by Anne Bennett
‘Well, I had things to see to first,’ Molly said evasively. ‘Anyway, you didn’t put an address on the letter.’
‘I had to write it quick before they caught me,’ Kevin said. ‘Anyroad, I thought you would know the address, that the social workers who brought me here would have told you.’
‘They may well have told our grandmother,’ Molly said, ‘but I never got to hear of it.’
‘Why not?’
Molly shrugged. ‘I really don’t know, Kevin,’ she said. ‘Between you and me, I think the woman is crackers. She seemed to delight in making my life a misery. She never even told me granddad had died.’
‘Dain’t she?’ Kevin said, totally shocked that one person should keep such a thing from another. ‘That’s horrible, that is – but she was horrible, weren’t she? When they said she dain’t want anything to do with me, I was glad. They said you dain’t either and I didn’t believe that. Well,’ he added more honestly, ‘I didn’t at first. It was just when you didn’t come and that, but it’s all right now ’cos I can come home with you, can’t I?’
‘I haven’t got a home, Kevin.’
‘What about our granddad’s house?’
‘That’s long gone to other tenants,’ Molly said. ‘But even if I had somewhere to live, I would still have to work at a job that paid enough to support us both.’
‘So I’ve got to stay at the home then?’ Kevin said morosely.
‘Yes, I am afraid so for now,’ Molly said. ‘I will be working at Moor Hall Hotel in Four Oaks and I will be able to come and see you in my time off and we can go out places.’ She saw the disappointment in Kevin’s eyes and said, ‘I know it probably isn’t what you hoped for. But it is really the best I can do for now. Is it really horrible?’
‘It’s not so bad now,’ Kevin admitted. ‘I hated that Receiving Place that Mrs Hewitt took me to first. I was there for three days totally on my own before I met the other kids, and we all wore the same type of scratchy clothes and I was real lonely. I hated it.’
‘How long were you there for?’
‘Nearly thee weeks,’ Kevin said, ‘and then a group of us was taken here. A man took us and said we had to stay in the Lodge for a bit before being moved into a cottage.’
‘Why?’
‘Search me,’ Kevin said. ‘They tell you nowt. You see the doctor and everything to make sure that you ain’t picked up anything infectious in the other place, Mother Jenkins said. She’s my housemother and that’s what we have to call her. Anyway, it was there, in the Lodge, that I wrote that note and stole the envelope and stamp and I posted it on my way to school. I go to Osbourne Road now.’
‘Not the Abbey?’
Kevin shook his head. ‘I never went back there once I was out of hospital. Granddad said I didn’t have to if I didn’t want. I don’t believe in God and all that, not since Mom and Dad died, and Granddad said he dain’t blame me one bit. Father Monahon came, of course. We sort of expected him, like,’ Kevin said, and a ghost of a smile played around his mouth at the memory. ‘They had one hell of a bust-up, him and Granddad, and in the end Granddad sent him running up the road as if his bum was on fire and he never come back. I don’t half miss our granddad, Moll.’
‘I know,’ Molly said. ‘I’m still coming to terms with his death, myself. But at least we have got each other.’
‘Yeah,’ Kevin said. ‘And you take bloody good care of yourself. I’m fed up losing people.’
Molly didn’t chide him. She knew by his face how much he still suffered. She just asked, ‘Where is Granddad buried?’
‘Witton Cemetery.’
‘We’ll go up next time, if you want,’ Molly said. ‘I’d like to go. I’ll get some flowers and that, and at least make his grave look nice.’
Kevin nodded, but Molly knew by the glitter of tears in his eyes and the forlorn look on his face that he was probably remembering the funeral. It must have been dreadful for him all on his own.
In an effort to distract him she said, ‘How many children live in the cottages?’
‘Sixteen, mainly,’ Kevin said. ‘There is in ours, anyroad. There are only boys. The girls have their own houses.’
‘So if you had to stay there a bit longer, you’d cope with that?’
‘I’d have to, wouldn’t I?’ Kevin said. ‘One thing I have learned is, it ain’t any use wishing things were different to the way they are.’
