Dublin's Fair City

by Cathy Mansell

  ‘I’m Bell’s mother. Is she here?’

  ‘I haven’t told ‘er you’re coming,’ Mary said. ‘She’s in ‘er room, no doubt getting ready to go and meet him.’

  ‘Can you let her know I’m here, or shall I go straight up?’

  Aileen, who was standing in the doorway of the living room listening, said, ‘I’ll go and tell her you’re here.’

  When she knocked and popped her head round the door, Bella was looking in the mirror, pinning up her hair.

  ‘Look, I’m in a hurry. What do you want?’

  ‘Your ma’s downstairs.’

  ‘Me mum’s here?’ Bella frowned. ‘She can’t be. Who rang her? Was it you?’

  ‘No. But you said yourself she wanted you to come home.’

  Bella pulled a face and sat down. ‘Tell ‘er… Oh, tell ‘er to come up.’

  Aileen went back down, wondering if she could ever have broken down the wall Bella had built around herself.

  ‘Well?’ Bella’s mother asked. ‘Is she coming?’

  ‘She’s asked for you to go up.’

  Not waiting to be asked twice, Bella’s mother and young sister went upstairs. From what Aileen had seen of Bella’s mother, she felt sure that she would easily persuade her daughter to return home. She knew that if her own da asked her to come home, she wouldn’t hesitate. However, she felt disappointed not to have had time to get to know Bella.

  ‘Come on, love.’ Mary placed her hand on Aileen’s arm. ‘I feel like celebrating with a cup of tea and a Chelsea bun, don’t you?’

  Chapter Seventeen

  When Aileen had been working at the mill two weeks, Miss Grimshaw asked her how she felt about doing a few hours overtime on Saturday morning. ‘Yes, I’d like that,’ she said. ‘What do you want me to do?’

  The woman smiled. ‘Can you come upstairs at nine tomorrow? You won’t be on your own. It’s just putting invoices into envelopes and using the franking machine.’ She linked her fingers. ‘They need to be in the post by twelve noon. Is that okay?’

  Aileen nodded. The extra money would come in handy. She was saving to go back to Dublin for a few days. Dermot’s letter had been full of news; not all good. The draper’s shop had been closed for days, and when he’d asked her Aunt Lizzy if everything was all right, she had given him a load of abuse, telling him to mind his own business. He told Aileen that he understood why she had felt the need to get away.

  So her aunt was still getting things her own way. Aileen wondered if she should have given in so easily.

  Dermot’s letter had increased her desire to see how her da was coping. Although she hadn’t heard from him, she refused to believe he had completely forgotten about her.

  * * *

  Several times that week, Alan snubbed her, but Aileen just put it down to the fact that he was missing Bella. On Friday afternoon, she was outside in the yard when she bumped into him.

  ‘Alan, have I done something to upset you? You seem…’

  ‘You couldn’t keep your pecker out, could you? Why did you have to interfere with something you know nothing about, eh?’ He turned and walked away towards the sheds.

  Shocked, she followed him. ‘What do you mean?’ He tried to close the door in her face, but she pushed it open. ‘This had nothing to do with me. Bella’s mother wanted her to come home.’

  ‘You and that Mary engineered it, though, didn’t you?’

  ‘No. It wasn’t like that.’ She wanted to say more, but this wasn’t the time to get into an argument. ‘Oh, think what you like,’ she said and went into the toilet, bolting the door behind her. She took a few deep breaths until she felt calmer before returning to the office.

  ‘Took yea long enough,’ Val said, when she returned. The other girl was eating a sandwich with one hand and typing with the other; a pile of paperwork surrounded her. ‘We must get this lot finished before we leave tonight.’

  ‘Sorry. I was talking to Alan.’ She said nothing more. She was still shaking from Alan’s accusation. Why did he feel it was her fault? Had Bella been in touch and ended their relationship? As she typed, the keys kept sticking, and her fingers became covered in ink. Wiping them on a clean tissue, she glanced up at Val. ‘Is Alan working tomorrow?’

  Val shrugged. ‘I guess so. He hasn’t got Bella to distract him. Have you heard how she’s getting on?’

