Northern Girl

by Fadette Marie Marcelle Cripps

  ‘Here you are, lad!’ Tom said brightly, bringing in the pan of heated water, and pouring it into the sink. ‘Mind you run plenty of cold water into it, cause it’s boiling hot!’ he warned. He went out to the kitchen with the empty pan, then, remembering Jeannie would be home soon, popped his head round the scullery door to warn Dominic, ‘And you’d best hurry up, because I can guarantee that our Jeannie will come rushing through there to the toilet as soon as she gets in.’

  At this Dominic hurriedly finished washing, and was just drying his underarms when he heard the front door open, followed by an excited young voice calling out, ‘Where’s the Frenchman, Tom?’

  ‘Well, hello, Tom! And how are you this afternoon?’ Tom joked.

  ‘Oh, never mind all that! Where is he?’

  Tom laughed. ‘Be patient, young missy. You’ll see him soon enough.’ Jeannie gave a little squeal of pleasure, and Dominic guessed Tom had swung her playfully off her feet.

  He smiled to himself in the scullery as he heard her ask, ‘Can he talk French, then?’

  ‘Of course he can talk French!’ Tom said. ‘And he can talk English, and all. How about that?’

  ‘Well, ah can talk English, there’s nowt special about that!’ Jeannie replied, moving towards the scullery.

  When the door suddenly opened she visibly jumped, and Dominic, smiling widely, headed straight for her. ‘Bonjour, mademoiselle!’ he said, crouching in front of her. ‘Je suis Dominic … et vous?’

  ‘Eee, is that French talk?’ she asked with unusual shyness.

  ‘Yes, and it means, “Hello, young miss, I am Dominic, and you?”’

  ‘Hello, Dominic. I am Jeannie, and your English sounds daft.’

  ‘Jeannie!’ Hannah scolded. ‘That’s very rude! Apologize!’

  ‘I didn’t mean it awful … I meant it nice!’ Jeannie protested as she ran out into the backyard, embarrassed.

  Hannah shrugged her shoulders as she apologized to Dominic on Jeannie’s behalf. ‘Sorry, lad, but she’s never come across a Frenchman before. Anyway, we’re the last ones to criticize. What must we sound like to you? You learned your English all proper at school, then you’re confronted with the likes of us!’

  Dominic, not wanting to say the wrong thing, answered, ‘I am not offended by Jeannie. She is just a child, and I’m sure she didn’t mean it badly. I will go bring her in … no?’ He raised his eyebrows in question.

  ‘Aye, you go talk some sense into her, mate,’ Tom agreed.

  As Dominic walked through the scullery to the backyard, he called out, ‘Hey, Jeannie! Come climb on my back, and I will carry you back in the house.’

  He couldn’t see her, but he crouched down all the same. Suddenly, she appeared from behind the toilet door, and, giggling, jumped on his back. She brandished an imaginary whip, and was just calling out ‘Gee up!’ when the back gate swung open, and there stood Jack Dawson, as black as soot, a bucket of vegetables in his hand.

  With Jeannie still clinging to his back, Dominic froze in shock.

  ‘Ay, what’s goin’ on here, lass?’ Jack asked, looking at Jeannie on this stranger’s back.

  ‘Grandda, this is Dominic, and he talks French,’ Jeannie said, hardly able to contain herself. She went on, without pausing for breath, ‘Gran told uz that ’ee’s here on business, but ’ee’s stayin’ with us. Wait till ah tell them all at school.’ She spoke as if Dominic staying was the most exciting thing that could have happened.

  Dominic lowered Jeannie to the ground, and straightened up, before holding out his hand towards this stranger, whose bright blue eyes shone out from the blackness of his face.

  ‘I am Dominic Pelletier. You must be Monsieur Dawson, no?’

  ‘Monsieur Dawson, eh? Ah’ve been called a few things in me time, but monsieur! That’s a new one on me, lad!’ He smiled, shaking Dominic’s hand.

  The three of them walked into the house together, Jeannie completely forgetting her previous upset. Jack, seeing the empty space in front of the sitting room fire, asked Hannah, with a discreet wink at Jeannie, ‘Where’s me bath, then, lass?’

  ‘Eee, Jack, there’s been that much goin’ on ah forgot all about it. Ah’ve never done that before, ever!’ Hannah said to no one in particular as she rushed around.

