by Joan Jonker
‘You’d soon have somethin’ to say if we went out looking like ragbags, wouldn’t yer?’ Doreen was smiling up at her mother when she heard the slam of a door. She turned her head and her eyes lit up when she saw Phil. She’d bumped into him a few times over the last week, and each time they’d chatted for a few minutes. It won’t be long now, she told herself happily, before he asks me out. ‘Hiya, Phil!’
‘Hello, Doreen.’ Phil crossed the cobbled street. ‘All right, Mrs Bennett? And you, Maureen?’
‘Me life’s full of problems, son.’ Molly grinned. ‘If yer’ve got twenty-four hours to spare, I’ll unburden meself.’
Standing so near to Doreen, Phil’s heart was doing somersaults. He’d give anything to take her somewhere where they could be on their own, where he could hold her hand and tell her the full story from beginning to end. And when it was all out in the open and she knew everything about him and the family he’d left behind, he would ask her to be his girl. They could spend some time together, get to know each other before he went away. And it wasn’t as if he was going away for good … from what he’d heard, servicemen got regular home leave.
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked so pretty he felt like holding his arms out and waltzing her around, right there in the middle of the street. He sighed inwardly. It was all wishful thinking. Even if he did get the chance to be alone with her, he couldn’t tell her his secret … Aunt Vicky had to be the first to know, he owed her that. It was going to be bad enough him telling her, but think how much worse it would be if she heard it from someone else’s lips.
‘We’re off to Millington’s,’ Mo said, thinking she’d give the course of true love a helping hand. ‘D’yer feel like comin’ with us?’
‘What, like this!’ Phil’s handsome face wore a grimace as he swept a hand down his overalls. ‘I’ve only just got in from work, I’m in all me muck.’
‘We’ll wait till yer get changed, won’t we, Doreen?’ Maureen was doing her utmost to get them together. ‘It’ll only take yer ten minutes.’
‘No, not tonight. I’m just on me way up to the shop to get some sweets for Aunt Vicky.’ His eyes locked with Doreen’s and it felt like an electric current running through his body. ‘I’ll come another night if yer’ll let me.’
Doreen hid her disappointment well. After all, it was a step in the right direction. ‘Yeah, okay!’
Molly had the feeling her presence was restricting the conversation, so she decided to make herself scarce. ‘I’ll leave yez to it. Nellie came down for a natter, an’ she’ll be spitting feathers in there, thinkin’ she’s missing something.’
When she returned to the living room, the smile of satisfaction on Molly’s face wasn’t lost on her friend. ‘Where the ’ell have yer been? Fancy leavin’ me sitting here on me own, like someone soft … that’s no way to treat a visitor.’ Nellie’s eyes narrowed to slits. ‘An’ yer’ve been up to somethin’, I can tell. Yer’ve got a grin on yer face like someone who’s fallen down the lavvy an’ come up with a gold watch.’
‘I’ll tell yer all about it in a minute, so don’t be gettin’ yer knickers in a twist.’ Molly glanced towards the kitchen. ‘Where’s Jack?’
‘He went out the back way to call for George. He said it was such a nice night it would be a shame to sit in the corner pub, so he’s goin’ to ask my feller if he feels like a stroll along Rice Lane and they can have a drink in one of the pubs down there for a change.’ Nellie was fast losing her patience. ‘Now will yer sit down, for God’s sake. Yer gettin’ on me nerves standing there.’ She watched as Molly pulled a chair out from under the table. ‘Now spit it out.’
‘Keep yer hair on! Don’t lean out of yer pram, I’ll pick yer dummy up!’ Molly was smiling as she tutted. ‘Yer a nosy beggar, Nellie McDonough. Terrified of missin’ anything.’
Nellie gaped. ‘Yer cheeky article! How would you feel if yer’d been left sat here like one of Lewis’s while yer mate was jangling at the door? In fact,’ her chubby fist came down on the table, ‘yer wouldn’t have sat here like a stuffed duck, yer’d have been out to see for yerself what was goin’ on.’
‘There was nothing going on.’ Molly couldn’t help laughing at the expressions Nellie came out with. ‘It was just that Phil came on the scene and both him and Doreen took a step nearer to making it up.’ Wearing a smug smile, she said, ‘I bet they’re back together within the next week. An’ if they are, no one will be more pleased than me. I think he’s a smashin’ lad, and I’d be made up if they became serious.’
