Jenny heaved a breath and spoke remorsefully. ‘I was going to tell you what I’d seen straight away, but I knew how much it would hurt you so I agonised over it, but friendship is all about trust and honesty and that’s what made me decide. That’s why I called in at the wall earlier to ask you to have a coffee with me. I was going to tell you then.’
Julie laid a hand on her arm and looked at her encouragingly. Jenny continued.
‘It was at Ren’s no-reason party. I saw him acting suspiciously, and I could tell he was checking that you weren’t watching him. Then he disappeared behind a van. My curiosity got the better of me and I followed him. I saw him meet a woman outside one of the empty caravans and they went inside together.’
Hands clasped in her lap, Julie said quietly, ‘Obviously not for a cup of tea.’
‘So, you already knew Dicky was cheating on you?’
‘I suspected he was but I had no proof, he was too clever for that. I could have tackled him but he would only have denied it, and then he would have got in a fury because I was accusing him of cheating and that would have been an excuse for him to take his fists to me.’ She smiled wanly at Jenny then. ‘I can appreciate you agonising over telling me; I would have felt the same in your shoes.’ A shudder shot through her and her face crumpled, miserable fat tears gushing down her face. ‘I can’t believe he’s dead. Knowing what you do now, you’ll be thinking I should be glad because he can’t hurt me any more, but I will miss the nice side of him. You saw yourself how charming and funny he could be. I just wish I hadn’t been there when the accident happened, because when I think of him now it will be him lying there with the wreck of the bike on top of him and wondering if he was still alive and in pain and if he knew he was going to die—’
Jenny interjected. ‘Stop torturing yourself, Julie. At least he died doing something he loved.’
Julie sniffed back snot and wiped tears from her face with the back of her hand. ‘Yes, he did. He told me that his dad took him to the local race track when he was about eight years old, and after that all he dreamed of being was a top speedway rider. He could never raise enough money to buy a proper racing bike, though, and he couldn’t find a backer willing to take a chance on him either, so he had no choice but to abandon that dream and join a fair as a Wall of Death rider, which to him was the next best thing. His dream then was to own his own Wall of Death ride. Every spare penny we had went into saving towards it. I have no idea how much is in the cash box, as Dicky never told me and he kept it locked and the key on him, but hopefully there’s enough to give him a decent funeral.
‘I shouldn’t speak ill of him now he’s dead, but he craved the limelight; nothing made him happier than hearing the crowd cheer and clap in praise of his skills as a rider, and I know he’d have sooner been riding his favourite performing bike, going out in a blaze of glory in front of an audience instead of on an old practice bike with just me and…’ Her voice trailed off and she exclaimed, ‘Oh!’
‘What is it, Julie?’ Jenny urged.
‘What! Oh… er… You know when something flashes into your mind and then it immediately goes; that’s what just happened to me.’ She frowned in thought. ‘It was to do with the practice bike he had the accident on, but what it was I—’
She was interrupted by a knock on the van door. Jenny said, ‘That’ll be the police. Are you up to talking to them?’
Julie nodded solemnly. ‘I don’t suppose I can tell them any different from what Speedy did, though.’
* * *
A while later, Jenny saw the two policemen to the door and returned to sit by Julie. She looked worriedly at her friend as she took her hand and rubbed it between hers. Reliving the events that had resulted in her husband’s death had been a terrible ordeal for her, and she looked haggard and exhausted. A good sleep was what she needed, to be released from her pain for a few hours at least. That might prove a problem, though, with all that she had on her mind. Maybe Gem had a sleeping remedy she could give her; Jenny would ask her later. But in any case, Julie shouldn’t be on her own at a time like this, and Jenny told her, ‘You’re staying with me tonight. No arguments. And you can stay as long as you want, that goes without saying.’
