by Joan Jonker
When they were all seated, Miss Parkinson leaned forward in her chair. ‘You know my niece has been here for two days, and we’ve had some long talks. She doesn’t like the idea of me living on my own now, not after what happened when that man broke in, and she wants me to go to live with her and her husband in Essex. I wasn’t for the idea at first, it would be quite a wrench to leave this house after twenty-five years. But the more I gave thought to it, the more I began to see how right she was. They have a large house, their children are all married, and I would have my own bedroom and living room. And they would be close in case I was ill and needed attention. At my age, that is something I really do have to bear in mind.’ It was clear the old lady was feeling emotional, but even though her voice was quivering she carried on. ‘So when the rent man comes this afternoon, I will be giving him a week’s notice. My niece is coming back on Saturday and is taking me to Essex on Sunday. One of her sons is driving her up in his car so I won’t have the upset and inconvenience of railway stations and trains.’
You could have heard a pin drop in the room, it was so still. This quiet, reserved gentlewoman had lived in the street longer than anyone else, it just wouldn’t be the same without her. But no one would say those words because they would start the tears flowing. In the end, it was Winnie who broke the silence. ‘I think ye’re doing the right thing, Audrey. We’ll all miss yer, and we really don’t want yer to go, but it is much better for you to be living in a house with relatives than staying here alone.’ She sniffed loudly. ‘It’s yerself yer’ve got to think about, and yer wellbeing. Another thing, I bet yer niece has got a nice big garden.’
‘Yes, that was one of the things that Celia used to persuade me. When the weather allows, I can sit out amongst the trees and flowers.’ She smiled, adding, ‘With a wide-brimmed straw hat on my head to keep the sun from my face.’
‘It sounds as though yer’ll be going to a lovely place, and yer’ll want for nothing,’ Kate said. ‘But the street won’t be the same without yer, and I’ll miss waving to yer through the window.’ She sighed. ‘But it would be selfish to want yer to stay when yer niece can offer yer so much more. A life without worry or loneliness.’
‘How are they going to get yer furniture down there, Audrey?’ Winnie wanted to know. ‘It would cost a small fortune to hire a removal van to take it down to Essex.’
‘I’m not taking the furniture, Winnie. All I’ll need are the things that were left to me by my parents. Things that are very dear to me. Celia took some of them with her this morning in a suitcase, but not all of them as she would never have managed. Family portraits, ornaments, glassware, jewellery and linen . . . many things my parents left to me. The furniture was theirs also but I will have no need of it. I’ll have everything else safely wrapped and ready when she comes back on Saturday.’
Miss Parkinson paused for a while, her eyes sweeping over the furniture, fireplace and windows. How it would tug at her heart to leave this small house. But she knew her niece was right, she could no longer live alone with no family close to her in times of sickness. ‘That’s why I wanted to see you. You have all been very good to me, the best friends I’ve had. I want you to share what is left in the house between you. The furniture, curtains, and any other things I may be leaving. Because I know you so well, I know there will be no jealousy or bickering. I would be very happy if you would do that, rather than everything be left for the tenants who will be given the house when I leave.’
‘Oh, dear, I’m going to cry.’ Kate thought her throat would burst open from the lump that had formed. ‘It’s so sad, after all these years.’
‘Take a mouthful of tea, girl, that’ll stop yer from crying.’ Monica didn’t hesitate to tell someone else to stop crying, even though she was near to tears herself. ‘The last thing Miss Parkinson wants is four grown-up women bawling their eyes out.’
‘Oh, listen to hard-hearted Hannah!’ Winnie always thought she herself could take things without letting them upset her. But she was finding out now that she couldn’t, not when it came to someone she’d known, admired and been friends with for nearly half a lifetime. She glared at Kate, her eyes telling her she mustn’t dare cry or she’d set them all off.
‘I’ll miss yer, love,’ Maggie said. ‘We’ve got on well together, with never a cross word between us. I can’t imagine anyone else in your house.’
‘I’m sure you’ll get very nice people in,’ Miss Parkinson told her. ‘The landlord won’t rent it out to riff-raff.’
‘I hope not.’ Maggie’s eyes went to the ceiling. ‘Or I’ll be looking for a new place meself.’
