Bob Quinton’s head was bowed and his lids lowered and his face had a sad look and Mary Ann found that she was liking him. She refrained from referring to the other point of the triangle, that of Mike and his supposed infatuation for Mrs Quinton, for reason told her that if Mr Quinton went back to his wife that would put paid to her da. Mr Quinton couldn’t know anything about this part and what you didn’t know couldn’t do you any harm. That was Mrs McBride’s saying. Even as bad as she knew her granny to be, she didn’t think she was bad enough to go and tell him what had taken place on Sunday. So surely it was better to let some sleeping dogs lie while rousing others, so she said, ‘Me ma’s so proud of me da because he’s got such a fine job and Mr Lord thinks the world of him, and he’s steady now and everything’s going fine, and—’
‘Mary Ann.’ Bob was holding her hands tightly. ‘Say no more. I understand, and everything is going to go as you want it with your…your ma and da. You take that from me.’
She stared into his face for a moment before filling her narrow chest with air, and then she smiled and said soberly, ‘You won’t tell me ma that I’ve been, will you?’
‘Don’t worry, Mary Ann, no-one shall know about this visit, only you and me.’ He touched her cheek now, saying gently, ‘Don’t worry your head any more, everything’s going to be all right.’
There was no need to stay any longer. She rose from the chair and, picking up her basket, she made her way to the door. When Bob had opened it for her he put his hand into his inside pocket and, taking out his wallet and extracting a pound note, he handed it to her, saying, ‘That’s for your birthday, buy something.’
‘Eeh, no! No, thank you, Mr Quinton.’
‘Go on, don’t be silly.’
‘But where would I say I got it?’ She was staring up into his face now, wide-eyed. ‘I would have to tell me ma who I’d got it from.’
The pound note fluttering in his fingers, Bob smiled wryly as he said, ‘You think of everything, Mary Ann.’
Mary Ann now returned his wry smile; then after a moment of quick thinking she extended him a tentative invitation, saying, ‘But if you came to my party it would be all right for me to have it then. You could just drop in as if…well, as if…’
His smile widened and his eyes twinkled as he said, ‘As if I was just passing. All right, I’ll accept that invitation. June the first, was it you said?’
‘Well, no, it’s going to be on the Saturday because we’re off school then. That’s a fortnight today.’
‘It’s a date. I’ll be there and with the pound note.’
‘Oh, well, it isn’t just ’cos of the pound note.’ She had to put that in because it was, she knew, the polite thing to say. But she added to it, ‘You won’t let on that I asked you?’
‘Not on your life.’
She smiled her farewell now, then turned away. But she hadn’t gone a few steps when she turned towards him again and said, in a low tone, ‘You will go and see…?’
Her voice was cut off abruptly with, ‘Yes, yes, I promise you. Go on now and don’t worry.’ His voice pressed on her reassuringly, and she turned about and left the building site with her heart lighter than it had been for days.
Bob Quinton had hardly closed the office door on Mary Ann when another door at the other end of the room opened and Mike walked slowly into the room, and the two men stood looking across the space in silence for a moment. Then Mike, characteristically rubbing his face with the palm of his hand, muttered, ‘It makes you sort of humble. My God! It isn’t right for a child to have such a capacity for feeling.’
‘Do you think she knew you were coming here?’
‘No, no.’ Mike shook his head emphatically. ‘They had no idea where I was coming. Or perhaps they had their own ideas, but they would certainly not think of me coming to see you. No, things have been going over in her mind and she saw this as a solution to her own problem.’
‘And to mine,’ said Bob. ‘But really, Mike, I didn’t know where to put myself. And you behind that door and not knowing what she would come out with next. Not that there is anything in my past that you don’t know. Still, that didn’t make things easier. But it’s odd that she should turn up at this time and you here. Isn’t it? Any other time and it would have been strange enough, but at this very minute. Well’—he jerked his head—‘there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in philosophy. And now, Mike, to get back to this business.’ Bob went to his desk and, lifting a blotter, took from beneath it a letter and, looking at it, he went on, ‘If I follow Mary Ann’s advice it will give her the lie, won’t it?’