‘That’ll be yer two eldest off yer hands, then.’
‘Well, hardly off me hands,’ Molly laughed. ‘It’ll be a few years before Jill and Steve get married, and if it does work out with Phil, don’t forget our Doreen’s only sixteen, far too young to even be thinkin’ of getting wed.’
Nellie was thoughtful as her podgy finger made patterns in the plush of the chenille cloth. Her daughter Lily was six months older than Doreen but so far there was no sign of any boyfriend on the horizon. Still, she couldn’t let her friend get away with hogging all the news, so she decided a bit of exaggeration wouldn’t do any harm. ‘D’yer know there’s a new family moved into the Bradleys’ old house?’
Molly nodded. ‘I haven’t seen them yet, but Mr Henry told me he’d let the house. Said they’d had to fumigate the place first.’
‘Well from all accounts, they’re a nice family. A bit on the posh side, I heard. The neighbours say the furniture that was carried in was lovely, and there’s beautiful curtains at the windows. Everyone says they’re spotlessly clean, polite, and speak very ooh-la-la posh. Two children they’ve got, one a big strappin’ lad of seventeen.’ Nellie didn’t pause for breath. The words poured from her mouth as though they’d been fighting with each other to get out. ‘An’ I believe he’s got his eye on our Lily … winks at her every time he sees her.’
‘Take a flamin’ breath will yer, Nellie!’ Molly patted her arm. ‘Anyone would think yer were in a competition to see who can talk the fastest.’
‘I know I’m going hell for leather, girl.’ Nellie dropped her head so Molly couldn’t see the telltale glint in her eyes. ‘But yer see, I always talk fast when I’m tellin’ lies.’
Molly was silent as the words sunk in, then she clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. ‘An’ how much of that was lies?’
‘The whole ruddy lot!’ Nellie was shaking with laughter. ‘I wasn’t goin’ to sit here quietly and listen’ to you braggin’ without stickin’ my twopennyworth in.’
‘You mean you know nothin’ about the new neighbours?’
‘Wouldn’t know them if I fell over them!’ Nellie wiped the back of her hand across her eyes as her huge, shaking tummy rocked the table. ‘Mind you, I’d feel sorry for the poor buggers if I did fall over them … they’d stand more chance bein’ run over by a steamroller.’
With tears of laughter running down her cheeks, Molly gazed across at her friend. Once again she asked herself what the last twenty years would have been like without Helen Theresa McDonough. And the answer came back quickly … very miserable, empty years.
They were still laughing an hour later when their husbands walked up the yard. ‘It never ceases to amaze me what they find to talk about,’ Jack said as he opened the kitchen door. ‘They see each other every flamin’ day!’
‘Beats me, too!’ George followed him into the house. ‘Me an’ you must live very dull lives.’
‘Holy smoke!’ Molly glanced at the clock and was surprised to see it was nearly ten o’clock. ‘I had no idea it was that late.’
‘Well, yer know what they say, girl? Time flies when yer havin’ fun.’ Nellie’s face creased as she gazed up at her husband. ‘Did my beloved enjoy his drink?’
‘Yeah, I enjoyed the walk, too. It was a pleasant change to get some fresh air into me lungs.’ George cocked his head. ‘Me and Jack have been discussing you two.’
‘Well now, that must have bee
n excitin’ for yez!’ Nellie’s chins did a quickstep. ‘They go out for a pint to get away from their naggin’ wives, then spend their time talkin’ about them! What a pity yer couldn’t find anythin’ better to discuss.’
Jack came back from hanging his jacket on the hall stand. ‘We were trying to remember whether you two, in all the time yer’ve known each other, have ever had a row and fallen out.’
The two women looked at each other and burst out laughing. ‘We’ve had at least one row every single day, sometimes two or three, eh, Nellie?’
‘Every single day since the children were babies,’ Nellie agreed. ‘I can even remember our first tiff. Your Jill was in the pram outside, and our Steve had stood on the wheels to reach up and pull her hair. You had a right cob on, came down here roarin’ and bawlin’. After that it was a regular thing … rows, slangin’ matches, fisticuffs, pullin’ each other’s hair out, the lot!’
