A few days later Sarah went with her mother to another doctor, a harassed, elderly man who gave Sarah a perfunctory examination and told her she could go back to work the following week, but must do no heavy lifting, or work for long hours at first.
Sarah was delighted and it was arranged that she would work from ten o’clock until three for the first few weeks. Hetty was to stay for a while but had already applied for a job in the Ordnance Factory where she could earn more money.
Sarah felt as though she had come back to a different world when she returned to the shop and began to go out and about again. Most of the young male customers had gone and although the dances and ceilidhes were open again, many of the familiar faces were missing.
In October Terry and Joe were called up and sent to Caterham Barracks for training, but Stephen was told that his job was essential war work and he could not be released.
Tony’s job as foreman in a small factory was also classed as a reserved occupation when the factory was turned over to light engineering for the Ministry of Defence.
Tony and Helen had brought their wedding forward to the first week in October, and it was a quiet but happy occasion, the last time the family were to be all together for many years. Joe was Tony’s best man, and Eileen and Anne were bridesmaids.
While they posed for photographs, Terry looked after Sarah, introduced her to people and stayed with her until Anne claimed her. Eileen left for the WAAF a week after Terry and Joe went, but Anne and Sarah waited until Sarah was fully fit so that they could volunteer together.
The two brothers who had rented Peggy’s parlour were now in the Army, and she had let the rooms to a retired Major and his wife.
‘A Major! We’re coming up in the world, aren’t we?’ Cathy exclaimed when Sally told her.
‘Peggy says she’s not struck on him, but his wife’s a nice little woman. The flat they had was requisitioned. Peggy thinks there’s some mystery about them.’
‘It won’t be a mystery for long then,’ Cathy said, laughing. ‘I’m going in there for Meg to come over for a fitting.’
Willie had asked for the marriage between him and Meg to take place almost immediately so that he could look after her, and Peggy had agreed. He had suggested a quiet affair at the Register Office in Brougham Terrace, but when Meg saw Edie Meadows’ wedding, she had pleaded for a dress and bridesmaids like hers.
The wedding was arranged at a local church and Cathy was making a white satin wedding dress for Meg, and bridesmaids’ dresses for two of her cousins. She made the wedding dress in a simpler style than Edie’s to suit Meg’s fragile beauty, and persuaded her to have blue silk taffeta for her bridesmaids.
On the day Meg looked a fairytale bride with a headdress of orange blossom on her flaxen curls and her blue eyes shining with excitement. She was not nervous. ‘Willie will tell me what to do,’ she said trustfully, and many of the congregation shed tears, touched by his gentle care for his bride.
Josie had been at the church and later that evening came in to see Cathy. ‘Are they all out?’ she asked.
‘Yes, Kate’s over at Mam’s, Mick’s at the depot and Greg’s at the First Aid Post. There’s nothing doing, but he’s training people in First Aid. Sarah and John are at the pictures.’
‘It’s just I want to talk to you,’ Josie said. Her eyes were red and swollen with crying, and she was twisting a handkerchief between her fingers.
‘Come in the parlour, then we won’t be interrupted,’ Cathy said. She slipped her arm through Josie’s as they went in to the parlour, then switched on the electric fire which now stood in the hearth, and poured a glass of sherry for Josie.
‘Drink this and tell me what’s happened.’
Josie gave her a ghost of a smile. ‘You sound just like your mam,’ she said. Then tears welled up in her eyes again. She put the glass down and said bluntly, ‘Walter’s gone.’
‘Gone?’ Cathy echoed. ‘Gone where?’
‘To his lady love,’ Josie said bitterly. ‘I’ve been a fool, Cathy. I should have suspected it long ago.’ She drank some more sherry while Cathy sat silent, too shocked to speak, while words tumbled out of Josie.
‘We had a hell of a row – it’s a wonder you didn’t hear us. He told me he’d got a job in the BIC in Prescot and was moving to live there. He informed me that now Edie’s gone, there’s nothing to keep him here. She was always his favourite, and I know that what I always thought was right – he hates the other kids.’ She gave a sob and Cathy pressed her hand in silent sympathy.
