Unable to find anything around which to build his enthusiastic sales patter, the agent nodded and smiled, occasionally saying, ‘Just a bit of tidying, Mrs Thomas, just a bit of tidying. That’s all the place needs, isn’t it?’
The shop area had once been two rooms and the fireplaces were still in situ, covered untidily by brick-built screening. Cellar steps led down behind the chimney breast into a dark basement room which opened into the yard. The cellar had been used for storage and once the door had been forced open, was revealed as a fairly large room.
Upstairs were two bedrooms, a living room and a tiny kitchen. A box room had been made into a simple bathroom. Everything was grubby and dirty, with abandoned oddments lying everywhere. It was difficult to imagine it as a smart and attractive place which could entice people in. Half-peeled wallpaper and scuffed paintwork, a couple of broken windows and dirt encrusted floors added to the gloomy impression of sad neglect.
‘Just a bit of tidying, Mrs Thomas,‘ the estate agent muttered hopefully.
‘It’s a mess, Mr Carter,’ Audrey said firmly, when they stood once more at the doorway. ‘I hope the price will be commensurate with the condition?‘
‘I’m sure we can meet at a price to please us all, Mrs Thomas.’ He tried to hide his disbelief at the prospect of getting rid of the property. It had been on his books for so long he had all but given up hope. As Audrey was one of the wealthy Castle family, this had the smell of a good prospect.
The following day, Audrey went for a second look. This time, swearing them both to secrecy, she took Myrtle and Maude. After measuring each room and discussing the way the space could be used, they drew plan after plan, huddled over their diagrams like true conspirators, then went together to see a builder, although no builder seemed willing to take on the job. However, before anything could be begun, the first problem was her need for a small loan, which she quickly found, as a woman, was not going to be easy. Taking Bleddyn and Hetty into her confidence, she asked for their help. A loan was arranged with Bleddyn acting as guarantor. Two weeks later, in the middle of October, the property belonged to Audrey. But there was still the need for a builder.
Keith Kent had done work for Audrey and Wilf before and when he knocked on her door and asked if he could quote for the work at the corner shop, she welcomed him.
‘I’m working at the hospital at present as you know,’ he said. Audrey didn’t know, and wondered why he thought she might, but she ignored the remark and asked him to go with her to look at the place she now owned.
‘I’ll be finished at the hospital in a few weeks and then I’ll be able to start as soon as you like,’ he went on after looking at what was needed.
Audrey still said nothing to Marged, and the girls went about their daily routine without allowing their excitement to show. Maude stopped looking for winter work and Myrtle turned down the job she had been offered at the children’s home. On the day before the conversion work began, while the council officers were stamping their final approval on her plans. Audrey invited Marged and Huw, Bleddyn and Hetty to see what she had bought.
Huw warned Marged before they left that she was to say nothing derogatory. ‘Whatever she’s doing, it’s her money and her life, remember. Nothing to do with you.’
‘What if she’s done something really stupid? Am I to smile and say well done?’
‘Yes!’ he insisted.
The place looked almost as bad as when Audrey first saw it, but she showed no concern about its dilapidated state. ‘I want you to see it at its worst, so you’ll see how well we judged it when the work is completed. We’ve thought it out with great care.’
‘We?’ Marged asked. ‘Who’s been advising you on this? Why didn’t you talk to Huw and Bleddyn before you bought this…’ A warning nudge from Huw made her hesitate over the critical words she intended to use and instead she said, ‘this place?’
‘Maude and Myrtle have been involved and as for advice, well, I knew what I wanted and I’ve had my own instincts to rely on, and the long discussions Wilf and I had over the past months.’
The two men wandered around tapping walls. kicking skirting boards and declared it ‘Basically sound.’
Bursting with questions. Marged asked. ‘What are you going to sell, Audrey? It isn’t really sensible to start a business at this time.’
‘We’re going to open a café.’ The reply widened her eyes with shock.
‘I thought you hated the work?’
‘This will be different, it will be mine.’
‘You won’t get permission.’
