by Sheila Riley
‘Have you asked him where he goes?’
‘He said I’ve not to worry, I’ll find out in good time.’
‘What did he mean by that, d’you think? Connie needed to know so she could tell Angus, therefore helping Evie.
‘I’m worried he might be in with a bad crowd.’ Evie felt her throat tighten. She had kept her worries locked inside her for so long that letting them out made them sound so much worse. ‘I don’t know what to do about it.’ There was a catch in her voice. ‘To tell the truth, I feel like I’m drowning and can’t find a lifebelt.’
Connie took a deep breath, the poor girl must be out of her mind with worry, and yet she still managed to put a smile on her face. Never let others know her burden. ‘Tell me to mind my business if you like, Evie, but if Jack was mine, I’d move heaven and earth to find out what he was up to.’ Evie nodded. Connie was right, and she talked a lot of sense. She should find out what he was up to. Turning a blind eye was never the answer.
‘I’m sure there’s a simple explanation. Maybe he’s working?’
‘Who’d give a kid a job in times like these, when grown men can’t get work?’ Evie asked.
‘Maybe you’re right,’ Connie said putting beer mats onto tables, ‘but not knowing and worrying, is worse than knowing and trying to help.’
‘I suppose so.’ Evie was placing the newly washed towels along the bar, her last job of the morning when she saw Lucy coming into the tavern. ‘You don’t mind our Lucy coming in, do you, Connie? I told her I might still be working when she finished school at dinnertime.’
‘Of course not, love,’ Connie said, handing Lucy a bag of crisps and a small bottle of lemonade. Lucy was thrilled and, taking her spoils and feeling very grown-up frequenting a public bar, she went to sit by the window and wait for Evie.
‘Evie, can I go skating on the Cut with Bobby Harris? Pleeease,’ Lucy pleaded, her red cheeks mottled with the cold, her coat wide open, ‘Can I Evie, please, go on,’ she coaxed. ‘Can I?’
‘I’ve told you once and I won’t tell you again!’ Evie had to be strong. Her heart wanted to give her sister all she desired. But that was a foolish way of thinking. She didn’t want Lucy turning into a little madam who felt she only had to pout, and she would get her own way.
Lucy’s scattering of freckles stretched into a scowl at her older sister, who was more of a mother to her than her own had ever been. ‘It’s not fair,’ Lucy whined, ‘we do nothing that’s fun!’
‘Bobby’s been warned to stay away from that canal, too,’ Connie told her. ‘The ice is a foot thick in some places, but much thinner by the bridge.’
‘Don’t you dare go down there, Lucy,’ Evie warned.
‘I won’t.’ Lucy shrugged her disappointment. ‘Even though every kid in the street’s been skating on the canal. I’m the only one who hasn’t. It’s not fair.’
‘Neither is a rainy day!’ Evie told Lucy, nuzzling her out of the tavern. ‘Now, let’s get you home to take off those wet socks and hang them on the fireguard to dry.’
‘You look tired, Evie,’ said Connie, ‘and who could wonder…’
‘My heart’s in my mouth worrying about her and Jack,’ Evie said. What little she had saved had gone through her fingers like water, especially when she had to pay top whack for everything.
‘Here,’ Evie said holding out the ten shilling note, ‘let me pay you for the crisps and lemonade’
‘You will not!’ Connie would not dream of accepting a penny. ‘I’d be insulted!’
‘I can think of worse ways to insult somebody,’ Evie laughed, ‘but I won’t take them for nothing, I must pay my way.’
Connie sighed and nodded; she knew Evie’s independence meant everything to her and hoped one day Evie would gain confidence in her strengths instead of believing she was not good enough. ‘You get off home and give Lucy her lunch, and I’ll see you again at three this afternoon, if that suits?’
‘That’s smashing,’ Evie beamed. Slipping her arms into the capacious coat that had doubled as an eiderdown, Evie gave a sigh of relief knowing she had money to buy food and coal.
‘Thanks for listening, Connie. You’re a godsend,’ Evie said, heading towards the door.
