‘I know what you mean,’ Adina agreed. ‘My father is finding it harder to keep the shop well-stocked now. There’s very little left on the shelves each week by the time people have had their rations. But then I suppose we should look on the bright side. This war can’t go on for ever, can it?’ Suddenly leaning forward, she confided, ‘I went for a walk again with Karl yesterday.’
Beryl whistled through her teeth. ‘Christ Almighty, do your mam an’ dad know?’
‘Of course they don’t,’ Adina replied. ‘Can you imagine what they’d say if they did?’
‘All hell would be let loose,’ Beryl responded. ‘Though I can see what you see in him. He’s a good-lookin’ bloke, ain’t he? So . . . do you really like him then?’
Adina shrugged. ‘Yes, I do like him, but there’s nothing between us. What I mean is, he hasn’t even attempted to hold my hand. We just seem to enjoy each other’s company, that’s all. That isn’t so wrong, is it?’
‘Depends on how you look at it,’ Beryl pointed out sensibly. ‘It ain’t exactly a match made in heaven, is it?’
‘I know,’ Adina mumbled. ‘But as I said, I just like talking to him. There’s absolutely nothing going on between us.’
‘Yet!’ Beryl remarked caustically. ‘Why, gel, a blind man on a gallopin’ hoss could see you’ve got the hots for the bloke. It ain’t my place to tell you what to do, but all I’m sayin’ is, go careful like, eh?’
Adina nodded as she stared at Beryl’s cluttered dressing-table. There wasn’t a single inch that wasn’t covered in cosmetics of some sort or another. And the worst part about what her friend was saying was that deep down, Adina knew that it was true. Nothing could ever happen between her and Karl, so why, she asked herself for the hundredth time, had she ever turned up to meet him in the first place?
With a new resolve she looked Beryl in the eye. ‘You’re absolutely right,’ she told her. ‘And from now I shall avoid him. There are plenty more fish in the sea, aren’t there? That’s saying if and when I decide I want a boyfriend.’
Beryl nodded understandingly. ‘I think it might be for the best if you did give him a wide berth,’ she told her gently. ‘But come on now, cheer up. Help me decide what sort of ring I should have. I can’t decide whether I’d prefer a diamond solitaire or a cluster.’ After twisting her hair high onto the back of her head, she pushed it into a knitted snood which would have to suffice until she had time to pop in her pipe cleaners again. She then applied a layer of lipstick before embarking on yet another explanation of how just how wonderful her soon-to-be fiancé was.
Adina listened to her friend’s excited chatter and for now all thoughts of Karl were put aside.
Adina was kept busy for the rest of the week. She was now working every morning at the school and in the afternoons she sewed and helped her father in the shop.
It was during one Thursday afternoon that Mrs Thompson, a large lady who lived in Cheverel Street, entered and plonked her food coupons on the counter.
‘Huh!’ she said gloomily as Adina weighed out her two ounces of tea. ‘Just ’ow the ’ell do they expect us to make that piddlin’ amount stretch fer a week, eh? My Ronnie needs at least three cuppas afore he can get hisself out of bed of a mornin’.’
Adina agreed that it didn’t look much, but unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it. Everyone was in the same boat. Not that Mrs Thompson looked bad on it. She was the size of a doubledecker bus.
Next she weighed out the allotted eight ounces of bacon and again the woman grumbled. ‘’T’ ain’t even enough fer one good fry-up,’ she said, and then suddenly remembering something, she asked, ‘Have you had a visit from the Red Cross today?’
‘Not that I’m aware of,’ Adina answered. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Well, I were just comin’ under the Coton Arches about half an’ ’our since when this bloke stopped me. He said he were from the Red Cross an’ asked if I knew where the Schwartzes’ shop were. I pointed ’im in the right direction, o’ course, an’ I’m surprised he ain’t paid yer a visit by now.’
‘I wonder what he could want with us?’ Adina said musingly, and then as a thought occurred to her, her heart began to pound. Could it be that they had some news of Dovid?
Hurrying now, she finished serving the disgruntled customer at top speed, and the second the woman set foot out of the shop she turned the sign to Closed and hastily locked the door before rushing through to the kitchen.
