by Joan Jonker
Molly scratched her head. ‘I can’t win so I might as well give in. Serve us, will yer, Tony, and let’s be on our way so I can give me mate a good talking to.’
Ruthie had gone to the first house pictures with Bella and her parents, and Tommy was on his way round to see Rosie. So Molly took the opportunity to tell Jack about Corker’s five pounds. She told him the lot . . . how she’d been upset at first and was going to have a word with Ellen, and how Nellie’s words had stopped her. ‘What d’yer think, love?’
‘I think Nellie was right! Yer can’t throw the money back in his face, Molly, he’d be very insulted and hurt, and it would put a strain on your friendship. I think it was very generous and thoughtful of him, and I’ll tell him so when he comes home again.’
‘Yeah, so will I. He’ll get an extra kiss off me and a big hug.’ Molly then considered telling him how she and Nellie were going to try and trace Phil’s relatives, but a voice in her head told her not to. If they were successful, then let it be a lovely surprise for everyone. If they weren’t then nobody would be disappointed.
Chapter 17
January turned out to be one of the coldest in years with several heavy falls of snow and bitterly cold winds. Although there was no snow in February, it was still very cold with lots of rain, certainly not fit for Molly and Nellie to be traipsing the streets. In fact they wouldn’t be very welcome if people had to leave the warmth of their fires to answer a knock from two strangers they’d never seen in their lives before.
It was the first day in March when the two friends faced each other across Molly’s table, hands curled around their cups for warmth. There was a fire in the grate but it was banked up with slack to last the day and wasn’t giving out much heat. Coal was still rationed and Molly was thrifty with it during the day so she could build it up and the house would be nice and warm for the family coming in from work.
‘The baby’s due in a couple of months, girl, if we leave it any longer we’ll be too late.’ Nellie had pulled the carver chair up to the table for comfort, and also, she said, because sitting in it made her feel posh. Someone of importance, like. ‘I think we should make a start to try and find Phil’s relatives.’
‘I’ve been thinking that meself,’ Molly said. ‘Doreen said the baby’s due in May, but as yer know a baby can come early. So if the weather’s not too bad tomorrow, how about us making a start?’
Nellie grinned at the thought of a little excitement. They could do with something to cheer them up after the few bad months they’d had. ‘Yeah, I’d like that, girl. Have yer got the name of Phil’s dad written down, and the address yer had?’
‘I haven’t got a proper address, sunshine, just the name of the street. Well, it’s not a street, it’s Bullen’s Terrace, off Marsh Lane. We’ll make a start there and see how we get on. But I’m not telling a soul, even Jack, so keep it to yerself, Nellie, not a word to anyone.’
‘Not a word will cross my lips, girl, yer have my solemn promise. And I was thinking, in case we’re late getting home, shall we make a big pan of stew today that’ll do two days? It would be a worry off our minds and we wouldn’t have to rush back.’
‘That’s a good idea, but can we get enough meat to make a stew for two days? And don’t even think of getting round Tony by doing another striptease, me heart wouldn’t stand the strain. We’ll just appeal to his better nature and generosity.’
‘I’ll be me own sweet self, girl, like butter wouldn’t melt in me mouth. I’ll kowtow to him and knock him cold with me charms. He won’t be able to resist that, girl. When I turn me charms on, no red-blooded man can resist me.’
‘It’s not that I don’t trust yer, sunshine, but I think I’d feel happier in me mind if yer’ll just stand next to me with a smile on yer face and leave the talking to me. And now, I’d like yer to finish yer tea so I can take the dishes out. I want to go over the road to see if Doreen needs any shopping. She’s six and a half months now and I don’t want her lugging anything heavy.’
‘I’m ready when you are, girl, I’ve only got to slip me coat on.’
‘Okay, let’s go then. And when we come back from the shops I’m nipping up to see Lizzie. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or how long we’ll be out, and I don’t want to leave it two days without seeing her. Will yer be coming with me?’
‘That’s a stupid question if ever there was one. As if I’d let yer go anywhere without me! You don’t tell me half what yer get up to when I’m not with yer. That’s because yer’re not a jangler like me. I tell yer everything. Anyway, I’m coming with yer in case I miss something. That would never do.’
