Meadow Lane

by Maureen Reynolds

  ‘I said it is a fine morning but you seem to be a dozy-headed young woman,’ said Lizzie, wringing out the cloth as if wringing someone’s neck.

  This must be Lizzie, thought Sadie, and she nodded. ‘Yes, it’s been a super summer.’ She walked on as she didn’t feel up to having a conversation this early in the morning. She had a headache and her mouth felt dry even though she had brushed her teeth with a huge dollop of Colgate toothpaste.

  When she was out of sight, Lizzie looked thoughtful. If it hadn’t been morning time she would swear the woman was drunk, but maybe she was just tired.

  Lizzie thought about her spic and span council house with its own front garden in Belfast and her family who all had houses in the same estate, and the difference with Anna’s house in this narrow lane with no hot water or a bathroom. Anna had said there were corporation houses being built in Dundee but it was just a matter of getting one and that she dreamt of the day when that happened.

  Her week was going by quickly and she would be glad to be back home but first she had to persuade her baby sister to come to Ireland and then persuade her to stay. She was busy making the tea when she heard a great commotion outside.

  On going out she was confronted with Grace who was trying to deal with Thomasina, Evie and the Yankee boy whose shirt was covered with blood. Both girls were talking at once so she went up and told them to calm down before turning to Grace.

  ‘What’s happened? Has he had an accident?’

  Tommy spoke loudly. ‘No, he had a fight with Bruce Davidson and Bruce’s mum is coming to see Eddie’s mum because her son has a broken nose.’

  Grace managed to get them inside and she got Eddie to take his bloody shirt off before filling a basin with hot water. She bathed his face then realised he wasn’t injured but had been splashed with the other boy’s blood.

  Tommy began to speak again and Lizzie said to let the boy speak for himself but he was reluctant to do this. Grace asked her daughter what had happened but the girls didn’t really know because they were in a separate playground and hadn’t witnessed the fight.

  ‘Miss Malcolm wants to see Eddie’s mum tomorrow because Mrs Davidson is saying Bruce’s nose is broken.’

  Eddie seemed to be in shock so the two women decided to leave the explanations till Maryanne and his mother came home, and fortunately Sadie hadn’t had much work to do and had got off early. When she saw her son she was furious when it was mentioned she would have to go to the school the next day.

  ‘What kind of school is this that lets the pupils have fights in the playground?’ When Grace said the other lad’s nose was broken, she denied it. ‘It’s Eddie who has been injured, not this Bruce boy.’ She left Eddie with Grace and hurried off to the telephone box where she had to explain to Hal that she wouldn’t be in to work until late the following day because of family difficulties.

  Tommy was agog with this incident that night, explaining to Anna and Thomas what a big bully Bruce was. ‘He’s always getting into fights and he hates Eddie.’

  The next morning Sadie went off to school with Eddie who didn’t want to go back ever. She had reassured him that it would all blow over. ‘It’s just a playground tiff.’

  The headmaster was waiting for both mothers, and Mrs Davidson had arrived a few minutes before Sadie. She was a small, plump woman with a fleshy face and plump white arms sticking out of a sleeveless cotton frock. She immediately launched a tirade at Sadie. ‘Your Yankee son has broken Bruce’s nose.’

  Sadie was infuriated and answered, ‘That’s rubbish, your son’s nose isn’t broken. I saw it when I came in and it’s just a bit inflamed.’

  ‘A bit inflamed? Let me tell you I know a broken nose when I see one.’

  At this point the headmaster intervened. ‘Eddie, tell us what happened. I’ve had Bruce’s version and I want to hear your side of the story.’

  Eddie looked at his feet and Sadie gave him a rough nudge. ‘Tell the headmaster what happened.’

  He took a deep breath. ‘I was waiting by the wall for the bell to ring when Bruce came up and punched me here.’ He pointed to his shoulder. ‘I grabbed his hand and shoved him away but he bashed his face against the wall. It was an accident, I didn’t mean to hurt him but I was defending myself.’

