‘Has Mrs Butler been putting the drops in?’
‘Oh, aye. She drops in every day to put that stuff in me ears. I don’t know what I would do without ’er.’
Dr Sellars smiled to herself. Danny was one of her most cheerful patients despite his disability. She got some water from the kettle and a dish from the sink and syringed his right ear. Nothing moved the first time, then a large plug of something hard fell into the dish.
‘Have you been putting anything else in your ears, Danny?’ she asked.
‘Oh, aye, I used to put cotton wool in to stop the noise at work.’
‘You heard me that time, didn’t you?’
‘Aye, I expect you were shouting a bit louder. People get fed up talking to me after a bit and start shouting.’
‘I’m not shouting. Your ear’s been completely blocked since you left work. You must have pushed the cotton wool right inside. Come on, let’s do the other one.’ The same thing happened again. A huge, black ball came tumbling out into the bowl.
Danny grinned. ‘Eeh, fancy, I can hear the damned clock ticking. It sounds like Big Ben!’
‘No wonder you were deaf, look what I’ve got out.’
‘Bloody ’ell.’ Danny couldn’t believe it. ‘Sorry, doctor, for swearing. I were just surprised, that’s all.’
Dr Sellars got her things together. ‘That’s all right. Just promise me you won’t put anything else in your ears?’
‘Oh, I won’t, lass. Eeh, listen to that, I can hear it raining. Eeh, thanks, love.’
‘Don’t thank me, thank Mrs Butler. She’s the one who called me. Good morning then, I’ll be off. Let’s hope it’s just as long until the next time we meet.’
‘Aye, let’s hope so. Good morning then, Doctor.’
Danny couldn’t believe it. All those years with his ears blocked! He got his crutches and went to the bottom of the stairs. If he sat down on his bottom he could climb up fairly easily. When he got to the top he had another pair of crutches waiting. He managed to hop into the back bedroom. There on the tallboy stood the wireless. He knew the accumulators would need charging but it was a grand wireless set. He would get Sally to carry it down for him and ask little Daisy to take the accumulators to be charged, then he would be able to catch up on the news and a bit of music.
Next he remembered the gramophone. He found it in a corner and managed to slide it out to the middle of the room. The records were in a box in the bottom of the wardrobe. He wound the handle at the side and fitted a new needle, then he looked through the records, reading the labels. Tears came to Danny’s eyes then as he remembered dancing to them with his beloved Rosie. He put on a record. ‘Dancing with Tears in My Eyes’ was about right. Danny wiped tears from his cheeks, not tears of sadness now but of joy as the memories flooded back.
They had lived for the day, had Danny and Rosie, enjoying every moment. The holidays where they had danced on the beach in the moonlight and ended up making love under the pier. The nights they had been content just to sit in the firelight, listening to these records. The summer days they had walked over to Longfield and picked bilberries to make a pie then lain hand in hand among the heather, listening to the grouse’s call.
The record ended. Well, Danny might not be able to walk to Longfield any more, and he certainly couldn’t dance, but he could still listen to the birdsong now he’d got his hearing back and he could listen to his records.
He could even buy some new ones. That Vera Lynn, he liked her.
He wondered what type of music Amy Butler liked. It would be nice sitting in the firelight with Amy. Eeh, life would be so much richer now he could hear summat. And it was all down to young Daisy. Danny blessed the day she had brought Sally Butler into his life. He was a fortunate man, and nobody must ever try to tell him otherwise.
Sally was shocked one Sunday morning when she answered the door to find Mark Kaye standing on the step. ‘Oh! she said. ‘Won’t you come in?’
‘Yes, but I’ll just get some things first.’ He went back to his car. Inside the house Sally bustled about, tidying the living-room. Daisy had told her how posh the Kayes’ house was. Mark came back carrying a box which he stood on the table, then he went out again and fetched the clocks, carrying them in one at a time, careful not to shake them about.
‘Hello, Daisy, how are you?’ He smiled at the little girl who seemed to look even prettier than the first time he’d seen her. ‘I’m returning these things,’ he told Sally. ‘They are rightfully yours, and I’m sorry for all the trouble we’ve caused.’