‘I didn’t know about this other one at first and said he could go as far as I was concerned, but he couldn’t leave it like that. He had to say his piece. He said it was all my fault that things had gone wrong, and now he’d found someone who was worth two of me and was entitled to some happiness after the life he’d had with me.’
‘But you were happy,’ Cathy said. ‘It’s only just lately—’
Josie shook her head. ‘No, Cath,’ she said. ‘We had good spells but it’s never been really right. I used to blame it on Mam stirring things, but it wasn’t that. I gave him all his own way because I felt guilty that he had to put up with Mam, and he was all right while he was the only one considered. When we were very hard up, he always had steak and chops even if me and the kids had jam and bread.’
Cathy stood up and refilled Josie’s glass and poured a sherry for herself. She found that her hands were trembling. Josie sipped the sherry and said more calmly, ‘I can see it now. When Mam died and the girls were growing up and wanted their own way too, it clashed with what he wanted. Then I was a bit more independent without Mam, and going out to work, and it didn’t suit him. All these months, picking fights with me so we didn’t speak, then he could stay out and I wouldn’t ask where he was! He’s been crafty.’
She sat staring at the bar of the fire and twisting her handkerchief nervously. ‘I should have guessed. That fellow that brought our Eunice from Wales… He told her he slept in the cab so I was urging him to come and sleep here, but he seemed embarrassed and made some excuse. When he went, Walter said to me, “You stupid bitch! Anyone but you would know he had a girlfriend here to stay with.”
‘I said, “But he’s a respectable married man,” and he said, “Maybe he’s married to a miserable cow like you, and no one would blame him having another woman.” Even then the penny didn’t drop with me. I must be stupid.’
‘You’re not stupid, Josie,’ Cathy said indignantly. ‘You just didn’t expect this sort of thing to happen.’
‘It was the things he said,’ her friend said with a sob. ‘He said, “What sort of a life have I had? Lumbered for years with your old mother, then when we get rid of her you want to bring your loony sister here. You’re lucky I stayed so long, with that and your nagging.”’
‘The rat!’ Cathy exclaimed. ‘He just wants to justify himself. What a thing to say!’
‘I know. I’d have thought more of him if he’d just told me about the woman and gone, without saying that sort of thing.’
‘And he has actually gone?’
‘Yes, he had his suitcase packed all ready. It’s all been planned. He starts the new job on Monday, and I had a look after he’d left and he must have been sneaking stuff out for weeks. He didn’t give me my wages last night, just put a pound down before he went. He said he’d send the same every week, but if he heard I’d been calling him he’d send nothing.’
‘You’ll manage, Josie,’ Cathy comforted her. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’
‘I’d rather have more sherry,’ she said. ‘It’s doing wonders for me.’
‘Then we’ll finish the bottle,’ Cathy said, relieved to see her less upset. She filled their glasses to the brim and said cheerfully, ‘When the sherry’s finished, we’ll start on the port.’
Josie talked for a while about Eunice, and about Edie, but she kept coming back to the subject of Walter, remembering signs of his infidelity that she had missed or speculating about the oth
er woman. ‘Whoever she is, I wish her joy of him,’ she said, but again she wept bitterly.
They heard Kate’s footsteps in the lobby, and then her voice calling: ‘Mam.’
Josie stood up. ‘I’ll go before the others come in,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to see anyone.’
‘Will you be all right?’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Josie said. ‘I should sleep after all that sherry.’ She managed a faint grin, and Cathy hugged her impulsively.
‘It’s a shame it had to end like this, but you’ll be all right, Jose. You’ve got good girls and I’m always here, you know.’
She went with Josie to her own door, and came back just as Sarah and John arrived, closely followed by Greg. Cathy said nothing about Josie’s trouble until she and Greg were alone, then she wept as she told him. ‘I was never all that struck on Walter but I never imagined he’d do something like this. And saying that about Mrs Mellor’s death – that they’d “got rid of” her!’