‘Molly Thompson was just in the shop and she said—’
Before she had a chance to say another word, there was a loud rapping on the back door.
Ezra immediately rose from the table and went to answer it.
Half an hour later they all sat in shock, scarcely daring to believe what the stranger had told them before going on his way. The Red Cross had been working tirelessly trying to discover what had become of Dovid, as well as hundreds of other young men who were missing, and the gentleman had brought them some news. He couldn’t be 100 per cent sure, he had warned them, but it appeared that someone answering Dovid’s description had been located in a prisoner-of-war camp in France.
Freyde was almost beside herself with joy, while Ezra looked on with a mixture of delight and apprehension flitting across his drawn features. He so wanted to believe that what the man had told them was true, but there would be no way of knowing for sure until this confounded war was over. Unless Dovid was seriously injured in which case he might be shipped to a military hospital in England. But that didn’t even bear thinking about. All they could do now was wait and pray that he would come home to them safe and sound.
At that moment Ariel came in from school and seeing the shocked faces instantly asked, ‘So what’s going on then? You all look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’
When Freyde told her what had happened, the girl was joyful; she had missed her big brother so much and hoped that he was still alive somewhere.
‘Couldn’t we write to him?’ she asked with the innocence of youth.
Ezra smiled as he stroked her shining hair. ‘I’m afraid it isn’t quite as simple as that, bubbeleh. We must wait now and trust God to keep him safe until he can come home.’
‘All right. So what’s for dinner then?’ Ariel asked, losing interest. Adina frowned. Ariel was now almost fourteen years old and was far too used to being spoiled by all of them. Especially by her mother since Dovid had gone missing.
Freyde was in such a state that she could barely concentrate on anything apart from the wonderful news they had just received, but she hurried across to the oven anyway to check on the cottage pie that was cooking in there.
‘It will be ready in another half-hour or so,’ she told the girl, and then turning her attention back to Adina she asked, ‘Don’t you think you should go and open up now? Our customers will not be happy if we just close the shop without warning.’
‘Of course,’ Adina said guiltily, but as she made to rise from her seat her father placed his hand on her shoulder.
‘It’s all right,’ he told her. ‘You stay here and make your mama a cup of tea. She looks like she could do with one. I shall go and serve in the shop.’ And with that he left the room, closing the kitchen door softly behind him.
That night after prayers, Adina wrapped up warmly and hurried around to Beryl’s house, bursting to tell her friend the good news. She knew that Beryl would be in. This was her hair-washing night.
Mrs Tait answered the door and smiled at her. She liked this little friend of Beryl’s, Jew or no Jew. She was polite and pretty, and sometimes the woman wished her wayward daughter was more like her. Mr Tait was sitting at the side of the fire listening to Flanagan and Allen singing ‘Run Rabbit Run’ on the wireless. His foot was tapping in time to the music but he grinned at Adina as she passed him on her way to Beryl’s room.
She found her friend twisting pipe cleaners into her still damp hair, and as Adina entered she sighed with relief.
‘Ah, I’m glad you’ve
come,’ she grinned. ‘The ones at the back are buggers to get in. Can yer give me an’ ’and, Dina?’
‘Of course I will.’ Adina hung her coat on the back of the bedroom door, sending a flurry of snow onto the lino.
‘So what you lookin’ so happy about, all of a sudden?’ Beryl studied her friend in the mirror. ‘It’s nice to see yer all smiles again.’
Adina told her about the visit they had had from the Red Cross man earlier in the day, and Beryl grinned.
‘Well, bugger me, an’ just when you were beginnin’ to lose hope, eh? That’s wonderful news. Your mam an’ dad must be dead chuffed. ‘An’ just when you’d persuaded them to let you sleep in his room an’ all!’
Adina was still struggling to understand some of Beryl’s expressions but she beamed back at her.
‘The trouble is, we have no way of knowing for sure that it is Dovid,’ she explained. ‘But as Papa said, it’s extremely doubtful that they would tell us unless they were fairly sure.’