As Bob sat on the edge of the desk Mike lowered himself heavily into a chair and, nipping his lower lip between his teeth, he said, ‘It’s really unbelievable. Mind you, Bob, as I said, I told her to get on the bus pronto and come and tell you. But you know how you say these things and never expect a person to take you at your word. By God, she’s a wicked old bitch, if ever there was one.’
‘I’ve always known she was a trying old girl, Mike, and you may not believe it, there were times when I didn’t envy you your position as son-in-law although, as you know, and you don’t need me to tell you, I would gladly have been in your shoes at one time. But that’s over and done with. And I always tried to be nice to the old girl because, you see, I was brought up next door and didn’t want her to get the idea that because I had got on a bit it had gone to my head. Moreover, she had always liked me, and you know, say what you like, it is difficult to dislike anyone who likes you and shows it. But this’—he flicked the letter—‘that finishes me with her.’
Mike said now, ‘You believe me, don’t you, that I’d never clapped eyes on your wife before last Saturday morning?’
‘Yes, of course I do.’
‘Mind you’—Mike lowered his head now—‘I suppose I’m to blame in a way because she was so damned insistent that nobody of your wife’s standard would look the side I was on, that I wanted to prove her in the wrong, but even that didn’t justify her writing such a letter as that…My God, I have the urge now to take the quickest transport into Shields and throttle the old bitch…The trouble that old woman’s caused in my life, you wouldn’t believe it.’
‘Oh yes I do.’
‘What are you going to do about it, Bob?’
Bob looked down at the letter in his hand, which started,
It’s because I’ve got your interests at heart, Bob, that I’m telling you this…
‘Ignore it, I think,’ he said. ‘It isn’t written with any idea of helping me, and not wholly to get her own back on Connie for snubbing her. Its vitriolic aim is set mainly at you.’
‘It’s incredible, but that woman means to part Liz and me or die in the attempt…Well, I swear this, if she ever managed it she wouldn’t live to enjoy it.’
‘I know how you feel, Mike, and I can tell you I’m not comfortable about my share in your troubles.’ He gave Mike a little shamefaced look after making this statement. ‘At times lately I’ve even thought: Without lifting a hand Mike’s getting his own back.’
‘No. No, man, I wouldn’t want my own back on anybody. All I want to do is to carry on with my job and live in peace with Liz and the two youngsters. And for the past few years it’s been like that. But as is always the case, trouble never comes alone, it has its hangers-on. I’ve always found that let one thing happen to me and there’ll be three. And I already know what the third is to be.’ He did not inform Bob of the nature of the coming trouble but he knew it would be the court case with Johnson. Instead, he added, with a grin, ‘It’s funny, you know, but the old devil’s really done me a good turn. We’ve never been able to talk, us two, have we? There’s always been Liz atween us.’
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right there, Mike, at least up until I met Connie. The odd thing is that I know Connie’s right for me and me for her, yet I fight with her like I know I never would have with Lizzie.’
Mike laughed at this. ‘I know what you mea
n there all right; it must be that fightin’ and lovin’ go together. Well now’—Mike straightened his back and pulled his waistcoat down—‘what are you going to do? Are you going to make it up again pronto?’
‘Oh.’ Bob flexed his chin and rubbed at it. ‘It was me who walked out, so it’s me who’ll have to walk back, and that’s going to take some doing. You know how it is. How does one start? And there’s always the fear of a rebuff. Connie can be as aloof as an owl in a tree.’
‘Aye, making it up can be a skin-stripping business. I’ve had some. It all depends on the time and place. It can be over in a minute or it takes days. Well now, I’ll be off.’ He got to his feet. ‘She’s had time to get the bus.’
Bob turned his head to one side and laughed. ‘Mary Ann. You know, Mike, I used to envy you Mary Ann, and I still do.’ He rose and walked towards the door, and as he passed Mike he said, ‘That’s the trouble, not having a Mary Ann of one’s own.’
‘Well, you can rectify that.’
‘Well, we’ll see.’ He laughed self-consciously. ‘Goodbye now, and thanks for coming, Mike. I feel better.’
‘Goodbye, Bob. And let me know how things go, won’t you?’
‘Yes, yes, I’ll do that.’
