by Joan Jonker
Molly held her breath when Nellie pushed her chair back and it creaked in protest. Never a day went by that Molly didn’t expect the chair to collapse and her mate to end up on the floor. And she couldn’t make up her mind whether she’d be more worried about the chair being broken, or having to try and lift her eighteen-stone neighbour off the floor. ‘We can talk while we’re doing the mangling. I’ll feed the sheets in and turn the handle, and you can catch them the other side. Is that OK, sunshine?’
Nellie grinned. ‘How much is it worth?’
‘It’ll pay for that cup of tea yer’ve just had, yer cheeky article.’
‘What cup of tea, girl?’
Molly pointed to the empty cup. ‘That one!’
‘That was never tea was it? Well, I’d never have known. It just goes to show, girl, that yer learn something new every day.’
The postman knocked on Molly’s door the next morning with a huge grin on his face. He handed over two letters. ‘One for you, Molly, and one for Jill.’
Molly was so delighted she couldn’t resist planting a kiss on his cheek. ‘Oh, you lovely man, yer’ve made me day.’ She closed the door and gazed down at the envelopes. Her heart began to race when she recognised her son’s handwriting on one, and Steve’s on the other. Clasping the precious letters to her heart, she walked back to the living room where her two daughters were having breakfast. Jill, her eldest girl, was twenty-one and Doreen a year younger. The sisters were very alike in looks, having inherited their mother’s long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. But where Molly had put weight on over the years, the girls had slim, shapely figures. ‘Jill, there’s a letter for yer, sunshine, from Steve.’
With a shriek of delight, Jill dropped the piece of toast she was eating and reached out for the letter. ‘Please, please, please say he’s coming home.’ Her hands shaking with excitement, she tore the envelope open and took out a two-page letter. As her eyes moved quickly over the lines, her smile grew wider. ‘He’s coming home, Mam! He’s being demobbed and is hoping to be home next week!’
Doreen left her chair to give her sister a hug. ‘That’s marvellous news, our kid, I’m really made up for yer. Isn’t that great, Mam?’ Then she noticed her mother was standing with a letter pressed to her lips. ‘Is that from our Tommy, Mam?’
Molly’s voice was choked. ‘I know I’m daft, but I’m going to cry. And when ye’re a mother yerself yer’ll understand.’
‘I understand now, Mam,’ Doreen said. ‘I feel like crying meself. Would yer like me to read it to yer?’
Sniffing loudly, Molly said, ‘Not ruddy likely! I want to be the first one to know when he’ll be home, safe and sound.’
‘Well, hurry up and open it, then! Me and our Jill have got to go to work.’
Jill, having devoured every word of her boyfriend’s letter three times, put it back in the envelope and turned her attention to her mother. ‘Come on, Mam, open up.’
‘Give our Ruthie a shout for us, will yer, while I read what Tommy’s got to say. I don’t want her to be late for school.’
Jill was standing at the bottom of the stairs when she heard her mother’s cry of delight. ‘He’s back in England! He wrote this letter on the ship and says by the time I receive it he’ll be back on English soil. Oh, thank God for that! He hopes everyone is well and sends his love.’ Her eyes wet with tears of happiness, Molly read on. ‘He can’t wait to see us all, he’s missed us so much.’
‘Ruthie,’ Jill shouted. ‘Hurry up, me Mam’s had a letter from our Tommy.’
The loud clatter from above had Molly shaking her head. ‘She’ll probably jump down the flaming stairs and break her neck.’
The baby of the family entered the room like a whirlwind. ‘When’s he coming home, Mam?’ Ruthie had been a surprise addition to the family, coming along seven years after Tommy was born. It was a time when Molly was having a struggle to make ends meet with three children to clothe and feed on the low wages her husband earned. Another mouth to feed wasn’t exactly welcome. But from the time the baby had been put in her arms by the midwife, she’d been cherished not only by her parents, but also her sisters and brother. ‘Does he mention me in the letter?’
‘No, sunshine, he doesn’t mention anyone by name. He just sends his love to everyone and says he can’t wait to see us all.’
‘I’ve had a letter from Steve,’ Jill said. ‘And he’s coming home next week.’
‘Go’way!’ Twelve-year-old Ruthie was the spitting image of her two sisters. The same blonde hair, blue eyes and slightly turned-up nose. ‘If Steve’s coming home next week, Mam, why isn’t our Tommy?’