  ‘Don’t fret, lass. Ah wuz only pullin’ yer leg. Ah can see that ye’ve got yer hands full,’ Jack said kindly. ‘Ah’ll see to it meself fer once. Then ah’ll have a bit crack with young Dominic here,’ he said, giving Dominic a pat on the back.

  Hannah gratefully accepted the offer. ‘That would be grand, then ah can see ter gettin’ the vegetables washed and peeled, ready fer yer tea. And judgin’ by the amount of muck on them tatties, yer must have brought the whole allotment home with yer.’

  ‘Ay, yer never happy unless yer complainin’, lass. Yer want ter think yerself lucky that we’ve any tatties at all, the way things are with the rationin’, mind!’

  ‘Oh, ah know all that. It’s just that it’s the devil of a job cleanin’ them in that small sink.’

  A couple of seconds later she popped her head around the door to check the clock.

  ‘Our Rene’ll be home soon, so be sharp with yer bath, won’t yer!’ she said, before retreating to the kitchen. She ignored Jack’s mumblings as he went out to the backyard to unhook the bath tin from the wall.

  Tom went to the front door and beckoned Dominic to follow him. ‘It’s gonner be bedlam in here for a while. D’yer fancy a pint?’

  ‘A pint?’ questioned Dominic.

  ‘Beer!’ Tom explained.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Dominic answered with relish, ‘a bière I would like.’

  ‘Come on, then!’ Tom grabbed his and Dominic’s jackets from the back of the chair. ‘We’ll go up to the working men’s club.’

  ‘Club?’

  ‘Oh, come on, lad. I’ll explain on the way. You’ll learn,’ Tom said, before calling out over his shoulder, ‘Be back in about an hour, Mam!’ He didn’t wait for an answer, knowing that she’d be only too pleased to get them out of the way for a while.

  ‘Ah s’ppose ah’ll have ter find somewhere ter go, while me grandda ’as ’ees bath, an’ all,’ sighed Jeannie, fully resigned to the situation.

  ‘There’s some bits of crayons upstairs in yer room, pet. Ah got them from the school cheap, like, and yer’ll find some old rolled-up wallpaper cut-offs in the bottom of the airing cupboard at the top of the stairs. Yer could draw something nice on the back fer yer mam when she gets back,’ Hannah said.

  ‘OK, Gran.’ Jeannie sighed again. ‘Ah get the hint. Ah wouldn’t want the shock of seeing me grandda with no clothes on now, would ah?’

  ‘Get yerself upstairs, yer cheeky monkey,’ Hannah chided.

  Jeannie ran upstairs giggling, while Jack rattled about with pans of water on the stove.

  Dominic and Tom sat across from each other at a table in the working men’s club. The club, which had been frequented by miners for as many years as anyone could remember, was at Bank Top, across the road from the bus shelter.

  Once inside, both Tom and Dominic had to wait for their eyes to adjust to the gloom, and Dominic experienced a moment’s embarrassment when, as they entered, the only other occupants, a group of old miners, fell silent. But after Tom nodded to them they quickly resumed their conversation.

  Listening in to what they were saying, Dominic concluded that they might as well have come from another planet, for all the sense they made to him.

  Tom grinned. ‘You’ve no idea what they’re talking about, have you, lad?’

  Dominic smiled, and shook his head. The way the miners talked was yet another worry. Even if Madeleine somehow managed to master the English language, she’d still have a terrible struggle coming to grips with this unusual way of speaking in the North. And, lovable though Tom’s family obviously were, he wasn’t sure that their kindness would compensate for having to live in that small house, with no privacy at all, not even when you bathed! He was still tryi
ng to come to terms with Tom’s papa washing in a bath in the front room, as they called it.

  And what about when Madeleine had the baby? Oh, this whole situation was impossible! He felt as if his head was going to explode, and his hands automatically clutched at it.

  ‘What is it, Dominic?’ Tom asked.

  ‘It’s Madeleine,’ Dominic blurted out. ‘We need to talk about Madeleine.’

  ‘I know, but what am I to do?’ Tom answered looking crestfallen and hopeless, as he stretched his arms out emphasising the question. ‘I’ve no money, no house, no nothing! You’ve seen how it is, Dominic! Tell us, what can ah do?’ There was a moment’s silence between them before Tom went on awkwardly, ‘She does definitely want the bairn, I suppose – er, the baby, I mean?’

