by Joan Jonker
John put a hand across his mouth to hide the smile. If she saw it, sure as eggs she’d clock him one. ‘Well, I wouldn’t advise it if Betty was in earshot. She’s got a fantastic sense of humour but I doubt if it would run to you discussing what you call sleeping arrangements with her husband.’
Dot glared, but only for a moment, then her face relaxed into a smile. ‘I do take things to heart too much, I keep telling meself that. Sometimes I wish I was like Betty, she wouldn’t care if her backside was on fire. If she was me, living here, she’d have sorted Tom Campbell out years ago. A couple of good hidings off her and he’d be reduced to a quivering jelly.’ She shrugged her shoulders in a gesture of resignation. ‘But me, I’m all mouth and no action.’
John leaned forward and touched her arm. ‘Dorothy Baker, you are just right the way you are. You are a good mother, a good manager and a good friend. I wouldn’t ever like to say you were good with your fists. You are too much of a lady for that.’
Dot flushed as she turned away. ‘Yer won’t be saying I’m a good housewife, though, when I put yer chips down to yer and they’re burned to a flamin’ cinder. Now get out of me kitchen and let me get on with it.’
John saluted. ‘Aye, aye, sir!’
‘Oh, hang on a minute,’ Dot said. ‘Will yer nip up to the O’Connors’ and explain there’s no need for them to come down? I don’t feel like having a house full of people tonight, me head’s splitting as it is. But ask them to keep their ears open, just in case.’
‘What about Betty? She’s supposed to be coming down as well.’
‘Oh Lord,’ Dot groaned. ‘There’s no rest for the wicked, is there?’
‘I’ll call and tell her the same as the O’Connors. I like Betty, she’s a good woman, but she wouldn’t do your headache much good.’
‘Tell her I’ll see her tomorrow to give her all the news. And don’t stay out long because these chips are ruined as it is.’ When he reached the door, she called him back. ‘Thanks for everything, John, ye’re a good pal.’
‘Would your headache put up with me staying for a few hours? We could have a quiet game of cards with Katy and Billy.’
‘Oh, all right, but at ten o’clock I’m off to bed. All this excitement has worn me out.’
‘I’ll leave at the stroke of ten and take young Billy with me. Does that suit you, D.D.?’
‘Down to the ground, J.J.’
John’s eyes gleamed. ‘Am I still Joker John? Or have you finally managed to come up with another name for me?’
‘No, not really, I’ve given it up as a bad job. So it’s got to be Just John.’
His chuckle was deep and infectious. ‘That’ll do to be going on with.’
‘I wonder what’s going on next door?’ Dot couldn’t settle and was pacing the floor. It was fifteen minutes since John had taken Mary home and there hadn’t been a sound. She’d been expecting Tom Campbell to take off, roaring and swearing, but they hadn’t even heard a voice being raised. ‘It’s too quiet for my liking.’
‘Mr Campbell won’t start any trouble while Mr Kershaw’s there, Mam,’ Katy said from her seat on the couch, Billy by her side. ‘He’s not that daft.’
Colin looked up from the comic he had spread out on the table. ‘If he tried anything, Mr Kershaw would make mincemeat of him.’
In spite of her worry, Dot smiled. ‘I bet you think he could make mincemeat of King Kong, too, don’t yer?’
Colin pursed his lips as he gave that some thought, then he said, ‘He couldn’t fight him, but he could out-manoeuvre him.’
Dot stared. ‘Out-manoeuvre him! That’s a big word for you, sunshine.’
Billy chuckled. ‘Have yer swallowed a dictionary?’
Katy giggled. ‘I bet yer couldn’t spell it.’
‘I could, yer know, ’cos it’s in this comic.’ Colin pulled tongues at his sister. ‘So there, that’s one in the eye for you, clever clogs.’
‘D’yer know what it means, sunshine?’
‘Of course I do, Mam! Mr Kershaw told me.’ The boy raised his eyes to the ceiling before going back to the excitement of his comic. Grown-ups could be really stupid at times. Except for Mr Kershaw – he knew everything, he did.
The knock on the door sent Dot flying out to answer it. ‘I’ve been worried sick, wondering what was going on.’
