When Wishes Come True

by Jonker, Joan

  Oscar looked on with mixed feelings. All these children were poorly dressed, it was a narrow mean street, yet not one of them had put so much as a finger on the car or been cheeky. It made him feel quite sad when he thought of his own children who wanted for nothing. He was deep in thought when he heard a loud voice shouting, ‘Get out of the way, the lot of yer, anyone would think yer’d never seen a bleeding car before.’ And crossing the street, he saw a woman with enormous breasts and stomach, untidy hair, and wearing a dirty pinny which had clearly seen better days. She pushed the children out of her way and stood before him with a beaming smile on her face. ‘They won’t hurt yer car, mister, they’re not bad kids.’ She nearly pulled his arm out of its socket with her hearty handshake, then she rubbed her hands together. ‘Now, our Kenny said something about a cup of tea, and unless me ears were deceiving me, he said something about a custard cream biscuit too.’

  Bessie smiled. ‘I wish I had ears like yours, Aggie, they only hear what they want to hear. But ye’re going to be disappointed ’cos I’ve only got ginger snaps. Anyway, come on in or I’ll never get everything done I wanted to do.’

  Oscar was given a china cup and saucer which brought knowing looks and nudges from Aggie. ‘Blimey, she’s only been living with the toffs for a week, and she’s already forgotten herself. Another week and she won’t even remember you and me, Rita.’

  Bessie’s eyes went to the ceiling. ‘Aggie, if I live to be a hundred I’ll never forget you. For ye’re one of those “once seen, never forgotten” people. And I wouldn’t trust yer with a china cup ’cos yer’d break the ruddy thing with those ham shanks yer call hands. I’ve only got three china cups and saucers, they were me mam’s and I treasure them. I don’t even use them meself.’

  ‘Take no notice of her, sunshine, yer know how she likes having yer on. If yer’d given her a gobstopper instead of a biscuit, it would have kept her quiet for an hour. So let’s pretend she’s not here and tell us what favour yer want from us?’ Rita suggested.

  ‘I’d like yer to tell the rent collector I’m giving a week’s notice and he can take over the house from next weekend. I’ll leave yer the money for the two weeks’ rent.’

  Rita pulled a face. ‘I’m not half going to miss you, sunshine, after all these years of us being friends. It won’t seem the same with a new family living facing me.’

  ‘The same goes for me, too, queen,’ Aggie said. ‘We’ve had some good laughs together and we’ll miss that.’ For once Aggie showed her soft side, her voice full of emotion. ‘And yer’ve been a good pal to me and Rita, always there to help out when we were stuck for money to buy food. We’d have been in Queer Street many a time without yer.’

  ‘The three of us have helped each other, Aggie, it hasn’t been all one-sided.’ Bessie’s heart strings were being pulled. It wasn’t going to be easy to move out of this house and away from her two mates. ‘Anyway, can we get back to business? I’m only taking a few small things with me, like photos, ornaments and pictures, things that belonged to me parents. So what I want yer to do is, have a look around yerselves and see if there’s anything yer’d like. The beds and bedding should be worth having, but yer can decide that. I’m leaving the key with yer. Anything yer don’t want, get the man from that secondhand shop on the main road to come and have a look at it, and ask him what he’ll give for it. And any money yer get I want yer to share between yer.’

  ‘Don’t be so daft!’ Rita said. ‘We’ll get the best price we can for it and we’ll give you the money. I wouldn’t dream of keeping it. We’ve always been the ones to take off you, and never been in a position to give you anything back, so the least we can do is help yer out now. But we don’t want the money, we’ll hand it over to you.’

  Aggie’s chins, which fascinated Oscar, swung up and down. ‘Hear, hear! I’ll second that, queen. It’ll be our pleasure to do something for you. Especially after what yer did for us at Christmas, and half of the ruddy street too. A flipping hero, that’s what yer are.’

  Bessie swivelled round in her chair to face the visitor, who was sitting in the fireside chair, greatly interested in the goings-on. ‘Oscar, if yer hear anything that’s not meant for your ears, yer won’t repeat it, will yer? Not that anything is a matter of life or death, and yer’d find out eventually anyway, but for now keep it to yerself.’