  Aileen shook her head while typing the orders as fast as she could. She wished now that she hadn’t agreed to work. Each time Alan came to the hatch, he spoke directly to Val. He was acting like a huffy teenager, and she struggled to hold in the anger welling up inside her. This mess was all down to him. As far as Aileen was concerned, Mary had done Bella a favour.

  * * *

  On Saturday morning, Aileen was determined not to let Alan intimidate her. When she arrived, the yard was quiet but she knew he was about because the shed doors were open. She quickly slipped upstairs. There was no-one in the office, and she felt vulnerable. The work was laid out on the desk, and she began to sort through it until she heard someone coming upstairs. She looked up, expecting to see the part-time lady, but was startled to see a man standing in the office. He wore a bright yellow jersey over a check shirt, beige casuals and suede shoes.

  ‘I’m sorry, can I–?’

  ‘Apologies if I startled you.’ He held out his hand. ‘I’m the company rep, Roy Pickering.’

  ‘I’m Aileen. I’ve only been here a few weeks,’ she said, shaking his hand.

  ‘On your own then?’

  Aileen shrugged. ‘Looks like I am.’

  He smiled. ‘Well, I’ll be around for an hour or so. If you need any help, give me a shout.’ He moved to a bigger desk by the window overlooking the street and opened his leather briefcase.

  Aileen sighed, pleased that she wasn’t alone in the building. She glanced down at the work facing her and wondered how she was expected to get through it all, but she didn’t want to let Miss Grimshaw down. When Alan appeared in the office, he walked across to where Roy was on the comptometer, his fingers quickly moving across the mechanical calculator.

  Alan handed over an invoice, exchanged a few words, and went back down without so much as a cursory glance in her direction. How rude, she thought. The snub hurt her because he had always been polite to her before all this business with Bella.

  By eleven o’clock Aileen had only got through half of the work, and she needed to get to the post by twelve. It was a ten-minute walk to the post office, so she decided to finish up, frank the envelopes she had ready, and go.

  Roy Pickering finished what he was doing and shut his briefcase then looked over at Aileen. She was looking at the franking machine, a worried expression on her face.

  ‘Need help with that?’ Smiling, he came over. In spite of him being an older man, Aileen couldn’t help noticing he was quite attractive, and certainly charming and polite. His ginger hair had a centre parting that needed a trim. He touched his hair and gave her a quizzical look. ‘I guess you’ve not worked one of these before.’

  She shook her head.

  He explained about the dials and the pricing, and then asked her to place one letter at a time into the correct slot at the top and pull the handle. ‘Would you like me to help you get the rest finished?’

  Aileen smiled gratefully. She didn’t want to be left alone in the building with Alan, and she would have used any excuse to keep the sales rep from leaving. ‘I hope I’m not keeping you from anything.’

  ‘A few household chores; nothing important!’ He pulled over a chair and sat next to her. She could smell his aftershave but couldn’t put a name to it. He chatted to her freely as they worked. ‘So you’re from Ireland? Do you miss it?’

  ‘Yes, I guess I do,’ she said, as they passed the envelopes back and forth. Half an hour later the work was finished and bundled together for posting. Aileen sighed. ‘Thanks, I’d never have done it without you.’

  ‘Pleasure. You shouldn’t have been left in this situation.’ He
stood up and glanced at his watch. ‘Quarter to! They close at twelve. You won’t make it on foot.’

  ‘I’m a good runner,’ she said.

  ‘Come on, I’ll give you a lift.’

  Aileen quickly put the bundles into her shopping bag, picked up her belongings, and followed him downstairs. Alan turned his back as she came outside.

  A shiny black car was parked in the yard. Aileen knew very little about cars but when Roy opened the passenger door, she could smell the leather. ‘I’ll have you there in a couple of minutes.’

  ‘I appreciate this. Thank you, Roy.’ She settled back in the seat, holding the bag with the post on her knee as the car moved smoothly out into the avenue. She caught a glimpse of Alan standing watching with his hands on his hips.

  When Aileen came out of the post office, she was surprised to find Roy was still there. The car purred softly, and he wound the window down.

  ‘Have you far to go?’

  ‘No. I’ll be grand. I’ve some shopping to do.’ Thanking him again, she walked on, glancing into shop windows before slipping into the newsagents where she bought liquorice allsorts and the Birmingham Post. On the couple of occasions she had gone downtown to browse the shops, she had discovered it wasn’t much fun on her own.

