MB04 - Down Our Street

by Joan Jonker

  ‘I’ll more likely than not see her tomorrow night when I call for yer. She can’t keep running up to her bedroom every time there’s a knock.’

  Paul wasn’t so sure of that. His sister had looked dead miserable tonight, and definitely not a good advert for love. In fact, it was enough to put anyone off for life. But Archie had set him thinking. With Lily being his sister, and seeing her all the time, he’d never given a thought to the way other men would see her. He did now, though, as he conjured up a picture of her in his mind. She was dressed to go out, with her face made-up, her hair brushed till it shone, and white teeth flashing when she smiled. Yes, she was an attractive girl all right who would catch any man’s eye. For looks, she could knock spots off most of the girls he danced with at the Grafton. Funny, he’d never seen her in that light before. But then, being her kid brother, that was probably natural.

  ‘I’m going into town tomorrow afternoon, love,’ Nellie told her husband. ‘It’s something me and Molly have bought for the wedding, but we didn’t have enough money on us so we put a deposit down and said we’d pick them up tomorrow. I can’t tell yer what it is because it’s a secret. But mine’s a lovely colour and I know yer’ll like it.’

  ‘Yer’ve got a cock-eyed way of putting things, love,’ George said. ‘If yer not going to tell me what it is, why bother to mention it at all?’

  ‘Because I’m that excited I had to tell someone.’

  ‘But yer haven’t told me anything! Except that ye’re going into town. And that’s not heart-stopping news, is it? Anyway, I’ll see whatever it is when yer bring it home.’

  ‘Ah, but yer won’t, yer see, that’s why I told yer. Me and Molly have found somewhere to hide them so they won’t be seen until the big day.’

  George shook his head. ‘I wonder if Jack if being told the same useless information that I’m hearing? I’ll ask him when I see him, to see if he made any sense of it.’

  ‘Oh, yer mustn’t do that! I said it was a secret and I only told yer in confidence. I’m sorry I did now ’cos yer can’t keep anything to yerself.’

  ‘Nellie, will yer remind me what the secret was that yer told me?’

  ‘George McDonough, yer can be a stupid nit, sometimes.’ Nellie tutted, but inside she was really enjoying herself. ‘How could I have told yer anything when it’s a secret?’

  ‘I give up, Nellie, before yer start asking me to guess what it is.’

  ‘I won’t, yer know, ’cos I haven’t got time for guessing games. I’m going down to me mate’s to ask what time we’re going tomorrow. And while I’m gone, yer can make a pot of tea and take a cup up to our Lily.’

  Nellie couldn’t wait to get down to Molly’s. Leaving aside her joy and relief when her two sons came back safe from the war, the most welcome words she’d heard since Winston Churchill came on the wireless and told the nation the war was over, were those that came out of Lily’s mouth, saying she’d finished with her boyfriend. And she couldn’t share her relief with George because men didn’t think like women. If he so much as guessed she and Molly had already made arrangements for tomorrow and she was only using that as an excuse to have a conflab with her mate about Lily’s love life, he’d go mad and tell her she should grow up and learn to mind her own business. But her daughter’s happiness was her business, and always would be. And there wasn’t a mother in the land worth her salt, who didn’t share that sentiment. ‘Knock on her door softly, like, in case she’s asleep. I don’t think she will be, though, and she might be glad of a drink.’

  Nellie hummed as her short, chubby legs covered the short distance to the Bennett house. And when Molly opened the door it was to see her grinning from ear to ear. ‘Hi-yer, girl, I’ve got some news for yer.’

  ‘From the look on yer clock, I’d say yer’ve come up on the pools!’

  ‘How the hell can I have come up on the pools when there’s no football until tomorrow?’ Nellie used both hands to press her tummy in while she squeezed past Molly. ‘Honest, girl, there’s times I’d swear yer were tuppence short of a shilling.’ She waltzed into the living room and gave Jack a beaming smile. ‘I’ve only come to see what you two are up to. I know the two girls are out and Ruthie will be in bed, and I thought I might find yer in a compat … Oh, yer know what I mean.’

  Molly raised her brows. ‘I think yer trying to say yer hoped to find me and my feller in a compromising situation. Am I right?’

  ‘Are yer ever wrong, girl? Are yer ever ruddywell wrong?’

