‘Suffragist, Dad,’ she said, and the adults laughed.
‘The Suffragists fought for votes for women by peaceful means, love,’ Cathy explained to Sarah, ‘but the Suffragettes were willing to do violent things and get sent to prison, and I must say they really suffered for their beliefs.’
‘And any time we said your mam was a Suffragette, she used to say indignantly, “No, I’m a Suffragist.” We used to do it to tease her,’ Lawrie said.
‘And our Mary didn’t give a button for either of them,’ Sally said. ‘She was more interested in the price of hats.’
‘We’ll have to write to America tomorrow, John,’ Lawrie said, ‘and tell your Auntie Mary and Uncle Sam about your scholarship. They’ll be made up to hear about it.’
Sally sighed and said quietly to Cathy, ‘This is the sort of thing that our Mary’ll miss if she doesn’t have children. I wish I could hear that she’d started with a baby.’
‘Give her time, Mam. She’s been married such a short time, and she’ll want to be sure before she tells you.’
‘Maybe,’ Sally said. ‘I just think Sam would make such a good father, it’d be a shame if they had no children. Anyway, never mind, love. Put the kettle on, will you? Your dad will have to get ready for work in a minute and he’ll need a cup of tea before he goes.’
‘Aye, tempus fugit, John,’ Lawrie said. ‘D’you know what that means, lad?’
‘Time flies,’ he said promptly, and his grandfather clapped him on the shoulder.
‘There you are, lad. You’re a Latin scholar before you’ve even started at the College.’
‘Mr Meade told us that. How did you know it, Grandad?’
‘I saw it in a book and I sort of guessed what it meant, but I asked the fellow at the Carnegie Library to make sure.’
‘Remember that, John. If anything puzzles you there’s always someone who can help you,’ Greg said quietly.
John scowled, seeming to think that his grandfather was being patronized. ‘Grandad knows nearly everything anyway,’ he said, ‘and yet you went to sea when you were twelve, didn’t you, Grandad?’
Greg looked angry but Lawrie said with an easy laugh, ‘Yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it, lad.’ He took a small book from the shelf. ‘I’d like you to have this, John, to mark the occasion.’
‘But, Dad, you love that book,’ Cathy protested. ‘I remember you reading out poems from it to me and our Mary when we were little.’
Lawrie smiled at her. ‘That’s why I want John to have it. I know most of the poems by heart anyway.’ He took a pen and a bottle of ink from the dresser and wrote on the flyleaf of the book. “July 1926. To John Redmond on passing the scholarship. From his loving grandfather.” He blotted the page and handed the book to John.
‘There you are, lad. I hope you get as much pleasure from it as I’ve had.’ John’s eyes filled with tears and he flung his arms round his grandfather and burrowed his head against him.
‘Thanks, Grandad,’ he said huskily, ‘I’ll always look after it.’
The kettle began to sing and Cathy brewed tea in a huge brown teapot. To distract attention from John she said brightly, ‘You still use this pot, Mam, even though there’s only two of you now.’
‘What will hold a lot will hold a little,’ Sally said. ‘Anyway, Josh is usually here, or Peggy Burns, or one of the other neighbours.’
As though he had heard his name Josh Adamson, who lodged in Sally’s parlour, tapped on the door and put his white head round it.
‘I just wanted to say I’m glad to hear the lad’s news,’ he said, but Lawrie opened the door wide.
‘Come in, come in, Josh,’ he exclaimed. ‘Come and have a drop of rum to drink to his success.’
The stout old man came into the kitchen smiling self-consciously, but he was soon at home as the children welcomed him eagerly. John pushed a chair forward and Mick climbed on his knee while Greg poured a glass of rum for him.
Meanwhile Lawrie was quickly drinking a cup of tea and pushing a teacan and a packet of sandwiches into his jacket pockets.
‘It’s all right for you clerks,’ he joked with Greg and Josh. ‘No turning out for night shift like us poor checkers.’
‘And no lying in bed in the mornings for us either, eh, Josh?’ Greg said, laughing. ‘I wouldn’t mind some shift work for a while.’
‘Aye, summer mornings down on the allotment like Lawrie,’ Josh said with a wheezy laugh.