  Doris Davidson was inflamed. ‘An accident, my foot. My Bruce will have to have surgery to fix his nose.’

  ‘His nose isn’t broken, I’ve already told you that.’ Sadie was losing her patience.

  The headmaster looked at both boys. ‘We have a witness who backs up Eddie’s story, it’s David Dobson who was standing with Eddie when it happened.’

  Mrs Davidson was unconvinced. ‘Well, he would tell you that as Bruce says they are pals and he’s sticking up for him. Bruce doesn’t have any pals sticking up for him.’ She stopped as she realised what she was saying. ‘I mean he’s got loads of pals but they never saw what happened.’

  The headmaster looked at the boys. ‘Well we have to take the witness’s story so I hope there’s no repeat of this bad behavior.’ The two boys were dismissed and they went back to their class while Sadie said she had to get to work and she left Mrs Davidson still fuming.

  When the girls came back from school they were full of the story. Tommy said Bruce was wild because a lot of the girls and some of the boys were laughing at his bright red nose. ‘Someone said he wouldn’t need a torch to go to the outside toilet,’ she said.

  Eddie was quiet and said nothing because he realised he had made a bad enemy.

  All the neighbours heard the story and most were sympathetic to Eddie, especially Bella and Albert.

  ‘It’s a shame he’s having all this trouble at school because I know Ella Malcolm and she says he’s an outstanding pupil,’ said Bella.

  Albert agreed. ‘I knew all about the Davidson family when I was the Prudential Insurance agent. The father and his two brothers think they are great amateur boxers but they couldn’t box themselves out of a cardboard carton. They were always fighting with each other and it seems to have spread to the son.’

  At the end of the week Lizzie departed with a promise that the Cassidy family would pay a visit to Ireland sometime during the school holidays. She left behind a sparkling clean house and Anna was delighted with the thought that she needn’t do much housework for months.

  Meanwhile Thomas was glad to see the back of his sister-in-law and he wasn’t looking forward to the planned visit but maybe something might happen to cancel the holiday.

  Maybe the roof would fall in or something equally calamitous would happen, he thought, but then he realised he didn’t want that either.

  35

  Tommy was excited by the thought of this holiday to Ireland and it was all she could talk about during the final two weeks at school. Evie didn’t mind this enthusiasm but Eddie seemed uninterested in the constant chatter. It was as if he was living in a world of his own.

  ‘We’ll be going by a boat to Belfast and I’ll be able to see my cousins and aunties and uncles. Mum sends them a Christmas card every year but we’ve never visited them before.’

  Evie said it must be a big adventure and she gave Eddie a look which he didn’t notice. She wondered if his father had been in touch but he gave no sign that he had and she felt so sorry for him. She couldn’t imagine her life without her mum and dad and he must be the same. To bring him into the conversation, she asked him, ‘Are you planning to go fishing again, Eddie?’

  Tommy butted in, ‘If you do we’ll go with you.’

  Eddie said no, he wasn’t planning to do this and he then lapsed into silence as they made their way to school. Things seemed to have settled down with Bruce Davidson but he knew this was just an interval. Bruce’s nose wasn’t broken as he had alleged and the fiery redness had dulled down to a black and blue patch. The girls and boys who had laughed at him had now moved on to something else and he was no longer the butt of their jokes but that didn’t stop him glaring at Eddie every time he saw him.

&nbs
p; Eddie was annoyed at his mother as she seemed to have forgotten the incident but his granny was still sympathetic and she had told him if he was worried about anything he must tell her and she would help. This gave him some comfort but he was becoming more unhappy every day and he didn’t want to worry her. She had enough to do with the daily journey to work which he suspected was still difficult after her illness.

  The one thing that pleased him was the fact he was still going in to Grace’s house after school each day, as she was so good to him. His initial reluctance after the letter fiasco was thankfully a past memory.

  If Eddie was unhappy and miserable he wasn’t the only one because Sadie was growing more downbeat about her job. She had grown so sick of the dark interior and the elderly drinkers and the pokiness of the office. The only good thing was that drink was available and she was still sneaking a few glasses every day.