‘I think you hit the nail on the head when you said he was trying to justify himself,’ said Greg. ‘He’s probably ashamed of what he’s doing, and looking for someone else to blame for it.’
‘I hope he has a terrible life with this woman, whoever she is,’ Cathy said vindictively. ‘I hope she never gives him a minute’s peace, then he’ll realize how well off he was with Josie.’
‘We’ll have to do all we can to help her, but she’s no weakling. She’ll manage, once she gets over the shock.’
Josie came in to see Cathy again the next morning, and already she was making plans. ‘Our Eunice is very happy with those ladies in Wales so I’ll leave her for now. Kids are starting to come back home, but she’ll be better off there. I’ll bring our Mary here and ask the landlord if Edie can have her house, because she doesn’t like living with Bert’s mother.’
‘How is Mary now?’
‘She’s fine – well, she’s not doing any of those things, but she needs watching. Sophie says she doesn’t seem able to make her mind up about anything, but she’s all right if you tell her what to do,’ Josie said. ‘She’s gone back to work, you know, and the girls in the overall factory are very good with her.’
‘I think it’s a good idea to bring her here, because that way you’ll have Sophie back home as well and she’s such a help to you.’
Josie smiled grimly. ‘He’s probably thinking I’m sitting here breaking my heart, but I’m already glad he’s gone.’
‘That’s the spirit,’ Cathy said. ‘And any time you feel downhearted, there’s another bottle of sherry in the cupboard.’
‘That did me the world of good last night,’ Josie said, smiling, but the smile faded fast. ‘This’ll be a nice titbit for the gossips.’
‘It’ll only be a nine days’ wonder, if that,’ Cathy consoled her. ‘There’s so much else going on these days.’
As Cathy had predicted, Walter’s departure was soon replaced as a topic of conversation. Several young men from the street had gone to France with the British Expeditionary Force in September, and letters were starting to arrive from them, and were proudly displayed.
The shipping losses were a constant topic of conversation, especially as three men from the street had already lost their lives at sea.
The children who had been evacuated were beginning to trickle back home as the threat of bombing seemed unfounded. And by Christmas most of them were back.
Cathy’s story, that Kate was too near to leaving school to be evacuated, had been accepted, and only Greg knew that it was not the truth. Cathy had not even told her mother what Kate’s teacher had said to her.
The teacher had asked Cathy to come to see her and had said forthrightly, ‘Kate is eligible for evacuation with the school but I don’t think any teacher should be asked to take responsibility for her. She is not advanced academically but she is very – mature. Perhaps you will make your own arrangements for her?’
Anger had flooded through Cathy but she had replied coolly. ‘I had no intention of letting Kate go to strangers, Miss Jones. I have a friend in Morecambe who is anxious to take her if we wish her to go.’ But no matter how angry she felt, or how quick her response, Cathy had been upset by the teacher’s words. They confirmed what she already feared; that Kate’s love of attention was making her encourage the boys who flocked around her, even at her age, and giving her a reputation as a flirt.
Cathy and Greg had taken Kate aside and told her of the teacher’s words and the bad reputation she was risking by her behaviour. She stood before them, looking demure and repentant and allowing her eyes to fill with tears which dropped artistically on to her clasped hands.
‘I’m just friendly with people,’ she said pathetically. ‘The teachers are just bad-minded.’
‘Well, just be more careful, love,’ Greg said. ‘Consider how what you do appears to others. We know you don’t mean any harm, but don’t give the wrong impression.’
‘What an actress,’ Cathy said, when Kate had gone. ‘I’m sure she’d do well on the stage but that’s the last sort of life I’d choose for her. By God, Greg, I’m going to keep a close watch on her from now on.’
Meanwhile Kate had run over to see Josh. She had been alarmed by her parents’ searching questions, and although she felt she had successfully fooled her father, was not quite sure about her mother. She was quite sure, though, that she would always receive uncritical love and admiration from Josh.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Eileen, Joe and Terry each wrote to Sarah. Eileen was suffering badly from homesickness but made a brave attempt to be cheerful in her letter. Sarah decided to write back immediately, and send her some hand cream and cigarettes to cheer her up.
