Can Dreams Come True?

by Oliver, Marina

  Daphne's tone was brittle, and her eyes gleamed with an expression Kate could not interpret.

  She shrugged. 'He could dance,' she said quietly. 'Which was more than some of the others could. I lost count of the number of times my toes were trodden on.'

  'Oh dear, poor Kate, you'll have to buy some new dancing pumps,' one of the girls said, and sniggered. 'How many fish will you have to sell to afford them?'

  Before Kate could reply Daphne spoke again. 'At least you didn't have to walk home in them, did you?'

  Kate looked at her in surprise. How did Daphne know that?

  Daphne flushed slightly, and with a stilted laugh pushed through the group of girls and took Kate's arm. 'Come on, let's walk back. Break's nearly over.'

  'Robert gave me a lift,' Kate said softly. 'How did you know?'

  Daphne squeezed her arm. 'Sorry, I'm being a bitch. Lionel was hurrying after you to walk home with you, and he saw Robert stop. He was being kind, I'm sure. You didn't have a coat, Lionel said, and it was pouring with rain. I'm glad Robert was there.'

  She didn't sound glad, and Kate suddenly wondered whether Daphne was jealous. The idea made her laugh. As though she, a scholarship girl whose parents were market traders, could hope to compare with the wealthy Daphne.

  'What's so funny?'

  Kate grinned at her friend. 'You! As if Robert would look twice at me! I'm sure he forgot me as soon as I got out of the car. But why did he call hmself crazy Bob?'

  'Oh, because he does mad things in cars and aeroplanes. Races, rallies, hill climbs, that sort of thing.'

  'I see.' She had been going to tell Daphne about the ride on Sunday, but decided it would be better to keep quiet. Instead she told her about Maggie and the dead baby, and Daphne was all sympathy.

  'Poor Maggie. She really ought to have stopped coming to clean for us months ago, but she said she needed the money. Mother gave her the lightest work she could.'

  'Your mother's been very good to both of us. I do wish Sam could get a proper job, but he doesn't seem able to stick at anything for more than a few weeks.'

  'I never could see why Maggie married him. Whenever I've seen him, when he comes sometimes to meet her from work, he looks shifty.'

  'I think she was lonely, after her first husband died, and there were not all that many young men around, so many had been killed in the war.'

  Daphne snorted. 'I'd rather stay single than marry someone in desperation,' she said.

  'I'm going to see her as soon as school finishes.'

  'Then please give her my best wishes. I know Mother will be pleased to see her back, but tell her not to come until she is feeling well again.'

  She must have imagined Daphne's slight lack of warmth, Kate thought as she walked to Maggie's lodgings later that afternoon. She'd been her normal self for the rest of the day.

  Maggie was alone in their rooms, and Kate assumed Sam had taken the children out to allow her a bit of peace and quiet. She was lying in bed, one thin blanket drawn up over her, looking pale and exhausted, but she smiled at Kate and tried to sit up.

  Kate pushed the thin pillows behind her. 'Can I get you a cup of tea? Something to eat? Where's Sam?'

  'I told him that if he didn't get them squalling brats out from here I'd clobber him as soon as I could get up,' Maggie said, grinning. 'I'd love a cuppa, Kate. Ma come and give me and the kids some dinner, or we'd have gone hungry.'

  Kate went into the other room, stoked up the fire which had almost gone out, and made some tea. Maggie drank it gratefully, and then looked sadly at Kate.

  'It were another lad,' she said softly.

  'I know, Maggie, and I'm so sorry!'

  'Ma said it were fer the best, we've got so many already, but it still hurts ter lose one. It don't get better.'

  Kate recalled her puzzlement when her father had mentioned Maggie's children. This seemed to confirm that she'd lost another baby long ago, but now was not the time to ask. She had to let Maggie mention it, if at all. Perhaps she tried to forget most of the time.

  'Mrs Carstairs and Daphne send their best wishes, and Daphne said you were not to try and go back until you were really fit.'

