by Joan Jonker
‘I was goin’ to tell yer not to worry, Mam, ’cos it’s not catching,’ Katy put in, ‘but I could be wrong in our Colin’s case if half the class have caught it off him.’
‘Oh, very funny.’ Colin put a thumb in each ear, wiggled his fingers, rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue. ‘If I’m such an idiot, yer wouldn’t trust me to put the kettle on for a cuppa, would yer?’
‘I’ll do it.’ Dot rose to her feet and ruffled her son’s hair. ‘You two have a game of Ludo or Snakes and Ladders, pass the time away before bed.’
‘Can I have the oven shelf in me bed, Mam, to warm it up?’ Colin wheedled. ‘I was freezin’ last night, I couldn’t get warm. It’s all right for you two, yer can snuggle up together.’
‘Take it up now, then, and by the time yer go to bed it’ll be lovely and warm. But don’t forget to wrap that piece of old sheet around it or the bedclothes will be filthy.’ Dot rubbed her arms briskly when she walked into the kitchen, it was like ice. It was only October, the bad weather had come early this year. They were in for a long winter.
After Colin had gone to bed, mother and daughter curled up on the couch, their feet tucked under them. They both looked forward to this hour on their own, when the house was still and they could relax and talk about their day in work or at school. The fire was dying down and Katy asked, ‘Shall I put a few cobs of coal on, Mam?’
‘No, sunshine, we’ll have to take it easy with the coal.’ Dot didn’t hide anything from her daughter, although she sometimes worried she was making her old before her time. But she had to have someone to confide in and Katy was sensible and understanding. ‘I was thinking I’d be able to have Colin’s shoes repaired with me bit of overtime money, but if the cold weather keeps up I’ll have to ask the coalman to drop me an extra bag of coal in, otherwise we’ll freeze to death with the draughts in this house.’
‘I’ve only got two more months at school, Mam, then I’ll be working. Yer won’t be so hard up for money then. I know I won’t be earning much, but every little helps, doesn’t it?’
‘Whatever you bring in will be a godsend, sunshine, believe me. A few extra shillings a week will make all the difference.’ Dot gazed around the room which was exactly as it had been when her Ted died. Not a thing had been renewed, not even the wallpaper, because she’d never had the money. Her wages were spoken for before she even got them. Every Saturday she put the rent money away without fail. If they had nothing else they would have a roof over their heads. And coppers for the gas were put on a shelf in the kitchen alongside a two-bob piece to pay for a bag of coal. The little she had left over had to keep them in food and clothes, and both were in short supply. Nearly all her neighbours lived on tick from the corner shop, but although she’d been forced into it on a few occasions, Dot was dead against going into debt. If you couldn’t pay one week, you certainly couldn’t pay double the next.
‘The teacher was talkin’ to us today about when we leave school, Mam, an’ she asked us where we’d like to work an’ if we had any ambitions.’
Dot forgot her troubles to smile at her daughter. ‘Oh, aye! Did yer tell her yer had ambitions to become a film star?’
‘You can laugh, Mam, but Miss Ferguson certainly didn’t think it was funny when Bella Knight told her that.’
‘Go ’way! She didn’t, did she? I was only kiddin’, I honestly didn’t think anyone would be daft enough to say that to a teacher.’
‘She did.’ Katy swung her legs off the couch and stood in front of her mother. ‘Imagine I’m Bella Knight and I’ve got blonde hair in a plait that reaches to me backside. And now Miss Ferguson has asked if we have any ambitions.’ Katy straightened her face and pouted her lips before sticking her hand in the air. ‘“Please Miss, my dad says I’m beautiful enough to be a film star”.’
Dot gasped. ‘What did the teacher say?’
‘It took her a couple of minutes to quieten the class down, as all the girls were in stitches. Then she said, “Humility is a virtue, Bella, vanity is a sin. When you go home, tell your parents what I said. Now, has anyone got a sensible answer for me?”.’
‘There’s somethin’ wrong with that girl, there must be! Has she got all her marbles?’
‘She’s like a big soft baby, Mam.’ Katy curled herself up on the couch again. ‘Her mam and dad spoil her rotten. She’s only got to say she wants something and they get it for her.’
‘They’re making a rod for their own backs, if yer ask me. The parents must have more money than sense.’
‘She’s got two older brothers workin’, so there’s three wages going into the house. Bella gets a new dress practically every week, and they don’t come from a stall at Great Homer Street market, either.’
