Holidays at Home Omnibus

by Wait Till Summer; Swingboats On the Sand; Waiting for Yesterday; Day Trippers; Unwise Promises; Street Parties (retail) (epub)

  His chest was tight with all the running he had done, but Stanley ran back and to his relief found Johnny talking to Eirlys and Max as they dismantled the stage.

  ‘It’s Mr Price,’ he whispered to Johnny, his chest heaving with the effort. ‘He’s hurt himself and he doesn’t want Mrs Price to know.’

  ‘I won’t be long,’ Johnny excused himself. ‘I have to take Stanley back home. I’ll be back for you, Eirlys.’ It must be a woman, Johnny thought, half with disgust and half with admiration. How did he get away with it with Annie? How dare he even try!

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Max called after him. ‘I’ll make sure Eirlys is safe.’

  ‘’E’s got a nerve, muscling in on your girl,’ Stanley puffed as he led Johnny back through gardens and across the corner of the allotments.

  ‘Where are we? Where are you taking me?’ Johnny asked.

  ‘Short-cut this is. Blimey, mate. Don’t you know your own back yard?’

  They found Morgan with his coat covering his spoils, from which he refused to be parted. ‘I can’t suffer all this for nothing,’ he argued when Johnny tried to persuade him to leave them behind. ‘What, leave them for someone else to pinch?’

  ‘Not ruddy likely, eh, Uncle Morgan,’ Stanley encouraged.

  The sharp-eyed Stanley had noticed an abandoned pram not far from the allotment gate and he and Johnny went to fetch it. On this contraption, with two wobbly wheels and no handlebar, Morgan made his undignified way home.

  ‘I’ll make you a good bogie cart with this at the weekend, young Stanley.’

  ‘Big enough for the three of us I ’ope, Uncle Morgan.’

  ‘Stop it you two!’ Johnny was angry, just realising the seriousness of his involvement. He had been so caught up in the haste, he hadn’t been thinking clearly. ‘I can’t help you with a robbery! You casually make plans as I rescue you after you’ve committed burglary and chat as though nothing has happened? I haven’t decided yet whether or not to inform the police! I can’t just ignore it!’

  ‘You can’t inform on your girl’s dad, now can yer?’ Stanley said reasonably. ‘She wouldn’t never forgive yer.’

  ‘At least promise you won’t ever do anything like this again.’ Johnny was confused, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be thinking. This was a completely new experience.

  ‘I can promise that, hand on me heart,’ Stanley said seriously as they stopped to catch their breath. ‘I only did it to get the rent paid for our mum. I’ll never touch another thing that ain’t mine. Never. Not even a pencil from the boy sitting next to me at school and that’s a God’s promise.’

  Johnny accepted the boy’s word but he was embarrassingly aware that no such promise came from the wounded warrior in the broken pram.

  Six

  Johnny felt like a thief himself as he walked through the streets pushing the injured Morgan on the old pram. The man was obviously in pain although he tried to hide it. He was concerned about Morgan but anxious about the cigarettes young Stanley had hidden in spite of his entreaties to hand them over to the police.

  ‘I hope you haven’t put them where the police will find them, Stanley,’ Morgan said as though Johnny wasn’t listening.

  ‘Give them up,’ Johnny pleaded. ‘It’ll go better for you if you do.’

  ‘Give over,’ Morgan said with a weak laugh. ‘If they find them I’ll be stuck in prison and I’ll have to face Annie at her worst.’ He winced as the pram lurched over a kerb. ‘And you want me to do all this for nothing?’

  ‘I don’t want my ma sleeping in no gutter,’ Stanley said. ‘I did it for my ma and I ain’t doin’ it for nothin’ either!’

  Johnny gave up. He was bemused by the bizarre situation and felt as though he had been caught up and driven along with them without a mind of his own.

  Eirlys and her mother were waiting at the door when the peculiar procession appeared out of the darkness accompanied by Morgan’s moans to generate sympathy. Once they were inside, a glance at Morgan’s swollen leg made it clear that a doctor was needed and the rest of the night was spent dealing with hospital admissions, waiting for news and all the other alarms and confusions and irritations that go with an accident.