‘Too bloody right. That would be just too cruel,’ Beryl quipped, and then grinning widely she changed the subject. ‘I told me mam an’ dad that me an’ Tye were goin’ to get engaged an’ they’re tickled pink about it. I reckon they quite like the idea o’ me being married to an American airman.’ She sighed dreamily at the thought of it. ‘I made him come round an’ ask me dad, all official-like, an’ me dad didn’t ’alf give ’im a grillin’. I reckon he put the fear o’ God into the poor chap. The long an’ the short of it is though, that I reckon I’ve dropped on me feet. It turns out that Tyrone is loaded! His mam an’ dad own a massive stud ranch where they breed horses in Texas, an’ they’ve got servants an’ everything. Imagine that, eh? Me with me own maid. I allus knew I were cut out for better than staying around here.’
‘Oh dear, should I start curtseying to you now?’ Adina teased.
Beryl punched her playfully in the arm. ‘No, I don’t think there’ll be any cause for that. We just need to find you somebody ’alf-decent now. God knows, you get enough offers an’ it’s hardly surprisin’, wi’ your looks. Keep on the way you are though, an’ you’ll end up an old maid – an’ you don’t want that, do you?’
Adina laughed but then suddenly felt sad. Beryl was like no one she had ever met before and she would miss her when she left. But then that could be a long way away yet, and now she had hope that Dovi was still alive, things were looking up. Suddenly a picture of Karl flashed in front of her eyes and she pushed it away as she tried to concentrate on what her friend was saying.
Chapter Eleven
Sunday dawned, and after lunch Adina found herself staring at the clock. She had promised herself she would not go and see Karl, but it was hard to keep away.
‘Are you feeling unwell?’ Freyde gazed with concern at her daughter’s pinched face.
‘Oh, I’ve just got a bit of a headache, that’s all,’ Adina lied, and reaching for her coat, she started to shrug her arms into it. Her mother had bought a wonderfully bright red blanket from a rummage sale recently and Adina had transformed it into this very fashionable garment. It set off her dark hair to perfection and she loved it. Her father, who was busy with his accounts, didn’t even register the fact that she was going.
‘I think I might go and get a bit of fresh air and call in to see Beryl’s engagement ring,’ she told her mother as she pulled on her boots. The snow had stopped falling some days ago and what remained looked slushy and dirty from the many feet that had tramped through it.
‘Then don’t forget your gas mask,’ her mother advised, and sighing, Adina unhooked that from the back of the door too and slung it across her shoulder. She hated the damned thing and having to carry it about with her.
It was a cold overcast day with a slight drizzle falling, and as Adina headed for Beryl’s house her mood matched the weather. She could picture Karl standing at the gates of Astley Hall waiting for her and felt awful for letting him down. But then commonsense told her that as nothing could ever come of it if a relationship developed between them, she was doing the right thing by staying away.
She had gone no more than a few yards down the street when she noticed Ariel, some way ahead of her, talking to a boy. They had their heads together and were laughing at something. Adina frowned. Ariel was getting a little out of hand lately – not that her parents would accept the fact. In their eyes, she could do no wrong. She was now almost as tall as her sister and was very pretty, something of which she had recently become very aware.
When she glanced up and saw her older sister marching towards her she flushed guiltily.
‘Hello.’ Adina deliberately kept her voice light as she drew abreast of them. ‘And who is this then? I thought you were going round to Sylvia’s house.’
‘This is Michael,’ Ariel muttered. ‘He’s my friend from school and we just stopped to have a word.’
‘That’s fine then, but don’t stay outside too long, will you? This drizzle soaks you through before you know it.’ Adina marched away as her sister glared at her resentfully, and soon she was lost to sight as she turned a corner.
What a hypocrite I am, Adina thought. Here I am scolding Ariel for talking to a schoolfriend when I’ve made arrangements to meet one of the enemy. Biting her lip, she hurried on.
In no time at all she was knocking on the door of the Taits’ little terraced house in Deacon Street. Mrs Tait ushered her inside. ‘Come on in out o’ this rain,’ she urged. ‘We’ve just made a brew. Would yer like one?’
