by Joan Jonker
‘Yeah, go to the top of the class,’ Molly said drily as she picked her basket up off the floor and placed it on the counter. ‘Now, can we get down to business, please? I owe yer a couple of bob for the things I sent our Ruthie up for last night, Maisie, an’ I’ll pay yer for them first so I’ll know where I’m workin’.’
Maisie opened the well-thumbed exercise book she kept at the side of the till to keep a note of the stuff that went out on tick, and flicked through the pages. ‘Here it is … one and eleven, it came to.’ She grinned as she added, ‘And a penny interest on top.’
‘Yer can sod off, Maisie Porter,’ Molly said, rummaging in her purse. ‘It takes me all me time to keep our lot, never mind keepin’ you two in the lap of luxury.’
Alec was leaning on the counter, an amused expression on his face. ‘If we live in the lap of luxury, how come we can’t afford a party every few weeks like some people I know?’
‘Ah, well yer see,’ Molly grinned as she placed a two-shilling piece in Maisie’s outstretched hand, ‘the party’s in my house, but I’m not the one forking out for it.’
‘No, we’re all muckin’ in to pay for it,’ Nellie said, resting an elbow on the counter with an air of nonchalance. ‘Me an’ Molly are payin’ for the eats, an’ the men are seein’ to the booze.’
‘Is it a private party, or can anyone come?’ Maisie asked with a twinkle in her eyes. ‘I mean, if I knocked on yer door with a cake in one hand an’ a bottle of sherry in the other, would I be let in?’
Molly pretended to frown. ‘How big’s the cake?’
‘A big jam sandwich cake with sugar on the top.’
Molly pursed her lips and turned her head to hide a wink. ‘What d’yer think, Nellie?’
‘A cake an’ a bottle of sherry are not to be sniffed at, girl, I’d let them come.’ Nellie’s quivering tummy was a sign that she’d thought of something funny. And when the laughter came it was so hearty her elbow slipped off the counter: but for Molly’s quick action in grabbing hold of her, she would have overbalanced. ‘We can take the goodies off them at the front door,’ she wheezed, ‘then lead them through to the backyard. It’s the only place there’d be room for them.’
‘She’s right,’ Molly chuckled. ‘The house will be burstin’ at the flamin’ seams! But yez are very welcome to come. An’ if it’s any consolation, yez won’t be the only ones sittin’ on the yard wall.’
‘I won’t be one, though, will I girl?’ Nellie shook her head and set her chins quivering. ‘I’m a host, yer see.’
‘Yer mean hostess,’ Molly corrected her.
‘What’s the difference?’ Nellie asked. ‘Same thing!’
‘No, it isn’t!’ Molly said with infinite patience. ‘A host is a man, a hostess is a woman.’
Maisie and Alec were thoroughly enjoying the exchange and hoping it wouldn’t be interrupted by a customer, when Nellie turned a beaming face on them. ‘D’yer hear that? Got an answer for everythin’, my mate has. If I’d been lucky enough to ’ave gone to the same school as her, I’d have known I’m an ’ostess, an’ not an ’ost.’
Molly put a hand over her friend’s mouth. ‘Will yer shut it, sunshine, an’ let me get on with me business? I’ve almost forgotten what I came here for in the first place!’
Nellie pushed her hand away. ‘Oh, I can tell yer that, girl! Yer came to ask if yer can have some stuff on tick.’
Molly dropped her head into her hands. ‘What would yer do with her? I was goin’ to work me way up to it, but Tilly Flop here just plonks her big foot in it.’
‘Yer don’t need to go all round the houses, girl! Just tell Maisie what yer want an’ stop wasting time.’
‘Wasting time! I’m the one wasting time, am I?’ Molly huffed. ‘We’ve been here ten minutes and because you’ve been messin’ about, we’ve done precisely nowt!’
‘No we haven’t! Yer’ve paid Maisie the one and eleven yer owed her!’ Nellie’s face did contortions as she tried to keep the laughter at bay. ‘An’ now ye’re goin’ to ask her for five bob’s worth of stuff on the slate. I think that’s a very fair rate of exchange … Maisie gets one and eleven in one hand, and gives out five bob with the other!’
‘Nellie, if yer weren’t so big I’d lift yer up, sit yer on the counter and stick a lollipop in yer gob to shut yer up!’ Molly spread her hands and shrugged her shoulders at Maisie. ‘Honest to God, I want me flamin’ bumps feeling for bringin’ her out with me! If I’d been on me own I’d ’ave been back home by now.’ She felt a tug on her coat and spun round to face Nellie. ‘What the ’ell d’yer want now?’