‘There was absolutely nothing for you to worry about, Dot, I told you that as Mary and I were leaving. As a matter of fact, Mr Campbell was ready to go out when we arrived and after Mary had said what she had to, he walked out. On his way to the pub, no doubt.’
There was a look of amazement on Dot’s face. ‘I don’t believe it! Yer mean he just walked out and left the two of you there?’
‘You’ll have to believe it because that is precisely what happened.’ Then John added, ‘Oh, you can tell Betty she didn’t break his jaw, but he has got a whopping big bruise on the side of his chin.’
‘I don’t know what to make of it – it doesn’t sound a bit like him,’ Dot said. ‘What did Mary actually say to him?’
‘Just what she told you,’ John said, but the message in his eyes was reminding her it wasn’t the sort of thing to discuss in front of children. ‘Not much, really.’
‘Oh well, yer live and learn.’ Dot shrugged her shoulders as though dismissing the matter from her mind. ‘Move yerself from the table, Colin, and Katy will get the cards out.’
‘Can I have a game, Mam? Just the one and then I’ll go to bed.’
‘OK, but no acting the goat, d’yer hear? Any messing and it’s right up the stairs, on the double, and I mean it.’ Dot turned her back on the children and rolled her eyes at John. ‘I’ll make us a cuppa before we start and you can give us a hand setting the cups out. That’s if yer don’t mind, of course.’
‘It will be my pleasure.’
With the sound of the running water drowning her words, Dot asked, ‘Now, what really did happen in there? Did Mary say what she wanted, and did the queer feller just stand there and take it?’
‘I didn’t go right into the room, I thought that would make matters worse, so I stood in the doorway. I was surprised at Mary, she seemed quite calm and totally in control of her emotions. She told him in no uncertain terms that she would no longer play the part of his wife, in any shape or form. And that from now until the baby is born, she intended to sleep on the couch.’
‘And he didn’t say a dickie-bird?’
‘What he said was, “Good riddance to bad rubbish”, but his face spoke volumes as he said it. I’m certain that if I hadn’t been there, his reaction would have been very different. As it was, he pushed past me with a sneer on his face and went on his merry way. I’ve warned Mary to be on her guard when he comes home. Particularly if he’s downed half a dozen pints.’
‘She’s got more guts than me, I can tell yer.’ Dot put the sugar basin on the tray and reached into a drawer for spoons. ‘I wouldn’t stay in that house for a big clock.’
‘I waited until she brought some bedding down, and she said she’ll stay awake until she knows he’s in bed. And if he does try anything, she has the cosh with her. That should keep him at arm’s length.’
‘I dunno, what a life. If I had a husband like him I’d put me ruddy head in the gas oven.’ Dot sighed. ‘Anyway, you take the tray in, John, and I’ll bring the teapot.’
To the amazement of everyone, Colin won the first hand of rummy, and he did it without cheating or help from anyone. He jumped up and down, as happy as a cat with two tails. ‘I wish we’d been playing for money, I’d be loaded.’
‘When you play cards for money, Colin, it isn’t a pleasure any more,’ John said, shuffling the deck. ‘It’s gambling, and only mugs gamble.’
‘Doreen came into the shop today, Mam,’ Katy said, watching John deal the cards. ‘She asked me if I’d go to the pictures with her next Saturday.’
Before Dot could answer, Billy made his feelings known. ‘I hope yer told her to go and jump in a lake, a
deep one?’
‘No, I didn’t! I told her I’d have to ask me mam. Anyway, if we did go, you could come with us, couldn’t yer?’
‘Ye’re joking, aren’t yer, Katy? I’m not going anywhere with her, she’s a real misery-guts. I bet even Laurel and Hardy couldn’t get a smile out of her.’
‘If yer go to the first house, could I come with yer?’ Colin pleaded. ‘If it was a comedy they’d let me in if I was with an adult.’
Billy leaned his elbows on the table, his hazel eyes glinting with mischief. ‘I’ve got a good idea! Colin can go with Doreen and I’ll take Katy.’
The only one sitting around the table who didn’t see the funny side of this was Colin. ‘Ye’re not palming me off with her, she’s a pain in the neck!’