  Oscar grinned. ‘Bessie, don’t you know I’m as deaf as a door post?’

  She grinned back. ‘Anything yer don’t understand, I’ll explain to yer on the way home.’ She swivelled herself round again and leaned her elbows on the table. ‘Now, ladies, listen carefully. Evelyn will be coming down this afternoon, and a van will be calling to pick up what she wants from next door. Milly will be with her, and she wanted me to tell yer to make sure Jack’s in, ’cos she wants to see him. And now, don’t say a word until I’ve finished, let me get it all off me chest – Evelyn wants to know if you would be kind enough, next week, to give her notice in to the rent collector as well as mine. She’s given me the money to cover two weeks’ rent, so I’ll give it to yer before I leave. And when the man from the secondhand shop comes here, she would very much like you to get him to look at the furniture and bedding she’ll be leaving behind and she wants you to share the money between you.’

  Rita shook her head. ‘Ah, come off it, Bessie, we can’t do that! We hardly know the woman!’

  ‘No one regrets that more than Evelyn. She knows yer used to call her all the stuck-up cows going, and says you had every right ’cos that’s exactly what she was. But yer haven’t heard it all yet, so will yer keep quiet and let me get on? What I’m going to say next might have yer thinking she feels sorry for yer and is giving you her hand-me-downs, but that would be far from the truth. She’s getting married in three weeks, as yer know, and she’d like you to come to the wedding.’ Bessie ignored their gasps of astonishment and carried on. ‘Yer will be getting an invitation through the post in the next few days.’

  ‘Huh!’ Aggie’s face was a picture. ‘This is a bleeding joke, Bessie Maudsley, and I’m surprised at yer, playing a trick like this on us.’ Then the table rocked as her tummy shook with laughter. ‘Can yer imagine me and you at a toff’s wedding, Rita? In a sixpenny dress from Great Homer Street Market, a scarf on our head ’cos ye’re not allowed in church without yer head being covered. We’d be a laughing stock. Folk would move away from us in case they caught something.’

  But Rita wasn’t listening, she was studying Bessie’s face. ‘It’s not a joke, is it, sunshine?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, it’s not, and I’m surprised at yer for thinking I’d stoop so low as to pull a stunt like that. And another thing: if you two aren’t good enough to be invited then neither am I! D’yer think because I’ve moved to be with Milly, I’ve suddenly joined the ranks of the well-off? I haven’t changed, yer silly nits, and I never will. And, what’s more, the people I live with now, and the likes of Oscar here, and Philip who Evelyn is marrying, they treat me as an equal. I get on like a house on fire with all of them. I don’t try and be something I’m not, and I never will. So if I’m good enough for the wedding, then so are me best mates.’

  Rita said quietly, ‘I believe yer, sunshine, and it’s very thoughtful of Evelyn. But we’ve got no clothes for a posh wedding, we’d stick out like sore thumbs and that really would be embarrassing for us.’

  ‘You’d have enough money from the sale of the contents of both houses to buy yerselves some really classy clothes. There’s a shop in a lane off Church Street where they sell good secondhand clothes. Yer’d get a smashing dress and hat from there ’cos they mostly deal in wedding outfits. For the money yer get for the furniture, bedding and kitchen equipment, yer could doll yerselves up to the nines. And it would be a day yer’d enjoy, one to look back on.’ Bessie looked from one to the other. ‘Before yer say anything, there’s another reason yer should give some thought to it. The groom will have all his family and friends at the church, while Evelyn will have very few
sitting in the pews on her side. I’m not asking yer to feel sorry for her, like, it was just a passing thought.’

  Aggie gave Rita a sly kick. ‘What d’yer say, queen, have yer made up yer mind? Meself, I’d like to go ’cos I might never get another chance to go to a posh wedding. And I quite fancy meself in a big picture hat.’

  Rita stared at her, straight-faced. ‘You in a wedding outfit … now that would be something to see.’ She suddenly burst out laughing, ‘I wouldn’t miss that for the world!’

  ‘Are yer both game for it then?’ Bessie asked. And when they both nodded, she said, ‘Thank God for that, one problem solved. So I’ll give yer the rent money now for both houses, and my front door key. Milly will give yer next door’s when the van has been and Evelyn has taken all she wants from there. But don’t hand the keys over to the collector on Monday ’cos yer’ll need them to let the man from the secondhand shop in. Give them to the collector the following week, we’ll have paid up till then.’

