by Drew Black
"No regrets, where do you want me to dig?"
"Just over there and work your way backwards." she said pointing to the spot.
The digging was harder than Jack had anticipated, but he didn't want Jane to know that, so every time she glanced over to see how he was doing, he made a conscious effort to make it look easy.
"Did you enjoy yourself at the reck yesterday?" Jane asked conversationally.
"Yes, I did thanks, Tom introduced me to one of his mates, a guy called Ray Strong. He was so funny, and really cool. Do you know him"
"Yeah, I know Ray Strong." Jane replied in a mildly sarcastic tone.
"Do you not like him?"
"No, it's not that."
"What is it then?"
Jane could feel her cheeks getting warm, she could also feel Jack looking at her, not saying anything, just patiently awaiting her response. "I can't tell you." she said finally glancing quickly up at him before looking away again.
"Go on Jane." Jack persisted. "I promise I won't tell anyone, not even Tom, if you don't want me to."
"It's embarrassing Jack. It's something and nothing anyway."
"Did he ask you out?" Jack ventured returning to his digging.
"How did you guess?"
"Dunno, I just did. I'm sorry for prying, it's none of my business anyway."
Jane's embarrassment subsided. Mainly due to the fact that it seemed as though Jack was prepared to just let the matter slide. If it had been Tom who'd found out, then it would have been a completely different story. He would've announced it to the world and made an awkward situation a million times worse. "You're not prying Jack, he's just not my type, that's all."
Jack thought god, if she turned down someone like Ray Strong, what chance did he have? He continued his digging in a somewhat subdued mood.
As they worked on Jane noticed that Jack had gone a bit quiet and hoped that nothing she had said had upset him. "Tom said he enjoyed the meal over at yours last night." she lied in an effort to re-ignite the conversation. Jack looked across at her and smiled; "I'm glad he did."
Jane finished the weeding, got to her feet and went over to the shed. Jack turned over the last shovel full of soil and felt a tremendous sense of relief. Next time you think about helping a damsel in distress, he thought, think again.
Jane returned from the shed; "Finished?" she asked smiling at him.
"Yeah, thank god." he replied dispensing with the macho image on account that he was just too knackered to continue the pretence.
Jane leant over to him and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek; "Thanks Jack, you've been a great help. I really appreciate it, and so will mum."
Now it was Jack's turn to blush. The kiss was totally unexpected, and it caught him off-guard. He shied away from her; "Anytime, I'm just glad I could help." She kissed me he thought excitedly. At that precise moment, he felt like he could go and turn over the back garden as well! Well maybe that was pushing it a bit too far, but, even so, he did feel rejuvenated.
"I'll make us some lemonade." Jane said sensing his embarrassment. As she walked away, she smiled to herself, now they were even.
As Jack went inside the house, he began to feel a bit more composed.
"We'll take these through to the lounge, I don't think Tom will be long now." Jane said
"Ay-ah" Sally chirped.
"Ay-ah Sal."
"Sit down Jack," Jane said. "You must be shattered."
"Oh, I'm not too bad. Where is your mum, by the way?" Jack asked, thinking that he really should’ve asked about her earlier.
"She's visiting our aunt; she always goes over there on a Sunday." Jane sipped her lemonade. Jack really did look tired, she thought. She hoped she'd not overworked him.
"I'm home." came a shout from the hallway.
"Hi Tom." the two girls replied in unison.
"You've got a visitor." Jane said, looking at Jack and smiling.
Tom popped his head round the lounge door; "Ay-ah my man, how are you doing?"
"Not bad thanks."
"Jack's been helping us around the garden." Jane said.
Sally got up and sidled upstairs.
"I thought you'd done well, to do all that on your own. Thanks Jack, I owe you one." Tom sat down on the floor and reclined against the front of Jane's chair. "Massage my shoulders sis, I'm shattered." he said
Jack fully expected Jane to tell him where to go, especially in light of the fact that she had been working all morning as well. But she didn't utter a word of complaint, she just leant forward and started to kneed Tom's shoulders.