‘I think you’re all very lucky to have jobs on the railway, whatever they are,’ Sally said. ‘I’m just thankful that Lawrie’s not still out on the wagons in all weathers.’
John was standing close to his grandfather, reading some of the lines of poetry aloud.
‘Don’t delay Grandad now, John, or he’ll be late,’ his father admonished him.
‘I’m all right for time—’ Lawrie began, but his wife interrupted him.
‘You don’t want to be rushing now, Lol, and losing your breath,’ she said firmly. ‘John can come and talk to you tomorrow.’
‘Aye, come to the allotment if it’s fine, lad, or if it’s wet come here and we’ll have a good talk,’ Lawrie said, smiling. He bent over the rocking chair to kiss Sally, then Sarah and the baby on her knee.
‘Don’t forget, love, tell all your friends about your clever brother. I’ll do some bragging myself tonight.’ He punched John playfully then said goodnight to Greg, Mick and Josh before walking down the lobby, followed by Cathy.
‘I’m made up about this scholarship, Cath,’ he said as they stood for a moment on the step. ‘This is just the start for John, you’ll see. He’ll go far because he’s got a good head piece on him, like his dad.’
‘And his grandad,’ she said. ‘But you didn’t have the chances that they’ve got today, Dad.’
‘John’ll make good use of his anyhow,’ Lawrie said, kissing her and walking away, whistling cheerfully.
When Cathy went back to the kitchen Josh Adamson was leaving to prepare for his nightly visit to a nearby public house, but before he did he shyly slipped a coin into John’s hand. ‘For all your hard work,’ he murmured.
John looked at the coin with delight. ‘Two shillings!’ he exclaimed. ‘Thanks, Josh.’
‘“Mr Adamson”, John,’ Greg said sternly.
‘Mr Adamson,’ John muttered but Josh was already going through the door into the lobby and into his own room.
‘We’ll have to be going, too, to get this crowd into bed,’ said Cathy.
‘Will you need Sarah in the morning, or can she stay with me?’ Sally asked. Sarah looked hopefully at her parents and Cathy said quickly, ‘No, I won’t need her, Mam.’
‘And she doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow,’ added Greg. He smiled at Sarah, and she flung her arms round his neck and kissed him. Sally and Cathy were wrapping the baby in her shawl and putting her into the carriage, while John put Mick’s coat on him. Soon the family was ready to leave.
Cathy kissed Sarah. ‘Be a good girl now for Grandma, love.’
Greg lifted Sarah in his arms and she clung to him when he kissed her. ‘Take care of Grandma. I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart,’ he murmured, and kissed her again before putting her down. He saw John glance at him ironically as he turned away, but neither spoke. John tweaked his sister’s straight brown hair.
‘Goodnight, Fishface,’ he said.
Sarah immediately retorted, ‘Goodnight, Bunjaws.’
‘Very nice, I must say,’ Cathy said in a scandalized voice, but she smiled at the children before bidding her mother goodnight.
The streets were still thronged with people enjoying the cool air after the heat of the day. Cathy wheeled the baby carriage and Greg walked beside her, carrying Mick on his back, while John ran ahead, taking the front door key.
‘Sarah’ll be company for Mam while Dad’s on night shift,’ Cathy said. ‘And she likes staying there.’
‘Yes, she enjoys your mother’s company and vice versa,’ Greg said. �
��They’re certainly birds of a feather, aren’t they?’
‘Mam and Dad are made up about the scholarship. I know they’ve been as anxious about it as we have.’
Greg said nothing and they walked in silence for a few moments. Then he said in a low voice, ‘I wish I had your father’s knack with people, Cath.’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Just the way he knew immediately how to make Josh feel at home, and giving that book to John.’
‘But he’s always been like that. He’s just impulsive.’
‘It’s more than that, Cath. He seems to know instinctively how to deal with people.’ Greg smiled ruefully. ‘Your dad wouldn’t have brought up the subject of Sheldrake during the excitement about John’s scholarship, like I did.’
Cathy laughed. ‘I was dropped on,’ she admitted. ‘I’d no idea you were thinking of it.’