  Johnny stayed with Eirlys, wondering how much of the night’s adventure he should tell her. It was two o’clock the following morning before he told her the full story. They were in the hospital waiting for news, having asked a neighbour to sit with the boys. He felt uneasy and ashamed at the casual way he had accepted the situation and helped Morgan and Stanley to hide stolen goods and outwit the police. Dammit, he’d even carried some of the spoils!

  He tried at first to avoid her learning the truth and at first said, ‘He fell in the lane.’

  She only had to look at his stricken face to know that wasn’t true. ‘Come on, Johnny, you don’t just fall and do that much damage.’

  ‘He climbed a wall or something, chasing a burglar he told us.’

  ‘Burglar,’ she muttered. ‘A woman more like.’

  ‘What? Your father doesn’t chase other women does he?’ He widened his eyes, feigning ignorance.

  ‘Forget I said that. Dadda needs flattery sometimes. Mam reminds him constantly of his failures. He needs someone to tell him he’s wonderful. There’s nothing more to it than that – and don’t try to change the subject!’

  ‘I wasn’t. I just don’t know any more than he told me. Why is it so hard to believe?’

  She hesitated to reply as they heard someone approaching. They smiled encouragingly at a young soldier, bandaged and using crutches, who was being helped and gently teased by a pretty young woman.

  ‘It doesn’t make sense, that’s why,’ Eirlys said when they had passed. ‘For one thing, how did Stanley know exactly where to find him?’ She sighed. ‘Please, Johnny. Before Mam comes back I need to know the truth. I need to if I’m to protect him.’

  ‘You always protect your dad, don’t you? Why do you think he needs your help?’

  ‘I love him, but I know he’s foolish sometimes. Remember when we had to rescue him when that van broke down? Mam thought he was at work. He hates working. He never had to work hard when his parents were alive. They indulged him and did everything for him. When they died he couldn’t cope. The business failed, then he lost job after job. I’ve always been afraid that one day Mam will have had enough and tell him to go.’

  ‘You’re very loyal,’ Johnny said. The vision of the soldier had remained with him – the soldier and his loving girl. He imagined himself in uniform, coming home on leave like the soldier. How fortunate he was to have a girl waiting for him, helping him, loving him. He knew he needed someone if he were to go away and that was very likely. He looked at her and knew she would be loyal and loving and very good to come home to.

  ‘Loyalty can be misplaced,’ Eirlys then said. ‘I didn’t go to London when Ken Ward asked me and my decision was partly because of loyalty to my parents.’

  ‘Do you have any regrets?’ he asked, his dark eyes staring into her slightly troubled blue ones. Her response was important to him. He felt a flood of relief when she shook her head.

  ‘No, Johnny. No regrets. I couldn’t have loved him or I wouldn’t have been able to refuse, would I?’

  ‘I’m glad you stayed,’ he said, drawing her into his arms, holding her close.

  She broke away and stared at him as though deciding whether it was right, before moving close to kiss him again.

  The hospital seemed deserted at that late hour. Just occasionally a nurse would walk briskly through the tiled corridor, stiffly starched clothes swishing, shoes squeaking on the highly polished floor.

  ‘Does this mean you feel the same way as me, that we’re more than friends?’ Johnny whispered.

  ‘I feel more for you than I’ve felt for anyone.’

  ‘If I asked you to move to London, would you come?’

  ‘Whatever you want to do, Johnny, I’ll support you.’ She smiled as she added softly, ‘I think we’d
have to come home to separate my waning parents quite often, though, don’t you?’

  ‘I love you, Eirlys. I know this isn’t the best time to say it. I’ll be leaving next year to join the army, unless I manage a deferment which is doubtful. We’ll be getting to know each other through letters, mind, not meetings like this. If you don’t want to stay with me, I’ll understand.’

  ‘Johnny, it’s never the wrong time to fall in love. We’ll deal with whatever happens, together.’

  He felt relief as he held her tightly and succumbed to the pleasures of a deep and emotional kiss. A huge decision had been made. No more dreaming about the quiet and gentle Hannah, who was eight years older and had two lovely daughters. He was committed to Eirlys, he was the luckiest of men and they would be very happy.

