A Family Christmas

by Glenice Crossland

  When Tom Johnson came home on leave, looking smart and handsome in his air force blue, Nellie was the proudest woman in Blackpool. Tom’s father was coping admirably with the filling station, not that there was much to do with the petrol rationing in force. Still, there was enough trade to keep him and a young apprentice occupied. Besides, Tom thought there would be a boom in the car trade after the war. ‘Got to keep it going for little Henry,’ he said.

  The guest house was just about paying its way. The boarders were mainly show people, now the theatres had been allowed to reopen. The general opinion was that wartime Britain needed entertaining in order to boost morale. Sometimes soldiers turned up with a young woman needing a room for the weekend. Lily would whisper to Nellie about them not being married and giggle when they yawned and decided on an early night. Nellie would turn a blind eye; who was she to deny a soldier his comfort? They might not be alive tomorrow.

  The sergeant major had proved a true friend to Nellie. He had more or less taken over from Mrs Cooper in the care of little Henry. He would march the little boy along the prom, issuing orders such as ‘tummy in, shoulders back, left, right, left, right’. Henry thrived on the friendship in his father’s absence. Nellie thought Duke was gaining as much benefit as her son from the relationship. Being too old for war service didn’t sit well on the shoulders of a man who had made the armed forces his career. Duke was also missing Mrs Cooper and the chats they had enjoyed about their younger days. Nellie was glad Henry was diverting his thoughts and giving him a purpose in life.

  Lily’s Jim was somewhere in France, but with Phoebe for company the two girls seemed happy enough. They went dancing on the Central Pier, sometimes with soldiers, but both girls made it clear that dancing was the only thing they were there for. The cinema was their main source of entertainment – especially the newsreels, where they searched the faces, hoping for a glimpse of their sweethearts. It was on one of those visits that Lily decided she needed to be doing something more useful with her life.

  ‘I’ve decided to join up,’ she whispered.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’ve decided to join up.’

  ‘You can’t.’

  ‘Shush,’ the woman in the row behind them warned.

  ‘I can.’

  ‘What will Nellie do?’

  ‘She doesn’t really need me with only the regulars. I expect she’ll be relieved if she doesn’t have to pay me.’

  ‘Lily, please don’t go. It’s dangerous.’

  ‘Be quiet please!’ hissed the woman.

  ‘Well it’s dangerous for the lads an’ all but they’ve gone. We want the war to be over so we’ve got to help finish it.’

  The usherette came down the aisle and shone her torch on the two girls. They didn’t speak again until the end of the film. Then Phoebe didn’t have much to say.

  ‘It’s no good yer sulking. I’m joining the land army.’

  ‘So yer not kidding? You’re determined.’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘I’m not stopping ’ere on me own. I’ll come with yer.’

  ‘Really?’ Lily hugged Phoebe and they danced the Palais Glide all the way along Albert Road and back again. A few days later, amongst much protesting from Nellie and cries of ‘Bravo’ from Duke, Lily promised she’d be back when the war was over and people began taking holidays again. Then she kissed little Henry and managed to walk away without crying.

  With Henry at the garage all day Margaret Johnson was delighted to take Lily’s place when a waitress happened to be needed.

  Fortunately for Lily and Phoebe, the two girls managed to stay together for the duration of the war and Lily couldn’t believe it when she was sent to a farm back in her beloved Yorkshire. Life was hard but the land girls managed to enjoy themselves with dances in the village hall to look forward to on Saturday nights. There were also tears when letters sometimes arrived with news of brothers or sweethearts either missing or killed in action. Lily and Phoebe prayed every night for Jim and Stan to be kept safe. Sadly it wasn’t to be. Both soldiers fell to the enemy, though months apart and in different parts of the world.

  Both the guest house and the filling station just about held their own until the end of the war. Then Nellie managed to turn the guest house into one of the most successful hotels on the Lancashire coast. Tom’s garage also went from strength to strength, just as he had predicted.

