Try a Little Tenderness

by Joan Jonker

  Chapter Six

  ‘Just look at the time, Stan – ten minutes to eleven and that little faggot still isn’t in.’ Mary paced the floor, her mood half anger, half worry. ‘She knows she’s to be in by half ten, and that we’ll be waiting up for her.’

  ‘You go to bed, love, I’ll wait for her.’ Stan rapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. ‘And she’ll get a piece of my mind.’

  ‘D’yer really think that will make any difference to Laura? She won’t take a ha’porth of notice of yer. She treats this place like a hotel, just comes and goes as she pleases, and to hell with anyone else.’ Mary glanced at the clock. ‘Eleven o’clock. Doesn’t it enter her head that we might be worried about her? She’s not sixteen yet, and if something awful were to happen to her, we’re the ones that would get the blame for letting her stay out till this time of night.’

  When the knock came on the door, Mary flew into the tiny hall. ‘Where the hell d’yer think you’ve been, you little madam?’ She closed the door and followed her daughter into the room. ‘Yer do realise we’ve been waiting up for yer?’

  Stan was standing, his feet astride, his hands locked in front of him. ‘Where’ve yer been until this time of night?’

  ‘If yer let me have me own key, yer wouldn’t have to wait up for me.’

  ‘Don’t you ever use that tone of voice to me, Laura, I’m warning yer. Push me too far and yer’ll find out ye’re not too old to get a good hiding. And as for having yer own key, yer can forget that ’cos yer can’t be trusted.’ Stan unlocked his hands and pointed a finger. ‘Now, tell us where yer’ve been, and I want the truth.’

  Laura tossed her head. ‘If yer must know, I’ve been to me grandad’s.’

  Mary gasped. ‘Never! Me dad wouldn’t let yer stay until this time, he’d know we’d be worried about yer.’

  ‘Well, that’s where I’ve been.’ Out of the three people in the room, Laura was the coolest. She looked bored stiff, as though she just couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. ‘Me grandad went to bed early and I stayed talking to Celia. That’s all we’ve been doing, talking. And I can’t see any harm in that.’

  ‘She should have more sense than to keep a girl of your age out until this time, knowing that yer’d be walking home alone, in the dark. And you should have had more sense, as well. Yer’ve got eyes in yer head, yer could see the time, and yer knew yer were told to be in by half ten. In future, yer do as ye’re told, understand?’

  ‘Dad, I was only keeping Celia company. She said she gets lonely because me grandad goes to bed early every night and she was glad to have someone young to talk to for a change.’

  Mary was blazing. How dare that woman talk about her father like that! She was the one who talked him into marriage. If she’d wanted someone younger to talk to, she should have married someone younger. ‘She is a married woman and has no right to talk about her husband to a fifteen-year-old girl, who just happens to be his granddaughter, and who is supposed to think the world of him.’

  ‘I’m nearly sixteen, not a baby.’

  ‘Then don’t act like one,’ Stan said. ‘I’m not finished with yer, Laura, not by a long chalk. But we’ll leave it for now because it’s late and I’m tired. Get to bed now, but be careful yer don’t wake Jenny, she’s got to get up early for work, too.’ ‘Yer don’t call what she does work, do yer? Sitting on her bottom all day in an office is not my idea of hard work.’ Relations between the two sisters had worsened since Jenny left school two months ago, and with excellent references from the headmistress had got herself a job as a clerk in the office of a small toolmaking firm. Laura was so envious she gave her sister a hard time. ‘A right stuck-up little snob, she is.’

  ‘It’s taking me all me time to keep me hands off yer, Laura.’ Mary ground the words out through clenched teeth. ‘If yer know what’s good for yer, yer’ll get up those stairs and out of my sight.’

  After Laura flounced out of the room, Mary and Stan looked at each other with sadness and frustration in their eyes. ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do with her,’ Mary sighed. ‘If she keeps on like this she’ll send me to an early grave.’

  ‘It’s my fault for not listening to yer.’ Stan ran fingers through his thick mop of dark hair. ‘They say there’s none so blind as they who will not see.’ He walked to his wife and took her in his arms, pressing her head against his shoulder. ‘Nothing we say has any effect on her, it’s in one ear and out the other. We may as well talk to the wall.’

