingers under her chin and raised her face so that he could look into her eyes. Softly he said, ‘I know we haven’t known each other long, but is that the way you feel about me? I hope it is, Peggy Sylvester, because I know that I love you with all my heart and I want us to be married as soon as we can.’

  ‘Yes, oh yes, I do love you, Terry. I know I do.’

  They kissed again and he hugged her close. ‘Get your coat. We’ll go back to my place. My mam and dad are out tonight – down at the pub – and Amy, my sister, is next door with her friend. We’ll have the place to ourselves.’

  Peggy reached for her coat from the pegs and they crept out of the front door, closing it quietly behind them. They hurried up the road, clinging to each other and giggling like naughty school children playing truant.

  Twenty-Six

  ‘Who’s the lass your Terry brought home last night, then?’

  Mabel Thomas stood in the back doorway of Edith’s scullery, her arms folded across her ample bosom. Edith, her arms elbow-deep in soapsuds from scrubbing the collars and cuffs of her husband’s shirt, turned wide eyes on her neighbour.

  ‘Eh? What are you on about, Mabel?’

  ‘Last night when you and Harry was at the pub, your Terry brought a lass home. They was here until just before you came back. Sylvia saw ’em sneaking out like thieves in the night.’

  Edith turned her face away, slammed the scrubbing brush down onto the innocent shirt collar and began to scrub with a vehemence she hadn’t known was in her nature. I’ll swing for that lad yet, she thought. She’d put off telling Mabel that Terry had a new girlfriend, but it seemed she’d been forced into a corner. Now Mabel – and her daughter – would have to know. And yet she was irritated by what Mabel was saying. Terry had a perfect right to bring his friends back to his home. She wasn’t going to stop him doing that, not when he was in the army and could be going abroad at any minute into real danger. Oh no, she wasn’t going to fall out with her own son, not when he was fighting a war. Not even if it meant war with her neighbours.

  She sighed and dropped the brush into the soapy water with a plop. ‘Sit down, Mabel, I’ll make us some tea. Go through. I won’t be a minute.’

  When they were both sitting at the kitchen table, Mabel asked, ‘So, what’s going on, Edie?’

  There was no use putting off the moment and straight talking was the best way to deal with Mabel. ‘He’s got a girlfriend.’

  ‘I thought our Sylvia was his girlfriend.’

  ‘Not in Terry’s eyes, Mabel. He’s fond of her, course he is. They’ve grown up together. Mebbe that’s the trouble. He sees her more like another sister.’

  ‘That’s not how our Sylvia sees it, I’ll tell you that, Edie. She’s going to be heartbroken and your Amy’s reckoning on being their bridesmaid when the time comes.’

  Edith regarded her friend steadily. ‘Has Terry ever given Sylvia cause to think that he wanted to marry her? Has he actually asked her?’

  Mabel blinked. ‘Not in so many words, no. But there’s been an understanding, hasn’t there? I mean, they’ve been out together, to the pictures an’ that. And he’s always round our place, isn’t he? Well . . .’ she paused and was obliged to admit, ‘he used to be, anyway.’

  The two women were silent. Edith didn’t know what more to say. She didn’t want to fall out with Mabel. They’d been neighbours and friends for more years than she cared to count, but it looked as if their friendship might be over now. And Harry would miss his trips to the local with Mabel’s husband, Percy.

  ‘Who is this new girlfriend, then?’

  ‘It was the first night of the blitz – the day the city centre got bombed so badly. She’s a clippie and our Terry was travelling on her tram when it was hit. He helped her get all the passengers off and looked after her – and that . . .’ Edith’s voice faded away.

  ‘Oh aye – “and that” all right.’ There was another silence between them before Mabel said reproachfully, ‘You could have told me, Edie.’

  ‘I – oh, Mabel, I wanted to, but to be honest I was hoping it’d blow over, but now, well, it doesn’t look as if it’s going to.’

  ‘What’s your Amy say about it?’

  ‘She doesn’t know.’

  ‘I think she does. She was at our house last night when they were watching out of Sylvia’s bedroom window.’

  Edith bit her lip to stop herself saying that the two girls had no right to be spying on Terry, but she let it pass. She’d have to deal with Amy later and she knew her daughter was going to be every bit as upset as Mabel.

  ‘Well, my opinion of Terry has taken a dive, I don’t mind telling you. Jilting our lass like this and without even having the decency to come and tell her himself.’

