by Joan Jonker
‘Oh, yes they can, love.’ Stan grinned. ‘I don’t very often have a flutter on the gee-gees, but yer can bet yer sweet life that when I do, my horse will come in last. In fact, me mate at work says he feels sorry for the horses I bet on, they don’t stand a chance. He said I’m a jinx and the bookie’s runner must rub his hands in glee when he sees me coming.’
‘Yer not unlucky in everything, Dad,’ Jenny said. ‘Yer were lucky in love.’
Stan looked at Mary and grinned. ‘Yeah, the luckiest man alive.’
‘Is it all right if I go to Janet’s for a game of cards, Mam? I’ll be back for ten.’
‘Of course it is, sunshine. But don’t forget to take some matchsticks with yer.’
Laura, who’d been slouched in a chair filing her nails while wondering how Cynthia was getting on, now looked up with interest. ‘I’ll come with yer. I wouldn’t mind a game of cards and it would get me out of the house.’
There was a stunned silence for a few seconds as glances were exchanged. Then Jenny spoke. ‘You will not! You’ve got yer own friend, go down to hers if yer want to go out. Ye’re not coming with us and that’s all there is to it.’ She stood up and jerked her head towards the door. ‘Come on, Jan, let’s go.’
Janet was off the chair like a shot. She’d been worried there for a minute because she didn’t like Jenny’s sister. Her mother didn’t either, and she’d have laid a duck egg if Laura had walked in with them. And her mother wasn’t one for mincing her words. If she thought it, she said it, and didn’t care whether you liked it or not.
‘Blimey!’ Laura said, with a not very pleasant expression on her face. ‘Anyone would think I had the flippin’ chickenpox, listening to her.’
Jenny was pushing her friend towards the door. ‘Yer can have the chickenpox, Laura, and I wish yer well with it. But yer can’t have me friend.’
When they got outside, Janet puckered her lips and whistled. ‘Me mam often says that some things improve with age, but your sister’s not one of them, is she?’
‘She’s just a show-off, that’s all.’ Although Jenny agreed, she didn’t want to start running her sister down. She linked her friend’s arm. ‘Ay, me mam got a lovely dress in the sales, and I was going to go into town in me dinner hour and get one. But I got talking to the women in the office and left it too late. I’m going tomorrow though, definitely.’
‘I wouldn’t mind one meself, but I spend me money as fast as I get it and I’m stony broke. I could try cadging a shilling off me mam, dad and our Bill, though. They’re pretty good at slipping me money now and again.’ Janet pressed her friend’s arm. ‘Ay, if they do, will yer come to town with us on Saturday afternoon?’
‘Ooh, yeah! That would be great!’ The excitement of going into town, shopping for the first time as grown-ups, thrilled them to the core. And they were so engrossed they failed to notice the two boys walking towards them.
‘Good evening, Miss Nightingale.’ Mick Moynihan’s smile was wide, his dimples deep. ‘Enjoying the night air, are yer?’
‘Yer gave me the fright of me life, Mick, yer daft beggar. And you, John Hanley, why didn’t yer whistle or something?’
‘Shall we start all over again, then?’ John asked, his face straight. ‘Like we used to do in school when we were unlucky enough to be picked to play one of the wise men? Me and Mick will walk back six houses, then come towards yer. And if yer keep yer eyes where they should be, yer’ll see us coming.’
‘It’s too late now, yer daft nit, we’ve already had the fright.’ Jenny shook her head, sending her blonde hair swinging across her face. ‘Anyway, yer know me friend, don’t yer?’
‘If me eyes are not deceiving me,’ Mick grinned, ‘it’s little Janet Porter.’
‘Ay, less of the little, if yer don’t mind!’ Janet managed to give a good impression of being indignant. ‘I’m as tall as Jenny, and I’m a working girl, now.’
‘Ye’re both right, Mick,’ John said, nodding as though he’d given the subject some thought. ‘It is little Janet Porter, only she’s got big, now.’
‘And where are you two pretty maidens off to?’ Mick asked.
‘We’re off to London to see the Queen, kind sir.’ Jenny tried to keep the smile back, but out it came to light up her face. ‘No, we’re going to Jan’s to have a game of cards with her mam and dad.’
‘We’ll walk that far with yer,’ Mick said, ‘and see yer come to no harm.’