  ‘We’d be better off talking to the wall – at least it wouldn’t answer us back.’

  Stan held her away from him and kissed her forehead. ‘We’re both too tired to talk about it now. Let’s leave it until tomorrow when we can think straight.’ He put an arm across her shoulders and led her to the door. ‘I’m absolutely whacked, me brain won’t think straight.’

  They were cuddled up in bed when Mary said, ‘I do love her, yer know, Stan. And I worry about her, wondering what’s going to happen to her.’

  ‘I know, love, I feel the same way. But she might surprise us all in a year or two, yer never know. Perhaps she’ll meet a nice bloke who’ll tame her down.’

  ‘I hope so.’ Mary kissed his cheek. ‘Good night and God bless.’ Then she turned on her side and began to pray for her wayward daughter.

  ‘Don’t say anything to her,’ Mary said next morning as she put her husband’s breakfast in front of him. ‘I don’t want to start the day being upset. Wait until we’ve had our meal tonight and we’ll just sit down and have a quiet word with her.’

  ‘Whatever you say, love.’ Stan cut the top off his boiled egg and grinned at her. ‘Nice and runny, just the way I like it.’

  They both looked up in surprise when Laura came through the door, bright and breezy. It was the first time since she started work that she’d got up without being called half-a-dozen times. ‘You’re up early,’ Mary smiled, determined there would be no angry words exchanged over breakfast, otherwise she’d have a splitting headache all day. ‘Pour yerself a cup of tea out while I put yer egg on to boil.’ As she was walking to the kitchen, she muttered aloud, ‘I may as well put our Jenny’s on at the same time.’

  ‘She’s on her way down now,’ Laura called through. ‘Yer know what Miss Prim and Proper’s like for being early. She doesn’t start work until half eight, but she needs the time to titivate herself up.’

  Stan dipped a finger of toast into his egg and kept his head down. That was another thing he wanted to talk to Laura about, the way she treated her sister. Young Jenny had done well for herself, but she’d worked for what she’d got and deserved it. And there’d been no argument over pocket-money, like there had been with Laura. She handed her wage-packet over to Mary and took what she was given with a smile.

  ‘Good morning!’ Jenny’s bright smile seemed out of place in the room, but she appeared not to notice. ‘It looks as though it’s going to be a nice day, the sun’s trying to shine.’

  Mary came to the door and glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘The eggs will only be two minutes, so pour yerself a cup of tea, sunshine. I hope ye’re right about the weather because me and Amy are going into town for a couple of hours.’

  ‘Are yer going to buy something nice, Mam?’ Jenny put the cosy back on the teapot. ‘Yer could do with a new dress.’

  ‘I could do with a lot of things but they’ll have to wait. We desperately need pillowcases, the ones we’ve got are on their last legs.’

  ‘Ooh, would yer let me embroider one, Mam?’ Jenny’s face was eager. ‘I can do it, I learned it at school. Just some flowers and leaves in the corner to make it look nice.’

  ‘Of course yer can, sunshine, but yer need coloured silk thread for that and there’s none in the house.’

  ‘You could get some in town, I’ll pay for it. I’d only need green and pink to be going on with, until I get me hand in. We only learned a few stitches in school, but when I’ve had some practice I can try more i
ntricate patterns.’

  ‘More intricate patterns? Oh, how exciting!’ Laura’s voice was mocking. ‘All on a flippin’ pillowslip that no one will ever see. Yer’ll be making yer own clothes, next.’

  Jenny turned and looked her sister straight in the eyes. ‘Seeing as ye’re so interested, and for your information, I have every intention of learning how to make me own clothes. One of the women in the office makes all hers and yer’d never know they were homemade. She can make a dress for a couple of shillings, and that includes the cotton.’

  Mary came through with an eggcup in each hand just as Stan was pushing his chair back. ‘Ye’re off, are yer, love?’

  ‘Yeah, it’s a nice morning so I won’t bother with the tram, I’ll go on shanks’s pony.’ Stan reached for his donkey jacket. ‘If yer see a dress yer like, love, you get it for yerself. It’s about time yer started thinking of yerself, instead of everybody else.’

  ‘I can’t afford it, Stan, there’s things we badly need for the house.’