  Maggie smiled ruefully. 'If only I could be a lady of leisure! We needs the money. Sam only gets the odd shilling fer jobs he picks up round the market, but he's promised he'll look fer summat steady now. Then, mebbee, we could move somewhere better. I've wondered whether we'd be able ter get one of the new council houses they're building. They say they're ever so nice, have gardens where yer can grow veggies. That'd be better than waiting fer Saturday night when they sell the stale uns cheap! I've forgot what a nice fresh carrot tastes like!' She smiled reminiscently. 'When I were a kid, afore the war, we used ter be able to buy fresh veggies. Still, yer meks yer bed!'

  'I'm sure things will get better soon,' Kate said, uncomfortably aware of Sam's failings. If he didn't change, her poor sister was doomed to a life of struggle and poverty.

  She recalled her dreams earlier that day, of being able to afford a car of her own, and knew that it had been unrealistic. When she did earn money, she would have to help Maggie and her parents. She could not be selfish and keep it all for herself. Somehow, though, she would find a way of travelling into the countryside. She could surely afford a few pence to ride on the trams, which went out of the city in several directions. When they'd built the new aerodrome at Elmdon she could go there and watch the aeroplanes. She might even see Amy Johnson one day. No more would she limit her world to the centre of Birmingham.

  *

  Robert found that Monday was a day of intense frustration, and not all of it was due to the problems in the factory. They were serious enough, as someone had set the machines wrongly and a good deal of sheet metal had been wasted by making the casings for the instruments smaller than they should have been. His father was ill again, and he was in charge. By the time he'd sorted that out, and other more minor problems, he wanted nothing better than to drive out into the country again, with Kate for company.

  It would not do. She was too young, just a schoolgirl, for heaven's sake. It would be wrong of him to pay her any more attention.

  Irritably he settled down to the paperwork he hadn't yet had time for, but Kate's face stayed insistently before his mind. At last he threw down his pen and picked up the telephone. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited to be connected, half regretting the impulse. He had almost decided to stop the call when he was told he was connected.

  'Robert! Why, how delightful! You haven't rung for ages!'

  Two weeks, he thought, and he wished he had not succumbed to the temptation to ring now. But he had, and perhaps he could banish Kate's image with someone else.

  'I've been busy, Gladys. But are you doing anything tonight? If not, I thought we might go and try that new place on the Warwick Road. We could dine and dance there.'

  He winced and held the receiver away from his ear slightly as Gladys screamed a delighted acceptance.

  'Good, then I'll come for you at seven.'

  He broke the connection and stared at the papers on his desk. They could wait. He would concentrate on ridding himself of thoughts of Kate, and Gladys, with her effervescent delight in everything, would help.

  The new roadhouse was popular with the young people from the city and the towns around. The food was only passable, but the music was good. Both he and Gladys knew several of the people there, and soon they were included in a large group. Robert danced with each girl in turn, but he could not resist comparing them with Kate, always to their disadvantage.

  What was it about the child which had bewitched him? He pondered over the question as he drove Gladys home, and decided it was not just her attractive, gamine looks. He knew many more beautiful girls. It was her shyness, her eager appreciation of things he took for granted, such as his car and the countryside. And possibly it was pity for her, constrained to a life of poverty and deprivation. He had not been fooled by her lack of a coat on a rainy night, and he
r plain clothes for a drive into the country. And he'd seen where she lived.

  'I said, will you come in?' Gladys said, her voice rather tart.

  'I'm sorry,' Robert apologised. He realised that he had driven back to her house without recalling a single bit of the journey. He got out and went round to open the door for her. 'I'd better not, thank you. There are so many problems at work I need an early night so that I can go in and sort them out first thing tomorrow.'

  Gladys clambered out of the car and shook out her dress. 'There's no need to make excuses. You've been a wet blanket all evening. And why you need to work at your precious factory I don't know! Your father has a good manager.' She turned away and crossed the pavement to the small garden in front of the house. 'Goodbye, Robert, and thank you for a scintillating evening!'

  Robert waited until she had let herself in, and then drove home. He was frowning. As a distraction from thoughts of Kate that had been a complete failure. Perhaps, in time, if he were strong enough to stay away from her, he would recover from this crazy obsession.