Julie smiled her appreciation at Jenny’s offer, then a look of worry flooded her already strained face. ‘I hope the new lead rider your father takes on treats the team better than Dicky did. None of them liked him and I can’t say as I blame them. He treated them like they were his slaves and I never once heard him praise any of them. I’m surprised no one walked out while he was in charge; I can only assume it was because they’re loyal to Grundy’s.’ She paused for a moment, her face clouding worriedly. ‘Your grandfather, who first took me and Dicky on, was very open-minded and saw me as a draw to bring the crowds in – the first woman rider in the country – so I hope the new leader is of the same mind and gives me a slot in the shows. If he doesn’t, I suppose I’ll have no choice but to go home and get a job in an office, which is what I doing when I met Dicky.’ She sighed heavily and wrung her hands together. ‘I know I haven’t been here for that long, but I shall miss Grundy’s terribly. The community has made me feel such a part of it, which none of the other fair communities we worked for before we came here did, and I can’t tell you how much I’ll miss you and Ren.’
Jenny would miss Julie very much too if she left. She would speak to her father, see if he’d agree to finding a lead rider who was receptive to having a woman on his team. If that proved difficult, then surely he could offer Julie another job in the fair? It would be a come-down and a lot less money – not that it seemed she received any of her share of the takings, as from what she had said, Dicky had pocketed it all to save up to buy his own ride – but at least it would mean she wouldn’t have to leave.
She decided not to tell Julie of her plan and build her hopes up only to have them dashed if it didn’t work out the way she hoped. Instead she stressed to her, ‘You don’t need to be thinking about anything like that yet.’ She picked up the glass of brandy that she had poured earlier and held it out to her, insisting, ‘Get that down you, then I’m going to make you something to eat.’ She saw the look on Julie’s face and added, ‘Just something light, and you’ll eat it or I’ll pin you down and force it into you. You need to keep your strength up.’
But the food had to be put on hold for a little while, as just then the door opened and Ren charged in. Seeing the two women sitting at the small kitchen table, she dashed straight over and threw her arms around Julie. ‘I’ve just got back from my trip into town and heard the news. Julie, I’m so sorry, really I am.’ She released her hold on her friend, pulled a chair out at the table and sat down, laying a hand on Julie’s arm. ‘If there’s anything I can do, you just have to ask. You shouldn’t be on your own at a time like this, so you’re welcome to come and stay with me and Donny.’
‘That’s good of you, Ren, but it’s already been agreed that she’ll stay with me,’ Jenny told her.
Ren replied matter-of-factly. ‘Maybe that’s best, as I don’t expect you snore as loud as my Donny does. I’m sure that sometimes it’s forceful enough to lift the roof off the van.’
‘I don’t snore at all,’ Jenny snapped indignantly. ‘Ladies don’t snore; they just breathe heavily.’
Ren giggled. ‘Oh well, that rules me out of being a lady then, as Donny has told me that when I’ve had a few too many bevies, my snoring could be mistaken for a trumpet voluntary. And you were breathing heavily enough for me and Donny to hear you as we walked past your van the other night, so if things do get serious with you and Tom, then you have to hope he’s a heavy sleeper.’ She laughed at the mortified look on Jenny’s face. ‘I’m having a joke with you. We never really heard you snoring as we passed your van.’
Julie started laughing too then. ‘Oh, you two are so funny.’
Simultaneously they realised how thoughtless they had been to be happily bantering together, completely forgetting that their friend was
in deep grief and shock from the terrible tragedy that she had suffered earlier, and they both looked at her, mortified at their unforgivable behaviour.
‘Oh, you must think we’re so disrespectful,’ Jenny said. ‘We’re so sorry, aren’t we, Ren, for—’
Julie cut in. ‘For acting as you normally do. Teasing each other. I’m so glad you did, because for a couple of minutes I managed to forget what happened today. I don’t want you to pussyfoot around me. I want you just to be yourselves. I’ve done nothing but cry since the accident, and it was so good to laugh. My grandmother used to say a good laugh was better than any medicine the doctor could give you, and she was right. Now please help me take my mind off it again for a while. I want to know what Ren meant when she said “if things do get serious with you and Tom”. Is he the lad that talks so nicely who is now Gully’s assistant? Have you got a date with him, Jenny? Come on, tell me everything.’