The two friends crossed the cobbled street and Molly lifted the knocker on Victoria Clegg’s front door. It was Doreen who answered. She was certainly showing her pregnancy now, but it suited her and she looked very well. ‘Come in, you two. Yer always remind me of Darby and Joan.’
‘Darby and Joan were an old couple, sunshine. We’ve still got a long way to go before we catch up with them.’
‘Besides which,’ Nellie said, tossing her head and sending her chins in all directions, ‘one of them was a feller.’
‘Go ’way!’ Doreen closed the door behind them. ‘Which one was the feller?’
Nellie gave Molly a dig in the ribs. ‘Tell her, girl.’
‘Tell her what?’
‘Which one the feller was!’
‘D’yer mean to tell me yer can’t work out for yerself which one the feller was? Well, how many men have yer heard of with the name of Joan?’
‘Not many, I’ll grant yer that, girl.’
‘Name me one, sunshine, before I lose me rag with yer.’
‘I can’t think, off-hand, so I’ll go along with you. You think Darby’s the feller, don’t yer?’
‘I don’t think he was the feller, sunshine, I know he was! He used to live in our street when I was a kid,’ Molly said, feeling quite pleased with herself. It wasn’t often she got one over on her mate. ‘I never met Joan, though, ’cos he’d moved to another area before he met her.’
Victoria was smiling and rocking her chair gently as she listened to the lively pair. The two women had changed in looks from the young newly-weds they’d been when they first came to live in the street, but their character, kindness and generosity hadn’t changed. Neither had their ever-present sense of humour. Even in adversity they could always manage a smile.
‘Can we forget it now and remember our manners?’ Molly crossed to kiss the old lady. ‘Ye’re looking well, Victoria! And I like the hairstyle, it suits yer.’
‘I can’t take the credit for it, Molly, it’s Doreen’s handiwork. She spends more time on me every morning than she does on herself.’
‘She’s not neglecting herself, though, sunshine, ’cos she looks as fit as a fiddle. She reminds me of meself when I was expecting.’
Molly was elbowed aside to make way for Nellie. ‘My mate’s always hogging the limelight, Victoria, I can never get a word in edgeways with her.’ She planted a noisy kiss on the upturned face. ‘Ye’re looking well, girl, like a spring chicken.’
‘I wish I felt like one, Nellie, but while the heart is willing, the flesh is weak.’
‘I don’t believe that for a second, ye’re pulling our legs. I bet when ye’re on yer own, yer get out of that chair and waltz around the room.’ She winked broadly. ‘I’ll tell yer another one who carries her age well, and that’s my mate. Because if Darby lived in the same street as her, that means she must be nearing the hundred mark! Yer wouldn’t think so to look at her, would yer?’
‘Looks can be deceiving, sunshine, ’cos there’s times I feel like a hundred. Anyway, let’s get on with what we came for. D’yer want any shopping, Doreen? I can get it for yer, save yer going out.’
‘If yer would, Mam, that would be great.’ Doreen opened a drawer in the sideboard and took out a ration book and her purse. ‘Will yer get me three-quarters of mince on this, please? And if yer going to the greengrocer�
��s, I’d like two onions and some potatoes.’
Molly took the book and put it in her basket. ‘I’ll get yer five pounds of spuds and they’ll do yer tomorrow. Yer see, me and Nellie are going into town then to look around the shops, and we might treat ourselves to a cuppa and a scone, so we’d be too late getting back to go to the shops for yer. If there’s anything else yer want, sing out now.’
‘Yer could get me some carrots and a swede, if it’s not too much for yer to carry?’
It was Nellie who answered. ‘Nah, it won’t be too much, girl, ’cos I’ll help her. We always share the load between us.’
‘How much d’yer think it’ll be, Mam?’ Doreen asked, opening her purse. ‘I haven’t got a clue over prices.’
‘Four bob should do it, sunshine. Yer might even get a couple of coppers change.’ Molly held out her hand for the two-shilling pieces, and as she was putting them in her coat pocket, she raised her brows at Victoria. ‘Is there anything you fancy, sweetheart?’
Victoria didn’t even have to think, she knew what she fancied. ‘If they’ve got any pies left in Hanley’s, would yer get two? Me and Doreen can have them for our lunch.’