‘That is a good lesson to learn,’ Molly said.
‘S’pose it is,’ Kevin said. ‘D’you think I could have a piece of cake now?’
‘Two if you can manage them,’ Molly smiled. ‘You have certainly got your appetite back.’
‘Oh, I eat all before me now,’ Kevin said. ‘Granddad used to say I have either got worms or hollow legs, one or the other.’
Molly could just hear her granddad saying that, but she didn’t want to go down the road of remembering and feeling sad, so she said, ‘Come on, let’s see what cakes they have in today.’
TWENTY-TWO
It was as Molly was on her way back to Aston that she decided she wouldn’t tell any of them about her job, which she was starting in the afternoon of the following day. They would be glad for her and probably relieved, she knew, because it would be better for them all if Molly went her own way now. But what they didn’t know about the name or location of her employment they couldn’t let slip, even inadvertently, and Molly would feel safer that way.
Betty was very near her time now and it would have been nice maybe to have waited a few days till the birth was over. However, when Molly told the hotel manager she could start immediately, he had taken her at her word and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity of the job and a place to live that was also near to Kevin.
‘You managed to pawn the cufflinks then?’ Will said as they sat around the fire that evening. ‘Did you have any trouble?’
‘No, not really,’ Molly said. ‘He asked if I came by them honestly. You know, I think there must be some flaw in my character to be able to lie so convincingly.’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, in the end, he gave me six pounds for them.’
‘They are worth at least three times that amount,’ Will said.
‘Six pounds seemed a great deal of money to me,’ Molly said. ‘I was well satisfied.’
‘Well, at least it will enable you to get far away from here,’ Will said.
Molly shook her head. ‘That isn’t an option any more, Will.’ She told them all what had happened to her grandfather and her old neighbour, and that she had located her brother Kevin and he was in an orphanage.
‘Oh God!’ said the tender-hearted Betty. ‘Did that upset you?’
‘A bit,’ Molly admitted. ‘It’s not a place I would have chosen for him, but better he is cared for in an orphanage than thrown out on to the streets.’
‘Yes, I suppose.’
‘Anyway, he is all right,’ Molly said. ‘I mean, he isn’t in some sort of prison. He’s goes to a normal school and I took him out to tea, but now that I know where Kevin is, I must be somewhere near so that I can get to see him as often as possible.’
‘Molly!’
‘Will, he is ten years old and I am all he has in the world,’ Molly said. ‘You know what he said to me? That I had to take great care of myself because he was fed up losing people.’
‘Ah God, that’s sad,’ Ruby said. ‘You have to admit that, Will. You must see the girl has a point?’
Of course Will could see that. But just that day he had found out that Ray Morris had disappeared. ‘Bet you any money he makes for Sutton Coldfield,’ said the man who had told him, and then, not noting the bleached look on Will’s face, went on, ‘His old lady lives that way and thinks the sun shines out of his arse.’
Sutton Coldfield, the very place he had sent Molly to. Will had felt sick with fear for her and for all of them. He knew he had to get Molly alone and impress on her the danger she was in by even trying to see her brother. He would say nothing in front of Betty, e
specially with her so near her time and all, but he knew that Collingsworth was sending his heavies to winkle out Ray and put an end to him. If Molly hung about in Sutton Coldfield, or Erdington, they could easily come upon her first. He had to make her see that by insisting on the need to visit her brother, she was putting all their lives in danger. He knew she wasn’t stupid, and he was sure she would see this herself when the facts were laid before her
However, before Will had any opportunity to speak to Molly, he came down the next morning to find a note on the table with two pound notes on top of it secured with the salt pot.
Dear Will, Betty and Ruby,
Thank you so much for all you have done for me, but the time has come for me to move on. I used the hours I was waiting for Kevin to return from school, securing employment for myself and a place to live. It’s better that you don’t know where, but you don’t need to worry about me any more. The money is only a small percentage of what I owe you, and not only in financial terms either, and, Betty, I have had to borrow some clothes. These will be returned to you at the first opportunity and I hope the birth of the baby goes well. I am sure it will and I’m sorry I will miss it.