‘Goodbye then.’
‘Goodbye, Mike.’
‘Oh.’ Mike turned after taking a few steps from the door. ‘Don’t forget you’ve got an invitation to the party.’
‘Oh, the party. No, I won’t forget. I’ll be there, Mike.’
‘Good. So long.’
‘So long.’
Bob watched Mike go, liking now, with a warm understanding liking, the man he had always despised.
Chapter Eight: When Extremes Meet
In the meantime Mary Ann had made her way to Mulhattans’ Hall and Mrs McBride’s kitchen, only to find that Mrs McBride was out. But that didn’t matter so much today because Corny was in. He grinned at her when he opened the door and saw her standing there, and exclaimed without any greeting, ‘Funny, I didn’t see you comin’. I’ve just got in. Me granny’s out, likely at the store.’ Then he turned round and walked into the room, and Mary Ann followed him and placed the basket on the table next to the shining cornet.
Seeing her eyes on the instrument, he exclaimed, ‘Aa went to Mr Bradley’s. By, he was good. He plays like nobody’s business. Coo! You should hear ’im. An’ you know what?’ He bent slightly towards her, his eyes twinkling. ‘Me granny was right; he is after me t’ join, but for God’s sake don’t let on, else she’ll make it so hot for me Aa’ll jump off the ferry landin’. Aa told him Aa was a Catholic and he was decent and said—’ Now Corny broke off and, his mouth stretching across his face, he laughed. ‘You knaa what he said? He’s funny—he said it didn’t matter how Aa blow meself to God as long as Aa blows mesel there. Funny, wasn’t it? Still’—his face became serious—‘Aa’m larnin’ and that’s aal that matters. It’s aal to do with the breath. Look.’ Before her admiring gaze he picked up the cornet and, without making any sound, demonstrated the art of breathing in order to play the instrument.
‘Go on, play something.’ Mary Ann, seated now by the table, looked at him in wide-eyed admiration.
‘Aa dorrsn’t. They’—he indicated the other dwellers in Mulhattans’ Hall by a circular movement of his head—‘they played war ’cos of the other time.’
Mary Ann knew he was referring to the morning when he had played ‘He stands at the corner’ and she sympathised with him by saying, ‘Spoilsports.’
Corny, seating himself now at the opposite side of the table from her, suddenly changed the conversation from cornets to farming by asking abruptly, ‘What’ve you got on yore place?’
‘Got? You mean on our farm?’
‘Aye.’
‘Oh.’ Mary Ann wriggled her bottom on the seat, and placed her elbows on the table in order to rest her face on her hands. ‘Oh, we’ve got cows—fifteen cows and calves—seven lovely little calves—and two bulls, Bill and Neptune. Bill’s nice, like a lamb.’ The comparison was neither correct nor even desirable from a bull’s point of view. And then, ‘We’ve got sheep and lambs—oh, dozens of lambs, they’re all over the place. And pigs—I don’t like pigs, nor hens, very much. We haven’t got many hens, just enough for eggs for us and Mr Lord. And you know something?’ Her head moved in the cup of her hands. ‘Me da’s goin’ up to Scotland at the back end; he’s going to buy some Galloways.’
‘What d’ye want pit ponies for?’
Mary Ann gave a superior laugh. ‘Galloways are not pit ponies—they’re cattle, special cattle. Me da’s going to start breeding them. I know it’s a funny name for cattle.’
He grinned at her, then asked, ‘Hev ya any horses?’
There was a pause before Mary Ann made the admission that they had no horses on the farm. Then without seemingly drawing breath she said, ‘You know Sarah Flannagan, her across the road?’ She swung her head up. ‘Well, she’s gone all hoity-toity and thinks she’s the cat’s pyjamas because her uncle’s started a riding school near us and she can ride. And you know something?’ She leant farther towards him now. ‘She’s after our Michael.’
‘He goes to the Grammar School, disn’t he?’
Corny was ignoring the main issue, and Mary Ann brought it back into focus by saying, ‘She asked him to go and meet her; I heard her, I was there. She said, “Come along to our place any evening and you can help with the horses.” It’s only because she wants him for her lad.’
‘What’s yore Michael gonna be?’