Dot patted her daughter’s hand. It grieved her that she couldn’t give her children the things other kids had. ‘Even if she was dressed like a princess, sunshine, she wouldn’t hold a candle to you.’
‘Oh, I don’t mind, Mam. I’m not jealous of Bella – in fact, I wouldn’t change places with her for a big clock. She’s nothing but a snob, bragging all the time. It’s no wonder she hasn’t got one friend; none of the girls like her.’
‘And what do you want to do when yer leave school? Any ideas?’
‘I’ve given it plenty of thought, Mam, but it’s more a case of what job I can get, never mind what I’d like. I could try Vernon’s at Linacre Lane, they take school-leavers on and it’s only five minutes’ walk. But they work all day Saturday, right through until nine o’clock, and if I got a job there it would mean our Colin being on his own until you got in.’
‘It would also mean yer’d never have a Saturday night out, sunshine, and Saturday’s the best night for young ones. It’s pay-day for everyone, and when yer get yerself a boyfriend he wouldn’t be very happy if he couldn’t take yer out on the one night he’s sure to have a few bob in his pocket.’
Katy blushed. ‘It’ll be a long time before I get meself a boyfriend.’
‘Don’t you kid yerself! Yer’ll have the boys running after yer, you take my word for it. And, Katy, get as much as yer can out of life while ye’re young, sunshine.’
‘I’ll only be fourteen, Mam! That’s too young to be thinkin’ of boyfriends.’
There was a catch in Dot’s voice when she said, softly, ‘I was only fourteen when I met your dad. It was a few years before we started courting seriously, but I knew from the minute I laid eyes on him that he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of me life with.’ She closed her eyes and a lone tear trickled down the side of her nose. ‘It wasn’t to be, but the ten years I knew him were the happiest of my life. Your father was a good man, Katy, and I worshipped the ground he walked on.’
Katy’s young face was anxious. ‘Don’t upset yourself, Mam. You have all those happy years to look back on, which is more than a lot of women have. Look at poor Mary, next door. She won’t have many happy memories of her husband, will she?’
‘I can tell yer this much, my love – if my Ted were alive he wouldn’t sit here listening to a woman being knocked around. He’d be in there like a shot, and it would be the queer feller nursing bruises, not Mary.’
Katy shivered. ‘I’m gettin’ cold now, Mam. Shall we go to bed and snuggle up?’
‘Hang on, I’ll put the flat iron on the gas stove for a few minutes. If we stick it at the bottom of the bed while we’re getting undressed, it’ll be warm for our feet.’
‘Mam, ye’re going to spoil me, like Bella’s mum does.’
Dot put her arms around her daughter and hugged her tight. ‘No one could spoil you, Katy Baker, ye’re unspoilable.’
Katy rapped on the brass knocker and smiled when her friend’s mother answered the door. ‘Is your Doreen ready, Mrs Mason?’
‘She won’t be two ticks, girl, she’s just nipped down the yard to the lavvy.’ The Masons lived a few doors up from the Bakers, and Doreen had been Katy’s friend since the day they’d started school together. Betty Mason was a big woman, wi
th a huge bosom and stomach, a round, fat, happy face, and a ready smile. ‘It’s this bleedin’ cold weather, Katy. It’s got us all runnin’ down the yard every few minutes. My feller said this mornin’ that it was a toss-up which I had less control over, me mouth or me bladder.’ Her bosom and stomach shook as her raucous laugh echoed in the almost deserted street of two-up two-down terraced houses. ‘He’s a real caution, is my feller. Yer never know what he’s goin’ to come out with next. A laugh a minute, he is.’
‘Mam, can I get past or we’ll be late for school.’ Doreen squeezed by into the street. She was the same build as Katy, but she had fair hair and blue eyes. And where Katy had a slightly turned-up nose, Doreen’s was long and thin. ‘Come on, if we don’t get a move on we’ll miss the bell and that means being kept back tonight to do lines.’
‘Give them a good excuse an’ they won’t keep yer back.’ Every ounce of fat on the huge body wobbled with mirth. Betty thought up what she was going to say next. ‘Tell the miserable buggers that yer mam went into labour an’ yer couldn’t leave her.’
‘Mam!’ Doreen was mortified. ‘Come on, Katy, before she comes out with any more of her pearls of wisdom.’