Her face the picture of innocence, Nellie stuck out her bottom lip. ‘Can I have a pink one?’
‘A pink what?’
‘Lollipop.’
Alec pressed his knuckles into the stitch in his side as he made his way to the stock room. He stood for a while to get his breath back before reaching for a side of bacon hanging from an iron rod suspended from the ceiling. He hoped Maisie asked again about them going to the party on Saturday. You were guaranteed a good time when Molly had a shindig. Hearing his name called, Alec laid the side of bacon on the wooden chopping table and poked his head around the door.
‘I hope yer don’t snore, Alec,’ Nellie wagged a finger at him, ‘’cos if me mate doesn’t put a move on, yer’ll have three women in yer bed tonight.’
Alec, a mild-mannered man, slim with thinning dark hair, shook his head slowly. ‘Nellie, I couldn’t stand it, and I’m flaming well sure the bed couldn’t, either!’
‘Knocked back again!’ The corners of Nellie’s mouth drooped. ‘How come I can never get a click? I mean, I’ve got a pretty face an’ yer’d go a long way to find someone with a figure like mine … so what more do they want?’
‘I know what I want right now,’ Molly told her, ‘and that’s silence. Will yer shut up an’ let me get sorted out with Maisie?’
Nellie stood to attention, her body as straight as she could get it. Then, in a voice they’d never heard her use before, she barked, ‘Nellie Fleming, go and stand in the corner with your back to the class, and you will stay there until the lesson is over.’
Her head bent low, Nellie walked to the corner of the shop, saying meekly, ‘Yes Miss Cartwright.’
Molly screwed her eyes up tight, praying under her breath, ‘Dear God, please don’t make me laugh or we’ll be here until the cows come home.’
She kept her eyes closed until she had her emotions under control, then focused her gaze on Maisie. ‘Don’t look at her, Maisie, and don’t say a word.’
‘It’s all right for you,’ Maisie told her, ‘you’ve got yer back to her!’
Molly pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket. ‘Just look into my eyes, sunshine, an’ then yer won’t have to see her.’ Smoothing the paper out on the counter, she said, ‘This is a list of the things I want for Saturday. I’m hoping to have enough to pay yer for them, but if I’m a bit short, will yer be an angel an’ let me have them on tick until next week?’
‘Of course I will, I don’t know why ye’re even botherin’ to ask!’ Maisie took the list and scanned it for a few seconds. ‘I’ll make it up on Saturday mornin’ and Alec will carry it down, save yer the trouble.’
‘Ye’re an angel, Maisie, an’ I’ll make sure yer don’t have to sit on the yard wall on Saturday. On the stairs, maybe, or even the mantelpiece, but definitely not the yard wall.’
‘Are yer sure yer want us to come? We’d love to, but I’d understand if yer said yer had enough with yer family.’
Molly smiled at the woman who had helped her and Nellie out in the days when things were grim. Many’s the time they’d have starved if it wasn’t for the owners of the corner shop. And she felt sorry for Maisie and Alec because they had no family of their own. They would both have loved children, but fate had decreed otherwise. ‘At the last count there were about twenty comin’, so another two won’t make any difference. If things get too bad, we’ll strip the wa
llpaper off to make more room.’
Maisie grinned. ‘It would help if we all held our breath.’
‘Yeah, that’s an idea!’ Molly chuckled. ‘Especially a certain person who is not a million miles from us right this moment.’
‘Did I hear someone takin’ my name in vain?’ Nellie walked to the counter and peered into Molly’s face. ‘Talkin’ about me behind me back are yer, girl?’
‘Now as if I would!’ Molly put a hand under her friend’s chin and raised her face until their eyes met. ‘Have yer got over yer funny half-hour now?’
Nellie nodded. ‘I’m dyin’ to go to the lavvy, girl, so yer’d better make it snappy.’
‘Just two more minutes to ask Maisie how much I’ve got in me Christmas club. It’s not that far off now, just a matter of weeks.’
Maisie took a red exercise book from under the counter and turned the pages. ‘Here we are – yer’ve got thirty shillings and sixpence in.’
‘Ooh,’ Molly groaned, ‘not much, is it?’
‘Better than a kick in the teeth,’ Nellie said, moving from one foot to the other. ‘Yer’ve got some in the butcher’s, same as me, and a few bob in Waterworth’s.’