‘It’s only two streets away, silly,’ Jenny tutted. ‘We’re quite capable of walking that far on our own, yer’ve no need to bother.’
‘Oh, it’s no bother,’ John was quick to say. ‘We’ve got nothing else to do.’
The two girls began to walk, nudging each other and giggling. They didn’t see the scuffle behind them as Mick and John fought to be the one to walk next to Jenny. ‘I’m the one who said we’d walk them,’ Mick said quietly but firmly, ‘so it’s only fair that I win. You can try yer luck next time, but yer’ll have to be quick.’
So it came about that the two girls were being escorted for the first time in their young lives by two strapping young men. They thought it was a huge joke until John’s nosy neighbour, Annie Baxter, came walking towards them. Blushing to the roots of their hair, they lowered their eyes, hoping she didn’t stop them. But this little scene was just up Annie’s street, too good to miss. She stepped in front of John, barring his path and bringing the line to a halt.
‘Going out, are yer, John?’
‘Oh, I’m not falling for that one, Mrs Baxter, I’m too old to have me leg pulled.’
Annie’s beady little eyes almost disappeared. ‘What d’yer mean? I only asked if yer were going out.’
‘That’s it! There’s got to be a catch in it, because anyone can see I can’t get any more out than I am now.’ He looked along the line. ‘All take two steps to the right and we’re off.’
Annie Baxter scratched her head as she watched their retreating backs. There was something wrong with that lad, there had to be. Mind you, what could you expect? He was a Hanley and they were all tuppence short of a shilling. Especially the mother. Now if ever there was a headcase, it was Amy Hanley. There were people in the loony bin with a damn sight more sense than she had.
By the time they reached Janet’s street, Jenny was feeling embarrassed that neither she nor her friend had opened their mouths. The boys must think they were stupid. So she said the first thing that came into her head – and could have bitten her tongue off afterwards. ‘Me and Jan are going to the pictures on Saturday. First house, of course, ’cos me mam wouldn’t like me to stay out late.’ She groaned inwardly. Now they would think her and Jan were a couple of kids.
‘Me and John are going dancing,’ Mick said, then chortled loudly. ‘I should say we’re going to a dance, not that we’re going dancing. Neither of us can put one foot in front of the other, so we’ll be watching rather than taking part.’
‘Ay, you speak for yerself.’ John began to roll his shoulders. ‘I’m pretty nifty on me feet, if I do say so meself. Yer should see me waltzing down our yard with me mam’s brush as a partner. Me mam said I look like a crackpot, but she got her words mixed up. She really meant I looked a treat.’
‘Don’t yer dare bring that brush to the dance with yer on Saturday,’ Mick said, ‘even if it can do a nifty waltz.’
‘Funny yer should say that.’ John stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at his shoes. ‘’Cos I did think about it. I even put a mobcap of me mam’s on its head, and tried to tie a cardigan around it. But it was no good, the cardi kept slipping off. Anyway, me mam said I couldn’t borrow it. She said it was a sad state of affairs when the only partner a son of hers could get was a yard brush.’
Jenny giggled. ‘I always said yer were as daft as a brush, John Hanley.’ Then a dreamy look came over her face. ‘I’d love to be able to dance. I’m definitely going to learn when me mam says I’m old enough to be out late.’
‘Me too!’ Janet sig
hed blissfully at the thought. ‘I’ll come with yer.’
The boys exchanged glances. John got in first. ‘Ask yer mam if yer can come with us one night. We go to Star of the Sea in Seaforth. It’s only a church hall, but they get a good crowd there.’
‘Yeah,’ Mick wasn’t going to be left out, ‘they’ve got a feller on the piano and he can fairly make it talk. It’s worth going just to hear him.’
Jenny shook her head. ‘Me mam wouldn’t let me. Don’t forget, I’m only fourteen.’
‘We’re fourteen and five months, Jenny,’ Janet reminded her.
Mick grinned. ‘I used to count the months when I was your age. Me mam said I was wishing me life away. Now I’m seventeen, I don’t even think about it.’ His eyes slid sideways to look at Jenny. ‘I’ll give yer seven of my months, if yer like. That would make yer fifteen, and yer mam might think that’s grown-up enough to come to the dance with us.’
They were standing outside Janet’s house talking, when the door opened and Martha Porter appeared on the top step. ‘Oh, aye!’ she said, her hands on her ample hips. ‘You two are starting young, aren’t yer?’