‘Got it!’ Audrey replied.
‘It’ll be months to get the work done before you can open.‘
‘The builder has promised three weeks.’
‘That’s reasonable, there aren’t any materials to buy except some wood and most of that can be bought second hand.’ Bleddyn said.
‘Chairs? Tables? Boiler? Cooker?’ Marged was finding it increasingly difiicult to avoid a sarcastic tone.
‘Bought and ready for delivery. All second-hand, of course, but good quality.’
‘You don’t seem to want our help with anything,’ Marged said.
‘This is all for me.’ Audrey replied softly. ‘It’s what Wilf and I often talked about and this is my chance to make it happen.’
‘Come on, Audrey, let’s go and get a couple of flagons. This is something to celebrate.’ Huw led Marged towards the door seeing the hurt and disappointment on her face.
‘There’ll be plenty of help from us all if and when you need it,’ Bleddyn added. ‘Marged will be pleased to be involved, and Hetty too.’ He looked at his wife and she nodded agreement.
‘Just ask, Audrey. We’re here if needed.’
‘We’ll manage, me and Maude and Myrtle,’ Audrey said, placing an arm around the girls affectionately.
It was not until Marged reached home that she wondered just how long the girls intended to help Audrey with her foolish venture. Surely they would be on the beach when the 1944 season began? Audrey wouldn’t entice them away from the sands next summer and leave her with hardly any help at all, would she?
Audrey intended to do exactly that. She called on her sister the following day and confessed that Maude and Myrtle had asked if they could help her, and she had agreed, on condition Marged didn’t object. She said this apologetically and with a feeling of shame at the way she was making it more difficult for her hard working sister. ‘I’ll refuse if you think I should, Marged. They’d understand. It’s just that it’s an exciting new start and they want to be involved. Anyway,’ she added, ‘no one knows whether the café will succeed and if it doesn’t the girls will be glad to help next summer.’
‘We’ll see then, but thanks for telling me so quickly. I’ll prepare a list of possibles in plenty of time for May opening.’ Marged looked so disappointed that Audrey felt ashamed. ‘I’ll help you to find someone, I promise,’ she said.
‘Your promises don’t last, do they, Audrey?’
Without much hope, Marged went to see Lilly. Sam answered the door with the little girl beside him holding his hand.
‘Lilly’s out,’ Sam told her. ‘She’s meeting a friend and they’ve gone to the pictures.’ He invited her into the neat, orderly little house where he had obviously been reading stories to the two and a half year-old Phyllis.
‘Lucky Lilly,’ Marged sniffed as she noticed the table set for a meal, the appetizing smell of cooking wafting in from the kitchen.
‘I came to ask if there’s a chance of her helping in the café next summer. Phyllis will be three next May and she could come with her if there’s no one to look after her. Desperate we are, with the boys away fighting and Audrey unwilling to help anymore.’ She glared at the calm quiet man and added fiercely. ‘Married or not, she ought to do something to help us. We all have to do our share.’
Sam tilted the kettle and poured boiling water onto leaves in the teapot. ‘You’ll have a cup of tea?’
‘O
ur Lilly’s lazy, doesn’t it bother you? Taking advantage of you she is.’
‘She makes me happy,’ was his brief reply.
* * *
Keith Kent began work on the refurbishment of the café Audrey planned to call the Corner Café, and he was very enthusiastic. Before employing him she had been beginning to face the prospect of asking Huw or Bleddyn for help after being turned down by the other builders she approached. When he had come to the door uninvited and told her of his keenness for the job, she had been relieved.
‘I know the place and fully understand what’s needed.’ he had told her. ‘I did some work for the previous owners and I can tell you here and now what needs to be done. Not a lot structurally.’ he went on.
That pleased Audrey. As a woman on her own she had been prepared for him to cheat and tell her work was needed when it was unnecessary. His opinions were the same as Huw and Bleddyn, cleaning and decorating being the most important.
‘I’ll begin as soon as the work on the hospital is finished,’ he promised. He looked at her expectantly, waiting for a comment but she made none except to thank him.