  ‘Nellie McDonough, if yer’ve come down here this time of night just to say that, well all I can say is, it’s a pity yer’ve nothing else to do.’

  Jack chuckled. ‘I should be so lucky, Nellie! My wife is not so adventurous.’

  ‘A stick-in-the-mud, isn’t she? I have the same trouble with my George. There’s a time and place for everything, he says, with a face as long as a fiddle. And apparently our couch isn’t the place and there’s never a right time.’

  ‘Nellie, how come your mind is only ever on one subject?’

  ‘Oh, it isn’t, girl! Not tonight, anyway. I was only winding yer up, ’cos I like to see yer get all hagitated.’

  ‘There’s no “h” in agitated, sunshine.’

  ‘I know that, I just threw it in for good measure ’cos I’m feeling generous. And if yer ask me nicely, I’ll tell yer why I’m feeling generous.’

  Molly sighed. ‘If I don’t ask yer, yer’ll be here all night. So go on, why are yer in a generous mood tonight?’

  When Nellie parked her backside on one of the wooden chairs, the chair disappeared from view and she appeared to be suspended in mid-air. With her arms folded across her tummy, she smiled from Jack to Molly. ‘Our Lily has given the queer feller his marching orders.’

  ‘Go ’way!’ Molly said, while her heart sank. She felt really guilty about causing Nellie’s daughter any heartache, and once again asked herself if she’d done the right thing. ‘What brought this about?’

  ‘They had a blazing row last night, which she said was only one of many. She wouldn’t tell us what the row was over, but it was the final straw for her and she told him she didn’t want to see him again. I didn’t ask any questions because she is upset.’

  ‘It’s sad for her, Nellie,’ Molly said. ‘After all, she courted him for two years.’

  ‘Sad be buggered! It’s the best thing that could have happened! I’ve said all along he was no good. There’s something wrong when a person can’t look yer straight in the eye. She’s well rid of him and I’m over the bloody moon. She’ll have a chance to meet someone decent now.’

  ‘Yes, ye’re right, sunshine, she’ll have a chance to meet someone decent.’ Molly wondered what her friend’s reaction would be if she knew the truth about Len Lofthouse? She’d probably seek him out and strangle him. ‘Seeing as yer’ve made yerself comfortable and look set to stay for an hour, I’ll put the kettle on for a cuppa. But keep yer hands off my feller while I’m in the kitchen, ’cos this is neither the time nor the place.’

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘There’s a letter for yer, Jill,’ Molly said when her daughter came in from work on Saturday dinner-time. ‘And it’s from Wales.’

  Jill’s face lit up. ‘Ooh, it’ll be from Uncle Bill.’ She stared down at the envelope her mother handed over. ‘I wonder if he’s coming?’

  ‘There’s only one way to find out, sunshine, and that’s to open it.’

  Jill ran her finger under the flap and tore open the envelope. ‘Me hands are shaking and me tummy’s all of a do-dah.’ She took out the letter and unfolded it. Her eyes scanned the first few lines and she let out a shriek of delight. ‘They’re coming, Mam! Uncle Bill and Auntie Annie are coming! Isn’t that great!’ She read further. ‘He said not to worry about transport because they’ve got a car. And he says him and his wife were delighted to be invited and they’re looking forward to seeing us all again.’

  Molly was smiling. ‘Yer dad will be pleased.’ She held out her h
and. ‘Let’s read what Bill’s got to say.’

  Doreen and Ruthie left their seats to peer over their mother’s shoulder. ‘I don’t remember them,’ Ruthie said. ‘I must have been very little when they went to live in Wales.’

  ‘Yes, yer were, sunshine. Uncle Bill is yer dad’s older brother, and he’s a smashing man. It’ll be nice to see him and Annie again. They must have come up in the world seeing as they’ve got a car.’

  ‘Me dad and Tommy are late, aren’t they?’ Doreen glanced at the clock. ‘They’re usually home by now.’

  ‘Yer dad was hoping to get an hour’s overtime in, and Tommy must be working with him. It’s a few extra bob and we need all the money we can get.’ Molly was thinking of the four-guinea hat, and what she was having to borrow off Nellie to pay for it. ‘I’ll put our dinners out and put theirs in the oven with a plate over.’

