Birmingham Blitz

by Annie Murray

  She soon made an appearance of course.

  Mom rolled her eyes to the ceiling. ‘Go and answer the door before she knocks it down, Genie.’

  Gladys sailed in with a tray of little cakes. ‘Straight out of the oven,’ she boomed. ‘I’ve been up since four.’ The smell of them drifted in after her, sweet and delicious, and they looked soft and golden. Good job our mom didn’t volunteer for that bit.

  ‘How’s Molly?’ Nan asked.

  ‘Got her ’ead over a pail at the moment,’ Gladys reported to anyone in the whole neighbourhood who might happen to be listening. ‘She’ll be awright with summat on her stomach though.’ She wiped her hands on her pinner and lowered her voice, which was a relief. Looking round at us in grand triumph she said, ‘We’ve got the dress. You’re in for a surprise.’

  We all stared at her. Were we supposed to ask questions?

  ‘Can’t wait,’ I said since no one else opened their mouth.

  ‘Anyroad, this won’t get the babby a new coat,’ Gladys said as if we were all in a plot to waylay her. ‘We’ll see you later.’

  ‘Gladys,’ Mom called across after her. ‘Any idea how many you’ve got coming?’

  Disappearing into her house, she called, ‘Oh, quite a few . . .’

  We had to get Lenny out of bed and get some breakfast down him. Nan had starched him a collar and she fixed it all for him, pushing in the studs. ‘Chin up, Len. It’s a bit tight,’ she said, struggling. Len’s huge face loomed over the tight collar which was biting into the side of his neck. ‘How d’s it feel?’

  ‘Awright.’ He was grinning, which was more or less what he’d been doing non-stop ever since we first got him up. She helped him into his trousers and jacket, fastened his tie for him, soaped his hair flat and combed it. ‘Now – let’s have a look at you.’

  My nan stood there in front of her enormous, damaged son, looking him over from his plastered down hair to his newly blacked shoes. I saw a nerve in her face twitch. I bet she never thought she’d see this day. Her Len getting married. She licked her lips to bring the tremble in them under control and, pulling out a hanky from the front of her dress, she looked down so her eyes were hidden.

  Finally she said, ‘You’ll do.’

  The wedding was at eleven. At the last minute I was still putting whitener on my shoes and searching for gloves. But we walked down to St Paul’s in good time, Mom with her arm through Len’s, explaining to him for the umpteenth time that when the service started he was to wait at the front for Molly to walk up to him, and then the vicar would do all the other things they’d practised.

  ‘Remember what you have to say when he asks you the questions, Len?’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Do. I do, Len. That’s all you have to remember.’ She made him repeat it over. ‘Anyway, Mom and I’ll be sitting right at the front so if you need any help you just look at us, right?’

  ‘Church looks very nice,’ Nan said approvingly as we walked in, and it was true. The blaze of colour from the spray at the front, edged with the half-open yellow roses, looked beautiful, though Mom didn’t bother to say so to us. Everything had to be perfect for her precious Lenny’s wedding day but she wasn’t going to hand out any credit for it. The only thing she said to me on the way in, in a melancholy voice, was, ‘I wish Victor was here.’

  Our side of the church was empty until we arrived. Nanny Rawson’s sister over in Aldridge said she might get there but we never saw any sign of her and no one else knew it was happening. But over on Molly’s side there were quite a few there already, all dolled up.

  After a few minutes the lady organist started up and we saw more and more trickle in on the Benders’ side. Nan, next to me, was watching them from under the same hat she’d worn to Lola’s funeral, only this time she had on a flowery frock instead of the mourning-coloured coat. I knew she was sizing up the numbers, wondering if they were all coming back to the house and if we’d got enough food.

  There was a tap on my shoulder. ‘Genie!’ It was Tom, all scrubbed and in his school shorts and jumper. ‘Can I sit with you?’ He didn’t need to ask. As he squeezed into the pew he opened one hand and showed me a shiny shilling.

  ‘Look what Frank gave us. Patsy’s got one too, and he gave a tanner to our Cathleen.’

  ‘Blimey, lucky you!’

