‘Let me take this lot out and put a match to it while you take off your mac and give it a good shake. Chances are you’ll have a few bites on your legs, but no one’s died from a flea bite.’
Vera eyed Ruby suspiciously. ‘Are you sure?’
Ruby nodded. ‘Sort yourself out and then we can have a tea break. Irene brought some cake along . . . unless it’s all gone,’ she added.
Vera needed no second bidding and shook her mac and headed to the kitchen before Ruby put a match to the bonfire.
Freda tapped nervously on Sergeant Jackson’s front door. She’d sat in the bay window of Ruby’s house watching from behind a heavy green velvet curtain, keeping an eye on the house across the road until she’d seen his father, Bob, heading off to the allotment, going by the clothes he was wearing and the spade in his hand.
‘Why, Freda, what a lovely surprise. What can I do for you?’
‘I wondered if I could have a word with you, Sergeant Jackson?’
‘Come on in and, please, my name is Mike, we’ve known each other long enough not to stand on formalities.’
Freda followed Mike into a front room that was the mirror image of Ruby’s home. ‘Actually, it’s not really a social call. I have a little problem and I’d like your advice,’ she said nervously.
‘Advice, eh? That sounds serious. Would you like a drink while we chat?’ he offered as he showed her to a comfy armchair placed by the fireside. Mike sat in an identical chair opposite.
‘No thank you. I had one with Ruby before she went off to her WVS meeting. I’ve got to be at Woolworths in an hour for my shift.’
Mike nodded. ‘So what can I help you with?’
Freda felt her cheeks start to burn. ‘It’s a little embarrassing.’
‘Let me help you then. Would it have anything to do with young Ginger being arrested yesterday evening?’
Freda hung her head in shame. ‘Yes, it does, and I’m afraid I’m involved. It may even be my fault he was arrested.’
Mike nodded his head. ‘I was told a young woman was seen with him earlier. What makes you think you’re to blame?’
‘Well, he tried to kiss me and I wouldn’t let him and he became rather insistent. I left the cinema as I was upset and bumped into Alan, who took me back to his mum’s house.’
Mike looked concerned. ‘Did he hurt you, Freda?’
‘No, although he ripped my blouse. It was an old one so doesn’t matter, although I’d be a fool if I didn’t say he frightened me. He used to be such a sweet lad,’ Freda said as a large tear dropped onto her cheek.
‘There, there, don’t you go upsetting yourself, Freda. I shouldn’t really tell you this, but Ginger was arrested because he started a fight with another man. It was nothing you did.’
‘But there was a man who told Ginger to stop upsetting me,’ Freda said, brushing the tear away with her fingers. ‘I’d hate to think I caused a fight and a person was hurt. Ginger seems to be so grumpy these days and not anything like he used to be when we all worked together at Woolworths.’
‘The war affects people in different ways, Freda, and Ginger will learn from what happened once he has time to think about his actions. If it’s any consolation, he is nursing a cut lip and a dented ego today. He came off worse, as the man he upset was a boxer in his youth and can still throw a punch.’
Freda smiled. She’d like to have seen that. No doubt Ginger would have been surprised after the way he spoke to the man in the cinema.
‘We won’t be pressing charges as he is due to return to his regiment later today, so you won’t see any more of him around town for a while,’ Mike assured her. ‘So no more tears, eh?’
‘That’s a relief,’ Freda sighed. ‘I just wish . . .’
‘What do you wish, Freda? Are you unhappy?’ Mike liked Ruby’s young lodger. He’d watched her grow up in the years since she’d arrived in Erith as a frightened child and had been on duty when her brother turned up in the town. He wondered more than a few times what would have happened if she hadn’t been given a job at Woolworths and made friends with Sarah and Maisie. She was a plucky kid, which was proved by her eagerness to join the Fire Service, even if it meant learning to ride a motorbike.
Freda sighed. ‘I just wish I had a nice boyfriend and was looking forward to settling down with my own home and a family. Do you think I’m daft to feel this way, Mike?’
Mike ran his fingers through his short hair. ‘I wouldn’t say you’re daft. Isn’t it what we all want? It’s the natural progression of things. Some of us just don’t achieve it.’