  Although Dominic was aghast, he tried not to show it. He choked down his feelings, and struggled to answer reasonably. ‘Even if she did not want the baby she has no choice. The Catholic religion does not allow otherwise, as you know.’

  Tom, sensing Dominic’s horror, tried to explain. ‘I’m sorry, mate, but I need to ask these questions. We need to explore all the avenues. You must see that.’

  With a sudden surge of confidence, and without warning, Dominic blurted out, ‘Do you love my sister, or not? If you don’t there is no point in trying to – as you say – explore anything!’ After all, he reasoned, there was no point worrying about how his sister was going to cope here if Tom didn’t want her. He felt Tom just wanted to avoid discussing the issue for as long as possible. But Madeleine’s baby was not going to go away, so Tom had to be given a push. He was angry with himself now: he’d been so nervous about meeting this English family that he hadn’t insisted on talking about the problem with Tom’s mother that afternoon. She’d deliberately steered clear of the subject.

  It seemed to him that everyone here was afraid of saying the wrong thing, and so they said nothing. All the conversations so far had been small talk, or flippant, even. Well, maybe it was their way of dealing with things, but it wasn’t his family’s way. It was wrong, too, when he knew that his maman and papa were waiting, and wondering anxiously what was going on.

  Tom, not answering Dominic’s question about whether or not he loved Madeleine, instead asked lightly, ‘Another one, mate?’

  Dominic finished what was in his glass and nodded as he handed it to Tom, who’d been caught off guard by Dominic’s question, and needed time to think how to answer it.

  ‘Same again, please,’ he said to the barman.

  ‘Comin’ up!’ the barman answered, pulling the pints. Then, with a quizzical look, he asked Tom, ‘Are you Jack’s lad, be any chance?’

  ‘I am that!’ Tom answered absent-mindedly.

  ‘’Ave these on me, then,’ the barman offered.

  Seeing Tom’s dumbfounded look, he went on to explain, ‘After what yer must have been through in t’ war, lad, it’s small compensation. Ah just wish that ah could ’ave been there alongside yer, shootin’ the buggers. But this …’ he said, looking down at his foot, ‘… this bloody leg stopped me. Bloody thing’s about an inch shorter than t’other one, yer know!’

  Tom winked at him and said, ‘Well, thanks for the drinks, mate.’ Then, after a moment’s thought, he added on a much more serious note, ‘I’ll tell you what I told my mate over there,’ he nodded towards Dominic. ‘Cause he thought he’d missed out, and all. “Well, you missed nowt, and I wouldn’t have wished that purgatory on anybody. If we weren’t roasting in the desert we were half-starved and freezing in a foxhole. And we were shot to bits by the Krauts. I still have the nightmares now, man!”’ He stopped for a second before adding with a wry smile, ‘So just think yourself lucky!’

  He picked up the two glasses of beer and hurriedly slurped the froth off one before raising it to the barman in thanks, and leaving him to contemplate his luck at having a gammy leg.

  Even before Tom put the drinks down on to the table he could see that Dominic needed some answers. ‘Look, mate!’ he said. ‘I did … well, I still do,’ he corrected himself, ‘love Maddie. You must know that, man. But all I can offer is for her to come and live here with me and my family.’

  There was silence between them, before he continued, showing a little more optimism, ‘Mind you, our Rene and the bairn will be moving out soon, so we’ll have an extra room then, and it’s a bigger one than mine.’

  ‘Tom, I know that you mean well, but can you imagine Madeleine and her baby—’

  ‘Our baby!’ Tom interrupted quickly.

  ‘Pardon! Your baby,’ Dominic apologized, encouraged by the nature of Tom’s interruption. ‘But what about your parents, also, Tom? It will not be easy having a small child in the house, for any of you.’

  ‘Well, if our Jeannie’s going, it might be the very thing me mam needs,’ Tom answered pensively. He added, as if to himself, ‘Aye, a new baby to dote on might do her a power of good.’

  Dominic couldn’t help feeling Tom wasn’t thinking this through properly. Nearly all the alternatives were worse. But, on the other hand, if only he could convince his parents to let Madeleine stay at home, maybe Tom could marry her, and then come and visit from time to time, just until he could afford a house. Why couldn’t that work?