Doreen opened her purse again. ‘I’ll pay, Aunt Vicky, and yer can settle up with me later.’ Not for the world would she say it didn’t matter about the money ’cos Miss Clegg was a lady who valued her independence. ‘Ask for two with plenty of gravy in, Mam. That’s how we like them, with gravy running down our chins.’
‘Ooh, yer’ve got me mouth watering now,’ Nellie said, licking her lips. ‘Let’s go mad, girl, and ask for four.’
Molly huffed. ‘Ye’re worse than a child, you are! Everything yer want, yer have to have. Our Ruthie used to be like that, but she grew out of it when she was about ten.’
‘I can’t help it if I’m a slow grower, can I, girl? I’m young in heart, that’s what it is, and it gets on your wick ’cos ye’re jealous.’
‘Yer may be young in heart, sunshine, and in the head. But yer body hasn’t been slow in growing, so don’t be expecting me to give yer a piggy-back home from the shops. Now come on, let’s be about our business.’
Nellie was following Molly to the door when she turned and looked at Doreen. ‘I hope ye’re not going to take after yer mother, girl, ’cos she’s downright mean and hasn’t got no sense of humour. I mean, a slip of a thing like me and she refuses to give me a piggy-back. I can’t make her out sometimes, even though she is me best mate.’
Doreen was smiling as she closed the door on them. For she knew that nothing in the big wide world could come between those two.
Outside, Nellie asked, ‘Shall we go to Lizzie’s now, to see if she wants any shopping?’
‘No, Jill finishes work before the shops close. She brings everything they need in with her.’ They began to walk towards the main road. ‘And don’t forget we’re supposed to be going into town tomorrow, don’t let the cat out of the bag.’
‘I won’t say a word, girl, ’cos I’m not as good a liar as you are. Me face goes all red and gives me away when I tell a fib. But when yer were telling Doreen that lie, I was looking at yer, and yer didn’t even turn a hair.’
‘That’s because it was only a little white lie and it was being told in a good cause. Our Doreen may thank me for it some time, please God.’
Lizzie Corkhill saw her friends passing the window and they barely had time to knock before she had the door open. She was always pleased to see them for their ability to lift her spirits when she felt down in the dumps. Not that Lizzie was feeling down in the dumps, like, she had no reason to be. Since Jill and Steve had come to live with her it had given new meaning to her life, knowing there’d be someone coming home every day.
‘Come in, ladies, I’m very glad to see yer. Take yer coats off while I put the kettle on.’ From the kitchen she called, ‘How’s life treating you two?’
‘Can’t complain, Lizzie,’ Nellie answered as she made a bee-line for the chair near the fire. ‘And when I say I can’t complain, I don’t mean I’ve nowt to complain about, I mean I’m not allowed to. My mate here carries on something woeful when I tell her me corns are giving me gyp, so I don’t bother no more. All I get from her is, “There’s millions would give anything to change places with yer, so stop moaning.”’
When Lizzie came through with the tray, Molly said, ‘I don’t mind her complaining about her corns, Lizzie, but it’s not only them she complains about. She moans about washing the dishes, making the beds, peeling spuds . . . you name it, she complains about it. And they’re jobs every housewife in the country has to do! Yer should hear her when she’s had to move the couch to clean behind it. She’s pathetic!’
‘Yer still love me though, girl, don’t yer? I mean, what would yer do if yer didn’t have me to pull to pieces?’ A gleam came to Nellie’s eyes. ‘Say Elsie Flanaghan was yer best mate and yer had to listen to her every day. Yer don’t know ye’re born, that’s your trouble.’
‘There’s no fear of that, sunshine, ’cos I wouldn’t have Elsie Flanaghan for me mate even if we were the only two left in the world.’
Lizzie stirred the tea in the cups before handing them over. ‘She’s a bad bugger is Elsie. I don’t use me back door any more in case I bump into her. She talks about everyone under the sun, and hasn’t got a kind word to say about them.’ She put her own cup on the table and pulled out a chair. ‘And yer know that as soon as yer manage to get away from her, she’ll be pulling yer to pieces to the next poor sod she collars.’