  I turned round full of curiosity. Lil was coming down the aisle towards us with Patsy and Cathleen. She looked marvellous, in a sunny yellow dress which matched the roses, her lips glossy red and her hair swept up with a few curling tendrils hanging down, and I was struck again by just how beautiful she was. It was so hard to believe Nanny Rawson had looked similar in her youth. Cathleen was holding Lil’s hand, wearing a little pale blue pinafore dress with white rabbits appliqued on, which I knew Lil had stitched herself. But my glance soon shifted from her to the man whose face I could see over Lil’s left shoulder. I saw immaculate, shiny black hair, a thin black moustache, and as they came nearer, a sharply pressed suit. He was following Lil closely, looking coolly down at the rest of us.

  ‘Crikey!’ I whipped round to my nan. ‘Is that Frank? ’E looks just like Clark Gable!’

  ‘That,’ Nan said, thumbing determinedly through Hymns Ancient and Modern, ‘is what I’m worried about.’

  Lil, Frank and the other two children settled in the pew behind us and after a moment I turned timidly to have a peep. Lil gave me a gorgeous smile and a surreptitious wink. Frank was looking at me and Lil leaned over and touched his hand. ‘This is my little sister, Eugenie.’

  He held out his hand to shake mine. ‘Very pleased to meet you.’ And he smiled.

  I felt rather wobbly. The resemblance was so striking I thought any moment he’d say, ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ But instead he said, ‘I’m Frank.’ I stared back at him hard and couldn’t see anything in his eyes to make me suspicious so I smiled back and said hello.

  Just then, behind them, Teresa came in and, to my surprise, I saw Carlo was with her. She gave me a little wave and they sat in the third row. I couldn’t help wondering how things were going with Carlo.

  The organ struck up louder and everyone stood. Mom pushed Len out to the front where he waited, lost looking for a moment and then, as he caught sight of Molly, beaming like a sunflower opening out. Everyone on both sides swivelled to see the bride.

  There was a gasp from all round. We couldn’t help it. All of us watched, riveted, as she swayed along the aisle on the arm of one of her uncles, since her dad had been dead years.

  As they came closer I heard Nan mutter, ‘God Almighty.’ Afterwards Lil said Molly was the nearest thing to a jam roly-poly on legs she’d ever set eyes on. The dress was simply enormous. It had every possible combination of frills and leg-of-mutton sleeves and bows and flounces that you could ever imagine all crammed into the same space together. The sleeves made Molly look as if she’d been blown up with a bicycle pump, the layered skirts flounced hugely over her backside and the neck, cleavage, sleeves and skirt were all trimmed with huge floppy bows. Not only that, although the dress was white – a bit cheeky of Gladys, considering – the edges were piped with a bright raspberry-coloured material and half the bows were made of the same colour. On her head she wore a little white cloche hat with a long gauze veil trailing from it which was, at the moment, down over her face. Actually she looked more like an enormous summer pudding with only some of the juice soaked through the bread.

  But she was Len’s Molly, and his face was brimful of delight. The fact she looked good enough to eat would be a bonus in Len’s list of priorities.

  The uncle was quite a size as well, and the two of them had rather a squeeze to fit along. It was only once they’d passed we saw the bridesmaid behind, a girl of about nine, in a dress of a terrible bright acid blue. Nan looked at me and I could hear her thoughts: What could have possessed them? But the child, unlike every other member of Molly’s family, was extraordinarily pretty, with long, wavy chestnut hair, striking l
ight blue eyes and the longest eyelashes I’d ever seen. A real beauty. It was like seeing Snow White with all the dwarfs around her.

  The service sped past. I could tell Mom was on edge, sober as a judge today, afraid of Len putting a foot wrong. But he said his ‘I do’s’ with such feeling that there was a ripple of laughter from behind him. He fed the ring on to Molly’s pudgy finger and was allowed to lift the veil and kiss her. Molly turned, smiling coyly. They were married. I wanted to clap.

  Outside we deluged them with rice and confetti and they looked like the happiest pair of people I’d ever seen.

  ‘Heaven help us if all that lot come back,’ Mom panted as she and I sped down the road ahead of everyone else. The few photographs had already been done. ‘We’d better keep some of the sandwiches back so they don’t all go at once.’