  It had been especially lonely these past two weeks and, apart from Mary, she never saw a living soul all weekend. Sometimes she found herself wishing for Monday morning just to hear what Val and her boyfriend had gotten up to. But this morning, working alongside Roy had been pleasant, and she had enjoyed talking with him. Unlike Alan, his manners were impeccable, and she was intrigued to know why Val disliked him so much.

  Chapter Eighteen

  On Monday morning, Miss Grimshaw was standing in the middle of the office with a folder in her hand. ‘Oh, Aileen,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry Eva didn’t make it in on Saturday. Thanks for getting it all done, though. You did well.’

  ‘Yes, it was a bit daunting, but the sales rep, Mr Pickering, helped. I’d never have got through it all without him.’

  ‘Oh, I see.’ She frowned and tapped her lips with her pencil. ‘That was kind of him. Did he leave any paperwork?’

  ‘I don’t know, Miss Grimshaw. He may have left some with Alan.’

  ‘Why he can’t let me know when he’s coming in, I don’t know.’ She sighed and went out into the yard.

  ‘What was that all about?’ Aileen asked.

  Val shrugged. ‘I don’t think she likes Roy much either.’

  There was obviously something in his character she had missed, but she would wait until she knew him better before making judgement. It could well be a personality clash; in Miss Grimshaw’s case, that wouldn’t surprise her.

  ‘Why do people dislike him, then?’

  ‘Don’t know really. I rarely see him, but he comes over as a bit of a loner, if you know what I mean.’

  ‘Really? He doesn’t give me that impression.’

  ‘Do you fancy him?’ Val laughed.

  ‘Don’t be daft.’ Aileen sighed. ‘Anyway, what did you do at the weekend?’

  Val stopped typing. ‘We went dancing Saturday night at the Ritz social club, and on Sunday night we went to the Odeon. We were in the back row.’ She giggled. ‘So, I’ve no idea what was showing.’ She pulled the advice note from the machine and replaced it with another.

  ‘Sounds grand.’ Aileen was bored with staying in night after night. At least back in Dublin, she had Dermot to go dancing with. She missed him, especially at the weekends.

  ‘What did you get up to?’

  Aileen glanced up. ‘Chance would be a fine thing. If you’d call writing letters, housework, and watching television with Mary, that’s about it.’

  ‘Drive me bonkers, that would.’ Val looked up. ‘I’ll try and ditch Peter one night, and then you and me can go somewhere, if you like?’

  ‘That would be great. I can’t wait to see the city at night.’

  * * *

  Later in the week, Aileen had just about had enough of Alan’s rudeness, arrogance, and the snide remarks made when there was no-one within earshot. And she was at her wits’ end as to how to deal with him.

  ‘Oh, just ignore him. It’s nothing personal.’

  That was easy for Val to say. But Aileen couldn’t forget it. She wanted to know why Alan was taking his frustration out on her.

  ‘It is personal as far as I’m concerned, Val. And I don’t intend to put up with it.’ ‘Look, let me have another word with him.’

  Aileen shrugged. ‘Ah sure, what good will it do?’

  A few minutes later, Alan brought in a stack of orders. He handed half to Val and the rest to Aileen. She was still working her way through the previous lot and only gave the work a cursory glance.

  It was much later that morning when she picked up the recent batch. The order on top of the pile was impossible to read. Although she was now familiar with the different kinds of seeds and grains, this just wasn’t acceptable. He was deliberately trying to annoy her. She pushed a rubber thimble onto her middle finger and flicked through the rest of the batch. They were all the same.

  A furious feeling knotted her stomach. She didn’t want to complain about him to Miss Grimshaw and be the cause of him losing his job, as well as his girlfriend. This was something she would have to deal with herself. Pushing down her anxiety, she gathered up the paperwork and went outside. She found him drinking tea with Bob, and she threw the sheets of paper onto the bench; some fluttered to the ground.

  ‘You think this is funny? Well, I’m not laughing. I doubt Mr Bill will either when he hears what you’ve been doing.’

  ‘Bitch!’