  Bessie closed her eyes and held her forehead in her hand. ‘Is there anything else now? Oh, yeah, two things. I’m expecting yer to come and visit me next week, so how would Tuesday be, say about twelve? Yer can have some lunch with me. Then I’ll bring Milly down on Saturday, ’cos I know she’ll have me motheaten, wanting to see Jack.’ She rubbed her forehead again, but it was all a pretence. ‘What else was there? Oh, yeah, on the day of the wedding, yer won’t have to worry about how to get to the church, they’re sending a car to pick you up. And that wasn’t Evelyn’s idea, it was Philip’s, her fiancé’s. That’s because she had told him how good yer were helping me with giving the Christmas hampers and things out. He wants to meet yer so he can thank you himself.’

  Aggie was so flabbergasted she didn’t know what to do or say. She folded her arms, hitched her bosom and sat back quickly in her chair. Now the chair wasn’t used to being sat on by a person of Aggie’s weight, it was only used to Bessie and Milly, so it creaked like mad to let them know it objected. But Aggie didn’t hear it, her mind was on other things. ‘If we’re going to get in a car, I’ll have to make sure I don’t buy a hat with a bleeding big brim or I won’t be able to get through the door.’

  Rita was excited inside but keeping it under control until she was in her own house. She looked at her neighbour now, put an arm across her shoulders and said, ‘I don’t think getting in the car with a hat on is yer biggest worry, sunshine, I’d be inclined to be more worried about yer blue fleecy-lined drawers and yer elastic garters. I mean, if yer hat fell off yer could always run after it, but if yer knickers fell down – well, it doesn’t bear thinking about.’

  Oscar couldn’t stop talking and laughing as they drove back to the Lister-Sinclairs’. ‘What a pair of personalities your friends are, Bessie, I could have sat listening to them all day. You will miss them, for they are everything you need in friends. Warm, loyal and funny.’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, I will miss them, but I certainly won’t lose touch with them. I have seen those two laughing their heads off when they haven’t had two ha’pennies to rub together. It’s when times are hard that yer find out what people are really like, and Rita and Aggie are the salt of the earth.’

  ‘I’m intrigued as to where Philip fits in. How did he come to hear of these ladies?’

  Bessie told him about the donation, Evelyn’s part in it, and how she, with the help of Rita and Aggie, had been able to help so many poor people in the street. ‘It was hard going, ’cos I worked every day, but it was worth it to see the faces of women who hadn’t had a decent meal in years. Husbands out of work, kids to feed and clothe, they were really living on the breadline. Philip was very kind, and although those people will probably never meet him, they will be eternally grateful to him.’

  Oscar was really moved by what he’d heard. ‘I wish I had known, my father and I would have helped. Cyril too, he would have been the first to put his hand in his pocket. Well, we will all be there to help next year. Or even now, if your friends know of any families who are really in trouble, I can get help for them. My family and my friends are very fortunate, but I’m afraid perhaps we don’t always appreciate it. This afternoon has been an eye-opener for me, and a lesson I won’t forget in a hurry.’ He took his eyes from the road for a second to glance at Bessie and to smile. ‘I like your friends. Thank you for letting me meet them.’

  It was a week before the wedding and Matilda was in her bedroom trying on one of three dresses brought for her inspection by an assistant from one of the best shops in the city. She was helping her client pull the dress down over her hips. It was a navy blue dress, in stiff shot silk, with full skirt, high neck and raglan sleeves. ‘Would Madam care to look in the mirror?’ the assistant asked. ‘I think it suits you beautifully.’

  Matilda turned several times to inspect her appearance in the full-length mirror. Then she looked over to where Bessie was sitting on a delicate antique chair. ‘What do you think, Bessie, does it suit me?’