Keith Kent was in his late forties but looked older due to an accident that gave him a stoop and had whitened his hair. His mature look and patient demeanour endeared him to prospective customers and he had worked steadily since leaving school. The reason he wasn’t in the forces was a crooked shoulder, caused when he fell from the roof of a cottage on to concrete. The breaks had healed but because they hadn’t been set properly, due to his own negligence, the bones were distorted. Unable to obtain insurance for building work, he had considered other occupations but found none as enjoyable as the work he knew. He continued to work on buildings but tried to concentrate on jobs that didn’t entail working at a great height.
He still suffered some pain and his solution to his discomfort was alcohol, although few realized the extent of that therapy. Tall, white-haired and tanned to an attractive bronze that emphasized the brightness of his blue eyes below thick white eyebrows, he was an attractive man who had little difficulty finding female company, although he avoided more than brief friendships.
He had a way of smiling that made the recipient believe his smile was meant for her alone. Widows were his speciality. He found that working for women who were alone and doing more than the work for which he was paid, often meant valuable recommendations and, occasionally, a generous tip as well.
He turned up on time at the corner premises on the first morning with three young boys who were unemployed, expecting to be called up any day. Unable to find permanent work they welcomed the three or four days of casual labour offered by Keith and were prepared to do anything he asked of them.
In several places walls needed repair, and they knocked out weak areas and replastered them. A fireplace was bricked up and another became a set of shelves. The rubble was cleared and the rooms brushed clear. It wasn’t until the floors had been cleaned with wet sawdust and a long handled scrubbing brush to settle the dust, that Keith allowed Audrey to check on their progress.
Rubbing down the paintwork, sizing the walls for fresh paper, all these were accomplished for the whole of the ground floor in the first week. When Maude and Myrtle went with Audrey for the second visit, they were impressed.
‘You certainly chose the right man for the work, Auntie Audrey,’ Myrtle said. ‘I didn’t expect to see such a change.’
‘I didn’t choose him, really, he chose me,’ Audrey said with a laugh. ‘He knocked on the door and promised me a good job, giving me a good price, and he was so much more enthusiastic than the others, that I said yes, straightaway.’ She didn’t add that with his white hair and blue eyes he reminded her of Wilf.
Myrtle went to see Stanley when they left the soon-to-be café. Morgan was at work, but Ken Ward was home and he and Eirlys were listening to the wireless with the three boys playing Ludo on the table behind them.
‘Auntie Audrey has bought a café and me and Maude are going to work there,’ Myrtle announced as soon as she had found a seat.
‘Another café for the Castles?’ Ken replied. ‘I’d have thought they had enough to do with what they’ve got.’
‘No, this is Auntie Audrey on her own. She’s going to live there, too.’
‘They’ve had a falling out?’ Eirlys asked. ‘I’m not surprised, mind. Working so closely together and practically living in the same house, it’s a miracle they haven’t quarrelled before this.’
‘There’s no quarrel, but something’s up,’ Myrtle said. ‘Auntie Audrey isn’t the same since Uncle Wilf died. She says she isn’t going to be Auntie Marged’s obedient slave anymore. I don’t understand it really. But I’m excited about working in the café because it’ll be open all the year round, not just the summer.’
‘You’ll have to be careful, Myrtle, or they’ll be bringing you into the family quarrel.’ Stanley warned as he threw the two dice and walked another counter up the straight to home. ‘I’d make sure not to take sides or you’ll be in the middle of a family feud and then where will you be?’
‘In Sidney Street where I am now! They aren’t going to throw me out because I’m working for one and not the other.’
‘Your lot are a family fond of promises. I’ve warned you before. Marged expected Audrey to stay with the family firm and she won’t like it now Audrey’s left. Specially as she’s taking you and Maude with her. Stands to reason you’ll be in trouble.’
‘You’re stupid.’ Myrtle retorted.
‘So are you if you can’t see what will happen.’