Love to you all,
Molly
‘Bugger!’ Will cried, throwing the note down in exasperation. ‘Damn and blast the stupid girl.’
All their lives could now be in jeopardy, Will knew, for if Collingsworth’s heavies found Molly they would ensure that before she died she would say who had helped her escape. They were masters of the art of torture. They had boasted to him about things they had done to people that had make him feel sick. He knew if they found Molly, eventually she would welcome death as a blessed relief, and so would he when they had finished with him. And then they would come for Betty and the child. Even Ruby would not be safe. Sweet Jesus! He tasted fear for his loved ones like a sour and acrid taste in his mouth, but knew he could do nothing about it but wait.
Unaware of this, Molly had taken the first train out to Sutton Coldfield where she had waited for the shops to open. Knowing it would look strange to arrive without luggage and, anyway, she had to have clothes to wear, she first bought a large bag to put the things in. There wasn’t much in the shops but at least no rationing on clothes as yet, and she bought underwear, nightwear and toiletries, a dress and cardigan, a couple of skirts and the very practical slacks that women were beginning to wear, a couple of jumpers and a pair of shoes. With all these packed in the bag, a smile on her face and a spring in her step, she made her way to the station to catch the train to Four Oaks.
Molly had never done hotel work before, but she was a quick learner and a neat worker. Even the laying up of the tables seemed common sense when you understood the order the food was served in and she picked that up easily too. After a few days, she began at last almost to enjoy herself. In the semi-rural location of the hotel, Ray Morris and Collingsworth and their nefarious dealings seemed to belong to another life.
Now that she had a proper address, she could write to her Uncle Tom, and Cathy, Nellie and Jack, as she had promised. She knew they would be worried about her. She had thought about that as soon as she had regained her memory, had even mentioned it to Will, but he had not been keen. She wouldn’t put Ruby’s address on the letter, but he was concerned that, after a silence of some weeks, someone from Ireland might come to try to seek her out and would know the area she was in by the postmark.
It was too risky for anyone to be going around asking for the whereabouts of Molly Maguire, she quite saw that. She knew the safety of them all hinged on her having disappeared totally and so she hadn’t mentioned it again.
That no longer applied, though, and now she could write to them all and set their mind at rest, but even as she drew the writing pad she had bought towards her, she hesitated. It was three months since she had left her home in Buncrana and she had no idea what excuse she could give them for her silence during that time. How could she explain to them in that sleepy little town about the shadowy time when she had nearly, very nearly, slid into the half-world, of drugs and prostitution, or hiding out in someone’s house because she had nearly killed a man?
How could she hope to explain that to anyone and expect them to understand how it was? Wouldn’t they be disgusted with her, think that in some way she had asked for, almost invited the men’s attention? She couldn’t bear that they should think that way about her. Better do and say nothing, she decided, for then at least their memories of her were left unsullied.
To the people left behind in Ireland it was as if she really had disappeared off the face of the earth.
‘It’s like history is repeating itself,’ Tom said to Nellie one Saturday morning as both Christmas and the New Year passed with no word from Molly. ‘She has disappeared just as Aggie did.’
‘Well, I didn’t know about Aggie,’ Nellie said. ‘I was just a child myself when she vanished, but I know Molly well enough and did think that she would send a card at Christmas. I told Cathy so, for she was worried sick about her, and we had our cards and letters written to send as soon as we had her address. Tell you the truth, I expected a wee note before, to say she had got there safely, but when nothing came I told myself that maybe she was waiting to write until she had news and a permanent place to stay. But when Christmas passed, then New Year …’ She looked at Tom with tension-filled eyes and said, ‘Dear God, it’s bloody scary. D’you think one of us should go over and see if we can find out what has happened to her?’