‘Don’t be such a pessimist, Maggie.’ Winnie looked at Kate. ‘Ay, queen, what will she bring down on herself if she’s not careful? Is it a minx?’
‘No, sunshine, it’s a jinx. But yer mustn’t take that seriously, ’cos I only said it in jest.’
‘Yer’ve got nothing to worry about, Maggie,’ Monica said. ‘Yer’ll never get anyone as quiet as Miss Parkinson, but ye’re bound to get a decent family. After all, we haven’t had a bad family in this street, not since I’ve lived here anyway. We’ve got nosy beggars, and we’ve got gossip-mongers and those who like a bit of tittle-tattle, but I’ve never known there be real trouble in the street, like fighting.’
‘Yer forgot to mention the drunks who crawl home singing at the top of their voices,’ Kate said. ‘I’ve been woken up a few times by them.’
‘Yer get that in every street, and it’s only on a Saturday night.’ This came from Monica who was pretty lenient with drunken men. She reckoned they’d worked hard all week and deserved one night’s pleasure. ‘They don’t do no harm.’
Kate chuckled. ‘D’yer know Ben, our next door but two neighbour? Well, last Saturday night he had his arm around the lamp-post, singing to it.’
‘I didn’t hear him,’ Monica said. ‘And that’s very unusual ’cos I’ve got perfect hearing. What was he singing?’
‘I don’t know the name of the song, sunshine, something like his hat being on the side of his head.’ Kate scratched the tip of her nose. ‘What was the other one now? Oh, I know, it was “The Talk Of The Town”.’
‘Oh, that’s one of me favourites, girl, I’m sorry I missed that. I’d have gone out and sung along with him.’
Kate was made up that everyone was looking more cheerful now, and she herself was laughing inside. ‘I don’t think yer’d have been able to harmonize with him very well, sunshine, ’cos yer’d have been looking down at him. Yer see, while he had his arm around the lamp-post, the rest of his body was in the gutter.’
‘Kate Spencer, yer’ve been having me on! And here was me thinking I’d give Ben a knock and tell him to give me a wire next time he was street singing, and I’d join him.’
This exchange was a little light relief after hearing Miss Parkinson’s news, and every face now wore a smile. ‘This is what I’ll miss most, having a jolly good laugh. I’m afraid Celia doesn’t have the quick wit of a Liverpudlian,’ she said. ‘But you will all keep in touch with me by letter, I hope, to keep me up to date with what’s going on in the street?’
Winnie nodded. ‘We’ll take turns writing to yer, so yer’ll get one letter every week. But we’d expect a reply.’
‘Yes, of course, it will give me something to look forward to. True friendship lasts a lifetime, and you have all been true friends to me.’
‘Have yer got plenty of paper for wrapping yer ornaments and china in?’ Kate asked. ‘I’ve got a couple of Echos at home if yer want them?’
‘I’d be grateful because I don’t have a newspaper delivered now. My eyesight has failed a little, and reading the small print was a strain. The wireless has been my source of news for the last few years, and I do enjoy the mystery plays.’
‘I’ll bring the papers over to yer when me and Monica get back from the shops,’ Kate said. ‘And I’ll help you pack, if yer like?’
‘No, it will give me something to do. Thank you all the same,
dear, but I’ve got all week to do it.’
‘I’ll come to the shops with yer, queen, if yer don’t mind me tagging along,’ Winnie said. ‘I might get some idea on what to have for me dinner from you two.’
But Audrey had other ideas. ‘If you’re going to the shops, Winnie, would you buy something for my lunch? Perhaps some nice boiled ham from Irwin’s? And it would be nice if you would have lunch with me. We could talk over old times and be company for each other. I would like that very much, but of course you may have other plans?’
‘Now as it happens, there’s nothing in my diary for today so I would be delighted to have lunch with you.’ Winnie was so proud she grew at least six inches, upward and outward. ‘What else would yer like me to get from the shops?’
‘Would you fetch my purse from the sideboard drawer, please, and you’ll find a notepad and pencil in there as well. I’ll make a list of the shopping I would like.’ With the pencil poised, the old lady spoke aloud as she wrote down her list. ‘Six ounces of boiled ham, some tomatoes and cucumber, a small home-made cottage loaf, and while you’re in the confectioner’s you could get two cream cakes.’ She took two half-crowns from her purse and held them out. ‘That should more than cover it.’