‘An’ I’ve got me club woman to fall back on, I don’t owe her that much now.’
Nellie held Molly’s arm in a vicelike grip. ‘I ain’t kiddin’, girl – when I say if we don’t move quick, I mean I’ll be having a nasty accident.’
Maisie came from behind the counter on the run. Reaching on tiptoe to unbolt the door, she stood aside to let a red-faced Nellie through. ‘Is that why yer were sent to stand in the corner at school, Nellie Fleming? Had yer wet yer knickers?’
‘Don’t make me laugh, Maisie,’ Nellie shouted over her shoulder as she hurried away, ‘otherwise yer’ll have to be gettin’ yer mop and bucket out an’ then yer’d be laughing the other side of yer face.’
Molly waved as she ran after her friend. ‘Not very ladylike, my mate, is she? But she’s good really, all heart.’
Chapter Thirteen
‘Mornin’, girl!’ Nellie sounded bright and breezy as she swept past Molly and waddled down the hall with a grin on her face. ‘I’ve just come to ask what time we’re goin’ down the market. I don’t want to be too late back on account of getting ready for the party.’
‘Yer know the men don’t get in until one, Nellie, but I’ll get meself ready early so we can dash off as soon as I’ve got the dinner over. Anyroad, I told the lad we’d meet him at the same time, so there’s no point in us gettin’ there any earlier.’ Molly grinned as she eyed her friend from top to toe. Nellie’s turban had slipped sideways to reveal the dinky curlers in her hair; she had a streak of coal dust across her forehead, a safety pin was holding the front of her blouse together and her stockings were wrinkled around her ankles. ‘You look as though yer’ve had one over the eight already.’
‘It was no good gettin’ meself all dolled up just to walk down here, now was it? I mean, there’s only you here, an’ being me mate you don’t count.’ Nellie caught sight of the pile of clothes on the couch and pushed Molly aside to have a better look. ‘Oh, my God! Yer’ve got enough stuff there to open yer own ruddy market stall! Where on earth did yer get that lot from?’
Molly pointed to the first pile. ‘These are off Mary; this next lot are Ruthie’s old clothes and a few things off the girls, and the rest I got off Mrs Coleman from the top of the street. With her havin’ the two boys, I asked if she could help out, and as yer can see she came up trumps.’
Nellie sought a place between the dinky curlers to scratch her head. ‘I know it’s a daft question before I ask, but who the hell’s goin’ to cart that lot?’
‘Thee an’ me, sunshine!’ Molly tried to hide her own doubts. She hadn’t expected such a good response, and there was a hell of a lot of clothes for the two of them to carry. And that was without the groceries she’d been able to cadge. ‘Two strappin’ women like us, we should manage.’
‘In a pig’s ear we will!’ Nellie huffed as she lifted a handful of garments off the top of one of the piles. ‘Yer’ll need a ruddy handcart for that lot, girl!’
‘We’ll see how it goes. I’ve put all the groceries in that big shoppin’ bag yer lent me, that’s all ready. An’ I thought if I split this lot into two and find a pair of old sheets, we could tie up the four corners of the sheets an’ carry them like that, one lot each.’
‘Two old sheets? Since when ’ave you been flush enough to have two old sheets?’
‘I’ve got one, so I’m relyin’ on you for the other.’
Nellie’s face was a picture as she gazed at each of the four walls in turn as though seeking divine help. ‘We’ve known each other a long time, haven’t we, girl? Long enough, I’d say, to be able to speak our minds … right?’
‘Of course we have,’ Molly agreed. ‘We tell each other everything!’
‘Well can you just tell me, give me just one good reason, why I should let yer include me in these daft ideas yer get? I mean, I’d be the last one to turn me back on yer when yer were doin’ a good turn for anyone. But when it comes to walkin’ down the street with a ruddy bundle of clothes perched on me head like a Mary Ellen, then it’s time to draw the line.’ Nellie straightened her back and thrust out her bosom. ‘After all, I do have me pride, yer know, girl.’
‘I’ll give yer a reason – in fact I’ll give yer two for the price of one,’ Molly said, pushing her face close to her friend’s. ‘First, ye’re that ruddy nosy yer’d do yer nut if I left yer out of anythin’, and secondly, because yer love me.’
Nellie’s face was deadpan. ‘Yer know, girl, them’s two very good reasons an’ I can’t argue with yer.’