Sally lifted the cardboard flaps of the box and found the vases. Then she lifted out the pictures, wrapped carefully in pieces of cloth. The books lay in the bottom, volumes of Dickens and Shakespeare amongst others.
Sally was overcome by the sight of Mr Jessops’ treasured belongings and went to make some tea so that no one would see her tears. When she came back she said, ‘Look, I’ve been thinking … they should have been Charlotte’s by rights. I said so at the time. Why don’t you take them? Oh, apart from the dog pictures … they’re not worth much, but I’d like to keep those.’ She unwrapped the framed prints and propped them up against the box.
Daisy couldn’t believe her eyes. ‘Hey, they’re pictures of the dogs at Aunty Charlotte’s!’
‘What?’ Mark exclaimed.
‘The dogs … they came at night and slept on my bed. When I was scared they made me feel safe.’ She frowned. ‘I think I was dreaming, but I’m sure I wasn’t asleep. Perhaps they were ghosts.’
Mark Kaye flopped into a chair. ‘Daisy, Charlotte didn’t have any dogs. There were never any dogs in our house.’
‘Oh, well, she wouldn’t talk about them, but they came at night and were gone by morning. They were the dogs in these pictures.’
Sally laughed. ‘You must have been dreaming, like you said, or else imagining things. You know what a vivid imagination you have.’
‘I wasn’t, look …’ Daisy ran upstairs and came back with a sheet of paper which she handed to her mother. ‘Look, that’s part of my story. The one I wrote when I was at the house.’
Sally read the paragraph Daisy was pointing to out loud so that Mark could hear.
‘“On the first night I was afraid and didn’t dare go to sleep, but then on the second night I heard a clock chime and something wondrous occurred. A pair of dogs entered the room, large dogs, which in most circumstances I would have feared. On this night, however, they lay one on either side of me, friendly and comforting. One was grey with a touch of white and was tall and thin. The other was just like Mr Baraclough’s at the shop. After that, they came every night to protect me and I was no longer afraid.”’
Mark Kaye was trembling. So Charlotte had been right! She probably wasn’t insane at all. Strange, certainly, but not to the extent he had thought. It had probably been the shock of seeing the dogs that had brought on the heart attack. If only he’d got rid of the pictures. He examined them closely but could see nothing strange about them. Still, he would be relieved to be rid of them.
‘Well, as I was saying,’ Sally said, ‘take any or all of these. They are yours by rights.’
‘No, they’re yours. After all the trouble Charlotte caused you, I wouldn’t dream of taking anything.’
‘But I got the house,’ Sally told him. ‘Please, at least take one of the clocks. What will we do with three wall clocks?’
Mark shuddered at the thought of living in a house with those clocks again. ‘Well! Uncle Walter must have found room for them,’ he told Sally.
‘Yes, but we prefer things less cluttered.’ Sally wrinkled her nose. ‘Go on, take something. It’ll make me feel better.’
Mark considered her offer. ‘No,’ he said finally, ‘I don’t want any of it. Sell whatever you don’t want and put the money in the bank for Daisy. Call it compensation for her distress.’
‘Well then, thanks. I never expected to see these again.’ Sally took down the two watercolours and hung the prints
in their place.
‘Here,’ she said to Mark. ‘Take these two pictures. I never liked them.’
He grinned. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘But I definitely never want to see the dog pictures again. They give me the collywobbles! I just hope they don’t decide to haunt your house too.’ He wondered who had painted the originals.
‘Oh, that’s just our Daisy’s imagination running riot again.’
Mark bade Sally goodbye and went home, thinking, if only you knew.
When he’d gone Sally stood looking at the pictures. She could have sworn the Alsatian used to be with the girl on the other picture. Goodness, she was becoming as bad as Daisy! Now, what were they going to do with three clocks?
Daisy was in the middle of an art lesson when Jean, who shared her desk, said to her, ‘Your mum’s having a baby, isn’t she?’
Daisy felt herself blushing. How did Jean know something that Daisy herself should have known, but didn’t? She said the first thing that came into her head. ‘She is not.’