Winnie shook her head. ‘Seeing as I’ll be eating half, I’ll go half with the money. I’ll just take one half-crown.’
‘You most certainly will not! I invited you to lunch, Winnie, and I wouldn’t dream of allowing you to pay for it. You’re to be my guest.’
A short time later, when the three friends were walking to the shops, Monica said, ‘Ye’re a jammy beggar, you are. What have you got that me and Kate haven’t?’
‘More than twenty-five years of friendship, queen. Me and Audrey have been good mates, and I’m really going to miss her when she goes.’
‘Then make the most of the next few days, sunshine.’ Kate put her arm across Winnie’s shoulders. ‘Enjoy yer meal, talk about the good old days, and be happy in each other’s company. But remember, it’s not the end of the world, yer know. Yer can write to her every week to give her all the news from the street. Yer’ll have plenty to tell her about. What’s happening in the lives of her old neighbours, and what the people are like who take over the tenancy of her house. She’ll be interested in that. And trains do run to Essex, yer know, yer don’t have to be cut off from each other for ever.’
‘Oh, that would be wishful thinking, queen, ’cos I’d never have the money for that. Much as I’d like to go, the lack of money would hold me back.’
‘With your luck, girl, I wouldn’t rule anything out.’ There was no sarcasm in Monica’s voice, only fondness. ‘If yer keep yer eyes down when ye’re walking, I bet one day yer’ll find a ten-bob note in the gutter. That would well pay yer train fare to Essex.’
‘If I walk everywhere with me head down, queen, I’m more likely to wrap meself around a bleeding lamp-post than find a ten-bob note. But I’ll take heed of what yer said, and although I won’t walk with me head down, I will walk with me eyes peeled. And if I happen to find a pound note, instead of a ten-bob one, I’ll take you and Kate to Essex with me, that’s a promise.’
‘It won’t seem the same without the old lady,’ John said that night. ‘She always waits for me coming home from work, either at the door or the window, and I always get a wave.’
‘All the neighbours feel sad about it, particularly Maggie Duffy and Winnie. Maggie’s worried about what sort of neighbours she’ll get, but I can’t see the landlord putting anyone in that isn’t decent. Bill the rent collector got a shock when he was told this afternoon, he seemed quite upset. Mind you, he’s been calling there for twenty years and was fond of Miss Parkinson. And as he said, she was a marvellous tenant, never once missed a week’s rent in all those years. The rent book was always ready on the sideboard for him, with the exact money on top. There’s not many in this street that can say that. Bill said she was a real lady.’
Nancy was sad because she was very fond of the old lady whom she often called on to see if she wanted any messages. She’d never known anyone speak as nicely as Miss Parkinson, even her teacher, and she never swore or shouted in the street. ‘She’ll be very sad when she leaves, Mam, ’cos she’s lived here so long and everyone in the street likes her. I won’t half miss her.’
‘We all will, sunshine, but when yer think about it, it is best for her. Living alone in that house, she could be ill and no one would know. Yer wouldn’t find her knocking on Maggie’s wall in the middle of the night, she’d be too proud. And she must be lonely at times with no one to talk to. Where she’s going, she won’t ever be lonely again, or frightened living on her own. So we must be glad for her.’
‘It’s very good of her to leave her furniture for the four of you.’ John pushed his empty plate away and left his chair to move to his favourite fireside one, where he would light up and enjoy one of the five Woodbines he smoked each day. ‘It must be good furniture, because she seems to have come from monied people.’
‘I imagine they left her well provided for, and Winnie said she receives a small pension from where she worked. I don’t know about the furniture because I’ve never taken much notice, but she does have some good jewellery and paintings she’s taking with her. And I’m glad about that, ’cos it means she doesn’t need to be beholden to her niece, she can be independent.’
John drew on his cigarette and blew a smoke circle in the air. As he watched it rise to the ceiling, he asked, ‘So she’s leaving on Sunday?’