  When Lily did return to Blackpool it was to the memories and for a time she found it difficult to cope with the heartache, but Lily had grown up now; she would get over it. Well Mrs Cooper had, hadn’t she?

  Jacob cowered in the corner of the wooden shack. The earth floor was awash with vomit and urine and the air thick with the stench of diarrhoea. It was hard to tell which was worse: the hunger pains when no food was brought to the prisoners, or the stomach cramps after eating the disgusting slop that was offered on other days. Sometimes Jacob woke up confused in the pale light of dawn and wondered if he had died and gone to hell. Perhaps that would be preferable to this hell on earth here in the Far East. Then in a more lucid moment he would think of Mary and know she would be waiting on his return.

  Once he dreamed she came to find him with a baby in her arms and he woke in tears to find her gone. Another time he felt the closeness of her body and drew her into his embrace, only to wake and find one of his comrades dead in his arms. He hoped his closeness had provided a measure of comfort to the dying soldier. He had cried out on that occasion and had been rewarded with the butt of a rifle thrust into his stomach. Last night he had found himself floating, up on a level with the solitary light bulb, looking down dispassionately at his own skeletal body. He had seen an angel beckoning him, and the temptation had been almost more than he could bear, but Mary had called his name and he had chosen her. Where were the letters she was certain to have written? Maybe she thought he was dead. He imagined her in some civilian’s embrace and experienced a pain so acute he wondered how he would survive it, but no one ever died from heartache, only from the brutality of this bloody war, and the dysentery which was rife amongst the prisoners here in the camp. He thought of Mary and the love she had shown him on his last leave. To keep her in mind was the only way he could think of to keep him sane in this godforsaken place.

  Reverend Goodman lived up to his name throughout the war, working unceasingly with the city’s homeless during and after the blitz. He comforted the injured and the bereaved both in the shelters and the hospitals. Sometimes Louisa didn’t see him for days on end, so she decided to make herself useful and joined the Women’s Voluntary Services. Serving hot drinks from a mobile canteen she was astounded at the satisfaction she gained, not only from the comfort they gave to the destitute, but from the cameraderie of the other volunteers.

  When news came that Prudence had been killed along with three more patients during the bombing of the nursing home in Liverpool, her work provided the salvation she needed. Herbert comforted her with the words that God had been merciful by taking his daughter into His loving care. It was at that time that Louisa’s work took her to the Wharncliffe Hospital, where she helped to care for the soldiers who had returned from overseas. Some of them were shell shocked, others trying to come to terms with a future without arms or legs. Neither Herbert nor Louisa had time to feel sorry for themselves.

  When, after the war, Robbie and Dot took their baby son to visit them, Herbert finally felt he was forgiven for the wrong he had done them. Baby Arthur was a loving and well-loved child, with not only his Grandma and Grandad Greenwood to shower him with affection, but also the Grundys and Goodmans. Two years later when Dot gave birth to a daughter, Robbie Grey’s life was complete.

  Lucy and John carried on regardless, helping and advising the women whose men were away, and comforting Mary, who didn’t know if Jacob was living or dead, having heard nothing since his last leave.

  After a long shift at the pit John would be up all night fire-watching. Even so he realised how fortunate he and Lucy w
ere, with a family who never seemed to cause them much trouble and he being at home rather than in some godforsaken war zone. The kids were thriving and doing well at school, so it came as a shock one day when Rosie came home from school and said Bernard had been caned. Lucy had noticed how he had slunk away upstairs and went to investigate.

  ‘All right, what have you been up to?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Come on, you don’t get the cane for nothing.’

  ‘Our Rosie’s a tell-tale.’

  ‘So?’

  Bernard knew it would come out sooner or later. ‘It was Fatty Green’s fault. He’s so greedy he makes me sick. He pinched my pop, after I’d taken all the bottles back to pay for it. He pinched it and drank the lot.’

  ‘Well if it was him, why did you get the cane?’

  ‘Because I got me own back.’

  ‘So I suppose you were fighting.’