  She often fantasised about her ideal job in some glamorous office where she would be the personal secretary to a good-looking boss who would find her attractive and maybe wine and dine her. On reaching the pub, the smell of spilled beer on the floor almost made her sick and mopping it up didn’t help as the smell of beer would be replaced with the pungent disinfectant that was used to clean the premises.

  Hal came in and she noticed one of his shirt buttons was missing and a small lump of white flesh poked out as if trying to escape. She sighed and put her handbag in the office before wiping down the bar and the assorted tables and chairs.

  When Hal opened the pub door, a few old men came in and she busily poured out their half pints of frothy beer which they carried over to their favourite table, the one with the box of dominoes. Hal soon disappeared to see to his wife so she quickly poured out a drink. Dear God, I need this, she thought, it helps me to cope working in this dump.

  One good thing was that Ed had stopped writing and although she knew Eddie was unhappy about this she hoped he would get over it, especially when she found a good job and their own place to live. The thought of this future happy situation cheered her up and she even chatted to the next customer to come in.

  He was a regular but she only knew him as Big John. He was certainly tall but very thin with a deeply wrinkled face and sinewy arms that were decorated with large tattoos of bleeding hearts dedicated to ‘Mum’ and ‘Peggy’.

  ‘How are you today, John?’ she asked brightly.

  He had a slow way of talking and she waited patiently until he said, ‘I could be better, Sadie, but I mustn’t grumble.’ He carried his nip of whisky and half pint over to his pals and she watched as he downed the spirit quickly then emptied the dregs into his beer. This was something these old guys did regularly and she wondered if it made the beer more potent.

  Hal had given her a rundown on these regulars and most of them were retired but escaped from their houses for a few hours every morning. Big Jim, however, was a widower who had lost his wife a few months ago and he was still mourning her. She had heard him tell the men that he couldn’t bear to be in the house since she’d died and they all nodded in sympathy.

  Sadie wondered if this was all there was to life. You were born, worked and got married then sleepwalked into old age and death. The thought depressed her and with Hal still upstairs she poured another drink for herself. She reckoned she owed the till about ten shillings which she would ring up when she got her wages.

  What she didn’t know at that moment, because her ears weren’t burning, was that she was being discussed by Martha. ‘I’m telling you, Eliza, that she’s often drunk.’

  Eliza said this was just a rumour and her mother should watch what she was saying.

  Martha was adamant. ‘I’ve smelled it when she comes and visits. Oh I know she sucks mints but I can still smell it and I’m sure I saw the top of a bottle sticking out of her bag.’

  Eliza still defended her. ‘It might have been a bottle of cough syrup.’

  Martha looked at her in amazement. ‘What a naïve woman you are, Eliza. You must take after your father as I’m sharp and I notice things whereas he stumbled through life with blinkers on.’

  Eliza felt sad at the mention of her late father as she had been very fond of him and she often was guilty of wondering how her life would have been if it had been Martha who had died instead of him. Charlie, her father, had always got on well with Michael and Michael in turn admired him. However it was a different matter with Martha who made it clear she didn’t think he was good enough for her daughter and this had caused friction after Charlie’s death. Then Michael went off to Canada to work and she had quickly lost touch with him. Martha had said if he was as much in love with her as he said he was, he wouldn’t have left, and maybe there was some truth in this but now she would never know. Maybe he was happy with a wife and family and had truly forgotten her. The sound of her mother calling out brought her out of her reverie of past memories.

  ‘Will you be making me a cup of tea or are you daydreaming again?’

  Eliza sighed and went to put the kettle on.

  It was the dinnertime break in the playground and Evie and Tommy were playing a game with a ball when the bell sounded and they ran to get in place before marching back to the classroom. They were all seated and the teacher told them to bring out their jotters to do arithmetic when she was suddenly stopped by some chatter amongst the boys.

  ‘What is all the noise about?’ she asked and David Dobson put his hand up.