Katy was grinning as she was pulled along by her arm. ‘Ta-ra, Mrs Mason, see yer tonight.’ She loved Doreen’s mam; she was so cuddly and warm, always happy and always ready to do a good turn.
They reached the end of Edith Road and a boy who had been lounging against the wall came towards them. ‘Ye’re late this morning, I thought I might have missed yer.’
‘Yer should have gone on, Billy,’ Katy scolded. ‘Yer shouldn’t have waited for us.’
‘Nah, I don’t mind waitin’ for yer. If we run we’ll make the gates before the bell goes.’ Billy Harlow lived a few streets away and neither of the girls could remember how, when or why he’d taken to waiting for them so he could walk to school with them. It wasn’t that he’d ever been one for playing with girls, he was a real boy. He was the leader of the gang of local boys who liked nothing better than to play footie or marbles, and when he was younger he always had patches on his short grey trousers where he’d torn them climbing trees or sliding down the railway embankment.
The three ran all the way to the school and sighed with relief to find the gates were still open. The girls turned into the playground of the girls’ school while Billy ran on to the boys’ playground. ‘I’ll wait for yer tonight,’ he called, ‘but if you’re out first you wait for me.’
‘Well, hurry out,’ Katy called back, ‘’cos I’ve got to get home for our Colin.’
Doreen slipped her arm through Katy’s. ‘Not long to go now before we won’t ever have to worry about being late and missing the bell.’
‘No, we’ll have other things to worry about, like clocking in at work on time. At least in school they only give yer lines or the cane if ye’re late, but in work they stop yer pay.’
‘I’m getting excited, are you, Katy? Just think, they’ll be giving us a wage packet every week. Me mam said if I buy me own clothes I can have more pocket money, but if I want her to buy them I’m only getting one or two shillings, dependin’ on how much wage I get.’
They were walking down the corridor, jostled by other children rushing to be at their desk before the priest arrived for morning prayers. ‘I’m goin’ to give me mam as much as I can,’ Katy said, ‘at least until she can straighten herself out. She’s been living from hand to mouth for as long as I can remember, and she never buys anythin’ for herself. If she had nice clothes, my mam would be really pretty.’
‘Come on,’ Doreen whispered, rushing ahead. ‘Here’s Father Kelly and yer know what a tyrant he can be.’
When school was over for the day, Billy was waiting outside for them. He was a well-made lad, with sandy hair and hazel eyes, and he was head and shoulders over other boys his age. Some of his class-mates sniggered and gave him sidelong glances as he stood waiting outside the girls’ entrance, but no one dared say anything because Billy Harlow was noted for being able to take care of himself.
‘What are you goin’ to do when yer leave school, Billy?’ Doreen asked. ‘Have yer made up yer mind what yer want to be?’
‘I’d like to go to sea, but me mam said she’d have me hide first.’ His voice was breaking and it moved from a high note to a deep growl. ‘She wants me to be a plumber, like me dad, ’cos she said there’s always work for plumbers. So me dad’s goin’ to see if he can get me in as an apprentice.’
Katy chuckled. ‘At least yer’ll be workin’ with water, even if yer can’t sail on it.’
‘I will go to sea when I’m older, and me mam can’t stop me. I want to see somethin’ of the world before I settle down an’ get married.’
‘Huh, you’ll be lucky!’ Doreen grinned. ‘Who’d have you?’
Billy grinned back. ‘They say there’s a fool born every minute, Dot, so there’s bound to be someone daft enough to have me.’
Katy had stopped listening; she was watching the familiar figure ahead of them. It was Mary Campbell, scurrying along with a basket over her arm, her head bent and her eyes on the ground. Mary was ten years younger than her mam, but she looked ten years older in the dowdy black coat that almost reached the ground. ‘Billy, has your dad ever hit yer mam?’ she asked suddenly.
Billy looked puzzled for a moment, then he let his head drop back and he roared with laughter. ‘Katy, yer’ve seen the size of my mam! Me dad wouldn’t stand an earthly with her! He wouldn’t want to hit her anyway, ’cos they get on great together, but if he was ever daft enough to try, she’d flatten him with one belt.’ The very idea had Billy’s imagination running wild. ‘In fact, she wouldn’t need to give him a clout, she’d just have to blow on him an’ he’d be down for the count.’
‘That’s a funny question to ask, Katy,’ Doreen said. ‘What brought it on?’