‘Only in a very general way. I was glad to get this job, Cath, but I thought it would give me a breathing space to try to make a better life for us. I had vague dreams of getting back to the way things were before the war, but I realize now that that’s all they were – dreams.’ He smiled rather grimly. ‘It was only when John’s future was decided that I realized how long I’d been just dreaming.’
‘Oh, Greg, you’re never going to go back to the life you had when you were little, but it wasn’t all good, was it? I’m happy now, and I thought you were too.’
‘I am, Cath,’ he assured her, giving her a quick hug and a kiss. ‘Far happier than I’d believed possible, and far more than I deserve. I just wish I was a better provider.’
‘You do all right,’ she said staunchly. ‘Don’t run yourself down, Greg. I do wish we could get out of Norris Street but we will someday, and for now at least we’ve got a roof over our heads.’
‘And Mrs Parker might decide to move,’ he said mischievously.
‘And pigs might fly,’ Cathy laughed. ‘She was giving out about my hair again today.’
‘She’s only jealous, love. The short hair really suits you,’ he said. ‘But that’s something I am determined we’ll do – move from Norris Street as soon as possible.’
‘Yes, and it’s one ambition of yours I do agree with,’ she said. She looked up at him, her brown eyes bright, and dimples appeared in her cheeks as she laughed. Impulsively, Greg bent and kissed her.
‘You’re beautiful, Cath. I’m a lucky man.’
‘I’m lucky too,’ she said softly, and they walked on through the warm night, completely in harmony again.
Chapter Two
Sarah and her grandmother were up early the following morning, preparing breakfast and tidying the kitchen together. When Lawrie returned from work they all had breakfast, then he went to bed to sleep for a few hours, while Sarah scrubbed the front step and Sally cooked breakfast for Josh before he left for work.
When Sarah was on the step, the door of the adjoining house opened and Peggy Burns and her granddaughter Meg appeared.
‘Hello, Sarah,’ Meg said excitedly. ‘Is your John with you?’ At ten years of age Meg was taller than her dumpy little grandmother, a pretty girl with long fair hair and pale blue eyes, but there was something uncontrolled in her jerky movements and a wild look in her eyes.
‘Your gran told me about his scholarship,’ Peggy Burns said before Sarah could speak. ‘I was made up. Did you stay with your grandma last night?’ She had put a restraining hand on Meg’s arm, and Sarah ignored the girl’s question and answered Mrs Burns’.
‘Yes, Mam said I could because there’s no school today,’ she said shyly.
‘Well, you’re a good help to her, I know,’ Mrs Burns said. ‘Like our Meg is to me. Come on now, love.’
She drew Meg away from the dividing railings between the two houses. ‘She’ll play with you later, Sarah.’
Sarah finished scrubbing the step and went indoors.
Her grandmother was troubled with arthritis in her right arm which had been broken many years before so Sarah helped with household tasks that Sally found difficult, then they went shopping together with Sarah carrying the basket.
It was a bright sunny day. When they returned Lawrie was downstairs with John who had just arrived.
‘I only need a few hours’ sleep this weather,’ Lawrie said. ‘We’ve had a bit of bread and cheese so we’ll get off now, Sal. Make the most of the weather.’
They set off with John pushing the wooden cart that Greg had made for tools and produce. Sarah and her grandmother had their own simple lunch, then got out the rag rug that they were making.
The fine sewing which had been Sally’s pride was impossible for her now but she and Sarah enjoyed sitting with a hessian sack stretched between them, making a rag rug to Sally’s design.
Sarah felt very close to her grandmother at times like these, confident that she could ask about anything that puzzled her. On this Saturday they worked on the rug for a while then Sarah said suddenly, ‘What’s Sheldrake, Grandma?’
‘Sheldrake, love? It’s the school your dad went to.’
‘Where is it?’
‘A long way away, somewhere down London way,’ Sally said. ‘Why do you ask, pet?’
‘Dad said he wanted John to go to Sheldrake, and Mam said she didn’t want John to go away. Why did Dad want him to, Grandma?’
Sarah’s voice trembled. Sally glanced at her troubled face and said gently, ‘I think you’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick, love. What did they say exactly?’