  ‘No.’ Bernard didn’t want to say any more but there was no escaping his mother’s probing. ‘He wouldn’t ’ave been worth fighting. Ee’s a cry baby.’

  ‘So how did you get your own back?’

  ‘I peed in the bottle and left it for ’im to pinch again. And ee did. Then ee was sick all over Miss Mason’s shoes and all over Auntie Jane’s clean floor. When Fatty told on me she gave me the cane and made me clean it up. But it was worth it,’ Bernard added defiantly. Lucy almost laughed, but knew she mustn’t. ‘Well, it was an awful thing to do, so you got what you deserved. Did he get the cane too?’

  ‘No.’

  Lucy made a point to have a word with Miss Mason. In her opinion taking something that belonged to someone else was just as bad as what Bernard had done. ‘Well, we’d better not tell your dad or he’ll probably give you another walloping.’ Lucy knew John would never lay a finger on any of his children, but it wouldn’t harm Bernard to think he might. She couldn’t wait to hear what Jane had to say about the incident. She had an idea it might have given her a great deal of pleasure. Lucy knew for a fact that neither the spoilt, pampered Frank Green nor Miss Mason were thought very highly of by Jane. She was right. Jane thought even a vomit-splattered floor was worth it just to think of Frank Green’s face when he swallowed Bernard’s urine.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  WHEN JANE MET James off the train at Sheffield she was shocked at the sight of him and the men who were with him. Some had to be helped off the train and though James was uninjured he looked only half the man who had gone away. However, with Jane’s loving care and assistance and encouragement from Herbert and Louisa he was soon able to return to his job. He never discussed the horrors he had witnessed; perhaps it would have been better if he had done so. James would never forget, but knew he was one of the fortunate ones, to be home and in one piece. They never did have children; they seemed to be content with each other and if they did feel a need to spoil their nephews and nieces there were plenty of them to choose from. They would set off at the weekends on their beloved motorbike, just Jane and James and the wide open spaces of the countryside, and they were content.

  Will had kept the lads of the Royal Signals from becoming too despondent. He had formed a concert party with a group of lads from Wales – who had voices like angels and a magician who attracted more cat calls than applause. Will’s jokes and banter sometimes seemed to be fighting a losing battle as more and more of his comrades lost their lives or suffered appalling injuries, but even on the worst days he forced a smile to his face in an effort to keep up the lads’ spirits. Despite a leg wound Will managed to return to Betty in one piece. His wife had grown to love the market life and apart from the years she stayed home to bring up her two boys, she remained by her husband’s side working the stalls. Like she said, she and Will had been apart long enough.

  It was much later when Jacob came back. Like James, his appearance shocked Mary to the core, but Jacob hadn’t only his wife as an incentive to get well. On his last leave the wishing mirror had worked its magic once again.

  Lucy had been listening to Two Way Family Favourites on the wireless, singing away to the music, ‘With a Song in My Heart’. She hadn’t heard Mary come in. She could tell by Mary’s flushed face that she was excited about something. ‘Are you all right? Has something happened? Have you heard from Jacob?’

  ‘No, I’ve heard nothing since his last leave.’ Her face had clouded momentarily, but Mary smiled again as she said, ‘But yes I’m all right. I’m pregnant, Lucy.’ Mary was trembling by now as she spoke the words for the first time. ‘After all the waiting it had to happen in the few days he was home. Oh Lucy, I can’t believe it. If only I could let him know, but I don’t think he’s getting my letters. Well, if he is he isn’t answering them.’

  ‘But just imagine the surprise he’ll get when he does come home!’

  ‘If he comes home. He might be dead now for all I know. But at least I shall have our child, a part of him.’

  ‘He will come home, Mary. The wishing mirror has worked again and if I keep on wishing for Jacob to come home he will.’ She took Mary by the waist and danced round the table singing to the wireless until Mary asked ‘Is something burning?’