‘Now, now, you two, let’s calm down; shall we?’ Eirlys said, standing up and beckoning for Ken to go with her into the kitchen. ‘We’ll have a bite to eat then you’d better get home before Audrey starts worrying. Marmite on toast, everyone?’
‘Can I have mine with the crusts off?’ Percival pleaded.
‘No.’ Eirlys and Ken said in chorus.
‘Sorry, Myrtle,’ Stanley said when the young people were alone. ‘I’m probably worrying about nothing.’
‘I wouldn’t want to work in a boring café when I could be on the sands,’ Harold said.
‘It isn’t going to be a boring café.’ Myrtle almost blurted out the secret plans Audrey had revealed, but stopped in time, saved by Ken coming in with a plate of sliced bread ready to toast against the fire. Secrets and promises could make life very exciting and she wasn’t going to risk disappointing Audrey on either.
* * *
Maude was writing to Reggie. She couldn’t reveal the extent of what she knew about the new café but she was able to describe it and explain about the work that was entailed. The letter covered six pages before she had finished, and then came the difficult part. How should she end it? ‘With love’ was too forward; ‘affectionately’ was almost as bad.
When Myrtle came in she was still undecided and, risking a rude response, she asked her.
‘If I was writing to Stanley, I’d sign it, “your friend”. Won’t that do?’ Myrtle stared at her sister. ‘Of course,’ she added tilting her head with curiosity, ‘if you’ve kissed, then perhaps you could say something more.’ She grinned as Maude began to blush. ‘“Loving friend”, then. Wouldn’t that be better?’ She stood near the door miming kisses.
‘Oh, go away, Myrtle.’
Audrey sat in the dark kitchen staring out at the night sky through the open door, amused by the banter. They were growing up and one day they would be gone. The thought didn’t make her sad. Children were only borrowed, you enjoyed them and helped to build their confidence preparing them for the day they would leave you. That was right and proper.
She was so glad to have the girls in her life. Having no children herself apart from poor little Bobbie, they had been an unexpected and valued gift. Sitting there, she felt her heart swelling with happiness. With Wilf gone she would have been so lonely and although she knew they were only with her until they found husbands and began to build homes of their own, she was grateful that
they had been sent to her at a time when she needed someone so badly.
Next week they would be moving in to the flat above the Corner Café and a new stage of her life would begin. She dreaded the actual moment when she closed the door of this house behind them, but was determined not to show it. She was fulfilling a dream she and Wilf had dreamed and knowing it was what he had wanted for her was enough to sustain her through the pangs of leaving.
‘Cup of cocoa, Auntie Audrey?’ Maude called.
‘That would be lovely,’ she said, closing the door on the cool and calm night and pulling the curtain across.
Nine
Shirley met Andy Probert several times when she was away from St David’s Well taking part in concerts. She had asked Ken to book her for local venues only, but he was often desperate to find someone to top the bill and she usually agreed to perform out of town. So, many of her bookings still entailed an overnight stay and Andy seemed able to learn where and when she would appear. He would be in the audience and when she left he would be there to accompany her to the guesthouse where she was staying.
He began to hint that he might stay with her and share her room and although she was flattered and even momentarily tempted, she knew that a casual affair was not what she wanted. At first she pretended not to understand the innuendo, then she displayed outrage although that didn’t discourage him. When he kissed her too passionately and insisted that she wanted him as much as he wanted her, she hit him — hard.
‘Sorry, Andy, but I don’t do what you’re asking.’
‘You mean you never have?’ he asked in surprise.
She slapped him again, but didn’t answer. She and Freddy Clements had enjoyed a few secret visits to a small hotel called The Grantham, in the village of Gorsebank, but she didn’t want to tell him about those occasions; he might have thought it was an invitation for him to persist. She went into the house where the landlady had left a tray of food and the makings of tea for her. As she ate, she wondered why Freddy had been special and Andy was not. It wasn’t as though she and Freddy were engaged, they hadn’t even talked about what would happen after the war, apart from an occasional joking reference to their continuing friendship.
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