‘You’re the godsend, Evie,’ Connie said. ‘You’ve done a fine job – the place hasn’t looked so clean for ages, but don’t tell Mrs Harris I said that,’ she said, following Evie, who emptied her bucket of dirty water down the grid and handed the bucket back to Connie, as Jack was coming down the steps leading from the bridge, not a sign of his recent injury.
‘What’s the matter with her?’ Jack nodded to his younger sister who had gone skulking to their own house, next door. ‘She looks like she lost a tanner and found a farthing.’
‘The little madam wants to go skating on the canal with Bobby Harris!’ Evie’s eyes opened wide at the absurdity of Lucy’s request.
‘I’ll have a word.’ Jack sounded much older than his years as he went on ahead, following Lucy. Evie noticed his flimsy jacket, knowing the first thing she was going to do when she got her week’s wages was to go to Cazenue Street market, to see if she could buy Jack a second-hand coat, to protect him from this awful weather.
‘I’ll be in soon,’ Evie said, giving him a tight smile. Jack nodded once more to Connie and whistled a happy tune as he sauntered home.
‘I don’t know what I’d do without our Jack,’ Evie said to Connie, ‘I’d go scatty if he was mixed up in anything dodgy.’
‘I’m sure he’s one of the good guys,’ Connie said in a fake American accent. Then, more thoughtfully, she said, ‘I didn’t recognise him when he came back from Ireland, he looked older than his fourteen years, so mature and healthy-looking.’
‘That’ll be the fresh air in the Irish countryside and all that good food – a far cry from living around here.’ Evie shivered as a cold wind whipped in from the River Mersey. ‘He goes out all hours, looking for wood for the fire… along the canal, around the docks, that worries me.’
‘He’s got his head screwed on,’ Connie said, suspecting Jack was the reason Darnel didn’t hound Rene, when the kids returned from evacuation.
‘I must be off,’ Evie said, giving Connie a little wave as she headed to number two. With her head bent against the biting wind, Evie didn’t notice a lurking figure step back into the shadow of the bridge.
After walking Lucy back to Saint Patrick’s junior school, Evie carried on to the top road to get a few necessaries with the money Connie had given her. She was feeling more relaxed, knowing at least they had something to eat tonight. She pushed the key into the Yale lock on the front door.
As she entered the long passage on her return, she detected the faint aroma of tobacco. If their Jack was wasting precious coppers on ciggies, she would have it out with him once and for all. It was hard enough trying to keep body and soul together, food-wise. She was not having money wasted on those disgusting habits.
Opening the kitchen door, Evie got the shock of her life. A huge fire was blazing in the hearth, and the room was toasty warm. She had decided not to use the last of the coal until the kids came in later.
‘Jack! Jack! Have you used the last of our coal?’ Evie called out thinking he was in the back-kitchen. But there was no sign of him. If he had lit the fire, and had then gone out again, there might be a new face in heaven by nightfall!
But there was still no answer from Jack, and that’s when Evie got her second shock. There, sat right in the centre of the table was a box. A wooden box with Produce of Ireland stamped in red letters on all four sides. Full to the brim with food. Evie examined the contents.
There was a huge chicken, bigger than any she had seen before and bald as the day it hatched. Potatoes wrapped in newspaper. Carrots. Turnip. A large green cabbage. Tea. Sugar. Cheese. Bread – and more. She had never seen so much food in one box.
‘Jack, are you here?’ she called. But Jack didn’t answer. Evie was confused, running upstairs she soon discover
ed her brother wasn’t up there either. She would have to wait for him to come home to find out, once and for all, what he was up to. Where did he get the money from to buy this lot? Was it even theirs? And if not, who did the hamper belong to? Chicken was like gold around here, and so expensive it was a rare treat even at Christmas, and only then if people had enough readies to buy one.
Drawn to the chair by the fire, Evie had not seen such a blaze in that hearth since she got back. What precious coal they did manage to buy was frugally eked out to save fuel for as long as possible. Mesmerised by the dancing flames, Evie wondered when she was going to wake up. Things like this didn’t happen in real life, so she must be dreaming. Her eyes lingered on the food and her mouth watered at the memory of a chicken dinner she once had when Darnel lived here.