"Ah, that's nice." Tom sighed lowering his head. "Just at the back of my neck."
Jane dutifully adjusted her hands to massage her brother's neck.
Tom looked on enviously, wishing that it was him that she was massaging. He concluded that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life, and that included all the movie stars he'd seen at the cinema. She was a fabulous person as well. One day I'm going to marry her, he thought. You wish, his mind countered.
Tom lay back and put his head on his sister's lap. "Thanks, sis." he said getting up and touching her head. She smiled up at him, and then looked over at Jack.
"Come on hotshot, let's go and have a kick about."
"I'll go and see what that little terror's getting up to." Jane said leaving the room.
Jack politely declined Mrs Ford's invitation to stay for his tea. It was school tomorrow and he still had homework to finish. He said his goodbyes and set off for home. He hadn't seen Jess today and was looking forward to larking around with her once he got home.
6
After Jack had set off to Tom's Victoria started investigating Jess's disappearance. She was definitely in when she went to bed last night, she thought. Maybe she went out when the men came home from the pub. But it wasn't like Jess to want to go out at such an hour. Also, she could've sworn she'd opened a new tin off dog food last night, but when she checked the cupboard, she couldn't find it. If Joe had anything to do with it, she’d kill him, she thought. It would be just like him to have hidden her somewhere, to get his own back on Jack. Surely, he wouldn't have done anything worse than that. Even Joe, with all his faults, wouldn't kill a defenceless animal. But what if it was an accident, what if he'd kicked her just a bit too hard this time?
in fairness to Joe, he seemed genuinely concerned when she mentioned that she'd not seen Jess all morning to him. Also, Joe Junior had eased her fears when he'd informed her that Jess had gone out when the two men had come home last night, and the reason his father had not made it to bed was that he'd had one too many at the pub and had fallen asleep in his chair. Joe had tucked him in, and he was still there, snoring away, when he'd got up in the morning.
Joe had lied when he’d told his mother that Jess had definitely gone out when they'd got back from the pub. if he was being honest, he wasn't sure one way or the other. He'd lied to protect his father who he knew would come under suspicion if anything had happened to Jack's dog. There's no way he would have topped the stupid mutt, though, no matter how much he wanted to teach Jack a lesson for lashing out at him. Nevertheless, he'd still feel a damn site better once it turned up, that was for sure.
"Where's Jess?" Jack asked his mother as he walked into the kitchen. He looked at her with expectant eyes. "Is she back yet?" Something had happened to her; he could just tell. What was it, had she been run down, had she been savaged by another dog? "Where is she mum?"
"I don't know Jack, your brother let her out last night, and she hasn't been home since."
"You said that you'd given her, her breakfast this morning."
"I know I did love. I'm sorry for lying to you, I just didn't want to worry you, that's all. I was sure that she'd be back by mid-morning."
"Jess never goes out at night," Jack said looking at his brother, "why did you let her out so late?"
"I didn't let her out. I opened the door and she ran past me; I couldn't stop her; she must've nee
ded the loo."
"I'm going out to look for her." Jack said heading out of the kitchen.
"Jack, come and have your tea first, and then we'll all go out and look for her." his father said taking his place at the table.
"Okay." he mumbled coming back in. Jack prayed she was okay. What if she's in pain somewhere, or what if she's dead?
They searched until it was dark, everywhere they could possibly think of, but the search yielded nothing. Jack had to be persuaded by his mother to return home. It had started to drizzle, and she was concerned that he'd catch a cold.
For the next two weeks Jack continued to search tirelessly for his pet dog until finally he had to accept that she was gone for good.
JESSOP EMPLOYS JACK AND TOM. HELEN LEAVES HOME.