Terry was obviously unused to writing letters. His large untidy scrawl covered two pages, but gave little news about his new life, except that after “square bashing” he had discovered muscles he didn’t know he had. He signed off: “Love, Terry.”
Joe’s handwriting was neater. He asked about Sarah’s health, and about her family. He said that Terry had taken to Army life like a duck to water, and was very popular with the other men. “I should be used to being away from home,” he wrote, “but I enjoyed those last few months very much and miss my family and friends in Liverpool a great deal.”
He was concerned about Eileen, but thought that the first few weeks would be the worst for her and she would soon settle down. He signed his letter, “Yours affectionately, Joe”, and she saw a letter he had written to Anne signed in the same way.
Sarah was uncertain what to do about sending parcels to Terry and Joe, but solved the problem by contributing to the parcels sent by the Fitzgerald family.
Maureen was manageress of a wool shop and warned that it would soon be in short supply, so Sarah bought wool of every colour, including khaki, and made balaclavas and gloves to go with the cigarettes and chocolate she contributed. She also wrote cheerful, friendly letters to both Terry and Joe.
She herself was feeling far from cheerful at this time. There was a feeling of anti-climax when the threatened raids failed to occur, and when being at war seemed to mean chiefly difficulties and irritations. Having to remember never to put on a light until the blackout curtains were drawn, and having Air Raid wardens banging on the door and shouting, “put out that light,” if the slightest chink of light showed. Stumbling home in the blackout, bumping into lamp-posts and falling over obstacles, or finding unexpected shortages of ordinary goods such as batteries for torches.
Sarah’s depression, though, was chiefly caused by her poor health which was made worse by overwork. Mabel had gone to train as a nursing auxiliary, and Mrs Dyson’s sister was now in charge of the shop. She was a slave driver whose constant cry was “Don’t stand about” if Anne or Sarah stopped for a moment.
She did no work herself, but interfered when they were serving customers and complained that they were slow and inefficient. ‘If they were any quicker, the place’d go on fire,’ a customer said, and Anne and Sarah f
elt that they had never worked so hard before.
Their day began at eight o’clock, and they rarely left the shop before eight at night. Hetty had departed for a munitions factory and Sarah was now working full-time again. Often when she reached home at night she was too tired to eat or do anything but lie on the sofa.
‘Do you have any breaks?’ John asked her one night.
‘Three-quarters of an hour for dinner,’ she said wearily.
‘That’s ridiculous,’ he said. ‘You’ll have to stand up to her. I’ll have a word with Anne.’
Sarah lifted her head in surprise. ‘When will you see her?’
He looked self-conscious. ‘I pass their house going to work,’ he said. ‘I sometimes see Anne. You should get together and demand more help in the shop, and have something done about this battleaxe.’
‘I think you should too,’ Cathy said. ‘See Mrs Dyson and tell her.’
The next day Anne and Sarah went together to where Mrs Dyson was filling custard cases in the bakery, and made their complaint. Mrs Dyson rather nervously promised to speak to her sister, and to get more help in the shop.
‘I don’t think she’ll do anything,’ Anne said. ‘I think she’s afraid of Miss Meers. If nothing’s done, Sarah, I think we should leave.’
‘Our John said that.’
‘We’ll have to go into the Forces anyway, or be directed into industry before long,’ Anne said. ‘You’d never pass a medical for the ATS or the WAAF’s, and I’m not keen on going after what I’ve heard from Eileen. If we got a job in a factory doing war work, we’d be doing as much for the war effort, wouldn’t we?’
Sarah’s parents were both there when she arrived home. She told them what Anne had said.
‘I think she’s right,’ said Greg. ‘See what happens about your request, and if nothing is done, give in your notice. It doesn’t matter if you have a week or two at home before you find another job.’
Miss Meers was annoyed when her sister timidly told her about the complaint by Anne and Sarah, and after a blazing row with her, they both gave in their notice and left the following week. They both applied to the Meccano factory which was now busy with work for the Ministry of Defence. Anne was accepted, but Sarah failed the medical examination.
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