  ‘Steady on, Alan.’ Bob glared at him. ‘That’s enough. There’s no need to speak to the girl like that.’ Aileen bit her lip. At least now she had a witness.

  ‘Rewrite these in a legible hand; it’s the only way they will get done today.’

  ‘Who the hell are you, telling me what to do?’ He placed his hand across his chest to emphasise his importance.

  ‘You might be the foreman, Alan, but it doesn’t give you the right to take your childish pranks out on me.’ Turning, she walked away. In spite of her limbs shaking, it felt good to have stood up for herself.

  Val glanced up as she re-entered the office. ‘What’s up? You’re trembling.’

  ‘I’m furious.’

  ‘Is it Alan? What’s he said now?’

  When Aileen recounted what had happened, Val got up. ‘Really! He called you that? You’re white as a sheet. Would you like some water?’

  ‘No, I’m grand.’

  Val sat back down. ‘What are you going to do?’

  Aileen swallowed, feeling a little dewy-eyed. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll think of something.’

  ‘If you complain to Miss Grimshaw, he’ll probably get a good ticking off. Or worse, she’ll report him to Mr Bill.’ Val frowned. ‘How he never got wind of the affair with Bella is beyond me. The boss is a deeply religious man, and he wouldn’t condone it.’

  Aileen couldn’t reply. She reached across the desk and grabbed a handful of Val’s work and began to type, taking her frustration out on the keys.

  ‘I hope he won’t be the cause of you leaving.’

  ‘Who said anything about leaving?’

  ‘Bella giving him the push must have hit him badly.’

  Anger made Aileen snap. ‘Oh, and that gives him the right, does it?’

  ‘No. Course not. I never thought he was that serious about Bella.’

  Aileen shook her head. ‘It’s his wife I feel sorry for.’

  The phone rang, ending their conversation. There was only so much Aileen was prepared to take of Alan’s abuse.

  * * *

  Just before lunch, Val slipped on her jacket, took out her compact mirror, and smeared on a coating of red lipstick. Her naturally curly blonde hair was set close to her head, and Aileen had seen a similar hairstyle in Vogue. It reminded her she hadn’t done anything exciting wi
th her own hair for some time, and long hair had gone out of fashion.

  ‘I’m meeting Peter and taking an extra ten minutes lunch. Will you be okay? And will you cover for me if Miss Grimshaw comes down?'

  Aileen nodded.

  'If I see Alan, I’ll find out what’s really bugging him.’

  Aileen’s eyes rounded. ‘Don't bother. You’ve already tried, and he’s still being obnoxious.’

  After Val had left, Aileen worked solidly for over an hour, and in that time Alan didn’t bother her. She thought about finding another job, but then Alan would have won. She couldn’t let that happen.

  When Val returned, Aileen was ready for a sandwich at the nearby café. But when Val stifled a sob and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, Aileen asked, ‘He’s not upset you, too, has he?’

  ‘No. It’s Peter. He still won’t set a date. He swears he loves me, and he says that should be enough.’ She sniffed.

  ‘I’m sorry, Val. He’s obviously not ready to settle down.’ Aileen thought about Dermot and how reasonable he had been when she’d told him she wasn’t in a hurry to settle down. Unlike Dermot, Peter was making demands on Val.

  ‘I don’t want to lose ‘im.’ Val slipped off her coat and started typing.

  Aileen sighed. ‘Look, if he loves you, you won’t lose him. Give him a bit more time and he’ll come round.’ She hoped she was right.

  ‘I can’t take that chance.’

  Aileen wrapped her scarf around her neck and picked up her bag. She hesitated by the door and looked at her watch. ‘I’ll be back at two.’

  ‘Oh, by the way, Aileen, Bob’s just told me Alan’s had a letter from Bella this morning. It’s really rattled his cage. Her mother’s taking her and her sister to live in Spain. Lucky mare!’

  Chapter Nineteen

  Aileen was in the sitting room reading the Birmingham Post while Mary got on with her knitting. ‘You know, Aileen love, I don’t mind gooing down the mill meself and givin’ ‘im what for. After all,’ she said, stopping to count her stitches, ‘from what I’ve ‘eard that young ‘un was just looking for an excuse to throw ‘im over. I’d enjoy putting another rip in his sail, so I would.’