  Edith’s head shot up. ‘He didn’t see them as boy and girlfriend, Mabel. And I’m sorry if Sylvia did.’

  ‘Oh aye, she did right enough. And what Percy is going to say, I don’t know. He’ll likely kick up a rumpus.’

  Edith sighed. She didn’t want any physical fighting. Terry – fit from his army square-bashing – wouldn’t be afraid of taking on anyone. And her Harry – well built and strong – was still handy with his fists.

  ‘Don’t let it come to that, Mabel. Please.’

  Mabel shrugged. ‘Couldn’t stop ’em even if I wanted to and I can’t say that I do. Percy’d only be sticking up for his daughter’s honour. That pair were up to no good in here last night, Edith. I wouldn’t have such goings on in my house.’ She slurped her tea, crashed the cup back into its saucer and heaved herself up. ‘I’ll leave you to think on, Edith, but if I was you, I’d have a word with that son of yours. Let him know just what he’s done. Broken the heart of a good little lass, that’s what he’s done. And,’ she added, wagging her finger in Edith’s face, ‘he wants to watch himself an’ all. Them clippies have got a bad name for themselves. It’ll not be the first time she’s been with a feller – if you get my meaning – you mark my words.’

  Edith watched her friend go. She did not see her to the back door or even move from her chair. The two old friends were used to popping in and out of each other’s houses without invitation or ceremony. But for how much longer would that tradition continue now? Edith wondered as she remained seated at the table, cradling the now cooling cup of tea in her hands.

  When Peggy went to work the next morning she sought out Laurence Bower.

  ‘Bob’s been signed off. He’s coming back to work today, I think. Could you arrange it so that we’re on different details? We – we’ve had a fall out and it’d be difficult working together. I know it’s asking a lot, but – if you could.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that, lass,’ Laurence said. ‘But, as it’s none of my business, I’ll see what I can do.’

  ‘I made a mistake, Mr Bower,’ Peggy confided. ‘I didn’t realize he was taking our friendship far more seriously than I was.’

  ‘I have to admit we all thought of you as a couple. That’s partly why I always put you together when I could. Sorry, lass. Obviously, I haven’t helped matters.’

  ‘It’s not your fault, Mr Bower,’ she hastened to reassure him. ‘I enjoyed w
orking with him. We’ve been good friends and, yes, I suppose everyone thought the same as you, even,’ she ended bitterly, ‘Bob.’

  ‘You’ve met someone else, I take it?’

  Peggy bit her lip but nodded. ‘A soldier – the one who helped me so much on the day our tram got caught in the bombing.’

  Laurence wrinkled his forehead. ‘Oh aye, I remember.’ He paused and then asked, ‘What does your family think about it?’

  Peggy shrugged. ‘Rose is fuming – she’s not speaking to me – and I’m not sure about Mam and Gran.’

  ‘Ah well, lass, these things happen. It’ll all be the same in a hundred years’ time as my old mam used to say.’

  Peggy managed a thin smile at the quaint saying that she hadn’t heard before, but somehow it gave her comfort. Whatever happened in their lives, the world would still go on turning as it always had.

  ‘There’s something else you ought to know. I hope it won’t happen, but you ought to know about it. Bob’s threatening to enlist.’

  ‘Then he’s a fool,’ Laurence said shortly, though his impatience was not directed at Peggy. ‘He’s in a reserved occupation. He’s no need to go.’ He eyed her closely. ‘Oh, I get it, he’s trying to make you feel bad, is he?’

  Tears filled Peggy’s eyes as she nodded. ‘But it’s so unfair on his poor mother. She’s a widow and he’s all she’s got. I can’t understand him being so cruel to her.’

  ‘Maybe he’ll change his mind, but in the meantime I’ll make sure he’s on a different detail to you, even a different shift if I can manage it.’

  But Bob did not change his mind and, instead of returning to work, he went straight to the army recruiting office in the city and enlisted. He didn’t even bother to hand in his notice to Laurence.

  When Rose heard the rumours flying round the depot that Bob Deeton wasn’t coming back – and they all seemed to know the reason why too – she came home in a vile mood. ‘See what you’ve done?’ She wagged her finger in Peggy’s face. ‘I hope you’re satisfied now. If he’s killed, it will be your fault. He’d never have gone if you hadn’t thrown him over.’