John gave her a cheeky wink. ‘Can yer think of a better time to start, Mrs Porter?’
‘No, I can’t, lad, but there’s young and young. And these two have just come out from under their mother’s wing. They’re all right with you, I know that, but I didn’t recognise yer voices and yer can’t be too careful these days.’
‘Yer never spoke a truer word, Mrs Porter.’ Mick gave her a wide smile. ‘We’ve just been telling the girls the same thing. We said that, if for instance they want to go to the dance at Star of the Sea in Seaforth, then they should go with someone they know, like me and John.’
‘You fibber!’ Janet said.
‘Yer never said any such thing.’
‘Well, if he did, he was right.’ Martha was quivering with laughter. ‘Don’t ever go out with strange boys, always get them to call at the house for yer, so the family can give them the once-over.’ She looked down as she smoothed the front of her dress so they wouldn’t see the smile. ‘Mind you, that won’t be for a few years yet.’
‘Ah, ay, Mam!’ Janet was mortified. If her mother had her way, she’d wrap her in cotton wool until she was twenty-one. ‘There’s girls in work my age, and they go to local hops.’
‘Yer live in Kirkdale, queen, and Seaforth’s miles away. Yer can’t call that a local hop, not by any stretch of the imagination.’
‘There’s not many places around here, Mrs Porter,’ John said. ‘Not nice ones, anyway. Unless yer go near town, to the Grafton or the Rialto. And they’re more for grown-up experienced dancers. The small hops are better for learners.’
‘We’ll see when the time comes. Anyway, say good night, girls, or my feller will think I’ve run off and left him.’ Martha Porter gave the boys one of her brightest smiles. ‘Thank you for being concerned about the girls’ welfare, it’s much appreciated. But yer don’t have to worry, ’cos the first few dates our Janet goes on, I’ll be tagging along to make sure everything is above board.’ The wink she gave was so exaggerated it contorted her face and her false teeth became separated from her gums. But Martha didn’t mind, she wasn’t a vain woman. ‘Ta-ra lads, I’ll be seeing yer.’
There wasn’t a word spoken until she’d passed down the hall and into the living room. Then Mick said, ‘I think things look hopeful for yer, Janet. Yer mam wasn’t exactly enthusiastic, but she didn’t sound dead against the idea.’
‘Nah, you don’t know me mam. She’s frightened of the wind blowing on me. If I sneeze I’ve got a cold, if I cough I’ve got pleurisy, and if I say I’m feeling hot then I’ve definitely got pneumonia and should go to see the doctor.’
‘Me mam’s the same with our Edna, she doesn’t half mollycoddle her. Me and our Eddy don’t get a look-in.’ John chuckled. ‘If I sneezed me mam would tell me to blow me nose. If I coughed she’d tell me to take me germs elsewhere. And the only time I told her I felt hot she poured a cup of cold water all over me.’
Jenny hunched her shoulders as she giggled. ‘I can just see your mam doing that. I’ll have to remember never to tell her I’m hot.’
Janet pulled on her arm. ‘Come on, Jenny, before me mam comes out again.’ She smiled at the two boys. ‘Ta-ra, we’ll see yer.’
‘Ta-ra.’ Jenny was being tugged up the step. ‘See yer soon.’
‘Yeah, definitely see yer soon.’ The boys waited until the door closed in their faces before walking away. They were quiet for a few minutes, then John said, ‘Remember that conversation we had at the party, the Christmas before last?’
‘Yer must be a mind-reader,’ Mick said. ‘I was just thinking about that.’
‘Still feel the same about Jenny, do yer?’
‘I hate to disappoint yer, John, but my feelings will never change. Jenny’s the girl for me, if she’ll have me.’
‘Well, like I said at the time, all’s fair in love and war. So it’s a fight to the finish, mate.’
There was a smile on Mick’s face when he turned to him. ‘Pistols in the park at dawn, is that it? Or would yer prefer swords?’
John returned the smile. ‘Words are my choice of weapon, mate. As long as we know where we stand, it’s every man for himself.’
‘It’s not going to stop us being mates, is it?’
‘No, of course not. But I’ve got to tell yer, Mick, I’m a very bad loser.’ John punched his friend on the arm and laughed. ‘Mind you, I’m not expecting to lose.’