  ‘To hell with the house. It’ll be here when we’re dead and gone,’ Stan said gruffly as he picked up his carry-out. ‘I’ll give yer a bob towards it.’

  ‘And me, too!’ Jenny’s offer came quickly. ‘I don’t spend all me pocket-money so I can help towards a new dress for yer.’

  ‘If yer’ve got money to spare, pass it over here,’ Laura said, spooning the yolk of the egg on to a piece of toast. ‘I can always find a use for it.’

  Mary clamped her lips together as she followed her husband to the door. Why couldn’t Laura see for herself how selfish she was? Never once, since she started work, had she bought a sweet for anyone. Mary didn’t mind for herself, but she felt for her husband. He’d always been generous with his firstborn, spoiled her rotten, yet she couldn’t even buy him five Woodbines. Jenny did. Every Saturday she came home with a packet of ciggies for her dad and a slab of chocolate for her. Laura knew this, but it didn’t put her to shame. Every halfpenny she could get her hands on was spent on herself.

  Mary stood on the top step and looked down at her husband. ‘I’ll see yer tonight, love. You take care now.’

  ‘And you get that dress, d’yer hear? I’ll be annoyed if I come home and yer tell me yer’ve got pillowslips but no dress.’

  ‘Ah well, we can’t have you getting annoyed, can we?’ Mary ran a finger down his cheek. ‘If me purse runs to it, I’ll mug meself – okay?’

  She waited until he reached the end of the street, like she always did, and returned his wave. Then she went back into the living room to find Laura standing in front of the mirror liberally applying bright red lipstick. ‘You’d better put a move on if yer don’t want to be late. And why yer have to put so much make-up on, I’ll never know. Yer look much nicer without it.’

  ‘Ye’re old-fashioned, Mam – all the girls wear make-up.’

  Mary sighed. She wanted to say that all the girls didn’t put it on with a trowel, but what was the use? The only person Laura listened to was herself. ‘You get yerself ready, Jenny, while I put the kettle on for a fresh pot of tea. I’m going to park me backside for ten minutes before I start on the beds.’

  While she was in the kitchen, Mary heard the front door slam and knew Laura had, as usual, gone off without a word of goodbye. Then she heard Jenny’s footsteps running lightly up the stairs. How was it possible for two people like her and Stan, who loved each other dearly, to bring two daughters into the world who were so different in every way? She just couldn’t fathom it out, there was no sense nor make in it. If Laura had been badly treated as a child then there could be an excuse for her being so hard. But she hadn’t. There’d always been plenty of love and they’d given her everything it was in their power to give her.

  Mary carried the fresh pot of tea through just as Jenny came downstairs. ‘Sit down, sunshine, and relax for ten minutes.’

  Jenny pulled out a chair facing her mother and as she sat down she slid half-a-crown across the table. ‘The silk shouldn’t come to more than sixpence, Mam, so the other two bob can go towards yer dress.’

  ‘I’m not taking any money off yer. That half-a-crown is yer whole week’s pocket-money. Yer haven’t exactly got a wardrobe full of clothes yerself, sunshine, so splash out and mug yerself to whatever yer want.’

  ‘I’ve still got some money left upstairs, Mam, ’cos I don’t spend very much. Anyway, I want you to have it, so take it to please me. As me dad said, it’s about time yer started looking after yerself for a change. So take it, as a little gift from me for being the best mam in the world. And because I love the bones of yer.’

  Mary swallowed hard. ‘Keep that up, sunshine, and there’ll be more tears in me cup than there is tea! But to keep you and yer dad happy, I’ll buy meself a dress. And I’ll have it on when yer come home from work, so yer can see where yer money’s gone.’ She studied her daughter’s face. ‘Aren’t there any young girls where yer work, someone yer could go to the pictures with?’

  Jenny shook her head. ‘There’s only three of us in the office, and the other two are at least three times my age. They’re very nice, and I get on well with them, but they’re too old to make friends with.’

  ‘Yer could do with a friend, sunshine, ’cos a young girl shouldn’t be sitting in every night with two oldies like me and yer dad. What about Janet, yer friend from school?’

  ‘I haven’t seen her since we started work. I could go around to her house, though, she only lives two streets away.’ Jenny glanced at the clock before getting to her feet. ‘I’ll go round tonight, Mam, and see how she’s getting on.’