‘But have yer ever fallen out?’ Jack asked. ‘I mean, not speakin’ to each other for a few days, or perhaps a week?’
‘Don’t be daft!’ Molly said. ‘Of course we’ve never fallen out.’
‘Trust a man to ask a stupid question like that,’ Nellie huffed. ‘We used to have high ding-dong, with skin an’ hair flying, but we never sulked after. In fact, we used to enjoy our tiffs, didn’t we, girl? There’s nowt better for clearing the air than a bloody good row. Say what yer think, get it off yer chest, then yer can laugh about it.’
‘I told yer, didn’t I, George?’ Jack said, looking smug. ‘Didn’t I say they’d never fallen out?’
Nellie, her hands on her wide hips and swaying like Mae West, moved towards her husband. Then she opened her arms and pulled him into the softness of her body. Speaking out of the side of her mouth, she drawled, ‘Listen to me, big boy! I’ve fallen out of bed more times than I’ve fallen out with me mate. Mind you, I’ve never really fallen out of bed … more like I was pushed when yer passion got the better of yer and yer lost control.’
She turned her head to wink at Molly. ‘There’s no stoppin’ my feller when his passion is roused. He’s like a thing possessed.’
His face the colour of beetroot, George groaned, ‘Nellie, will yer behave yerself?’
‘Ah, bless his little cotton socks, I’m embarrassin’ him.’ Nellie released her bear-like grip to grab hold of his arm. ‘Tell yer what, let’s go ’ome an’ continue this discussion in the privacy of our bedroom. With me in the bed, if yer please, not on the floor.’
‘Nellie McDonough, yer’d make the devil blush.’ George could be heard protesting as he was dragged out of the house and down the yard, much to the amusement of Molly and Jack, who fell against each other roaring with laughter.
When Phil got home the following night Victoria was waiting for him. Without a word, she handed him the letter she’d spent the day wondering and worrying about. He gazed down at the envelope bearing an official stamp, took a deep breath and reached for her arm. ‘Let’s go an’ sit down, Aunt Vicky, I’ve got a confession to make.’
A hand clutching her throat, her face pale and sad, she sat facing him and listened. When he’d finished, she asked softly, ‘But why, Phil? I thought you were happy here.’
‘Aunt Vicky, I’ve been happier here than I’ve ever been in me life!’ The sadness on her face was tearing him apart inside, and once again he questioned the wisdom of his actions. Taking her frail hand in his, he gazed into the lined face he’d grown to love. ‘This is me home, the only real one I’ve ever known, an’ I’m hoping it’ll always be me home.’ He stroked a finger over her hand as he gulped back the tears that were threatening. ‘There’s goin’ to be a war, Aunt Vicky, that’s a dead cert. Soon every able-bodied young feller in the country is goin’ to be called up to fight, which is only right and proper. So even if I hadn’t volunteered, I’d have been conscripted anyway.’
Victoria sighed. ‘I’d just got used to having you here, now I’ll have to get used to being lonely again.’
‘No, yer’ll never be lonely again, I’ll see to that!’ Phil tried to sound more cheerful as he sought for something that would put a smile on her face. ‘I hope yer don’t mind, but I’ve put this address on me application form … was that all right? Yer see, I’ll always look on this house as my home.’
‘And it is your home!’ Victoria’s voice sounded stronger. ‘There’ll always be a welcome here for you.’
‘I’ve got another confession to make … promise yer won’t get mad at me?’ He waited for her nod. ‘I hope yer don’t mind, but I put yer down as me next of kin.’
The smile that he was hoping for came. ‘Oh, Phil, love, of course I don’t mind! In fact, I’m delighted!’
‘And can I leave all me clothes here for when I come home on leave? If I’m lucky enough to be stationed near, I’ll probably be home that often yer’ll be fed up looking at me.’
‘I’ll never get fed up looking at you.’ The small hand in his gave a gentle squeeze. ‘You know how fond I am of you.’ She blushed. ‘I feel like you’re me own flesh and blood.’