Darnel?! What if he had enticed their Jack into doing something dodgy for easy money? Running illegal gambling in dark alleyways or street corners? All the while keeping an eye out for the local bobby on his beat. Collecting coppers from housewives chancing a little flutter with the old man’s hard-earned wages. Thoughts of police knocking on the door turned Evie to stone. She could not move with the fear of it. What was Jack getting himself into?
22
We might be honest, Evie thought, but we’re also hungry. And it would be a mortal sin to let good food go to waste. Her family were in need?
‘Something smells delicious, our Evie,’ Jack said coming into the kitchen, red-faced with the cold. His mouth watering as he began to stir the huge pan of scouse Evie had made. ‘It’s even got meat in it, not the blind meatless stew Mam used to make.’
‘Just some scrag ends of lamb I managed to buy from the butcher’s,’ Evie said pointedly. Letting him know that everything in that pan had been bought legally. He threw his cap on the back of the door along with his frayed jacket.
‘Do you know anything about this?’ Evie, hands on hips, nodded to the box of food and glared at her brother waiting for an explanation. ‘Where did all this stuff come from?’
‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ Jack’s deep voice came out in an incredulous squeak, ‘I didn’t bring it in.’ He stared back unflinchingly and with a sinking dread, Evie knew he was telling the truth.
‘Then, if you didn’t, who did?’ Her voice came out as a whisper and she looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It said half past four. She had been so busy worrying, and getting their evening meal ready, she had forgotten about Lucy. ‘We’ll talk about this later,’ Evie said, worried about her sister. ‘Did you see Lucy when you came out of school at half past three?’ Evie’s question was loaded with accusation. The emphasis was not lost on Jack; she could tell by the way he lowered his head, not looking in her direction that he was hiding something from her. A true test of his honesty was in that one small action. Their Jack could not look her in the face and tell a lie.
‘I haven’t seen her,’ Jack said, ‘and she should have been home ages ago. I’ll go and look for her.’ Jack headed towards the door and Evie glared at him in his haste to be out of the house.
‘You haven’t been to school, have you, Jack?’ Evie’s voice was thick with accusation. Without warning, Darnel’s veiled threat sprung to mind, and she knew he could ruin this family one way or another if he so wished.
‘I know where she might be. I’ve just seen something,’ Jack said, ‘and you won’t like it.’
‘Oh please, don’t tell me she’s done something stupid! I don’t want to hear it.’ Jack pulled on his jacket and shook his head. ‘The canal’s thawing and I saw kids on the bank on my way home.’
‘Not Lucy!?’ Evie could hardly say the words and Jack didn’t answer as the sound of running feet and anxious voices caused her to gasp in horror, with terrible thoughts racing through her mind. Her spine jerked upright. Lucy had asked time and again if she could go on the canal with Bobby. She wouldn’t… would she?
She’s but a child, said an ominous voice inside her head. She will if she thinks she can get away with it. That’s half the fun. Daring kids like Lucy and Bobby did not think of the consequences. A pair of perishers when they got together. Lucy would be curious, knowing the ice would disappear completely in a day or two.
The rise in temperature brought a much-needed thaw. But with it came floods, burst pipes and overflowing guttering, quelling the initial revelries of spring days to come. It also defrosted icy canals, ponds and rivers.
‘I hope they haven’t…’ Evie’s words trailed as a dark cloud of dread descended on her shoulders. ‘I’ve got to find Lucy!’ Grabbing her coat off the back of the door she headed to the front door, following Jack.
The thunder of boots on cobbles told Evie that people were running towards the bridge.
‘What’s happened?’ She stopped a scurrying woman who was dragging her coat on in her haste to get to the canal.
‘Something in the canal…’ the woman, breathless from running, called over her shoulder. ‘I haven’t seen people move so fast since the Blitz.’ Evie felt her heart shoot to her throat, and she slammed the front door shut. Jack was ahead of her as she raced towards the steps leading to the bridge. This was one of her worst nightmares, being played out before her eyes.
‘Has your Bobby been home from school yet, Mrs Harris?’ Evie called from the steps, her words whipping away on the fierce March wind. Since the snow had thawed, everything was damp and slippery, so Evie stayed close to the sandstone wall.