1
T wo summers passed before Jack finally convinced old man Johnson to give him a job on the farm. It was the spring of 1955, and by that time Jack had grown sufficiently for Johnson to decide that maybe he could find a use for the lad, besides which he'd grown weary of being pestered by him. When Johnson eventually capitulated, Jack was overjoyed, and Tom was almost as pleased for his buddy.
On a hot day at the beginning of May; 1955 Tom and Jack erected a hammock in Tom's garden. Whilst Jack relaxed in it, swinging gently to and fro Tom went to fetch them both a drink.
"The paper's just been delivered, there's a report on the Burnley game, I thought you'd like to read it." Tom said putting the drinks down and unfolding the newspaper.
"Read it out to me, I'm just too relaxed to move."
"No, I'll leave it here, you can read it later."
"Oh, go on Tom, it was a cracker of a game." Jack said arming sweat from his forehead and feeling grateful for the light breeze that had just gusted.
"Are you fucking deaf, I just said read it yourself, didn't I." Tom said, throwing the paper in Jack's general direction before storming off back to the house.
Startled, Jack got up suddenly, momentarily forgetting where he was and of course the hammock spilled him unceremoniously onto the ground. "Shit!" he said as he lay there feeling dazed. In all the time he'd known Tom, he'd never known him lose his temper, not with him anyway. What, the hell had he said? All he'd asked him to do was read him the football report. Why would he got so upset about that? All of a sudden, it dawned on him; he can't read, he thought, Tom can't read. Surely, that couldn't be right though, Tom loved books, he'd seen him reading loads of times, or at least he thought he had.
Tom re-emerged from his house, looking a bit sheepish, both hands stuffed in his pockets. "I'm sorry about that Jack," he said walking back over to him. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately, I'll read you the report if you still want me to."
Jack felt confused, and uncertain about what to do. If his friend truly couldn't read, he was hardly going to put him through the ordeal of trying to fake it. When they had first become friends, they had made a pact not to keep any secrets from one another, a pact that was sealed by the ceremony of drawing blood from each other’s forearms. Jack glanced down at the faded scar right now. "Remember the pact we made, not to keep secrets from one another?"
"Tell each other's secrets, you mean"
"Same thing. You're not keeping a secret from me, now are you?"
"Like What?"
"Tom, can you not read?" Jack asked bracing himself for Tom's reaction.
The anticipated reaction didn't materialise, instead Tom simply owned up to the fact; "guilty as charged your honour. Fantastic isn't it, I leave school for good next month, and I can't even read or write. What the hell am I going to do Jack? I'll probably end up stuck down that fuckin' pit all my life, just like my old man was."
Jack went over and comforted his friend; "It's not such a big deal Tom. Loads of kids can't read, in fact loads of adults can't either. You've had enough to contend with over the last few years. Reading's probably been the least of your worries, so don't start worrying about it now."
Tom started to sob, and Jack hugged him. "It's been hard Jack, really, really hard, not having a dad and seeing mum struggle. I won't be a minute," he said breaking their embrace. He walked back to the house and went into the kitchen. He swilled his face with cold water. What must Jack think of him, Jack who had always looked up to him, he probably thinks I'm a fake, Tom thought morosely. At least he had shown him some compassion though. He could deal with most things in life but being called stupid wasn't one of them.
Tom stepped back out into the sunshine. He felt more composed, and moreover relieved for telling someone about his problem, and he supposed if he had to tell anyone about it, he couldn’t have picked a better person than Jack. He walked back over to Jack who was sunning himself again in the hammock. "Thanks mate." he said.
"For what?"
"Well, for not taking the mick out of me for starters."
"Like I said, it's no big deal, loads of people can't read, but if you do want to learn, I'll teach you. No pressure though, I won't even mention it again, but the offer's there. I mean, you've done loads of things for me, so it would be a pleasure to do something back for you."
"Thanks, I'll think about it." Tom said squeezing his mate's shoulder, "I'll leave you to your siesta, I just need to clear my head for a while."
"No worries."