‘Nothing really.’ Katy shrugged her shoulders. ‘It was just that I heard of a woman bein’ knocked around by her husband and I wondered if it was a common thing.’
‘Not in our house, it’s not,’ Billy said. ‘And it wouldn’t be anywhere if I was around. No man should lay a finger on his wife, and I wouldn’t stand by and let it happen.’
‘In that case I’ll marry you, Billy,’ Katy chuckled. ‘And I’ll remind yer of those words every time yer lift yer hand . . . even if it’s only to scratch yer head.’
Billy squared his shoulders and threw out his chest. ‘Did yer hear that, Doreen? Yer see, I told her there was a fool born every minute.’
‘Hey, Billy Harlow!’ Katy gave a good impression of being indignant. ‘Don’t you be callin’ me a fool or I’ll clock yer one.’
‘Oh, ye’re not a fool, Katy, not when yer’ve said yer’ll marry me. It proves how sensible yer are and what very good taste in men yer have.’
‘Well, I’ll have to take me taste with me now, ’cos I’ve got to go an’ see to our Colin. Come on, Doreen, it’s all right for you, yer’ve nowt to worry about.’
‘I’ll see yer in the mornin’, then,’ Billy said, ‘and I’ll walk to school with yer.’
‘Yeah, OK, Billy,’ the girls chorused. ‘Ta-ra for now.’
Chapter Two
‘D’yer feel like walking down to Edwards’ shop with us, Katy?’ Doreen looked up at her friend who had opened the door to her. ‘Me mam wants me to get her a quarter of their homemade walnut toffee.’
‘We’ve just finished our tea, I’m helpin’ me mam wash the dishes.’ Katy held the door open. ‘Yer can come in and wait, if yer like.’
‘Yeah, OK, as long as it’s only a few minutes.’ Doreen slipped past her friend and waited until she’d closed the door. ‘Me mam said she just fancied some, her mouth was watering at the thought, so I was to run like the clappers.’
Colin looked up from the borrowed comic he was reading. ‘My mouth would water at the thought of walnut toffee, too. Except I won’t be gettin’ any.’ He gave Doreen a cheeky wink. ‘Mind you, in a couple of weeks I’
ll be quids in when our kid starts work. She’s bound to give me pocket money.’
‘Hey, you!’ Katy wagged a finger at him. ‘I’m not bound to do anything! If yer give a hand around the house and make yerself useful, I might just think about it. So it’s up to you, my dear brother. If yer want money then yer’ve got to earn it.’
Dot popped her head around the door. ‘Hello, Doreen, I thought it was your voice. On a message for yer mam, are yer?’
‘Only to the sweetshop in Hawthorne Road . . . me mam loves their home-made toffee. I’ve asked Katy to come with me for company.’
‘She’ll be glad to get out for a while, won’t yer, sunshine? Go on, get yer coat, I’ll finish the dishes.’
Katy reached up to take her coat from the hook behind the door. ‘Our Colin said he’ll dry the dishes for yer, Mam.’
‘Yer what? I never said no such thing!’
‘Oh, my mistake,’ Katy said as she slipped her arms into her coat. ‘I could have sworn yer said yer were goin’ to help around the house to earn some pocket money.’
Colin threw her a look of disgust as he closed the comic and pushed it down the side of his chair. ‘That’s blackmail, that is.’
‘No, not blackmail, just business. If yer like Mrs Edwards’ home-made toffee so much, then earn yerself the money to buy some.’ Katy jerked her head towards the door. ‘Come on, Doreen, or we’ll have yer mam after us.’ She turned to look at her brother. ‘Life’s hard when ye’re growing up, Colin, but the sooner yer learn that money doesn’t grow on trees, the easier yer’ll make it for yerself.’
Dot winked at her son. ‘Come on, sunshine, never let it be said yer can’t dry dishes.’
Katy was pulling the front door behind her when she heard her brother say, ‘Oh, all right, I’ll dry the blinkin’ dishes, but don’t blame me if I break something.’
‘You break any of me dishes, son, an’ I’ll break yer flippin’ neck.’
Katy grinned as she banged the door. ‘My brother’s in for a rude awakening when I start work. He won’t know what’s hit him coming home to no fire, and no dinner on the go. But he’s got to grow up sometime. He’s capable enough, it’s just that me mam’s spoilt him so much he doesn’t think he should do anything.’