‘Yes, she is. My mum saw her at the clinic.’
‘Well, your mum shouldn’t spread gossip!’
Now Daisy couldn’t concentrate on the picture she was painting. She felt stupid. How could her mam have kept something like that from her? She must think Daisy herself was a baby. She couldn’t wait for home time and hurried away without even waiting for Carol. She had to catch up with Norah, and the seniors always seemed to be out before the juniors. She waited at the gate for her cousin.
‘Hiya, Daisy. What are you doing here?’
‘Norah, is my mam having a baby?’
‘I think so, she looks a bit fat.’
‘Has your mam said anything?’
‘No! But then, she wouldn’t. They never tell us anything like that, do they?’
‘Well, Jean’s mother’s told her. She said my mam was at the clinic. I felt so stupid, not knowing.’
‘Oh, don’t worry about it. Besides, I thought you wanted a baby?’
‘I did when I was little, but not now I’m ten!’
‘Are you going to tell yer mam that you know?’
‘Why should I? If she can’t be bothered to tell me, I shan’t tell her.’
Daisy went to call for Carol later, she couldn’t wait to confide in her, but when she saw her friend’s face she was too concerned for Carol to think about herself.
‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.
‘Nothing, I’m all right.’
‘No, you’re not. You haven’t been all right for a long time. You’ve got to tell me what’s wrong.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Why not? I thought I was your friend. Don’t you trust me?’
‘Yes, I do trust you. But I can’t tell you …’
‘Well! I’ve got something to tell you. My mam’s having a baby and she’s never told me! Besides, how could they do something like that?’
‘Like what?’
‘Well, you know. Doing things to each other. How can she let him put his thingy inside her? Like our Norah told us happens when you get married. I shall never get married if that’s what you have to do.’
Before Daisy had finished speaking Carol had burst into tears. She was sobbing her heart out and Daisy didn’t know what to do.
‘What did I say to make you cry? Look, let’s go to our house. If you can’t tell me what’s wrong, perhaps you can tell my mam.’
Carol shook her head but she didn’t object to Daisy leading her by the hand to Taylors Row. Jim was at work and Sally was using the sewing machine, the treadle making so much noise that she didn’t hear the girls enter the room. She jumped when she finally saw them and stopped pedalling when she saw the look of misery on Carol’s face.
‘Whatever’s the matter, love? Here, come and sit down by the fire.’ Sally sat down beside her daughter’s friend.
‘Mam, you’ve got to make her tell you what’s wrong,’ Daisy insisted.
‘Do you want to tell me, Carol?’ Sally asked in a soft voice.
‘It’s him … he does things to me! Every Monday, when my mum goes to her first-aid class, and any other time he gets the chance.’
‘What sort of things, Carol?’ Sally felt as though her blood was turning to ice.
‘He … he touches me, up my dress, where he shouldn’t …’
‘Daisy, go and make some tea, love,’ Sally ordered her, and for once her daughter did as she was told. She didn’t like the sound of this.
Carol was shuddering with sobs, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering as she spoke.
‘And he takes out his thing, you know, and makes me hold it until …’
She could say no more. When she’d finally calmed down she continued, ‘He says it’s what all big girls do and it’s to be kept our secret or he’ll tell everybody at school. I hate him, I do! I can’t go home … I’m going to run away. I’ll go to my grandma’s in Leeds.’
‘Look, Carol, he won’t tell anybody, anybody at all, because if he does he’ll go to prison. You’ve got to tell your mum and dad.’
Carol shrank away, horrified. ‘Tell my dad? What are you talking about? It’s him I’m telling you about.’
‘What? I thought you were talking about your … your Uncle Harry?’
‘Uncle Harry? He would never do anything to hurt anyone. He’s good and kind. I think he might kill Dad if he finds out.’
Sally thought killing might be too good for someone who could do things like that to his own daughter.
‘Listen, love, you’ve got to tell me something. Has he ever put his … his thing inside you?’
‘No. But that’s what I’m scared of. He says he’s saving that for a treat. That’s why I can’t go home.’