  ‘Mam will be back any minute.’ She stood up and brushed her hair back and glanced in the mirror, knowing that whatever she did she wouldn’t be able to remove the shining excitement in her eyes, a tell-tale sign of love. Then she returned to the subject of her father.

  ‘Johnny, please, quick – before Mam comes in, tell me what really happened.’ When he told her, coldly and briefly, she stared at him – but not with love in her eyes; that look had been wiped away by horror.

  ‘Dadda was breaking into a shop?’ She stared at him, a half-smile on her face, waiting to be told it was a joke.

  ‘He used young Stanley to get in through a window, then when they thought someone was coming in through the front door, he told Stanley to run, which he did, but your father tried to get out through the window Stanley had used and, well, he slipped and couldn’t get away.’

  ‘What was he stealing – money?’

  Johnny hesitated and she insisted on knowing the full story, so he said, ‘Cartons of cigarettes, and some money.’

  She was silent while horror and disbelief filled her thoughts, then she said, ‘Mam mustn’t know.’

  ‘Young Stanley hid the cigarettes. I don’t know what happened to the cash.’

  ‘We’ll have to find it all and send it back.’

  ‘That’s too risky. There’s more chance of being caught than when they stole it.’

  ‘Dadda a thief? I can’t believe it, Johnny. He’s always been lazy, he hates his job, but stealing? Entering someone’s house and robbing them? Why did he need money so desperately? Is he in trouble, d’you think?’

  She was white with shock, trembling so much that her arms shook uncontrollably. Johnny felt a strong sympathy extending the love he had declared, and he took her in his arms and held her, talking soothingly to her as the tremors slowly left her.

  A nurse appeared with a pale-faced Annie and they were told that her father was all right but would stay in hospital until the ankle had been set.

  ‘I’ll stay with him, you two go home and get some sleep,’ Annie said.

  Johnny hardly heard what was being said until Eirlys told her mother that Johnny would walk her home.

  Walking through the silent streets his thoughts were confused again. In a corner of his mind was a picture of Hannah, but a part of him wanted to hold Eirlys again, repeat that exciting kiss that had been full of promise. It was a powerful sensation, the arm-aching need to hold her again, to experience once more that almost overwhelming love and protection. She made him strong, with a newly born ability to deal with someone else’s problems, take them on to his own shoulders.

  Words of love teetered on his lips but this time he held them back, afraid to say them while the image of Hannah was still there in his heart in case they sounded as insincere as he felt. Hannah had been right to discourage him, common sense told him that. She was eight years older and at times it seemed she was a generation away from him in experience. But did common sense matter when love had spread its web?

  Going back into the house, Eirlys revived the fire while he made tea. He watched as Eirlys poured, such a homely everyday act, yet with his newly declared love, a sensual one. He wondered if she knew how confused he felt? She had been strange lately, avoiding him, seeing rather a lot of Max Moon too. Perhaps that was why he had declared himself, afraid that if he didn’t, then he might lose the chance. Perhaps if Max had spoken first, Eirlys might have already turned away from him. He couldn’t really love Eirlys, he was simply playing safe, afraid of ending up alone, stuck in his father’s house with no life of his own. His thoughts were like a tangled ball of string, not making any sense.

  ‘Are you going to tell your mam?’ he asked as they sipped their tea. When she shook her head he added, ‘She might find out from the boys. Kids of that age aren’t reliable about keeping secrets, are they?’

  ‘Why did Dadda involve Stanley? That’s what I find hardest to accept. He’s only just eleven. It was a wicked thing to do.’

  ‘I think Stanley wanted money to send back to his mother.’

  ‘He should have told us, not try and steal it. We’d have done something if only we’d known about his worries.’

  Johnny stood up, reached for his coat and was preparing to leave when a weary Annie returned from the hospital.

  ‘Keeping him in, they are,’ Annie told them. ‘They have to set the ankle and put him in plaster.’ She frowned as she took off her coat and hat. ‘I still don’t understand what he was doing in that lane. Thought he saw a burglar and climbed a wall for a better look, he said, and he fell awkwardly with his weight on the ankle.’

  ‘That’s what he told me,’ Johnny told her.

  ‘The police seemed to think he was right about the burglars,’ Annie went on with a yawn. ‘They had a call to tell them that Mrs Downs has reported a break-in at the newsagent.’