‘Aunt Vicky, you mean more to me than me own flesh and blood, an’ that’s the truth.’ Phil let her hand go and squared his shoulders. He’d been dreading this, and now it was over he felt weak with relief. ‘I can’t tell yer anythin’ more because that’s all I know. I got chatting to some of the blokes down at the recruitment office, and they said yer get told nothin’ until yer get to whichever camp they post yer to. And of course, it all hinges on whether I pass the medical or not.’
Victoria had been saddened and shocked to the core when Phil first broke the news. She’d thought he was happy here, but he couldn’t be, otherwise why would he want to leave? But her fears had gradually subsided on hearing all he’d done to prove he had no intention of walking out of her life. Putting her address down as his own, and leaving all his clothes behind for when he came on leave showed he meant what he said.
But the greatest gift he could give, one that she would cherish, was making her his next of kin. The knowledge brought a smile to her face and had her heart bursting with happiness. It meant they were a real family now.
Molly carried all the dinners through, leaving her own until last. Then when she was seated, she gazed around the table. ‘Yer’ll never guess what I know.’
Jack chuckled. ‘It would be easier to guess what yer don’t know, love.’
‘Aye, well, this will surprise yez. It certainly surprised me.’ Her eyes fastened on each one in turn. ‘Phil Bradley has joined the army.’
Knives and forks were lowered to plates. ‘That certainly is a surprise,’ Jack said. ‘I’d never have guessed that in a month of Sundays.’
‘The lucky beggar!’ Tommy said. ‘I wish I was old enough.’
‘When was this, Mam?’ Jill asked, conscious of Doreen sitting beside her as still as a statue. ‘He must have done it on the spur of the moment.’
‘Apparently he signed up a couple of weeks ago. He’s gone for his medical today.’ Molly was watching Doreen out of the corner of her eye and noted the pale face and the lips set in a straight line. Perhaps it would have been better to take Doreen on one side and tell her first. But whichever way she’d handled it, the result was going to be the same.
‘Yer mean he’s known for a couple of weeks and not said anythin’?’ Anger was the only remedy for the emotions coursing through Doreen’s mind. It was either that or bursting into tears. With just a few words, her mother had sent her dreams tumbling. ‘I think that’s deceitful and dead mean.’
‘He had his reasons, sunshine.’ Molly’s look told Jack she would tell him later. They’d never spoken in front of the children about the night they’d caught the Bradley man in the entry, intent on doing evil. It only needed one person to let the cat out of the bag and it would have been around the street like wildfire, eventually reaching Miss Clegg’s ears. So while Molly thought Phil had gone to extremes in joining the army, she sympathised with his reasons, as would Jack when she
explained it to him. ‘He didn’t say anythin’, love, ’cos he didn’t want to upset Victoria until it was all settled.’
‘Well, I think he’s sly.’ Doreen bent her head and viciously stabbed a sausage with her fork. ‘I don’t care what yer say, he’s sly an’ underhanded.’
Jill sighed softly, wishing there was some way she could comfort her sister. She remembered how sad she’d been when she and Steve had fallen out. But in Doreen’s present frame of mind, words of comfort would probably make things worse.
Tommy, too young to understand the mysteries of love and romance, rushed to Phil’s defence. ‘The bloke’s joined the army! He’s a flippin’ hero, so don’t you be callin’ him fit to burn.’
‘You keep yer big nose out of it.’ Sparks flew from Doreen’s eyes as she glared at her brother. ‘I’ll call him what I like.’
‘That’s enough.’ Jack banged the end of his knife on the table. ‘Let’s have some manners while we’re eating, shall we?’
‘One big happy family,’ Molly said drily. But her heart went out to her daughter. Young love could be very painful, and there was no cure for it. But Phil certainly hadn’t helped. He’d admitted to Molly that he was too much of a coward to tell Aunt Vicky, and that was why he hadn’t mentioned it to his friends. Molly understood and appreciated his honesty, but if he was hoping to win her daughter’s hand, he was going about it in the wrong way. He really should have considered her feelings, too.
‘I wish I wasn’t so helpless,’ Victoria complained. ‘I get so frustrated not being able to do things.’
‘And what things would yer like to be doing?’ asked Molly, sitting on the couch next to Nellie. ‘Not flyin’ through the air with the greatest of ease, like that feller on the flying trapeze?’