Freda put her hand to her mouth. ‘I’m sorry, Mike. Here’s me going on about my own dreams and never thinking that perhaps you wanted to marry and settle down.’
Mike shrugged his shoulders. ‘It just never happened for me. I had my chances but I’ve never met anyone who wanted to be a policeman’s wife.’
‘You’d have made a good father, Mike. I’ve seen you with the youngsters in the street – you’ve got time for everyone.’
‘I could have been a grandfather by now,’ Mike said ruefully.
Freda’s eyes opened wide. ‘You could?’
‘I was at school with Sarah’s dad. Granted, he’s a couple of years older than me but close enough not to make any difference. Look at him, he has a married daughter and a granddaughter.’
‘You look so much younger than George. No one would think you could be a grandfather,’ Freda said, looking at the tall dark-haired man with the athletic build. In comparison Sarah’s dad was already grey-haired and approaching old age. Perhaps it was the responsibility of his job at Vickers that had aged him. Sarah had hinted that her dad did important war work. ‘Never say never, Mike.’
Mike laughed. ‘Well, if you don’t find yourself married by the time you are thirty, come and knock on my door and I’ll get down on one knee and propose. That’s if I can get down on my knees by then,’ he laughed.
‘Oh, Mike, you’re a right tonic and I promise to keep that in mind,’ she laughed as she rose and headed to the door. ‘I’d better get going as I’ve a busy day ahead and I don’t want Betty reprimanding me for being late.’
Mike watched as Freda headed back across the road to Ruby’s house, stopping to talk with Gwyneth, who was just leaving. Now, there’s a woman a man could settle down with, he thought to himself as he recalled holding the rosy-cheeked woman in his arms only days before at the Erith Dance Studios. He’d wished there could have been more than one dance but as a single man he was honour-bound to ask the other ladies present to take a turn around the floor, and before he knew it they were playing the last waltz and Gwyneth was in the arms of another. ‘You daft bugger,’ he muttered to himself. ‘As if a beautiful young woman would be interested in a duffer like you.’ He raised his hand in greeting to Gwyneth as she passed by, before closing the front door and going to the kitchen to prepare his solitary meal.
‘Come in and take a seat, Gwyneth,’ Betty said as the nervous woman knocked on the open door of the temporary manager’s office. ‘No doubt Maisie would have told you about the interview procedure at Woolworths?’
Gwyneth nodded enthusiastically, sending her shiny shoulder-length hair waving around her shoulders. She wasn’t going to tell Betty Billington how Maisie, Freda and Sarah had giggled about their interview at the store on the day they met and how Sarah had helped the others with the arithmetic test. She’d sighed when Sarah told how she also met Alan at the store. She would love to have some romance in her life. It had been a long time since . . .
Betty took several sheets of paper from a file. ‘I have an application form as well as an arithmetic test for you to complete. As you are on your own I’d usually say you could sit here in my office to complete the paperwork, but I have a meeting in ten minutes. So, I’ll take you through to the canteen and organize a cup of tea. Maureen is preparing staff lunches and will take care of you. You can sit there and complete the questions. There’s no rush as I’ll be the best part of a
n hour. Come along,’ she said as she hurried from the room.
Gwyneth grabbed the papers from Betty’s desk and, picking up her handbag and gas mask, she hurried after the store manager. She’d been warned by Maisie that Betty was a different person when at work and, as she was ushered to a table in the corner of the staff canteen, Gwyneth could see the difference between the efficient manager and the woman she’d met at the dance in her beautiful oyster-coloured gown, who had gazed adoringly at the handsome grey-haired man who didn’t leave her side all evening.
‘Hello, my love,’ Maureen said as she wiped the tabletop where Betty had seated Gwyneth before rushing off for her meeting. ‘There you go, all nice and clean so you don’t get your papers messy. Sarah said as how you were going to join us at Woolies. Now, how about a cup of tea and a slice of my homemade bread pudding?’
‘That would be lovely. Thank you, Mrs Gilbert,’ Gwyneth said as she reached for her purse to pay.
‘I’ll have none of that,’ Maureen said, raising her hands in horror. ‘Why, you’re one of us now and it would be a sad world if I couldn’t give someone a cuppa and a bite to eat when they come along for an interview. You get writing and I’ll make a fresh pot. Why, I might even join you. I’ve got a little time before the lunch rush starts. That’s if it’s all right with you?’