  In the four weeks she had lived in the house, she had often felt like asking Matilda why she always wore such old-fashioned clothes that made her look much older. But she hadn’t liked to be so forward. Now, though, Matilda wanted a dress for Evelyn’s wedding, and that dark one didn’t do a thing for her, only made her look old and faded. It wouldn’t be truthful or fair if Bessie didn’t say so. ‘I wonder if the assistant would kindly leave us alone for ten minutes, to give you time to make up your mind? This wedding is an important occasion, and the choosing of a dress for it is not something to be decided in a hurry.’

  Matilda nodded. ‘I think that’s wise. Would you go down to the drawing room for a short while, please? I’ll ring for the maid when we have finished our discussion.’

  When the young lady had left the room, Matilda asked, ‘Do you not like the dress, Bessie?’

  ‘D’yer want my true opinion?’

  ‘Yes, of course. I would expect nothing less than the truth from you.’

  ‘In that case, don’t say I didn’t warn yer. That dress makes yer look old, colourless and drab. In fact, most of your clothes don’t do yer justice. Ye’re not an old woman, Tilly, so why do yer dress like one? And yer’ve got beautiful hair, but yer comb it right back into a bun which makes yer look older and is a waste of such an asset.’ Afraid she’d gone too far, Bessie said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m maybe speaking out of turn. But I’m also speaking as a friend who thinks yer could be a knock-out in the right clothes and a different hair style. And I’m sorry I called yer Tilly, that was out of order too.’

  Matilda bit the inside of her lip to keep a smile at bay. She was getting used to Bessie being outspoken, and really appreciated it. Most of the staff fawned over her, always saying what they thought she wanted to hear. ‘What about the other two dresses? Do they not find favour with you?’

  Bessie told herself she may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. ‘No, they’re the wrong colour and style for you. Yer need something younger, so Cyril can see in you the young girl he fell in love with and married.’

  Without saying a word, Matilda crossed the room and pulled on the bell cord. She waited for Maisie to come into the room then asked her to tell the shop assistant that unfortunately none of the dresses had found favour with her, and would she take them back to the shop with apologies? ‘Tell her I will ring her supervisor to say she has been very pleasant and efficient, so she won’t get into trouble. And now Miss Bessie and I are going to her room and I am to be shown how I should wear my hair so I look like a young girl again. That should be very interesting, I have never seen magic performed before.’

  When Bessie brought Milly home from school that night, the young girl stood at the door of the drawing room and gazed at her grandmother with eyes and mouth wide. Then she ran to her. ‘Grandma, you look beautiful! Have you been to the shop to have your hair done? It makes you look very pretty.’

  Matilda took the girl in her arms. ‘As pretty as you, would you say?’

  ‘Oh, yes, Grandma, mu
ch prettier than me. Have you been to a hairdresser’s?’

  ‘I have my own private hairdresser, my darling, and that is your Auntie Bessie.’

  Milly ran to fling her arms around Bessie’s waist next. ‘Oh, you are clever, Auntie Bessie. My dress for the wedding is the most beautifulest dress in the whole world, and now you’ve made Grandma look beautiful. I love you, love you, love you.’

  ‘And guess what?’ Matilda asked, looking very self-satisfied. ‘Your Auntie Bessie has offered to make me a dress for the wedding.’

  ‘Ay, Tilly Mint, I didn’t offer, I was talked into it.’

  Cyril happened to walk into the room at that moment. He often came home early now there was something for him to come home to. ‘What were you talked into, Bessie?’

  She knew he hadn’t looked in his wife’s direction yet, and she also knew Matilda was anxious to know what his reaction would be to the change in her appearance. ‘Ask yer wife, she’s the one who causes all the trouble around here.’

  Cyril was speechless when he glanced at Matilda. It was a few seconds before he could move. ‘My darling, you look wonderful, about twenty years younger. You look like you did the day we got married.’ He kissed her on the lips. ‘I have told you often you should visit a hairdressing salon. They have worked wonders.’

  ‘I haven’t been over the door, my darling, and the wonders were performed by Bessie. Who, incidentally, didn’t like any of the dresses Cripps sent for my inspection, and sent the girl packing with them. She said they made me look old and staid, so I worked my charms on her and now she is to make me a dress for the wedding. She hasn’t been given much time, but she said as soon as she gets the material, and a pattern I like, she will have it cut out and tacked in no time, ready for me to try on. Oh, and I am to be called Tilly from now on, and that is also down to Bessie.’