  ‘Oh, it’s the joint. There wasn’t much to start with, what with the blinking rationing, and then I have to go and burn it.’ She lifted the small, dried-up piece of beef out of the oven. ‘Never mind, we’ve plenty of vegetables. There’ll be no dripping this week though.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I should never have come just at dinnertime.’

  ‘Don’t be daft. It’s the best news I’ve had for years.’

  They went to tell Mrs Slater. ‘Eeh, lass, what a surprise. What will Jacob say? Now if that news doesn’t buck ’im up nowt will.’

  The trouble was that Jacob didn’t hear the news; the letters had never reached him. It was only when he saw Mary standing on the platform on his return some years later that he caught the first sight of his son. The little boy was clinging to Mary’s skirt and he thought it must be one of Lucy’s lot. Mary, dressed in a smart blue costume, looked more beautiful than he could remember and he forgot about the child when she drew him into her arms and kissed him long and hungrily.

  Then she drew apart and lifted the small boy up into her arms. ‘Luke,’ she said, fighting back the tears. ‘Say hello to your daddy.’

  Jacob felt faint for a moment, then he held out his arms to the child he had longed for for so long. It had been worth all the suffering just to come home to the wonderful news that he was a father.

  Ben Gabbitas eventually became a wealthy man, and when a few years after the war he and Emma had a son to carry on the Gabbitas name their life seemed complete. Lucy’s heart would miss a beat sometimes when she looked at her brother. He was the image of the father she had so adored. At those times she wished John would leave the muck and danger of the coal mine behind and find a more healthy occupation. She got her wish when Mr Grundy asked Robbie one day ‘Does tha think your John’d be interested in coming to work for us?’

  ‘Our John? Well I don’t know. I shouldn’t think he’s ever thought about leaving the pit.’

  ‘I shouldn’t think ee’ll ’ave any option if the rumours I’ve ’eard turn out to be true.’

  ‘What rumours?’

  ‘That the Sheepdip might be closing in’t next few years. Course it might prove to be nowt else but rumours, but as I think we should be setting somebody on, I thought ee might be interested.’

  ‘Don’t yer think we’re managing all right between the two of us?’

  ‘Aye, lad, and I dare say we could go on managing, but I’m ready for a rest. Me missis wants to travel a bit and I don’t blame ’er. I’ve never taken ’er anywhere, always been too busy, so I’m thinking of becoming semi-retired. Oh I’ll never leave altogether, can’t. This workshop’s more of a home to me than me house is. But we’re going to be busier. We’re going to need to expand to deal with all the new building that’s planned for the future. And what with ’im being an ’ard-working sort I ju
st wondered if he’d be interested.’

  ‘Well, I don’t know. If he came we should have to train him up. But you’re right, he’s a good worker is our John. So shall I mention it?’

  ‘Aye, lad. let’s give him a try.’

  John was alarmed at the thought of learning a trade at his age. But he was even more alarmed when Robbie mentioned the rumour about the pit closure. When Robbie told him how much he would be paid he knew Lucy would never let him turn down the offer of leaving the place she had always believed killed her father. Besides, with Bernard and Rosie both at grammar school he couldn’t afford to be out of work.

  Lucy reassured him that he could tackle anything once he made his mind up and sighed with relief when he handed in his notice at the pit. She turned out to be right, and John had never been more content. The two brothers worked together well. Being of the same temperament they could work for long periods in companiable silence, both lost in the pleasure of their work. Sometimes Robbie would think of Prudence with sadness, but he resolved to put the past behind him and look to the future with hope that his children would never see another war.

  John, on the other hand, would sometimes think about the men he had worked with at the pit, missing the banter and camaraderie they had shared, but most of all he missed Lewis. He had taken over Lewis’s plot at the allotments and found a measure of consolation from working the same earth as his friend had once worked. Sometimes on Sunday mornings the boys would come and give him a hand and the girls had taken over the care of the chickens, for which they all received spending money on a Friday. It was Lucy and the girls who decided to accompany him one lovely sunny day. ‘I can bring the peas back and you can stay here whilst I cook the dinner,’ Lucy said.