Kate nodded. ‘Early on Sunday. Maggie said she’ll leave the key with her, to return to the rent man, so we can all go in later on and sort out what’s what. We’ll not be able to go in after that because it would mean Miss Parkinson owing another week’s rent. Not that I think for one minute Bill would worry, and he doesn’t come till the afternoon anyway. But Maggie promised the old lady we’ll do what we have to do on Sunday.’
‘Can I come in with yer, Mam?’ Nancy asked. ‘I can help yer.’
‘No, sunshine, no children. If you came then Dolly would want to come too, and we’ll be much quicker on our own.’
‘If you go, I’m going,’ Billy growled. ‘I’ve as much right as you have. Besides, you’ve been inside the house loads of times, and I’ve never been in once.’
‘There’s no need for an argument to develop because neither of yer is coming! Good grief, we’re only going to look at furniture, it wouldn’t interest yer in the least.’
‘You heard yer mam,’ John said, ‘so not another word on the subject.’
At eleven o’clock on the Sunday morning, the four women stood in the middle of what used to be Miss Parkinson’s living room. Maggie shivered. ‘The room looks as sad as I feel, as though it’s missing her already. I hardly slept a wink last night for thinking about her. Honest, no one could have had a better neighbour.’
‘It’ll take us all a long time to get used to not seeing her again. But we’ll have to keep telling ourselves she’ll be much better off there than here.’ Kate looked at their three glum faces. ‘She’d never have felt safe, not after that swine broke in. So we’ve to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, which is what we are doing, and sort the rest of her things out before the key’s to be handed in tomorrow.’ She looked around the room. ‘Apart from little knick-knacks, this place is fully furnished. Any family could walk in and set up home without having to worry about furniture.’
‘It’s good stuff, too!’ Maggie said. ‘And the bedrooms are the same. The beds still have the bedding on them.’
‘Well, where shall we start?’ Monica asked. ‘And who’s going to be referee if it comes to fisticuffs when two of us want the same thing?’
‘I’d rather do without than argue over the old lady’s belongings when she’s only been gone a couple of hours.’ Kate looked hard at Monica, daring her to disagree. ‘Let’s try and be as ladylike as she was.’
‘Eh, don’t be giving me cow eyes, girl, I can be a lady when I like. I promise
I won’t hit anyone hard, just a gentle tap.’
‘Before we start,’ Maggie said, ‘Miss Parkinson has left something for each of us as a token of her gratitude for the help we’ve given her over the years. They’re in the sideboard cupboard, but they are all wrapped up and strict instructions were given that they weren’t to be opened until we got home. Oh, and we’re to be careful because they are breakable.’
‘She’s thought of everything, hasn’t she?’ Winnie was feeling very low in spirits. She’d stood at the window for an hour this morning, and when the car had pulled away from her old friend’s house, had hurried to the front door for one last wave as it went past. Now she wanted to be away from here as quickly as possible. ‘Let’s start in this room and see how we get on. There’s the sideboard, table and chairs, sofa, small side table, the fireside chair, the companion set in the hearth, the coal scuttle, picture on the wall, four ornaments, and the curtains and nets. So who wants what?’
‘We’ll let you go first, sunshine, seeing as she was a good friend of yours. What in the room would you like best?’
‘Her fireside chair, if no one minds.’
‘It’s yours,’ Maggie said. ‘Now who goes next?’
‘You’re next,’ Kate insisted. ‘That’s only fair.’
So the sideboard went to Maggie, the table and chairs to Monica, and although Kate didn’t let it show, the one thing she wanted was the one left after they’d all chosen – the couch, or, as Miss Parkinson called it, the sofa. The one at home had the springs sticking up and wasn’t a bit comfortable, whereas this one was in excellent condition because it had rarely been used. And she got the brass companion set because she was the only one who didn’t have one at home. The rest was easy, an ornament each, picture to Maggie, coal scuttle to Winnie, and front and back curtains to split between Kate and Monica.
Upstairs, each bedroom contained a double bedstead with mattresses filled with kapok, both still made up with their bedding as though someone would be sleeping there tonight. Winnie didn’t want anything from upstairs because, as she said, she had enough at home at last her lifetime. She sat in the fireside chair and stroked its arms. She’d have this to remember Audrey by, and would take good care of it.