‘My God, ye’re early this morning, Amy, I’m nowhere near finished me work.’ Mary stood aside to let her neighbour in. ‘I won’t be ready to go to the shops for another hour.’
‘I was up before the larks, girl, couldn’t sleep. I had me living room done before Ben and the lads got up.’ Amy pulled out a chair from the table and sat down heavily. ‘I couldn’t sit doing nowt until it was time for the shops. Not in that living room of mine – the bleedin’ wallpaper gives me the willies. So I thought I’d come and give you the pleasure of me company, and I could sit looking at your wallpaper.’
‘Yer’d want something to do to sit and look at that.’ Mary waved her arm around the room. ‘I can’t even remember what the paper was like new, it’s been up that long. All I do know is that the background used to be white, not the dirty beige it is now. And the brown flowers used to be a pretty pink.’
‘Shall we nag our fellers into decorating, then? They can’t moan ’cos it’s flaming years since they were done.’
‘I don’t need to ask Stan, I can decorate meself. I’ve been using the extra money I get off Jenny to renew me crockery and bedding. And I was going to save up to buy a new fireside chair, that one’s on its last legs. But now yer’ve made me take a good look at the wallpaper, I might do this room first.’
‘I’m not as handy as you, I wouldn’t know where to start. Anyway, Ben says he wouldn’t trust me to put paper up ’cos I’d make a mess of it. He’s right, too! Can yer imagine me on the top of a ladder? I’d have more wallpaper stuck to me than was on the wall.’
Mary grinned as she pinched her friend’s cheek. ‘Let Ben do it, sunshine, I wouldn’t rest if I thought yer were perched on top of a ladder without a safety net. Anyway, seeing as yer’ve made yerself comfortable, I suppose I’d better put the kettle on.’
‘I wondered when yer’d get round to it.’ Amy followed her friend into the kitchen and leaned against the wall. ‘I was just coming out of the door when misery guts came out of hers. I pretended I hadn’t seen her, but the nosy cow called me. And yer’ll never guess what she was so excited about.’ Amy’s tummy started to shake, and with it her whole body. ‘Hang on till I get meself organised and I’ll do the job proper.’ She coughed, hunched her shoulders and folded her arms across her chest. Then narrowing her eyes and pressing her lips into a thin line, she put her face close to Mary’s. ‘“I didn’t know your John was courting. He’s a bit young for that, isn’t he? And th
e girl only fourteen, that’ll lead to trouble, mark my words”.’
Mary was chuckling as she poured the boiling water into the teapot. ‘That’ll be our Jenny she’s talking about.’
‘Yeah, I saw her passing our window with her mate. And when our John came in he told me him and Mick had met the girls.’
‘What did yer say to nosy Annie?’
‘Well, I was ready for her, wasn’t I, girl? I mean, I’d been pre-warned. So I said I was all in favour of child brides. I said I was hoping our John made me a grandmother by the time he was eighteen.’
Mary’s mouth gaped. ‘Yer didn’t!’
‘I bleedin’ well did, girl! The nosy cow was asking for it. She wanted some gossip so I gave her some. Made her day, I did – she was over the moon.’
‘It’ll be all over the neighbourhood by tomorrow.’
‘Nah, it won’t take her that long. If everyone doesn’t know by dinnertime I’ll eat me flippin’ hat. She couldn’t get away from me quick enough. I bet she’d be at Lily Farmer’s by the time yer opened the door to me.’
‘Which hat will yer eat, sunshine? The one with the big green ostrich feather on, that curls right round under yer chin?’
‘No, not that one, girl, I’m hanging on to that.’ Amy’s face was creased with deep laughter lines. Jokes about this imaginary hat had been going on for years. ‘When I’m all on me lonesome, feeling sad and miserable ’cos nobody loves me and I’ve run out of people to pull to pieces, I put that creation on me head. The ostrich feather tickles me under the chin and in no time at all I’m laughing me bleedin’ head off.’
Mary lifted the two cups of tea and nodded towards the door. ‘Go on, and I’ll bring these through. And I think I’ve just got two custard creams left.’
‘Ay, this is the life, isn’t it, girl? Ladies of leisure.’ Amy picked up her cup by the handle as though it was delicate porcelain, and stuck her little finger out. ‘This is how the posh people hold their cups, girl, did yer know?’
‘I’ll have to take your word for it, sunshine, ’cos I haven’t got any posh friends.’