‘Yer can if yer like, but it won’t get yer anywhere.’ Molly pinched one of the chubby cheeks. ‘Now go home, Nellie McDonough, an’ let me get on with me work.’
‘What! No offer of a Saturday mornin’ cup of tea with a nice cream slice from Sayer’s?’
‘Saturday mornin’ tea and cake? My God, Nellie, yer sufferin’ delusions of grandeur! Now on yer bike, missus!’ Molly helped her friend along with some gentle pushing. ‘I’ll see yer later. Ta-ra for now.’
Nellie looked up from the pavement. Jerking her thumb over her shoulder, she said, ‘There’s your Ruthie playin’ with Bella … we’re not goin’ to have to drag her with us, are we?’
‘Not now, thank God! I did think I was goin’ to be stuck with her because I haven’t the nerve to keep asking Mary to mind her, an’ all my lot are goin’ out. Liverpool are playing at home and Jack an’ Tommy are goin’ to the match, Phil is meeting Doreen outside work and they’re goin’ straight into town to meet up with Jill an’ Steve. So I really thought I was goin’ to be lumbered with the little one. But as luck would have it, I was pickin’ these clothes up off Mrs Coleman when their David asked if he could go to the matinée. So after I’d dropped a few gentle hints, he said Ruthie could go with him an’ his mate as long as she behaved herself. He’s a sensible lad, turned ten now, an’ I know he’ll look after her. And Ruthie, well, she’s absolutely cock-a-hoop, so everyone is satisfied.’
‘Haven’t I always said your flamin’ face would get yer the parish, girl?’
‘An’ haven’t I always said yours would take it off me?’ Molly grinned as she began to close the door. ‘Hop it, missus, an’ I’ll see yer about half one.’
Nellie looked down at the bundle at her feet and gave it a sharp kick. ‘Fancy luggin’ this all the way down here an’ the little blighter hasn’t turned up! I could spit!’
‘Keep yer hair on, Nellie, he’ll come.’ But despite her words, Molly was beginning to lose hope. They’d been waiting for twenty minutes now and there was no sign of the boy. ‘He might be waitin’ in the wrong speck, yer don’t know.’
‘Five minutes more, then that’s it.’ Nellie gave the bundle another kick. ‘An’ I ain’t carryin’ this lot home, either! It can go to one of the stalls what sells second-hand clothes.’
>
Molly felt a tug on her coat and she wheeled round. Her face lit up when she saw the boy and her first thought was that it had been a good idea of Nellie’s last week to buy that block of carbolic soap: the young lad looked decidedly cleaner. Even his clothes, though tattered and torn, were at least clean. ‘We’d just about given yer up,’ Molly said. ‘We thought yer weren’t coming.’
‘I’ve been here half an hour, missus, but I’ve been waitin’ inside the market.’ Denis looked down at the bundles and his eyes were full of curiosity and excitement. He’d told his mother about them coming and it was all he’d thought about all week. So when they hadn’t put in an appearance, or so it seemed, he’d been making his way home with a heavy heart.
‘Well, these are all for yer mam,’ Molly said, pointing to the bundles. ‘I don’t know whether there’s anythin’ in there that’ll be any good to her, but if not she can always get a few bob for them.’
Seeing the lad again brought forth Nellie’s motherly instinct. He looked a nice kid, but painfully thin and obviously undernourished. ‘We’ve brought a few groceries as well, so they’ll help yer mam out.’
Molly lifted one of the bundles up by the knots in the centre. ‘I hope yer don’t live far, Denis, ’cos these are heavy.’
‘It’s only a few streets away, an’ I can carry one.’ Three times he tried to lift the heavy bundle without success, his thin face red with the strain. He was about to try again when Nellie stepped in.
‘Don’t be takin’ me job off me, son.’ She smiled as she spoke so his feelings wouldn’t be hurt. ‘I’ve carried it this far, so I may as well see it through to the end.’
‘You take the bag of food,’ Molly told him, ‘but be careful ’cos there’s eggs in it. Lead the way an’ we’ll follow.’
They left the wide main road and turned into a narrow street of two-up, two-down houses. ‘Some of them keep their houses nice, don’t they, Nellie? Windows and steps nice and clean, a credit to them.’
Denis suddenly turned into a side entry and after making faces at each other, the two women followed until they came out into the next street. ‘That’s our ’ouse, over there.’ The boy’s eyes were gleaming and his whole face was agog. ‘I’ll hurry on an’ tell me mam ye’re here.’