‘Please do,’ Gwyneth said with a smile before pulling a sheet of paper towards her and thinking about the arithmetic questions. Thankfully she was a dab hand with giving change and adding up pounds, shillings and pence from the jobs she’d had working in a butcher’s shop and recently at a busy greengrocer’s. By the time Maureen appeared balancing two steaming cups of tea and a plate with chunks of bread pudding Gwyneth was chewing the pencil and looking at the application form with a worried look on her pretty face.
‘Having problems with the adding up, are you?’ she asked, passing a cup of tea to Gwyneth.
‘No, I’ve completed them. It’s the application form I’m having problems with. I didn’t know that Woolworths would want to know so much about me,’ she said glumly, pushing the paperwork away from her with a sigh. ‘I’ll tell Miss Billington that I’ve changed my mind and don’t want the job after all.’
‘Oh, don’t do that,’ Maureen said sadly. ‘I’m sure we can sort something out. What’s the problem?’
‘It asks about next of kin and children.’
‘I can’t see that being a problem. Just add an adult relative and write down young Myfi’s name under the part where it asks for details of your children.’
Gwyneth shook her head. ‘I’d rather not write anything about Myfi.’
Maureen frowned. ‘Why ever not? Is there a problem with the child? I hope you don’t mind me asking, only I’ve noticed how she never speaks. Is she poorly, love?’
Gwyneth nodded, a look of sorrow spread across her pretty face. ‘In a manner of speaking she is. She’s not spoken since she saw her mother killed in front of her two years ago.’
‘Her mother? You mean she’s not yours?’
‘No, Myfi is my niece. She’s my late sister’s daughter, but I love her as if she were my own child and I’ll protect her until my last dying breath.’
‘But your surname . . . ?’
‘Myfi took my name. I thought it best at the time and as she doesn’t speak it didn’t seem to be a problem.’
‘Then I suggest you write the child’s name on the form. The paperwork is just a formality and it’s not as if you’ve abducted her, is it? You haven’t, have you?’ Maureen added as an afterthought.
‘No . . . no, I haven’t abducted her. I’m just keeping her safe from—’
Both women jumped as two cleaners entered the staffroom and headed towards the counter.
‘Let me go and serve these two and then we can chew over your problem. Your secret is safe with me. Don’t worry about what you write on that form. It’s not as if it will do any harm, is it? Now, drink up your tea before it gets cold and stop your worrying. You’re amongst friends now and there’s no need to be afraid.’
Gwyneth nodded and picked up the pencil, quickly writing Myfi’s name in the required box. She was sick of the pretence and had hoped that now she’d moved to an area where she wasn’t known she could start life anew. Albeit it with a new identity and free of her violent husband. As much as she loved Myfi, it was a godsend that she never spoke. Come the day she did, they would have to move on again before anyone heard the truth.
‘I thought we could start you on the crockery counter,’ Betty said as she showed Gwyneth through the busy Woolworths store. ‘It was Maisie’s domain and I’m sure she will be able to give you a few tips about how she ran things. We will miss her, but I’m relieved we have a friendly face to take over.’
Gwyneth hurried to keep up with Betty as she strode through shoppers heading to where flower-covered cups and saucers could be seen carefully stacked on the glass-fronted mahogany counter. ‘I haven’t had experience of selling china,’ she said, wishing she’d worn more comfortable shoes as it felt as though a blister was already forming on her left heel.
‘Oh, it’s not just crocks,’ Betty said, looking over her shoulder. ‘We’ve amalgamated the pots and pans with the crockery as supplies aren’t as reliable as they used to be.’ Betty waited for Gwyneth to catch up. ‘You’ll need to wear comfortable shoes if you intend standing on your feet all day,’ she said, noticing how Gwyneth limped behind her.
Gwyneth nodded politely, but inside she was thinking that at least her painful feet would take her mind off the fact that her past might very soon catch up with her, and it could be as soon as Christmas.
11
‘Cooee!’ Maureen called out as she left Woolworths and spotted Irene and Ruby up ahead. ‘Wait up!’