  *

  Kate didn't leave Maggie until Sam came home, at almost ten o'clock, trailing five exhausted children and reeking of beer. Sam sat on the bed beside Maggie and, his speech rather slurred, asked her if she'd had a good rest.

  'Did Kate get yer some supper?' he asked.

  Maggie nodded, but she didn't tell him that Kate had been out shopping, using her own few coppers, to buy food, since there was nothing in the house but half a rather stale loaf.

  Kate helped undress the two smallest girls while the others, two boys and the oldest, Jeannie, almost ten, got themselves ready for bed by taking off their outer clothing and diving for the thin mattress lying in the corner of the bedroom.

  'Have you had supper?' Kate asked quietly.

  'Me Dad bought us all screws of chips to eat while he was in the pub,' Jeannie said. 'They was nice, but he dain't let us 'ave any fish, only the batter he left.'

  Kate cast a look of dislike towards Sam. Why did Maggie put up with him? He didn't try to support his family, and now it seemed he'd taken all the money they had, which her parents had probably left for Maggie, and wasted it on beer. There was probably none left for food the following day. But she had no more money herself, there was nothing she could do.

  *

  At home she found Hattie and Alf waiting up in the kitchen. She'd expected them to be in bed by this time, for they had to rise early.

  'Where've you bin?' her father demanded, and she stared at his belligerent tone. 'It's gone ten.'

  'I've been helping Maggie,' she replied. 'Sam was out with the children, there was no one else to look after her. He's only just got home, and Dad, he'd been drinking. Where did he get the money?'

  'Is that true?' Alf demanded, and Hattie gave a scornful laugh.

  'Don't tell us such tarradiddles, me gel! Yer've bin out with that fancy man of yourn! In his posh big motor!'

  'I haven't!' Kate gasped.

  How had they found out about Robert? And why did they think she'd been out with him this evening? When she'd arrived home the previous day they'd still been at Maggie's, and she had gone straight to bed. There had been no time to tell them this morning, they'd been out early for the market. Kate thought a little guiltily that she had, for a while, wondered whether she would tell them. Then she'd thrust the temptation away from her. She had nothing to be ashamed of.

  'Don't tell lies,' Alf said, more furious than she'd ever seen her placid father. 'Mrs Whitehouse saw yer comin' 'ome in a motor on Sat'day, an' yesterday yer went out in it, bold as brass. Well, I'm not 'avin' it! Yer'll go same way as Maggie!'

  'I don't understand!' Kate protested. 'It was one of Daphne's friends, he gave me a lift home from the party because it was raining and I didn't have a coat. And what harm was there in going for a drive yesterday afternoon? I've never been in the country before!'

  'Lies, all lies,' Hattie said, and before Kate could avoid her she slapped her, twice, on each cheek. Kate slipped as she stepped back in astonishment, and fell against the corner of the table, banging her already smarting cheek on the corner.

  'It's not lies!' she managed, struggling not to weep from the pain and the shock of this attack. Her mother had often slapped her before, but not like this. A slap on the legs, or a swift but mild cuff round the ears was all that had previously been meted out to her when she was in trouble.

  'Alf, get yer belt off. She needs 'er hide tanning till 'er can't sit down fer a week!'

  To Kate's appalled horror, her father, who had never before laid a hand on her in anger, began to unbuckle his heavy leather belt.

  'No! I've done nothing wrong!' She felt sick and dizzy with the pain in her face, and could feel one eye beginning to close.

  She backed away, but Hattie sprang after her, and with a strength Kate could hardly believe caught hold of her hands and dragged her forward, throwing her down across her father's knees.

  'Belt her good and proper!' Hattie said, her words slurred as they emerged through gritted teeth. 'I'm stopping this afore it gets outta hand.'

  Kate struggled, but her mother was holding her hands in a fierce grip, and she was sprawled across her father's knees, unable to get upright. Then she heard the swish of the leather belt through the air, and it landed with searing pain on her buttocks.

  'Go on! Let 'er know who's boss!'