‘He is, sunshine! He doesn’t know exactly when, but he’s going to write again as soon as he finds out.’ Molly pointed to the clock. ‘Jill, Doreen, yer’d better get cracking or yer’ll be late clocking in.’
Jill slipped her arms into her coat. ‘I wonder if Auntie Nellie’s had a letter from Steve?’
‘She’s bound to have had. Anyway, I’ll be giving her a knock as soon as I get Ruthie off to school. Then I’m going to me ma’s to see if they’ve heard from Tommy.’ Molly wagged her shoulders and bottom. ‘Isn’t this just a beautiful day?’
Jill gave her a kiss. ‘Yer can say that again, Mam. There were times when I thought this day would never come.’
Doreen followed with a kiss. ‘Yer’ll soon have all yer chicks around yer, Mam, like a mother hen.’
‘Until yer all start leaving the nest.’ Molly smiled. ‘When yer were young I was wishing yer’d grow up, now I wish yer were youngsters again.’
The two sisters stood framed in the doorway. ‘Yer won’t get rid of me that easy, Mam,’ Doreen said. ‘When me and Phil get married we’ll only be living over the road.’
‘And me and Steve won’t be moving far away from yer.’ Jill’s gentle smile brought a lump to Molly’s throat. ‘We’d be lost without you and Auntie Nellie.’
Molly followed them to the door. ‘Wait until yer Dad knows, he’ll be over the moon. I bet him and George go for a pint tonight to celebrate.’
‘Me dad deserves it, the hours he’s been putting in at work.’ Jill linked arms with her sister. ‘Me and Doreen will mug him to a few pints.’
‘I’ll see yer tonight. Ta-ra.’ Molly waved them off and went back into the living room to find Ruthie reading Tommy’s letter. ‘Ay, buggerlugs! Out in the kitchen and get yerself washed while I make yer some toast. And in future, don’t read letters that aren’t addressed to yer.’
Ruthie’s grin was cheeky. ‘I looked at the envelope, Mam, and it said to Mr and Mrs Bennett and family. That means me.’
Molly held her arms wide and the girl walked into them. Rocking her gently, Molly said, ‘Oh, sunshine, I must be the luckiest woman alive. I’ve got a lot to thank God for. A marvellous husband and four lovely children. And He’s kept us all safe through the war. I’ll never complain again as long as I live.’ She patted her daughter’s bottom. ‘Go on, sunshine, get yerself washed or yer’ll be late for school.’
Ruthie was eating her toast when she heard her mother talking to herself in the kitchen. ‘Just look at that pile of ironing I’ve got to do. And I hate ruddy ironing.’
‘I knew yer wouldn’t keep it up, Mam!’
Molly popped her head around the door. ‘Keep what up, sunshine?’
‘Yer said yer’d never complain again as long as yer lived. Five minutes later ye’re complaining about the ironing!’
Molly stopped the chuckle from leaving her mouth. Standing with her hands on her hips she said, ‘Listen to me, Miss Nosy Poke, I was having a private conversation with meself, if yer don’t mind. And I can’t complain to meself about meself, can I? Now if I’d said to you that I had a stack of ironing to do and I hated ironing, then that would be complaining. Can yer see the difference?’
‘Not really, Mam! But seeing as it’s a special day, I’ll let yer off.’
‘Gee, thanks, kid!’ Molly retreated, thinking that when she was young, c
hildren were seen and not heard. The war had a lot to answer for.
Nellie opened the front door, folded her arms and came to stand on the edge of the top step. ‘You’re late, aren’t yer?’
Molly looked up with surprise. ‘What d’yer mean, I’m late? I’m not supposed to be here, so how can I be late?’
Nellie delved into the pocket of her pinny, brought out a letter and waved it in her friend’s face. ‘This came two hours ago, the same time as yours.’
‘How did yer know I got a letter?’
‘I asked the postman, of course, soft girl.’ Nellie jerked her head back and tutted. ‘It wouldn’t have done me any good asking the blinking milkman, would it?’
Ooh, I’ll get you for that, Molly thought, chuckling inside. ‘That’s very perspicacious of yer, sunshine! Ye’re nobody’s fool, are yer?’