  ‘Eddie’s not here,’ he said.

  All the heads turned round to see an empty space beside him. Miss Malcolm said he was probably in the toilet but as the afternoon wore on there was no sign of him. The teacher was worried and she made the class work out some fractions she had written on the board before leaving the room.

  The minute she was out of sight the entire class began to talk about this latest development. Tommy whispered to Evie that she was worried but her friend said it was maybe something simple. ‘Maybe he’s ill and has gone home.’ However she had a cold feeling in her stomach that this wasn’t the reason. She had watched him over the past weeks and saw how unhappy he was.

  The teacher came back in with the headmaster who asked the class, ‘When did anyone last see Eddie Boyd?’

  A murmur went up around the class and Bruce Davidson looked smug. ‘He was in the dining hall at dinner time.’ A few of the boys said they had also seen him then but after that nobody had seen him. Miss Malcolm was worried as the janitor had searched the toilet block and the playground but there was no sign of him.

  After the teacher said he was probably at home, the headmaster went out and the class resumed their lessons. Tommy and Evie couldn’t concentrate and they were glad when it was four o’clock and they could hurry home to hopefully see Eddie.

  Grace was busy when they came in and both began to talk at once. ‘Is Eddie here?’

  Grace had been baking and her hands were still floury. ‘Eddie’s not here, what’s happened?’

  Before Evie could speak, Tommy blurted out, ‘He’s missing from school. He was there in the morning but after dinner time he wasn’t there.’

  Grace was as bemused as the girls. ‘He must be in the house, I’ll go and look.’ She quickly walked along the lane with the two girls following closely behind but the door was locked. Grace knocked loudly and called out, ‘Eddie, are you in there?’

  There was silence. She went and tried to look through the window but Sadie had put net curtains up as she said she didn’t want nosy neighbours forever peering in and Grace couldn’t see anything. She knocked again but this time it was even louder and she called out his name but there was no response.

  Because people had their doors open, the noise reached the other houses and Albert, Bella and Eliza came out to investigate. Albert came along and asked what the matter was. Grace tried to sound calm but she couldn’t imagine where the boy was.

  ‘Eddie left the school at dinner time, Albert, and no one knows where he is.’

  Albert asked her if they had t
ried the house and Grace remembered she still had Maryanne’s spare key from her time in hospital. She went to get it and Albert went in with her, telling the girls to stay outside. They stood at the open door with Bella and Eliza. Grace was dreading finding Eddie ill but the house was empty. Sadie hadn’t cleared the breakfast table and her bed hadn’t been made but there was no sign of anyone. Albert even opened the wardrobe and looked under the beds but apart from some suitcases and fluff there was nothing.

  Grace locked the door and they stood outside while deciding what to do. Albert said they had to get in touch with Sadie but nobody knew where she worked.

  ‘She said it was an office in town but she didn’t say where it was.’

  Bella said the best thing was to wait till she and her mother came home from work. ‘He’s probably playing truant because of all the trouble with the Davidson lad.’

  They decided to do this and Eliza hurried back to tell her mother all about the latest drama. Martha said she could well believe it. ‘With a feckless mother like Sadie no wonder he’s disappeared,’ she said with relish.

  Eliza said Eddie would never do that to his mother or granny but Martha told her to face facts. ‘He hasn’t been happy since he came back from America and now he’s done a runner.’

  Grace quizzed the girls but they couldn’t shed any light on the disappearance. ‘He’s in a different playground from us, Mum, so we only knew he was missing when we got back to the class,’ said Evie who was near to tears although she tried not to show it.

  Maryanne was back home first and Grace ran out to tell her the news and she was alarmed when the woman almost collapsed. Getting her into the house and into a chair, Grace asked where Sadie worked but her mother gave a grim laugh. ‘I don’t know as she never tells me anything.’ Albert and Bella had come in as well and she turned to them. ‘What will I do?’

  Bella repeated the thought that he was playing truant. ‘Do you think he’s gone to see his mum at work?’