  When they were seated at the table with their dinners in front of them, Doreen said, ‘Me and Jill are meeting Maureen in town at half-two.’ She speared a chip and bit off the end. ‘We’ll get all the material for the bridesmaids’ dresses in one go, in case they sell out. And we’ll get two reels of white tacking cotton and two as near to the colour of the material as possible. Then I can make a start on them.’

  ‘That’ll be a load off yer mind, won’t it?’ Molly never mentioned that she too was going into town because she knew they’d ask what she was going for. The likelihood of them bumping into each other was pretty remote, but if they did, she could make some sort of excuse. ‘It’s a lot of material, for five dresses.’

  ‘I won’t be carrying it all, don’t worry. Our Jill can carry half, seeing as it’s her wedding as well.’

  ‘I’ll carry it all!’ Jill said. ‘It’s the least I can do, seeing as you’re making the dresses. I don’t mind being yer skivvy until after the wedding.’

  ‘Whose dress are yer making first?’ Molly asked, thinking the house would be a mess for the next eight weeks, while all the sewing was going on. There’d be patterns, pins, bits of material and cotton all over the table, sideboard and floor. She remembered what it was like when Ellen married Corker and Doreen had made her dress, and Nellie’s and Ruthie’s. It had been bad enough then, it would be ten times worse this time.

  ‘Seeing as Lily and Maureen are the same measurements, I’ll cut theirs out first. I can use Lily as the model, save Maureen coming up all the time.’ Doreen didn’t fail to notice that her kid sister had stopped chewing and was awaiting her answer with bated breath. ‘Then I’ll do Ruthie’s, before the two girls next door.’

  That’s not bad, at least I’m not being left until the last, Ruthie thought before asking, ‘How long will it take yer to make each dress?’

  ‘I’m going to have to work flat out to get everyone sorted out in time. That means every night and Saturday and Sunday.’ Doreen put on a pleasing expression when she looked at her mother. ‘Do yer mind yer house being turned upside down, Mam? Miss Clegg said I could work over there ’cos there’s more room, but I don’t think it would be fair, not at her age, to have the place like a tip and the sewing machine going.’

  ‘No, ye’re right, it would be too much for Victoria. Anyway, seeing as it’s my two daughters getting married, I’m not likely to mind, am I? That’s not to say I won’t ever lose my temper, but yer’ll have to put up with it.’

  ‘I’ll start cutting the two dresses out tonight, then I can tack them together tomorrow and ask Lily if she’ll try one of them on. If I keep at it, I’m hoping to have both dresses finished in a week.’

  ‘I wish I could help,’ Jill said. ‘But I wouldn’t know where to start.’

  ‘Oh, yer won’t be idle, kid,’ Doreen told her. ‘You can clear the mess up as I make it. And yer’d better tell Steve he won’t be seeing much of yer. I’ve already told Phil, and he said he won’t mind as long as he still gets his goodnight kiss.’

  ‘We’ll all have to muck in and do our share.’ Molly was thinking Steve wouldn’t be happy if he had to go a night without seeing Jill, so she thought of a compromise. ‘But I don’t want to go to bed every night knowing I’m coming down the next morning to a pigsty. So how about saying all work finishes at ten, the place tidied up, then yer’ve got an hour to be with yer boyfriends.’

  The mention of boyfriends brought a certain person to Ruthie’s mind. ‘Mam, did yer know Gordon leaves school in a couple of weeks? He should have left at the last holiday, but because the term had started before his birthday, they made him stay on.’

  ‘Yes, I know, sunshine.’

  ‘And did yer know Uncle George is trying to get him a job where he works, as an apprentice?’

  ‘Yes, I know that too, sunshine.’

  Ruthie looked disgusted. Was there anything her mother didn’t know?

  Molly saw the look and chastised herself. Why couldn’t she have pretended she didn’t know about Gordon? It wouldn’t have hurt her to listen to what her daughter had to say. So she hastened to make amends. ‘I’m going out with Aunt Nellie, so if I give yer a penny for some sweets, sunshine, will yer go and play with Bella until I get back?’

  That cheered the girl up. She’d buy a pennyworth of humbugs, ’cos they were Gordon’s favourites. ‘Yeah, OK, Mam!’

  ‘I’ll wash up, you two get yerselves ready so yer won’t keep Maureen waiting. And leave the letter from yer uncle. I’ll prop it up on the table so yer dad will see it when he comes in. It’ll cheer him up if he’s been working hard.’