Ren stayed for another hour before she needed to go and put away her new stock and relieve her two helpers on her stall. Before she left, Solly and Gem called in separately, Solly to pay his respects and offer what help he could to Julie, and Gem to check on Julie’s welfare after the desolate state she had found her in earlier. Both were astounded to find her sharing a joke with Ren and Jenny. Some people would deem it inappropriate behaviour, considering her husband had met an untimely end only hours before, but both Solly and Gem were of the same mind as Jenny and Ren: that people dealt with grief in their own individual ways, and whichever way Julie felt was right for her, they were fully supportive.
As soon as Ren left, Jenny made it her business to ensure Julie ate something. The scrambled egg on toast along with another large glass of brandy she managed to coax Julie into consuming took away the need for a remedy to help her drop off, and by eight thirty she was tucked comfortably in Jenny’s bed, sound asleep. Hopefully she would stay that way until the morning, able to better face what was in store for her after her rest. Praying that her dreams were pleasant ones, not nightmares about the accident, at ten thirty Jenny checked that her friend was still asleep, then slipped out to visit her parents.
Her father and two brothers were still working, along with the other men, securing the fair for the night, but her mother wasn’t alone, as Velda and Ren were paying her a visit. Ren called on Velda every night to check if the older woman, whom she considered her second mother, needed water fetching or coal bringing in, and had come with her to Gem’s caravan in order to find out the true facts of Dicky’s death. Velda didn’t trust that the gossip that had come to her via the community had not been embellished as it had passed from mouth to mouth.
As always very pleased to see her daughter, Gem ushered her to sit with the others at the table and poured her a mug of tea. The three women were very keen to hear how Julie was faring and gratified to learn she was in bed asleep, all sharing Jenny’s belief that a good rest would help her in what faced her tomorrow. Jenny had just finished updating them when her father and two brothers arrived. They were all sombre, which wasn’t surprising, as a death in the community always hit everyone hard. They congenially greeted the other women as they all took seats in the living room area to take off their working shoes. Gem meanwhile immediately got up and mashed a fresh pot of tea and took a cloth off a plate of cheese and pickle sandwiches she had prepared earlier for them.
As he gratefully accepted a mug of tea and took a sandwich off the plate Gem offered him, Solly told her, ‘I won’t be sorry to see the back of this day. I know they’re only doing their job and we all want to find out what caused Dicky’s accident, but police crawling all over the place is really bad for business. But that’s not what’s really got to me. You know we put a sign up on the Wall of Death explaining why it was closed, yet punters were still complaining that they’d come specially to see the show and couldn’t understand why we didn’t start up again once the police had finished their investigation, like the death of a showman was of no consequence.’
Robbie piped up through a mouthful of food. ‘Yeah, well it’s the same as when an actor dies on stage; people still expect the show to go on, don’t they?’
Solly reached over and took a second sandwich. ‘Any chance of another cuppa, love?’ he asked Gem. He paused thoughtfully. ‘I need to place an advert in the World’s Fair for a replacement for Dicky so it will run in next week’s edition. I’ve asked the team if they’ll do their best to put the shows on until we get a new leader, and they all agreed… once I told them I’d make sure they were compensated accordingly. Now, about Julie…’
Jenny thought this was a good opportunity to ask her father if he would consider keeping Julie on as a team rider, or if not, find her another job in the fair. ‘Yes, about her, Dad. Would you—’
Looking at her astounded, he interjected, ‘Would I consider making her leader in her husband’s place? You can’t be serious. For a start, she’s a woman.’
The four women at the kitchen table gawped at him in astonishment.
‘You’ve shocked me, Solly,’ Velda said disapprovingly. ‘I believed you a man who had a great respect for women.’
He looked taken aback. ‘I have.’
‘As long as we keep to our place in the kitchen, eh, Dad,’ Jenny snapped, appalled.
Flippantly Jimmy piped up. ‘That’s where you belong, ain’t it?’
Gem erupted. ‘I hope you’re not serious, son.’
He was, but he saw the look on his mother’s face, and those of the other three women, and muttered, ‘No, no, 'course I wasn’t.’