  The minute we were back in the house she was swigging at the gin bottle.

  ‘Mom!’

  ‘What? God, I needed that. What’re you staring at?’

  ‘Don’t get drunk, Mom. Not today – please.’

  ‘Don’t be silly – course I shan’t.’ She let out a titter, putting the top back on the bottle. ‘I just wanted a little pick-me-up. I don’t get drunk, do I?’

  ‘Not half,’ I muttered, checking the things laid out on the lacy cloth.

  ‘Think of our Len, married!’ Mom’s voice was high with nerves and excitement. Suddenly she burst into hysterical-sounding giggles, hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, that dress – have you ever seen anything like it?’

  I had to laugh with her then. ‘It was a bit loud, wasn’t it?’

  Tears of laughter trickled down our faces. ‘How’re we going to cope with her here?’ Mom spluttered. ‘It’ll be like having a minesweeper in the house—’

  ‘And that bridesmaid – talk about Reckitt’s blue!’

  Mom wiped her eyes, trying to calm down. ‘Pretty little thing though, wasn’t she? Oh dear, it’s good to have a laugh. Come on though, Genie.’ She started flapping again. ‘They’ll all be here in a minute. How on earth’re we going to manage for glasses?’

  ‘Someone’ll have to go round the pubs, see if they can spare us any.’

  Soon we heard the first knock on the door, but it was only Nanny Rawson and Lil with the kids. Lil went off round to the neighbours and pubs begging use of more glasses, plates and cups. Mom was spreading more bread and Nanny Rawson took over the sandwich factory so by the time Molly got there we were as ready as we’d ever be.

  Molly filled up most of the hall and with Gladys and Len trying to squeeze in too there wasn’t a hope, so Mom shifted them all through into the garden. Then there followed a thick stream of Gladys and Molly’s relatives and it looked as if every last one of her fourteen brothers and sisters had turned up, along with bits and bobs of family and children, so the place was soon heaving with them all. When Frank arrived I was impressed to find he’d stayed back to show people the way. He looked even more like a film star when set against Gladys’s clan.

  Looking at Frank carefully, I could see he was quite a bit older than Lil – forty-something probably. The suit was smart and you could have looked in the black toe-caps of his two-tone shoes to put your lipstick on. How Nanny Rawson was going to loathe those shiny shoes!

  ‘How’s it going, Genie?’ He pushed in through the throng of the front room where they were already lighting fags and drinking beer. I had a good look at his face again. I felt protective of Lil. She’d had enough on her plate. He was gorgeous, but was he a chancer? The smile in those steely grey eyes was warm enough, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

  ‘All right.’ I smiled. ‘Lil’s still rounding up glasses somewhere.’

  ‘Anything I can do?’

  ‘Beers?’ We’d got a couple of barrels in.

  ‘Right you are, Genie. And anything else you want – just give me the word.’ And he really did knuckle down and help, seemed like a worker all right.

  Nanny Rawson came in holding two plates of sandwiches high so they didn’t get knocked. ‘Right!’ she boomed, and everyone went quiet. ‘There’s more of you than we bargained for today which is awright. It’s very nice. But you’ll have to go easy on the grub and make sure everyone gets a share, awright?’

  After that the party got into full swing and I went round offering food to a large number of people who looked very like Gladys and others of her relatives who looked totally different. Molly and Len stayed in the garden with a crowd, including the blue bridesmaid who was dashing about playing tig with Patsy, Tom and some other kids. Molly looked very hot in all her finery. Seeing me, she swooped down and clasped me in her arms so I was buried in bows, frills, bosoms and cheap scent. Up close I felt the dress was made of cotton.

  ‘So you’re my little niece now, Genie!’

  I smiled. ‘S’pose I am. You look lovely, Molly.’

  Lenny and I had a big hug too. ‘You did well, Len. We could all hear you.’

  ‘I’m married now,’ he announced.

  ‘You are. And soon to be a dad,’ I added more quietly.

  ‘Never thought I’d be the one getting married.’

  I squeezed his hand. ‘I’ll get you some grub.’