  ‘Ask her to go to the pictures with yer one night, it’ll do you good to get out with someone yer own age. Everybody needs a friend, sunshine.’ Mary deliberated as she watched her daughter pick up her bag, then decided quickly. ‘Laura was very late getting in last night and although me and yer dad both told her off, we want to sit her down and give her a real good talking to. So if you could go out for an hour after we’ve had our tea, it would give us the chance. She might pay more attention if you’re not here. Yer know how quick she is to flare up and you listening wouldn’t help.’

  ‘Yeah, okay, Mam.’ Jenny rested her handbag on the table. ‘I heard her coming in. I stayed awake because if I’d gone to sleep she’d only have woke me up getting into bed. Where had she been until that time?’

  ‘She went to yer grandad’s.’

  Jenny’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. ‘What made her go there? She’s never done that before. I’m surprised Grandad didn’t chase her home earlier.’

  ‘Aye, well, we didn’t go into it last night because it was so late. But we’ll have a good talk to her tonight and get to the bottom of it.’ Mary put her palms flat on the table and pushed herself up. ‘You’d better go, sunshine, or yer’ll have to run for it. I’ll see yer out.’

  Jenny never left the house without giving her mother a kiss and a hug. ‘Don’t forget the dress, will yer? And get a blue one, ’cos yer don’t half look nice in blue.’

  ‘I’ll get one, even if it’s only to keep you and yer dad happy.’

  ‘Here’s the tram, girl, you get on first so I can take me time.’ Amy waited until Mary was on the platform, then, with a look of determination on her face, she wrapped her two hands around the steel post and pulled herself up. ‘Why the hell they have to make the bleedin’ steps so high, I’ll never know.’ She prodded the driver on his arm. ‘Did yer hear that, Mr Tram Driver?’

  ‘Did I hear what, missus?’

  ‘Whoever made those bleedin’ steps so high, they must have a wicked streak in them. How is someone with short legs supposed to manage?’

  ‘How should I know? Have you got short legs, missus? If ye’re not sure, I could measure them for yer and put in a complaint on your behalf.’ The tram driver was delighted by the diversion. It got really boring standing there all day like a lemon, with yer eyes peeled for some stupid bugger who might walk out in front of you. ‘I could say that your legs are too short
for the tram steps or, if yer’d rather, I could say the tram steps are too high for your short legs. I can put a good letter together when I put me mind to it, even if I do say so meself.’

  ‘Yer cheeky bugger! Did yer hear that, Mary?’

  There came the clattering of feet as the conductor descended from the top deck. ‘What’s the hold-up, Jim? I’ve rung the ruddy bell six times.’

  ‘Well, it’s like this, Tom.’ The driver was chuckling. ‘This lady wants me to measure her legs for her, so she can put a complaint in. She reckons they’re too short, yer see?’ He rubbed his chin. ‘Or did she say our steps are too high? I’m not sure now.’

  The conductor looked at Amy and tutted, ‘Oh, it’s you, is it? I might have known. Whenever you get on me tram, I may as well throw the timetable away. We’ll have people moaning at every flippin’ stop now because we’re late.’

  ‘So, yer know the lady, do yer, Tom?’

  ‘Know her! She’s the bane of me life!’ But Tom was smiling. ‘If I’d have been downstairs I’d have made yer go past the stop and let the next tram pick her up. Let some other poor bugger put up with her shenanigans.’ His grin turned into a full-blown laugh. ‘D’yer know why she’s got short legs? It’s because her mother used to pat her on the head a lot when she was little, and it stunted her growth.’

  ‘Huh! Ye’re a fine one to talk, you are. Yer remind me of a flippin’ bean stalk, ye’re that tall and skinny. While my mother was patting me on the head, yours must have been putting yer through the mangle.’

  With the chortling of the men ringing in her ears, Mary put her arm through Amy’s and pulled with all her might until she had her in the aisle. Pointing to a seat, she said, ‘Sit down, sunshine, for heaven’s sake, and let the men get on with their work.’

  Amy’s friendly grin covered the passengers who were enjoying themselves so much they wouldn’t have cared if the tram never took off. ‘Do yerself a favour, girl, and you sit by the window. If I get in first there’ll be no room on the seat for yer backside, even though the one yer’ve got is that small it’s not worth writing home about.’