‘No, you definitely can’t. We shall have to wait for Daisy’s dad to come in from work and see what’s to be done then. In the meantime you can stay here, all right? Daisy, are there any biscuits?’ Her daughter looked almost as upset as her friend and was still trembling.
Sally know she had to comfort and reassure both the girls.
‘Look, it’s a horrible thing he’s done, but it could have been worse and he won’t do it again, I promise. What he’s done to you, Carol, is something only grown-up people should do, when they love each other. When you love someone, it’s something you do naturally and it’s never horrible. But never, ever, should it be something anyone forces you to do. And never at your age. It’s something to be treasured until you grow up.’
Sally didn’t want Daisy or Carol to be put off sex for the rest of their lives. The monster had already done enough damage. Carol was still shaking. Sally would have to let her mother know where the girl was. She decided to ask Mr Baraclough if she could use his phone. The good-hearted soul never minded so long as the caller paid. Luckily it was Carol’s mother who answered.
‘Hello, it’s Sally Butler here … Daisy’s mother. Is it all right if Carol stays the night with us?’
‘Yes, of course, so long as she’s no trouble?’
‘No, she’s no trouble at all. I’ll see she gets to school in the morning. Goodbye.’
She hurriedly replaced the receiver, worried that the woman would detect something unusual about her voice.
Sally herself was still in shock from what Carol had revealed to her. Why in God’s name had the girl not been able to confide in her own mother? Then she wondered if her own daughter would have felt able to confide in her. It wasn’t as if she ever talked to Daisy like a grown-up. Perhaps it was time she began to do so. After all, the girls had seemed to be more worldly wise than she had imagined. She would begin by telling Daisy about the baby she expected. Tonight, though, there were far more important things to sort out. For now she must try and act as though things were normal in order to calm Carol down, but what would happen when her husband came home, she dreaded to think.
* * *
When Jim did come home, after his customary pint at the Sun, Daisy and Carol were already in bed. Sally could hear them chat
ting, and the occasional giggle reassured her. She served Jim his supper and then said, ‘Carol’s staying tonight.’
‘Oh, that’ll suit our Daisy.’
‘Yes. I mean, no. It isn’t a social visit …’
‘What then?’ Jim didn’t really care so long as no one was ill. He ate another forkful of potatoes and onions.
‘Something awful has happened to Carol, Jim. Her father’s been interfering with her, using her for his own sexual gratification.’
‘What?’ Her husband jumped up, slamming the cutlery down on his plate. ‘And has our Daisy been visiting that house?’
‘Shush! We don’t want Carol to hear. The girl’s upset enough as it is. And, no, our Daisy hasn’t been in the man’s company. The thing is, what are we going to do about it?’
‘Christ! Do we have to get involved in summat like this, Sally?’
‘Well, seeing as Carol’s plucked up courage to confide in me, yes, I think we do.’
‘Bloody ’ell! What do we do … fetch Bobby Jones?’
‘I think we need to tell her mother first. She’ll need to know why Carol hasn’t gone home. Besides, there’s the baby sister to consider, too. I think we ought to confront the family, now.’
‘What, tonight?’
‘Well, yes. I was hoping you’d come with me.’
‘Oh, aye. Well, you certainly can’t go alone. The man might turn nasty.’ Jim left the rest of his supper, his appetite deserting him. ‘Come on then, let’s get it over with.’ Sally knocked on Emily’s door and asked her to sit with the two girls.
They walked past Danny’s house and reached the end of the road, passing under the tree-hung part where Daisy had been snatched by Charlotte. Sally’s stomach turned a somersault as they rounded a corner and their destination came into view. There was a sliver of light showing beneath one blind.
‘At least they’re still up,’ Sally whispered.
She rang the bell and it was Carol’s father who answered. As soon as Jim saw the man standing there in his silk, paisley-patterned dressing gown, his pent-up anger rose to the surface. Jim clenched his fist and smashed the man right between the eyes, sending him flying backwards so that he landed on the third step of the staircase inside. The cry he let out brought his wife running to the scene. She let out a scream before hurrying to his aid.
Where the Heart Is Page 25