‘I was just coming to ask you the same question about your Lucy,’ Mrs Harris was being pushed along the street in an old-fashioned bath-chair by her soldier son, Danny. ‘If that sister of yours has persuaded our Bobby to go on that canal and anything has happened to my lad,’ called Mrs Harris, ‘I won’t be responsible for my actions.’
‘Beg pardon, Mrs Harris?’ Evie’s anger sliced her words. ‘I hope you’re not insinuating… Our Lucy’s from a respectable home.’
‘I’m not incinerating nothing, I’m telling you,’ Ada Harris answered. ‘Our Bobby’s got his paper-round. Now they’ll be late! He gets his wages docked if they’re late.’
‘Is that all you’re concerned about, his wages!’ Evie shot Mrs Harris a venomous look, too worried to give her neighbour the unedited version of her scathing thoughts. She knew the older woman was livid when Evie stepped into her shoes at the Tram Tavern.
‘Good Lord!’ Evie prayed the two tearaways were not the reason for the commotion and hurried on up the stone steps.
‘Try not to worry, Evie,’ Danny left his mother at the foot of the steps, struck by Evie’s large panic-stricken eyes, stark against the pallor of her freckled complexion. Evie had never had it easy.
‘They should have been home from school ages ago and…’ Evie could not bring herself to tell Danny about Lucy’s good shepherd. She had warned her sister about the dangers of talking to strangers. This ‘good shepherd’ could be a figment of her overactive imagination. But now she couldn’t be so certain.
‘I saw kids larking about earlier on the other side of the bridge,’ Jack informed Danny, his voice full of regret. ‘I wish I’d warned them off there now.’
‘You didn’t speak to any of them?’ There was frustration in Evie’s words and Jack remained silent. She knew she had hit a nerve. Jack would put himself in danger before he would let any harm come to Lucy, and she had all but accused him of neglecting his duty to their young sister.
‘I hope your sister’s not leading my son down the garden path.’ Mrs Harris’ voice was full of scorn and loud enough for all to hear. ‘What’s in the cat is in the kitten, so I’ve heard.’
‘I’m sure he doesn’t need much leading.’ Evie snapped, although she hadn’t meant to speak ill of Bobby. He was a good kid. His mother, though, was a bitter pill. ‘Let’s worry about who led who, later,’ Evie mumbled, surmising Mrs Harris must be just as worried as she was. This was not the time for finger pointing. She was civilised enough to be magnanimous.
Struggling against the crowd, Ev
ie tried to calm herself. Maybe their Lucy wasn’t even at the canal. She was a good girl. She did as Evie told her… so why wasn’t she home? Her mind was a whirlpool of contradictions. Local children came home from school at midday, as Saint Patrick’s was only five minutes away. Then again, school finished at three-thirty, but it was now turned four o’clock! Evie was losing the battle with panic.
‘It’ll be dark, soon,’ a voice said, as if they needed any telling.
‘Lucy doesn’t like the dark.’ Evie’s voice rose when she saw the crowd leaning over the wall on the other side of the bridge. She was determined not to show the guilt she felt, the irresponsibility. Allowing her sister to wander the cold streets while she had thought only of filling her growling stomach and what she would say to their Jack when he got home from God-knows-where? ‘Oh Lord, please let them be safe!’
‘We’ll find them,’ Danny said, and Evie blanched, not realising she had spoken aloud. ‘They’ve grown up around the canal. They know the dangers.’
‘Lucy hasn’t,’ Evie snapped, his reassuring tone doing nothing to comfort her. ‘That canal bank will be slimy after the thaw.’
‘Someone said there’s a body in the water!’ a man said running past them.
‘Please, God, no!’ Evie could not contain the whimper in her voice as the crowd surged forward and she tried to elbow her way through.
‘We’ll go on ahead.’ Jack and Danny were bigger, stronger. They could get through the throng easier than Evie.
Connie, who had caught up with Evie, put a protective hand around her shoulders. She knew Evie must be out of her mind with worry. As she herself was. She liked the Kilgarens. She liked their determination, and the way they never expected hand-outs or something for nothing. And Bobby… the kid was like her own. She imagined her own darling boy would have been every bit as sparky as Bobby Harris.