Irene sighed and looked at her watch. Ruby noted that her daughter-in-law did this quite often. Why was it she was always in a rush but never really getting anywhere? ‘I really don’t have time to stop and chatter. George will be home for his tea soon and will wonder where I am.’
‘He knows you don’t sit at home waiting for him, Irene, and besides, I didn’t bring him up to be useless. He can roll his sleeves up and peel a few spuds if needs be. Hello, love,’ she added as Maureen caught them up and held on to Ruby’s arm while she caught her breath.
‘That nigh on puffed me out,’ she gasped. ‘I’ve been on my feet all day cooking for the staff. I’m not sure I can keep doing it for much longer.’
Ruby grinned. Maureen carried a little weight regardless of, as she said, being on her feet all day, but it suited her even if she was rosy-cheeked and out of breath for the short run along the High Street. ‘You’ll never leave Woolworths. You love working there. I’m surprised you’ve not offered to transfer to the shop floor, what with Betty being so short staffed. I’ve never known so many girls leave at the same time.’
‘To be honest, I’ve thought about it. I fancy myself as a supervisor. After all, I put in the years working at the Dartford Woolies. There’s nothing I don’t know about selling biscuits and cakes. Why don’t you both come back to mine and we can have a cup of tea and a catch-up? It seems an age since we’ve had a nice chat. Sarah’s off to her ARP warden duties so we’ll have Georgina to ourselves to spoil.’
Irene’s eyes lit up. ‘It would be wonderful to see my granddaughter for a little while. It’ll only take me twenty minutes to walk home to Crayford.’
‘Our granddaughter,’ Maureen laughed, ‘and Ruby’s great-granddaughter. That’s makes us all related in a way.’ She linked her arm through Ruby’s and the three women set off on the short walk to Maureen’s house in Crayford Road.
Sarah was pulling her jacket on as the three women entered Maureen’s two-up, two-down close to the Prince of Wales public house. Although the weather was warming up as May crept towards its end, she knew she’d be home late from her ARP duties and there could still be a chilly breeze blowing from the nearby River Thames.
‘Shooting off so soon, Sar
ah?’ Maureen asked as she took coats from Ruby and Irene. ‘I thought you’d stay and chat to your mum for a few minutes?’
‘I daren’t stop,’ she said in between kissing hello her mum and nan. ‘It’s just Bob and me on duty this evening so it wouldn’t be fair on him if I was late. I’m hoping for a quiet evening.’
‘Sod’s law there’ll be a raid now you’ve said that,’ chuckled Ruby. After almost three years of war the women could joke about their situation even though they secretly worried about their loved ones.
Irene was alarmed. ‘I’m not so sure about you being alone with just an old man if there is an air raid, Sarah. However will you cope?’
Sarah could see her nan was getting annoyed. She was aware Ruby had a soft spot for Bob, but then he was a likeable man, as was his son, Mike. She was pleased Nan had a good friend. ‘Mum, Bob takes good care of me. I’m the liability in our team as I have no idea what to do and Bob has to tell me everything. Now, I must be off or I’ll get the sack.’ She waved goodbye to her good-natured daughter, who was sitting on a blanket on the floor playing with a knitted teddy bear, picked up her gas mask and tin ARP helmet and hurried from the house.
‘Sit yourself down and I’ll stick the kettle on. Would you like a slice of bread pudding? I brought home what was left over from the batch I made at Woolies. Betty had two slices as well.’
Irene waved her hand to decline the pudding. ‘I’m surprised Betty can eat that much. It’s rather stodgy,’ she said, wrinkling her nose.
‘No doubt she will share with Douglas when he goes for his tea,’ Maureen called as she busied herself in the tiny kitchen.
‘They are becoming rather cosy,’ Irene said as she watched Ruby take a big bite of the brown spicy pudding. ‘I’d have thought at her age she wouldn’t be bothered with male callers.’
Maureen burst out laughing and Ruby joined in, sending a spray of crumbs in Irene’s direction. ‘I wouldn’t mind a bit of male company,’ Maureen called out, ‘if only to help around the house with the papering and painting. Not that we can get any decorating things these days. I’ve got a problem with my guttering. I may have to call on your Bob for a helping hand, but I’d better get in quick before the two of you head off to Cornwall.’
Christmas at Woolworths Page 15