  ‘Come on. Sup up!’ Tom said, looking at Dominic’s troubled face. ‘It should be safe to go home now, my da’s had plenty of time to have his bath. We’ll have a proper talk tonight when the family are all there. See what they have to say, eh?’

  Tom got up from the table, and Dominic, seeing that it would be hopeless to try and talk any more until Tom had the security of his family around him, ‘supped up’ and got up from the table.

  As they left Tom raised his hand to the barman and called, ‘Thanks again, mate!’ Dominic followed suit by raising his hand and calling, ‘Merci, monsieur, et au revoir!’ Which created another sudden hush as they left the club.

  Tom had to laugh in spite of himself. ‘Ay man! That shut them up! Did you see their faces?’

  Dominic smiled politely in reply. More pressing right now was his need to contact his parents. ‘Is there a place where I can send a telegram to my family?’ he asked.

  ‘Aye, there’s a post office in the village, but what are you going to say?’ Tom looked concerned.

  ‘I promised my parents that I would let them know when I arrived. What else can I say right now?’

  ‘OK, let’s call in on the way home,’ Tom suggested.

  Once in the post office Tom asked Dominic, ‘Now, what exactly do you want to tell them?’

  Dominic thought for a moment. ‘I will write it on a paper, so madame can copy it, no?’

  The postmistress behind the counter handed him a form, and Dominic had no idea what to put, so made it short.

  J’arrive chez Dawson.

  Tout va bien.

  A bientôt!

  Baisers, Dominic

  That will have to do, he thought as he handed over the form to the postmistress, who looked on curiously. As she took the paper, he hesitated, wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have included ‘tout va bien’ it could be misleading. Reading that all was going well, they might think a solution had already been found.

  The postmistress glanced at the alien words. ‘I hope this is not a hoax, young man!’ she said sternly.

  ‘A hoax?’ Dominic bemused, looked at Tom, who immediately turned to the woman demanding, ‘Just get it sent. You can hear that he’s French, can’t you? Well, that writing is in French.’

  ‘Huh!’ was her reply as she looked disdainfully down her nose at the pair, who, in her opinion, smelled suspiciously strongly of alcohol.

  ‘Take no notice of ’er,’ said the young assistant behind the counter, as the postmistress retreated to a back room. ‘Always got ’er knickers in a twist over somethin’, that one! She’s an old spinster, yer see.’ Then, leaning towards them over the counter, she added in a whisper, ‘If yer ask me she’s in need of a good—’

  ‘There’ll be no take
rs here!’ Tom interrupted sharply, before grabbing his change and leaving the post office. ‘Feeling better now, mate?’ he asked Dominic, who only shrugged in reply.

  Tom put an arm around his shoulder, and that’s how they walked down the road back to Glamis Terrace.

  ‘Ah, Rene!’ Tom called as he walked through the door, followed closely by Dominic. ‘Meet Dominic! Dominic, this is my sister, Rene!’ Rene stepped forward, uncertain whether she should hold out her hand, or offer her cheek for a kiss.

  Dominic, sensitive to her dilemma, placed his hands gently on her shoulders before kissing first her left cheek, then her right. She couldn’t help thinking how much more civilized this was, compared to ‘How now!’ or ‘Hoo noo!’, which was the usual greeting around here.

  As Dominic let her go, he said, ‘I have heard so much about you, Rene.’

  ‘And likewise,’ Rene responded with a smile. ‘It’s so nice to meet you, I just wish it was under other …’ The moment was spoiled as Hannah came through from the scullery, telling them all that they could go and wash their hands because tea was nearly ready.

  Jack chirped in, ‘Wash me hands! Ah’ve just washed me whole body, how much cleaner der yer want uz, lass?’

  ‘Get on with yer, yer daft ha’porth,’ she said, dismissing him with her usual flap of the tea towel.

  ‘Where’s our Jeannie, anyway?’ Jack asked.

  ‘She went out with a couple of the lasses from down the road ter play at skipping. They called round for ’er when yer were in the bath.’

  ‘Aw, yer didn’t let a couple of lasses in while ah wuz in the bath, did yer?’

  ‘What, and frighten them off men fer the rest of their lives, poor lasses!’ Hannah winked at the others, who just raised their eyebrows as they went through to wash their hands.