Nellie narrowed her eyes and clamped her lips together. That was a very long word, that was, and she hadn’t a clue what it meant. She might have done if she hadn’t sagged school so often, but it was thirty years too late to worry about that now. So, not wanting to be beaten, she decided that two could play at that game and she’d bluff her way out. ‘Ye’re right there, girl! I’m nobody’s fool and it’s nice of yer to say so.’ She stepped aside and made a sweeping movement with her hand. ‘Come in and tell me all yer news.’
She’s a crafty minx, Molly told herself as she turned sideways and took a deep breath before squeezing past her mate’s enormous tummy. But she’s too nosy to let it drop. I bet she’ll ask me what the word means before I leave. ‘I won’t stay long, sunshine, ’cos I want to slip round to me ma’s to see if they’ve heard from Tommy.’
‘What did he have to say in his letter, girl?’
Molly feigned surprise. ‘Oh, didn’t the postman tell yer?’
Nellie’s face was deadpan. ‘I did ask him, but he said although he could see the writing, the envelope was too thick to make out the words. So I’ve had to wait two hours for you to come and tell me. I hope it’s been worth the wait.’
Molly couldn’t keep it in any longer. ‘He’s coming home next week, same as Steve.’
‘Oh, that’s the gear, girl!’ Their two hands met across the table and they gripped each other tight. ‘D’yer know, I’ve done nothing but cry since the blinking postman came. George said he couldn’t make me out, that I should be dancing for joy.’
‘They’re tears of relief, sunshine, and I’ve shed a few of them meself. My Jack doesn’t know yet, he’d left for work before the post came.’ Molly had a thought. ‘Oh, I haven’t asked yer about your Paul! Have yer heard from him?’
Nellie shook her head. Paul was her youngest child, and although he was now twenty he was still her baby. ‘George said it’ll take weeks to get the lads home from all the different countries, so I’ll have to be patient. It’s all right for him to talk, though, isn’t it, girl? Men don’t have the same feelings as us women. Before he went out, he said Paul was alive and well and that was the main thing. But I won’t rest until I’ve seen him with me own eyes and hugged him to pieces.’
Molly looked with fondness at the woman who’d been her best mate for nearly twenty-five years. Many of them had been lean years, when the children were little and it was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. But they’d always shared what little they had with each other. ‘I’d never have got through the war without you, Helen Theresa McDonough. Yer kept me sane when I was nearly out of me mind with worry, and yer made me laugh when I was down in the dumps. Ye’re the best mate anyone could have.’
Nellie’s chubby face lit up. ‘And I’m clever, as well, aren’t I, girl?’
Molly puckered her lips before saying, ‘I think crafty is the word for you.’
‘Oh no, I like that other word better. It sounds more posh.’
‘Which word was that, sunshine?’
‘Don’t come that with me, Molly Bennett, yer know damn well what the word is. What yer said I was for not asking the milkman.’
‘Oh, yer mean perspicacious? It’s a good word, isn’t it, sunshine? I wonder what it means?’
‘Don’t tell me a clever bugger like you doesn’t know what it means?’ Nellie was trying to think fast so her mate wouldn’t get one over on her, and she came up with what she thought was a beauty. ‘I’ll tell yer what, girl, save yer racking yer brains, just write it down and I’ll ask George what it means when he comes in. My feller’s very clever with words.’
Not to be outdone, Molly raised her brows. ‘Have yer got a pencil and a piece of paper? I’ll print it in case he can’t understand me writing.’
Like a little girl who’s been caught out in a game of rounders, Nellie made her way to the sideboard and opened a drawer. She slapped a piece of paper and a stub of a pencil down on the table. ‘I bet yer can’t spell it.’
‘Of course I can!’ Molly sounded more confident than she felt. She’d come across the word in a dictionary and had kept it in her mind until the time came to use it on Nellie. But she hadn’t taken any notice of the way it was spelt. Still, George wouldn’t know, either. So, licking the end of the pencil, she wrote down what she thought was near enough. Handing it to her mate, she said, ‘I know what it means, too! It means understanding clearly.’
‘Well, why the bloody hell didn’t yer say that in the first place?’
‘It’s no good knowing big words if ye’re not going to use them, sunshine.’
‘And by the same token, girl, it’s no good using them if no one can ruddywell understand them!’ Nellie gazed down at the scrap of paper. ‘There’s thirteen letters in that word. Six I can manage, thirteen I wouldn’t even attempt.’