  ‘Here it is, Mam.’ As Jill passed the letter over, she felt a gentle kick on her shin. She didn’t need to look at Doreen because she knew what the signal was for. ‘By the way, what colour are you wearing for the wedding, Mam?’

  Taken unawares, Molly floundered for a few seconds. ‘Well, I’ve got me eye on a smashing hat, and it’s in a very light biscuit colour. So I thought I’d buy a material in a darker beige. The two colours should go well together.’

  ‘So yer’ve seen a hat yer like?’ Doreen asked. ‘Where did yer see it?’

  ‘I’m not saying no more. Except that as the mother of two brides, I intend to look the part, and make the most of the occasion. It’ll be the best day of your lives, and the best for me and yer dad.’ There was fondness in Molly’s eyes as they rested on her youngest daughter. ‘And of course there’ll be two more very special days in our lives. When Tommy gets married next year, and some years later when my baby is old enough to find herself a sweetheart.’

  Ruthie was well pleased as she pushed her chair back. Flinging her arms around her mother’s neck, she said, ‘When I do get married it’ll be to someone who likes this street, ’cos I’m not moving away from yer.’

  Doreen gave a hearty laugh. ‘The way things are going, the McDonoughs and Bennetts will own this flippin’ street.’

  ‘I’m going over to Bella’s, Mam, I’ll see yer later.’ When Ruthie turned at the door there was mischief in her eyes. ‘I’m going to brag about me auntie and uncle coming to the wedding in their posh car.’ With that she scarpered before being told it wasn’t nice to brag.

  ‘The little tinker,’ Molly said. ‘It would be the price of her if the car turns out to be an old clapped-out banger.’

  ‘If it’s got four wheels, Mam, and it goes, I wouldn’t mind having it,’ Jill said. ‘I rather fancy seeing Steve behind the wheel of a car.’

  ‘Blimey! Yer’d be the talk of the wash-house!’ Molly got to her feet and waved a hand. ‘Get yerselves off while I wash up. Nellie will be here before I can turn around.’

  ‘Can I have the use of the table after tea, Mam, so I can cut the pattern out and pin the pieces to the material? The sooner I make a start the better.’

  ‘Yeah, OK. Me and yer dad might make ourselves scarce so yer can get on with it. We could walk round to me ma’s and have a game of cards with them. And we’d take Ruthie to get her out from under yer feet.’

  ‘That sounds like a very good idea,’ Doreen said. ‘Not you and me dad, of course, but I�
�d get on much quicker without Ruthie chattering down me ear fifteen to the dozen. I can’t remember talking as much as she does when I was her age.’

  ‘What? Yer were ten times worse than Ruthie will ever be! Even when yer were told to shut up, yer defied me and kept on talking. And yer were a damn sight more argumentative than she is. And louder! The whole street could hear yer when you took off. Once yer got something in yer head, no one could talk yer out of it. A stubborn little article, yer were.’

  Doreen chuckled. ‘I haven’t changed much, have I?’

  ‘Enough, sunshine, enough! In fact, from the day yer met Phil Bradley yer’ve changed a lot. Ye’re more kind, gentle, caring and understanding. And,’ Molly grinned, ‘yer don’t fly off the handle if things don’t go your way.’

  ‘He’s been good for me, Mam, and I love the bones of him.’

  ‘I know yer do, sunshine, and yer’ll never know how happy I am that both of my lovely daughters are marrying fine, upstanding men who will take good care of them. And now, if yer don’t mind, will yer put a move on before the afternoon is over?’

  ‘My God, yer don’t half look smart, sunshine!’

  Nellie drew herself up to her full four foot ten inches. ‘Slept in ruddy curlers, didn’t I? They gave me hell through the night, and a few times I was going to take them out. But I persevered, girl, ’cos I didn’t want to go to pick up me three-guinea hat with a turban on me head, dirty nails and me stockings all wrinkled. I wasn’t going to have no hoity-toity snobs looking down their noses at me.’

  ‘Well, yer look a treat.’ Molly picked up her coat from the arm of the couch where she’d draped it in readiness. ‘I thought Jack and Tommy would have been home by now. I’ve lowered the gas in the oven and I’m hoping their dinners don’t dry up.’ When she was fastening the buttons on her coat, she asked, ‘How is Lily?’