  The belt came down once, twice, three times more on her back, and Kate was nearly fainting from the excruciating pain. Then her mother released her grip and Kate slithered to the floor, too shocked and hurt to move away.

  'Now get ter bed, and termorrer yer can find yerself a job. I'm fed up with working me guts out ter keep yer in idleness, and me and yer Pa's too old fer more trouble!'

  *

  Kate spent a sleepless night. She had been able to slip off her skirt and blouse, with a confused feeling that she would need to keep them tidy for school tomorrow, but she left on her underclothes and crawled under the blanket. Her back hurt too much for her to lie on that, and one side of her face was too sore for her to put it on the pillow. Besides, she was too bewildered by the attitude of her parents to be able to relax. What had they meant by those references to Maggie? How could her going for a ride in a motor car possibly add to the problems Maggie had? Why had they been so furious just because she'd ridden in a motor car?

  Kate had realised for a long time that her mother didn't love her. Whatever she did to try and please, Hattie was never satisfied. She always found fault, and Kate had assumed it was mostly a form of jealousy that she was being given chances her mother had never had. But her father had always supported her. She'd had no doubts about his love. Why had he refused to believe her, refused to listen, and beaten her so violently?

  A tear squeezed itself painfully from under her swollen eyelids. Every time she moved she could feel the broken skin on her back protest. The cuts had bled and her vest and knickers had stuck to her, making any movement, however slight, excruciating. Yet she could not relax, could not keep still, for every position she tried was painful.

  She could hear them muttering in the big bed, but only the occasional word penetrated her haze of misery and pain. Somehow Maggie was involved, and Hattie several times raised her voice when she talked of shame. Finally, at dawn, Kate fell asleep only to be woken forcibly as her mother dragged off the blanket.

  Hattie stood looking down at her. 'Right, me gal, yer'll get yer lazy body shifted, and be outta 'ere and lookin' fer a job. If yer don't have one be the time we gets home, the worse it'll be fer you.'

  Kate groaned, but silently. She felt dreadful, one eye was completely closed, her back felt as though it was on fire, and if she moved she was sure she would be sick.

  Fortunately Hattie and Alf soon left, and she managed to drag herself off the bed and wash her face in cold water. Painfully, inch by inch, she peeled off her vest and knickers and washed them, trying to rub out the dried blood. She had opened up at least one of the cuts a
nd it was bleeding again, but she could not reach her back to wash it. How could she possibly hope to find a respectable job looking as though she'd been in a pub brawl?

  If she had to leave school and find a job she would have wanted to try dress shops, or ladies' outfitters, milliners, any of the stores which sold any sorts of clothing. That was out of the question. She would do better, looking as she did, to appeal to the people she knew in the market.

  First she tried Bella, but the old woman shook her head regretfully.

  'Eh, lass, I'd love ter gi' yer a job wi' me,' Bella said. 'But times is 'ard, folk don't want ter spend cash on replacin' brooms when they ain't got enough fer food. But I'll ask around, there might be summat 'ere. In fact, I think Mick the butcher might want 'elp terday.'

  To Kate's delight, when she went over to Mick's stall, he greeted her with nods of approval.

  'Aye, me son's not 'ere, got a broken arm, daft 'aporth. Yer don't look so good yerself.'

  'I fell over, down some steps,' Kate said hurriedly.

  'Well, in my trade it don't matter what yer looks like. Tell yer what, yer can't cut the meat up, but yer could take the money if I sings out ter yer 'ow much, an' give right change?'

  'Yes, of course,' Kate said. If she did well there might be work for some days to come, until the son's arm was better. She was desperate for any sort of job, to placate her mother.

  It was tiring, and by the end of the afternoon Kate was sick of the smell of raw meat. But it was a job, and Mick would pay her today, she could perhaps give some of what she earned to Maggie. Then she knew that would be impossible. Hattie would insist on taking every penny.

  The atmosphere at home was unbearably tense. Hattie greeted the news of where she was working with a sniff, but Alf looked rather subdued, and once Kate caught him giving her a rather guilty look when she winced on getting out of her chair.

  'It were fer yer own good, lass,' he said quietly, and those were almost the only words spoken between them.