‘I wouldn’t mind,’ Adina told her as she took off her woollen mittens and rubbed her hands together. She then joined Mr Tait at the table and he told her, ‘Beryl should be down in a tick. She’s upstairs makin’ herelf look beautiful for her fiancé. He’s takin’ her to the flicks later on.’
‘Oh, perhaps I should leave then,’ Adina said, but Beryl’s father waved her back into her seat as she made to rise.
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ he warned her. ‘Our gel’d have me guts for garters if I let you go before she’d had time to flash her ring at you. Tyrone took her shoppin’ for it yesterday an’ she ain’t stopped showin’ it off ever since.’ Then his tone becoming serious, he leaned towards her and asked, ‘He is a decent enough bloke, ain’t he? I mean, I know I must sound like an old-fashioned dad, but if he’s goin’ to whip my girl off to the other side o’ the world, I need to know he’s half-right for her, don’t I?’
‘To be truthful, Mr Tait, I’ve only met Tyrone a few times,’ Adina admitted. ‘But he seems nice enough to me and Beryl obviously adores him. I can understand you worrying about her – you’re bound to be concerned, with her going so far away. But I’m sure she’ll be just fine. Beryl is actually quite sensible and she certainly knows what she wants.’
‘Well, you got that bit right,’ he chuckled, his normal cheery self again. ‘Trust her to go an’ fall for a Yank! She’s always been a stubborn little cuss, has our Beryl.’
At that moment, Beryl herself walked through the stairs door. ‘What’s goin’ on in here then? Me ears are burnin’,’ she said. Then, without waiting for an answer, she hurried over to Adina and flashed her hand at her.
‘So what do you think of it then?’ she asked as Adina took her hand to examine the ring. It was a small square-cut sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds, and nowhere near as showy as Adina had been expecting – if Tyrone was as rich as he had told Beryl’s parents he was. However, she wouldn’t have hurt her friend’s feelings for the world so she quickly assured her, ‘Why, it’s absolutely beautiful.’
Drawing a package from her coat pocket, she handed it to Beryl self-consciously. ‘Here’s a little something I made for you as an engagement present. I hope you’ll like it.’
Beryl carefully undid the string tied around the brown paper and then sighed happily as she saw two snow-white lace-trimmed pillowcases.
‘They’re really lovely.’ Beryl held them up to show her parents. ‘Thanks, Dina. I shall treasure them, an’ these will be th
e first thing in me bottom drawer.’
Adina saw that her friend was positively glowing and hoped that her American would continue to make her happy.
‘We just need to get you fitted up wi’ a decent lad now, Dina luv,’ Mr Tait teased gently. ‘But I dare say yer dad has his sights set on you marryin’ a Jewish chap, an’ sadly there’s a shortage o’ them hereabouts.’
Seeing her friend’s embarrassment, Beryl hastily pushed a mug of tea towards her and a pressed-glass bowl full of sugar.
‘Help yourself,’ she said. ‘That’s one o’ the perks o’ bein’ engaged to an American. We ain’t never short o’ sugar, thank goodness. Me dad has to have at least three spoonfuls in every cup else he reckons he can’t taste it.’
Adina sipped gratefully at her tea as her eyes slid towards the clock standing on the mantelshelf. She should be meeting Karl now and she wondered how he would feel when she didn’t show up. She hoped he wouldn’t mind too much. After all, they hardly knew each other, did they?
Half an hour later, Adina stood up and pulled her coat on again. ‘I ought to be off now so you can get ready to see Tyrone,’ she told her friend. ‘Bye, Mr and Mrs Tait. Thanks for the tea.’
Beryl saw her to the door where they hugged each other and then Adina set off for home. It was only three o’clock in the afternoon, but already the light was fading. She knew that she ought to go home and work on the skirt she was making for one of the teachers at school, but instead, feeling restless, she headed for Riversley Park where she wandered along the banks of the River Anker. Because of the miserable weather the place was almost deserted, which suited her mood, just fine. Large weeping willow trees were trailing their branches into the sluggishly moving water and she watched a family of ducks swimming along, seemingly without a care in the world.
A Band of Steel Page 9