‘Dad said he wanted to send John away to Sheldrake but it wasn’t possible, and John said he didn’t want to go. Mam said she didn’t want John to go away, and I don’t want him to go, Grandma, so why does Dad want to send him?’
‘No, love, you’ve got it wrong. Your dad doesn’t want just to send John away – he must think that it would be the best thing for him. You see, your dad wasn’t brought up in houses like this. His father owned three jeweller’s shops, and they lived in a big house over the water and had lots of money. Your dad was sent to a boarding school when he was only seven because his mother and father travelled a lot. Your dad wanted to be a doctor but his father died when he was sixteen and he had to work in the shop instead.’
‘I saw that shop in London Road. Mam said it used to be Dad’s.’
‘Yes. When his father died the other shops and the big house had to be sold, and your dad and his mother lived over the shop in London Road. So you see, love, there’s a lot you don’t know about why people say things. Don’t you be jumping to conclusions and worrying unnecessarily.’
‘Anyway, John’s not going away,’ Sarah said. ‘It was just – I wondered what Sheldrake was.’
They worked in companionable silence for a while, then Sarah said, ‘Dad’s mother died of the Spanish flu, didn’t she, Grandma? Like Mr Anderson’s family.’
‘Yes, just after the war,’ Sally replied. ‘Your dad had a hard time then, love. All those years in the trenches, then when he came home in 1919 he found the man he’d left in charge of the shop had robbed him of everything, the dirty rat.’ She stabbed the needle viciously in and out of the hessian, then went on, ‘Your mam and John lived with us while your dad was in France, then when he came home they lived here until they got that house in Norris Street. He turned to and got a job, and never complains although his life is very different to what he was brought up to.’
‘I wish—’ Sarah said, then hesitated.
‘What do you wish, love?’
‘I wish our John knew that. John and Dad, they say things to each other and Mam gets ratty, but if John knew—’
‘Don’t worry about it, love, I’ll sort them out,’ Sally said, and Sarah sighed with relief and worked with enthusiasm on the rug until there was a knock on the door.
‘We’ve done enough anyway,’ Sally said, rolling up the rug as Meg pushed open the door and came down the lobby. ‘You should be out playing on such a nice day.’
‘Can we go to Shaw Stre
et and play in the quarry?’ Meg said eagerly. ‘Gran says I can if I go with you, Sarah.’ Although she was several years older and much taller than Sarah, it seemed natural for the younger girl to take charge.
‘Yes, all right,’ she said. ‘But you mustn’t climb too high, Meg, and you’ve got to come home when I say.’
‘I will, I will,’ Meg cried. She was bounding ahead down the lobby until Sally stopped her.
‘Wait a minute, Meg. Sarah, I’m going over to see Josie Mellor’s baby.’
‘Josie Mellor?’ Sarah said, puzzled.
‘Mrs Meadows opposite, I mean,’ Sally said. ‘She used to be Josie Mellor. Her baby’s sick, so if I’m not back you’ll know where I am. Josh might be home anyway. He only works half day on Saturdays but he’s started going for a pie and a pint on his way home, the last few weeks.’
‘He’ll probably keep on then,’ Sarah said. ‘We won’t be long anyway.’ Sally took biscuits from a tin and gave a few to each girl and they ran off together.
* * *
The following Monday, when Cathy came to do her mother’s ironing, Sally took the opportunity to probe gently about Sarah’s worries. ‘I believe Greg wanted John to go to Sheldrake, Cath?’
‘It was just a pipe dream, Mam. It’s out of the question even if we wanted it, and I certainly don’t. Even Greg says he doesn’t know why he came out with it then, just when we were all excited about the scholarship. It made it look as though the College was second best. I nearly said I wasn’t an unnatural mother like his was, sending him away at seven years old so she could jaunt off with his father.’
‘I suppose all that class of people do it, Cath.’
‘But that’s just it, Mam. Greg doesn’t seem able to see that that sort of life is over forever as far as he’s concerned. He worries because he can’t provide that life for our children, but they don’t want it. We’re happy as we are.’
‘He’s adapted very well, love. I told Sarah how hard it must have been for him to get used to such a different life, and he never complains.’
There is a Season Page 2