  Inside, the house was full of chatter and smoke. Teresa and Carlo were there and I realized I hadn’t had time to see them, but I caught Teresa’s eye and grinned and waved as I went through the back room. In the front, Frank was still in charge of the beer and I heard him say to Nan, ‘I hope you’re going to give us a tune later, Mrs Rawson.’

  ‘We’ll ’ave to see.’ Nan gave him a look as if to say when she did it wouldn’t be as any kind of favour to him.

  And then a noise broke through all the celebrating, a high, rising and falling whine.

  ‘God Almighty!’ Lil cried, ‘It’s an air raid!’

  No one knew what to do. We weren’t in practice for this. A bomb had come down last week across town but we had no routine.

  ‘Well we won’t all fit in the Anderson,’ I said. Found I was giggling and didn’t know why.

  ‘Get Len and Molly in there, and the kids,’ Nan said. ‘The rest of us’ll just ’ave to make do.’

  For the next few minutes there was a low-level panic. Some of the guests went off saying they’d find a public shelter and Gladys pointed out that she had a cellar, so a few of her kin went across with her. Mom made sure she got into the shelter outside saying she was going to keep an eye on Molly and Len.

  ‘Now isn’t that just typical,’ Lil hissed down my ear. ‘I mean it’s not as if she’s got to worry about Molly getting pregnant now, is it?’

  But in the end they found room for Nan as well. The rest of us sheltered in the little cupboard under the stairs – where I found myself with Lil and Frank – and under the tables front and back.

  The raid went on for three and a half hours, and if it hadn’t been for the absurdity of the situation and us all being together it would’ve been absolutely terrifying. The planes sounded so loud and close and when they were really overhead we all stopped talking and held our breath. We heard the crash of explosions in the distance.

  ‘So it’s really happening, isn’t it?’ Lil said as we crouched, ears straining, in the tiny space where there was barely room for the three of us.

  ‘If I’d stayed out you could’ve had a lot more fun, couldn’t you?’ I said to them and Lil gave me a pretend slap on the cheek. ‘Hey girl – what d’you take us for?’

  When there was more of a lull we’d poke our heads out and call to the others under the tables. At the front were some of Gladys’s family, who kept climbing in and out, polishing off the remains of the food, and Lil said it was a good job we’d still got the cake, ‘if we ever get out of here.’

  In the back room, under the smaller table, were Teresa and Carlo, and after the first time I popped in and found them wrapped tight in each other’s arms, I thought I’d better just leave them to it. We heard their voices now and then, talking Italian mostly, and Lil winked at m
e. ‘Lovely language, isn’t it? Makes everything they say sound romantic.’

  ‘Don’t think they need the Italian for that by the look of things,’ I said.

  ‘Really?’ Lil stretched out, put her head round the door, then drew back grinning. ‘Ooh, I see what you mean!’

  Frank told us jokes and stories to take our minds off it all, making us laugh. I was still trying to work him out, wasn’t sure. He looked such a spiv, but at the same time in his face there was something worn and vulnerable that you didn’t expect. And he did seem genuinely to care for Lil. By the end of the raids, what with all the laughs he gave us, I was more or less convinced.

  The sun was low in the sky by the time the All Clear went, and we all crawled out to find the table empty.

  ‘Greedy sods,’ Lil said. ‘Honestly.’

  Gladys came back with her little band, although the lot who’d gone to find another shelter never reappeared and must’ve gone to the pub. Everyone was in a mad mood after the hours cooped up and we had a lot of laughs, ate trifle and evap and little cakes, then Gladys trotted back over to get The Cake.

  When she stood it on the table everyone clapped and laughed. There were two tiers and on the top, moulded out of icing, was a little figure obviously meant to be Molly, with pink colouring piped round it something like her dress, and silver horseshoes at her feet.

  ‘Where’s the one of Len?’ someone asked.

  ‘You didn’t want to crush the cake, did you?’ another voice shouted. And amid the laughter and the cheers that everyone truly meant for them, Len and Molly cut the cake, each of them holding the knife with one of their enormous hands, both smiling madly and Molly’s glasses misting up.