Gem turned on her husband. ‘So, in your opinion, because Julie’s a woman she isn’t capable of leading the Wall of Death riding team?’
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘Well, you can’t put a woman in charge of a team of men. They’d run rings around her. And she only partnered Dicky anyway, so she’s not skilled enough to be lead rider.’
‘Have you watched her ride, Dad?’ Jenny challenged him.
‘I have,’ said Robbie. ‘She’s really good.’
Solly said defensively, ‘So have I, and admittedly she’s not bad at all…’ He was about to add ‘for a woman’, but stopped himself in time.
Jenny snapped, ‘Not bad! She’s better than all the rest of the team put together and she would have proved that had her husband given her the chance, but he wouldn’t because he was scared a woman would prove to be better than he was.’
Gem stood up, placed her hands on her hips and looked stolidly over at Solly. ‘Am I understanding right that you don’t think women are good enough to be in charge? So, Solomon Grundy, when you were sick with the flu for two weeks last year, who took over the running of the fair meantime? When you were under the weather at the start of the season because you didn’t think you were up to following in your father’s footsteps as ringmaster, who took over then? And when you have to go off to sort out fair business, who do you turn to to take your place while you’re away? Who is in charge of all the fair’s finances? Well, Solly? WELL?’
He shifted again in his seat, feeling he was facing a firing squad. He looked at his wife, then at each of the other three women in turn, and shuddered to see them all staring back at him questioningly. Finally he admitted, ‘You, love.’
‘And what am I, Solly?’
He blew out his cheeks and stared blankly over at her for several long minutes before mumbling, ‘A woman.’
‘And have you ever left me in charge and come back to find I haven’t done a good job, as good as you would do?’
He reluctantly shook his head.
‘And while I was keeping the fair running smoothly on all those occasions and far more besides over the years, my family didn’t suffer. You had hot meals on the table, clean and ironed clothes to wear, and this van was kept spotless. Show me a man who would cope with all that without ending up in the mental home, and then you can tell me that a woman isn’t capable of being in charge of a team of six motorbike riders – and without even giving her a try a
t it!’
Jenny piped up. ‘And Julie would treat them far better than Dicky did. Apparently, he wasn’t a nice boss and was always threatening them with the sack if they didn’t do as he told them.’
Not wanting to be left out, Ren chipped in with, ‘I manage my own stall by myself and I’m a woman.’
‘So am I a woman, and I manage my own fortune-telling business.’ Velda spoke up proudly, flashing a quick look at Gem with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.
Solly held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘Okay, okay, you’ve all made your point.’ He heaved a sigh. ‘I have to admit that I never liked Dicky Otterman myself. Even though I’m the boss, I always felt he thought I had no right to be calling on him to check things were okay or see if he needed any help with anything. I found him rather arrogant. Julie is a completely different kettle of fish. Very likeable.’ He wanted to add that she was very attractive too, but thought better of it. His wife was annoyed enough with him already. ‘I always got the impression that she was embarrassed by her husband’s manner towards me.’
He paused, looking anxiously at each of the women in turn. What a quandary he was in. If he did agree to give Julie a trial as leader of the riding team, he would not be at all popular with the male members of the community, who would accuse him of giving their own women ideas that they too were capable of much more than running their homes and playing second fiddle to the men. But if he didn’t agree to it, he risked the wrath of the women for openly showing that he perceived them as inferior to men. They would band together to formulate a plan of campaign against what they saw as a grave injustice to their sex, withdrawing their labour and possibly marital rights too, and whatever else they thought would win them the war. Without the support of the womenfolk, the fair would grind to a halt, and could even go under. ‘Look, maybe I’ve been a bit hasty…’ he blustered.
Jenny jumped up from her seat and clapped her hands together excitedly. ‘You’ll give Julie a chance at the job of leader? She’ll make a great boss, I know she will. You won’t regret this, Dad. Oh, it will give her such a boost, as she was worried there wouldn’t be a place for her in the team once the new leader started.’
All is Fair Page 18