John finished dealing, placed the remaining cards in the middle of the table and turned the top one face up. ‘It’s ages since I went to the pictures, so why don’t we all go together? Then nobody gets left out and we’re all happy.’
‘Oh, yeah!’ Colin was so excited at the prospect he banged his two fists on the table, scattering the cards in all directions. ‘Ay, Mam, wouldn’t that be the gear?’
‘I’m not going to no pictures on a Saturday night! I have to go to work in the morning, do a bit of tidying-up when I get home, go to the shops for all me messages and then make the dinner. I’m always worn out by the time I’ve finished.’
John deliberately kept his eyes averted. He knew he couldn’t persuade her, but he’d be surprised if she held out long against the children.
‘Ah, ay, Mam!’ Colin’s voice was high. ‘That’s mean, that is.’
‘Go on, Mam,’ Katy said. ‘It would do yer good, yer never go anywhere.’
Billy grinned into Dot’s eyes. ‘Say yer’ll come, Mrs Baker. That would be five of us to share Doreen. I wouldn’t mind putting up with a fifth of her, that wouldn’t kill me.’
Colin had another try. ‘I think that’s mean, Mam, ’cos I never get to go to the pictures. All me mates go, but not me.’
Dot knew she was on to a losing battle but wasn’t ready to give in yet. She didn’t like the idea of them all going to the pictures with John, just like one big happy family. People would start getting ideas and that was the last thing she wanted. ‘It’s out of the question because Katy doesn’t finish work until six o’clock – that’s too late to get to the first house.’
‘I can get off early, Mam,’ Katy told her. ‘Mrs Edwards is always telling me if I want to go a bit early all I’ve got to do is sing out. She says I should be out enjoying meself at my age.’
Dot closed her eyes. Molly Edwards was right. Her daughter should be out enjoying herself – and Colin, come to that. They had ten years to make up for and it would be wrong of her to spoil their chance of pleasure because of her own misgivings. ‘Oh, all right. Yer’ve talked me into it.’
John let his breath out and hid his smile. Dorothy Baker wasn’t an easy woman to get close to, that was a fact. But wasn’t that what had attracted him to her in the first place? She didn’t flirt or act coy, didn’t flutter her eyelashes or simper like some of the women in his office. With Dot, what you saw is what you got. And he liked what he saw.
Tom Campbell hung his head as he walked past the pub on the corner. He was giving that a miss tonight, he’d be a laughing stock if he tried to make an excuse for the bruise on his chin. He could still remember the jeering and cat calls he got last time, and he wasn’t leaving himself open to that again. Especially if it had gone the rounds of the nearby streets that it was Betty Mason who’d clocked him one. He’d have a hard job to live that down. But revenge is sweet, and he’d get his revenge all right; no one was going to make a fool of him and get away with it. But it wouldn’t be the big fat cow he got his own back on, he wouldn’t tangle with her for all the tea in China.
As he turned the corner into Walton Road, his thoughts and anger were directed at his wife. It was all her fault, and by God she’d suffer for it. Standing there tonight telling him she wasn’t going to live as his wife any more, who the hell did she think she was? A husband was entitled to his rights by law, and he had every intention of claiming those rights whenever, and however he chose. She’d been brave tonight because the big feller was with her, but it would be a different story later when he got home. She’d soon learn who was boss.
There was a pub just past the gates of Walton Hospital and Tom stood outside for a while. This should be far enough from home, nobody here would recognise him. He pushed open the door of the public bar and elbowed his way through the mass of people until he reached the bar. While he was waiting to be served he spotted a vacant seat on the bench that ran along the wall, and when he had his pint in his hand he made his way towards it. He didn’t excuse himself as he pushed past people to get to the seat and he gave no heed to the murmurs of disapproval. Sod them all, he thought, as he sat down and put his pint on the small round table, I’ll never see them again, so why worry?
He was on his third pint when he felt something brushing against his leg, and he turned to find the woman sitting next to him was smiling. ‘I’ve been watching yer,’ she said, rubbing her leg against his. ‘Are yer all on yer own?’
Tom looked into her face for the first time and his pulse quicken. She was giving him the ‘come on’, no doubt about that. She was no spring chicken, probably the same age as himself, and her face was cracked with make-up. But she wasn’t bad-looking, and from what he could see of her figure, it was voluptuous. ‘Yeah, I’m on me own.’