Nellie was nodding her head. ‘There’s a few times I’ve gone to strangle her, but Molly always drags me away.’
‘She’s not worth soiling yer hands on,’ Molly insisted. ‘Yer’d only bring yerself down to her level, and that’s the gutter. Anyway, let’s talk about something else. Have yer heard from Corker lately, Lizzie?’
‘Yes, I get a letter every week without fail. Same as Ellen and the kids, we all get letters at the same time. It’s a twelve-week trip this time, so there’s another three or four weeks to go before we see him again. He always asks after you two, and Jill and Steve. And I get strict instructions to keep him up-to-date on Doreen and Phil.’
‘Doreen’s doing fine, tell him. Me and Nellie were over there this morning and I think she suits being pregnant, she looks lovelier than ever.’
‘I agree with yer, she looks really bonny. Her and Phil come up two or three times a week, just for an hour or so to have a natter with Jill and Steve. And me, of course, they never leave me out.’
‘My hope is that when Jill and Steve find a house, it won’t be far away. My two daughters are like twins, they’d be lost if they didn’t see each other often.’
‘This might sound selfish, Molly, but I hope they don’t find a house for a long time. I love having them here and I’ll be sad and lonely when they go.’
Molly and her mate stayed for an hour to keep Corker’s ma company. Then they said they’d have to get home to see to the dinner. ‘We won’t see yer tomorrow, Lizzie, ’cos me and Nellie are thinking of going into town for a few hours. But we’ll see yer the day after.’
Lizzie showed them to the door. ‘Don’t spend all yer money in the one shop, now.’
‘We’re not going to buy anything, sunshine, we’re just going to window shop and pick out what we’d buy if we had the wherewithal to splash out.’
Nellie’s bosom stood to attention. ‘Yer never know, we might just click with two rich men who could buy us anything our heart desires.’
‘Aye, and pigs might fly, sunshine!’ Molly linked her arm and began to pull her away. ‘Ta-ra for now, Lizzie, we’ll be seeing yer.’
When they stopped outside Nellie’s house, Molly said, ‘I’ll expect yer at ours at ten in the morning, sunshine, and don’t be late.’
‘I’ll be on time, girl, and before yer say it, I’ll look decent and respectable.’
Molly chuckled as she covered the short distance to her own front door. She was a cracker, was Nelli
e. You didn’t get many like her in a pound.
At a quarter past ten the next morning, Molly was pacing the floor with her coat on. What the heck was keeping Nellie? It wasn’t like her to be late, she was usually so punctual. Then Molly had a thought she didn’t like. Perhaps her friend was ill, lying in bed with no one to hear her call. But the thought was quickly dismissed. If Nellie was ill, George would definitely have let her know.
After another five minutes, Molly spoke to the empty room. ‘This is ridiculous, the day will be gone before we get started. I’m going to give her a knock.’ So after making sure she had her keys in her purse, she stepped into the street and pulled the door behind her, ‘I’ll give her a piece of me mind while I’m at it, keeping me waiting like this.’
But when Nellie opened the door, Molly gasped and took a step back. ‘In the name of God!’ For her friend stood before her dressed in a pale blue stockinette underskirt over a brassiere which would have gone twice around the gasworks and there’d still be some to spare. The underskirt was designed to come down over a lady’s knees, but with Nellie’s enormous frontage pulling it out of shape, it finished twelve inches above hers, leaving an expanse of blue fleecy-lined knickers on display.
Molly stood shaking her head in disbelief. ‘How did yer know it was me knocking? Yer could have opened the door to anyone . . . a man even.’
‘No, it wouldn’t be a man, girl, not with my luck.’ Nellie swayed into the living room, leaving her friend to close the door. ‘I won’t be long, I’ve only got to put me dress on.’
Molly gazed at her, still shaking her head. ‘The sights yer see when yer haven’t got a gun. Or a camera. If I had one I’d go home and get it so everyone could see yer in all yer glory. They’d have to believe me if I had the evidence to back it up.’
‘That would be blackmail, that would.’ Nellie’s voice was muffled as she strained to pull a navy blue dress over her head first, then her bosom and tummy. ‘I could go to the police if yer did that and yer’d have to pay me a lot of money.’