Tom went for a walk, nowhere in particular, just down the road. He supposed he could learn to read, it would come in handy, the times were changing, and he didn't want to live and maybe even die down that coalmine, like his father had. But it would be a lot of work though, and he'd got along okay so far, books were for college kids, people like Jack. Part of him wanted to learn though, he was weary of pretending, and feeling awkward around words all the time. He wanted to make something of himself, if he could. You've left it a bit late; haven't you mate? A voice in is mind enquired. Yes, in fairness, he had, and maybe now it was just too late.
Tom returned to find Jack still snoozing in the sunshine. "I'm game for it, if you are." Tom said. "That's as long as you were serious when you said you'd teach me to read." Tom knew Jack would never have offered if he hadn't meant it, but the awkwardness of the situation had made him a little tongue-tied.
"Of course, I am Tom, but, don't take this the wrong way, you're the one who has to be serious about it. I'm no teacher, and it will take time, maybe lots of it, so I'll do it on one condition."
"What's that?" Tom asked warily.
"That once we start, you promise to see it through until the end, until you can read."
Tom stood evaluating Jack's comments for a moment; "You don't think I can do this, do you?"
"You couldn't be further from the truth; I know you can do it, but you've got want to do it Tom, there really is a world of difference."
Tom held out his hand; "Deal." He said.
Jack took his hand and shook it.
Over the course of the next week, Jack collected as many children's books as he could lay his hands on, some of his old ones from home, and some he 'borrowed' from school. Finding somewhere private to teach Tom proved to be a bit more difficult. Old man Johnson came up trumps though, by letting them use one of his old barns. However, there were no flies on the old farmer, and the amount of free labour he extracted from them in return would probably have covered the rent of the barn three times over.
Tom learnt at an incredible rate, and in no time at all he was teaching himself. In just over two months he'd gone from being virtually illiterate to commanding a more than reasonable grasp of the English language. In fact, Jack believed that if Tom stuck at it, he could even make it to college in later life. What amazed him the most was Tom's patience. He never once complained or become angry because he didn't understand something.
2
School broke up for the summer holidays, and although Jack had been looking forward to it, he'd also been dreading it as well. Tom had finished school for good, and he was going to miss him terribly. Tom had managed to get a job labouring at Jessop's Cotton Mill in town. John, Jack's bro
ther had gone working at the coalmine with his dad and elder brother, so that left Jack on his own, or so he thought.
As Jack worked on Johnson's Farm, three weeks into the summer holidays, he was totally oblivious that something was about to happen to him that would have a profound effect on the rest of his life. Jack was forking hay, when a brand-new Jaguar car pulled into the farmyard. The car came to a halt, and out stepped a man dressed in an immaculate suit. He looked familiar Jack thought as he went about his work. He knew one thing for sure, the guy was going to get those shiny shoes of his just a teensy bit dirty walking around a place like this. The guy disappeared into the Johnson's cottage, and Jack went about his duties diligently. He had worked out his own routine since Tom had left the farm to start work proper. In fact, he was quite proud at how efficient he'd become. He wondered what school was going to be like next year without both Tom and John. Even though they had only just started working full time he already felt like a bit of an outsider. Jack would have given anything to have been a year older and been working at Jessops with Tom.
"Jack!"
Jack turned around startled out of his thoughts.
"Jack, can you come inside for a minute son?" Old Man Johnson shouted.
Jack leant his pitchfork against a wall, wiped his hands on his trousers and walked over to the cottage. I wonder what this is all about he thought as he knocked on the door.
"Come in Jack."
The first thing he saw as he entered the kitchen was the gentleman in the posh suit stood in the centre of the room holding a cup and saucer.
"Jack, I'll come straight to the point, I'm going to have to let you go." Old Man Johnson said somewhat sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but I'm not getting any younger, and Mr Jessop here has made me a more than generous offer for the farm. Of course, I'll pay you to the end of the week, but I won’t need you to come in anymore."