Mary Ann lifted her face from her hands. Corny was refusing to take the cue. As she rose from her chair she said offhandedly, ‘Oh, I don’t know. He’ll go to college, I expect, if he passes his exams.’
Corny, too, rose, and now, picking up his cornet from the table, he looked at it as he said, ‘Aa’ll get on an’ all. I’m goin’ in a garage as soon as Aa leave school. There’s piles o’ money to be made oot o’ cars, but Aa’m only goin’ to stay there till Aa larn this properly’—he patted the cornet—‘and then Aa’ll show ’em.’ He turned and looked down on her now, his face solemn and plain in the extreme, and he repeated, ‘Aye, Aa’ll show ’em.’
‘Will you tell Mrs McBride that I’ve been?’ Mary Ann took the things out of the basket and placed them on the table, adding, ‘I’ll have to be going.’
He laughed now as he looked at the eggs, butter and bacon on the table. ‘Well, she won’t think Mrs Flannagan’s left ’em, will she?’
They both laughed, and as he went through the door with her she inquired, ‘Are you going home?’
‘No. Aa’m just goin’ oot for a bit.’
Mary Ann looked down at the cornet in his hand and asked, ‘Well, why don’t you leave that in the house?’
‘Oh.’ He grinned good-naturedly now. ‘Me granny’s gettin’ as bad as me ma; she’s threatened to smash it to smithereens if she gets her hands on it. Not that she would though, mind, but Aa’m tyeking nee chances. If she comes back in a bad temper, God knaas what she’ll de.’
Mary Ann smiled and nodded in sympathy, and as they went out of the house she knew that Corny was going to see her to the bus as he had done the other day, and she felt happy and sort of excited.
But the journey to the bus took much longer today than it had done previously, for they talked, and as they talked they wandered off the usual route, neither knowing who was the leader in this manoeuvre. They laughed when they finally came out at the top of Ormond Street and onto the main road, but they made no remark on the length of the detour or the long walk facing them back to the bus stop.
Mary Ann liked Corny. The more she was with him, the more she was finding that she liked to be with him. And when he suddenly asked her in his abrupt ‘no nonsense’ fashion whether the invitation to her party still held good, she turned on him wide astonished eyes, saying, ‘Why, of course! Of course you must come, Corny,’ at the same time knowing that she had missed the opportunity of following her mother’s a
dvice—express command would be a better statement—in putting Corny off. But she comforted herself with the memory of her da saying, ‘You’ve asked him, you can’t get out of it now.’
After this they walked on in a silence that lasted so long that Mary Ann, casting her eyes upwards to see how he was looking after being reassured about the invitation, experienced a most odd sensation. It wasn’t weird and it wasn’t frightening, but it was odd…lovely…odd. She was finding that she couldn’t clearly see Corny for between them floated a silver mist that had nothing to do with the atmosphere of Jarrow. This silver mist slowly enveloped Corny. She knew he was still by her side, she knew that his suit was awful and his face wasn’t much to look at, yet she knew at the same time and with a certainty that he was beautiful. The sensation was becoming more and more odd. Although the silver mist separated them, and Corny seemed to be floating away on it, she felt that he was standing close to her, very close, closer than he had stood yet, so close that she felt a heat radiating from him and into herself. It was…like getting into a hot bath when you are very cold. Then the mist, the beautiful silver mist, was wrenched away by no other cause than her name being spoken. But not by Corny.
Blinking as if coming out of a dream, she turned her face towards the road and the car that was pulling to a stop at the kerb. At the wheel of the car was Tony, but on the near side, and with his face now only inches from her, was Mr Lord.
If she had awakened in hell and been confronted by the devil she couldn’t have looked more surprised.
‘What is the matter with you, child? Stop blinking your eyes like that. Who is this?’
‘Oh.’ Mary Ann, still blinking, turned her demisted gaze now on Corny, and she gulped and said, ‘He’s Corny, Corny Boyle.’ She gave Corny a tentative little smile as she made the introduction. Then turning her face towards Mr Lord again, she added, ‘Mrs McBride—you know Mrs McBride—well, she’s his grandmother.’
Love and Mary Ann Page 11