‘Well, I’m going to attempt to get away now, sunshine. If me ma’s had a letter she’ll be expecting me.’
‘Can I come with yer? Me nerves are too shattered to stay in the house.’ Before Molly had time to refuse, Nellie reminded her, ‘Don’t forget, yer’d never have got through the war without me.’
Molly knew when she was beat. ‘Are yer respectable enough to go straight from there to the shops?’
Nellie looked highly indignant. ‘Of course I am! I’ve got no holes in the heels of me stockings, the elastic hasn’t snapped in the leg of me knickers and I haven’t got no tidemark.’ She leaned her weight on the table and lifting her leg she rubbed the front of her shoe over the back of her stocking, then changed foot for the other one. ‘And me shoes have been polished.’
Molly was looking at her with an amused expression on her face. ‘How come yer can get up and down on your chairs without a creak from them, but when yer sit on mine they creak that much I think they’re going to collapse?’
‘Ah, well, yer see, girl, I take yours by surprise. Mine are used to me, and when they see me coming they brace themselves for the onslaught.’
Shaking with laughter, Molly folded her arms on the table and laid her head on them. And Nellie, happy that she’d made her friend laugh, sat down and followed suit. And there wasn’t a peep of protest from the chair.
Bridie Jackson was always pleased to see her daughter but this morning her smile was wider and her eyes sparkling with excitement. ‘I knew yer’d be round, me darlin’, so I did.’ She cupped Molly’s face and kissed her soundly. ‘Sure, isn’t it the best news we’ve had in years?’
‘Yer knew we’d had a letter then, Ma?’
‘Didn’t Tommy tell us that he’d written to yer as well? And wouldn’t he be wanting his mother to know before anyone else?’ Bridie stepped aside to let her visitors pass. She smiled at Nellie and kissed a chubby cheek. ‘Top of the morning to yer, Nellie, me darlin’. Come along in and sit yerselves down.’
Bob Jackson was sitting in his favourite chair at the side of the fireplace and he lifted his cheek for a kiss. ‘Marvellous news, isn’t it, love?’
‘It certainly is, Da! I was that happy this morning I even kissed the postman!’
Nellie’s jaw dropped as she gave her friend a dig. ‘Yer didn’t kiss him, did ye
r?’
Molly nodded. ‘He must have thought I’d lost the run of me senses.’
‘He never told me that!’
‘Well, he wouldn’t, would he? He knows what ye’re like for gossiping, and it would have been round the street like wildfire. He’d told yer about me getting two letters and probably thought yer’d wangled enough out of him for one day.’
‘Did yer get two letters, then, love?’ Bob asked.
‘I got one from Tommy, and I’m going to let me mate tell yer about the other one.’
This pleased Nellie no end. ‘Me and Jill got one from Steve.’ She paused as an actor would before delivering a dramatic line. ‘He’s coming home next week.’
‘Oh, thanks be to God!’ Bridie put a hand to each of her cheeks and rocked gently. ‘Yer’ll soon have all yer children around yer again. It’s happy I am for yer, and for Jill.’
‘I haven’t heard from our Paul, yet, though,’ Nellie said. ‘Still, I’ll probably get a letter any day now.’
‘Yes, yer will, Nellie,’ Bob told her, knowing that for all her joking and fooling around, she was as sensitive as anyone. ‘They’ll get the lads home as fast as they can.’
‘Ma, did Rosie get a letter from Tommy?’ Molly slipped her coat off and draped it over the arm of the couch. ‘Or did he write to everyone in general?’
‘She got her own letter, me darlin’, and wasn’t the girl altogether over the moon? Sure, when she left this morning she was walking on air, so she was. I’d like to bet she got to work without her feet even touching the ground.’ It was nearly fifty years since Bridie had left her home in Ireland but her voice still had that lovely lilt to it. Her accent was mixed now with a Liverpool one, but when she was excited she reverted right back to the thick Irish brogue. ‘I’ll put the kettle on and yerselves can have a cup of tea with one of the fairy cakes I made this morning. Light as a feather they are, and that’s the truth of it, so it is.’
Molly watched her mother walk through to the kitchen and her heart was filled with love. Bridie was in her late sixties now, but she was as slim as a young girl, her back was ramrod straight and she held her head proudly. Her white hair was combed back into a bun, away from a face that still held traces of the beauty she’d once been.