‘How?’ Tom said morosely. ‘Don’t you think those same thoughts are not eating me up inside, but how is that to be achieved? You have the post office that you cannot leave so easily, and I can’t leave Mammy with the farm to see to on her own. God knows, her temper grows no easier, but I just can’t do that to her.’
‘I know you can’t,’ Nellie said with a sigh. ‘You are that kind of man, but few would put up with what you do, and I really don’t know what is the matter with Biddy, for she doesn’t seem a bit concerned about the girl we are both worried to death about.’
‘She was concerned enough the morning she found she had run away,’ Tom said. ‘Though maybe “concerned” is not quite the right word. Of course, I got it in the neck because she knew I had to have had a hand in it. I didn’t bother denying it either, and I am surprised that the roars and bellows of her were not heard in the town. Jesus, she is a bloody hard woman to live with. Never a good word to say about Molly, and she was a grand girl altogether. We used to have many a chat, you know?’
‘I know,’ Nellie said. ‘She thought a lot about you.’
‘And now I feel so bloody helpless.’
‘I feel the same,’ Nellie admitted. ‘After all, the country is at war, with raids going on all the time.’
‘Don’t, Nellie,’ Tom said, because as the time went on, with no word from Molly, he was tortured by the image of her being blown to pieces by a bomb, for if she wasn’t, if she was all right, wouldn’t she have written to one of them by now?
He shook his head to try to get rid of the terrifying image, and Nellie wasn’t surprised to see tears in his eyes. Eventually, he recovered himself enough to say, ‘I know Mammy regrets ever bringing Molly to Ireland and so do I.’
‘What are you saying, Tom?’
‘When the child was in England I didn’t know her,’ Tom said. ‘But here I got to know her and to love her, and I don’t mind telling you, Nellie, that when she left she took away a piece of my heart with her.’
Molly wasn’t totally unaware of what they were going through in Ireland. Sometimes she would imagine what they thought had happened to her and she always felt sad afterwards, though it never occurred to her that they thought she might be dead. In fact, the air raids had slowed down considerably. There were no raids at all in February and only a few light skirmishes in the early part of March.
Daisy Burrows, one of the three girls who shared Molly’s room, told her Sutton Coldfield had got off lightly compared to other parts of Birm
ingham, for example where her family lived.
‘There was whole areas laid waste there,’ she said. ‘Sometimes a raid is so fierce the tar is set alight, or it melts and slides into the gutters. Either way it buggers up the trams,’ cos the rails gets all buckled and twisted.
‘Our Dad usually walks to work now, and you go down streets where there used to be houses and shops and small factories, all reduced to piles of rubble now, and sometimes spilled so far into the pavement you have to clamber over it and avoid the burst sandbags seeping everywhere and dribbling hosepipes, and the smell is sometimes enough to knock you out.’
Molly had experienced a little of this in the air raid the evening that she had arrived in Birmingham. She didn’t share this, however, because that was the time she met Ray and Charlie, and she really wanted to draw a line under that episode.
Anyway, she told herself, that had been one night. Trying to live a normal life under such bombardment night after night must be a terrific strain. Daisy agreed.
‘Our Mom has this shelter bag,’ she said. ‘She has all the identity cards in it, ration books, insurance policies and lots of photographs as well because she said when you leave your house you are never sure if it will still be standing when the raid is over. That’s terrible, ain’t it? I mean, our house might not be much, but at least it’s ours.’
‘Maybe the raids are all over for Birmingham now.’
‘Wouldn’t put money on it if I were you,’ Matty Smart, another of the girls, said. ‘I think it is all part of Hitler’s plan: get us all relaxed like and then wallop.’
‘Whether they do or not it will not affect us at all,’ Lily Pollard said. ‘You can see that for yourself in the number of semi-permanent residents here, hiding out in as safe a place as they can get. All well-to-do, of course,’ cos a person has to be flipping rich to afford the prices at Moor Hall in the first place.’
‘It’s the way they talk to you I can’t stand,’ Matty put in. ‘They are probably used to personal servants to attend to their every need, but it really gets my back up when they click their fingers and call, “You, girl,” the way they do.’