  ‘So he was telling the truth, then,’ Eirlys said, glancing at Johnny to support her lie.

  ‘Seems that he was, but I still don’t know why he was there in the first place.’

  ‘Dadda often goes for a walk, Mam. Nothing strange about that.’

  ‘Working in a factory like he does makes him a bit stale,’ Johnny added. ‘He says he needs fresh air and some exercise.’

  ‘Did they find what had been stolen?’ Eirlys dared to ask.

  ‘They wouldn’t say. Now, I’m off to bed. Thank you, Johnny, for staying with Eirlys. What an end to the night of the concert, eh?’

  ‘Great, wasn’t it, Mrs Price?’ Johnny enthused. He looked at Eirlys. ‘Max Moon did a marvellous job, didn’t he?’

  ‘I hadn’t realised how talented he was,’ Eirlys said. ‘When I first met him he looked so – so—’

  ‘Ordinary?’ Johnny offered.

  ‘What’s ordinary? Everyone is capable of surprising us!’

  Annie was surprised at the vehement way her daughter responded to Johnny’s comment. Hastily, Eirlys smiled and added a few complimentary remarks about Max, with which her mother concurred.

  Jealousy surged and for a moment Johnny forgot Hannah and feared to lose Eirlys to the man who had suddenly entered their lives and taken such a large role in Eirlys’s.

  ‘Pity he has to go. We’ll miss him,’ he said.

  ‘Oh, he won’t be going back just yet,’ Eirlys said airily. ‘He’s staying on to discuss next summer’s plans with the council.’

  Johnny kissed her as he left, almost fiercely, reinstating his claim.

  * * *

  Stanley was frightened, wondering what the outcome of the robbery would be. Every time he saw a policeman he edged away as though his guilt were written on his face. He didn’t talk to Percival, who was too young to understand, about the seriousness of not paying rent, but he and Harold discussed the problem whenever they were alone.

  ‘If Mum doesn’t get the money, she won’t have a home and neither will we when we go back,’ Stanley explained. ‘She’ll be thrown out into the streets.’

  ‘You mean we could go back and she wouldn’t be there?’ Harold began to cry and Stanley punched him affectionately on the shoulder.

  ‘Come on, I ain’t going let that ’appen, am I? Look after you, don’t I?’


  ‘What are you going to do, Stanley?’ Harold looked hopefully up through tears.

  ‘I’m going to ask Auntie Annie to take us to see Mam again, then I can hand her the rent money and everything’ll be all right.’

  They asked her that evening as she was leaving to visit Morgan in hospital.

  Annie refused. ‘I can’t afford to take you all to London again so soon. But,’ she added quickly as faces fell, ‘I will take you after Christmas, how’s that?’

  ‘I’m bovered about Christmas,’ Percival said solemnly, in his low, defeated voice. ‘If we don’t go back ’ome and leave a note, how’s Father Christmas going to know where we are?’

  ‘I’ve sorted that,’ Eirlys said at once. ‘There’s a special address and I got it from the Christmas Fairy at the council offices. If you all write a note I’ll see they get sent off.’

  When Johnny called to enquire after her father, Eirlys was advising and helping the three boys to perfect their letters, Harold optimistically asking him to kill Hitler so they could all go home.

  Annie came in a little while after him and they all admired and more or less approved of the boys’ efforts.

  ‘I got to see Mam,’ Stanley said. ‘Can’t you just take me, Auntie Annie?’

  ‘Sorry, Stanley, but you’ll have to make do with letters for a while. I can’t afford it. Besides, I can’t take the time off work,’ she explained. ‘In fact I’m working longer hours than usual with all the Christmas orders to see to.’

  ‘What if I pay for the tickets; will you come then?’

  Annie laughed. ‘How can you pay for the tickets? Giving you too much pocket money, are we?’

  Eirlys stood up, dropped the letters, talked about her hectic day’s work, offered to cook, trying to distract her mother from continuing the conversation. Johnny stood up too and asked if he could have a cup of tea. Annie laughed, ignored the distractions and asked again, ‘How much d’you think it costs to go to London, Stanley? Tuppence ha’penny?’

  Stanley drew from his pocket several pound notes and ten shilling notes and a handful of silver coins.