This time her hand touched his knee. ‘What’s a handsome lad like you doin’ out on yer own on a Saturday night? Wife at home with the kids, is she?’
‘We haven’t got no kids.’ Tom sipped on his beer as his mind ticked over. ‘Me and the wife don’t really get on, she’s a real misery.’
Her hand was stroking his leg now, sending his heart pounding. ‘That’s hard on you, love, isn’t it? A cold fish, is she?’
‘Yer can say that again. Cold as a bleedin’ iceberg, she is.’
‘That’s no good for a man with fire in his belly.’ She leaned closer and the cheap perfume she was wearing wafted up his nostrils. ‘What you need is a woman with passion. A woman who knows how to please a man.’
Tom put the glass down on the table and wiped the back of his hand across his lips. ‘Where would I find such a woman?’
‘It all depends how much yer need one.’ Her hand was now creeping higher up the inside of his leg. ‘And how much ye’re prepared to pay for one.’
‘How about a glass of gin? That is gin ye’re drinking, isn’t it?’
‘I like the look of yer, so I won’t charge yer me usual. I’ll have a glass of gin and a tanner to go with it.’
Tom wasn’t prepared to part with his money so easily. ‘How do I know I’ll get me tanner’s worth, and where will I get it?’
‘There’s a jigger in the road opposite. Safe as houses it is, I’ve used it before.’
‘Will I get me money’s worth?’
‘I think I can trust yer, so yer needn’t pay me until after. If ye’re not satisfied, yer can keep yer money. I can’t be fairer than that, now can I?’
Tom stood up and lifted the two empty glasses. ‘I’ll get us a refill.’
When he came back with their drinks, he let his eyes run over her. She had a good pair of legs and looked attractive from a distance. It was only when you got close you could see the word ‘tart’ written all over her: the hard expression on the heavily made-up face, bleached blonde hair, and cheap clothes worn to show off her figure. All the trademarks of a woman of the streets. But right now Tom Campbell couldn’t care less what she was. His passion was roused and she would serve his purpose.
He set the glass down in front of her. ‘We’ll drink this and then go, shall we?’
Over the rim of her glass, Alice Butler weighed him up with cynical eyes. It was funny how many men used the excuse that their wives didn’t understand them. She wasn’t taken
in for a minute when he said his wife was a misery. Her experience of men told her that any problems in his household were down to him. She could read him like a book – arrogant, bad-tempered and violent. ‘What’s yer name, love?’
‘Er, Tom. Tom Smith.’
‘And I’m Elsie Jones. Funny how we’ve both got common names, isn’t it?’ She watched his face turn red with embarrassment. ‘Still, they wouldn’t be common if a lot of people didn’t have them, would they?’
Tom put his empty glass on the table. ‘Drink up and let’s go.’
‘My, my, we are eager, aren’t we?’ Alice drained her glass. This wasn’t her usual stamping ground – in fact, she’d never been in the pub before. And the only reason she’d pulled Tom was because she was bored. And because she was bored she intended using him for a bit of fun. He was used to having things his own way, she could tell that. Well, when she got him down that jigger he’d find he wasn’t the one giving orders tonight. He’d get his tanner’s worth, and more, while she got her kicks out of watching him grovel.
Chapter Thirteen
Tom Campbell came out of the entry fastening his fly buttons. He was having to walk quickly to keep up with the woman who had given him half an hour of the most exciting, sexual torture he’d ever known. ‘Will yer be in the pub next Saturday, Elsie? I’ll meet yer there if yer like.’
Alice, alias Elsie, stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. ‘No, I was only in there by chance because I couldn’t make it to me usual haunt. I twisted me bleedin’ ankle runnin’ for the tram and I thought I’d be laid up for the night. Blasted thing went all right when it was too late for me to go.’
‘Where is it yer usually go? I want to see yer again.’
‘Look, I go to a pub on the Dock Road, opposite the Seaforth docks. I have me regulars down there, plus when the ships come in the seamen make a dive for the place. It’s easy money for the girls ’cos the seamen come ashore after weeks at sea and they’re very generous.’
‘I’ll pay yer, like I did tonight.’
