A Mother's Duty

by June Francis

  A bit! thought Mick. That was an understatement!

  ‘You’ll tell the other two for us?’ said John.

  ‘If you want me to.’ Mick could not wait to see what Teddy had to say about it all.

  Without another word he went in search of his brother. He found him under a lamp post in Pleasant Street with a group of youths and girls.

  ‘Can I have a word, Ted?’ said Mick.

  His brother looked up. ‘Can’t it wait?’

  ‘I’d rather it was now.’

  Teddy came over to him. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Ma’s having a baby,’ said Mick in a low voice.

  Teddy was silent and it was obvious to Mick that he was completely taken aback. ‘I never thought about that happening,’ said Teddy. ‘The big fella’s really got his feet under our table for life now. I’ll see you later.’ Teddy walked away.

  ‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’ yelled Mick.

  His brother waved a hand without looking back. ‘Later!’

  Mick felt irritated, wanting to discuss the matter. A baby meant nappies and smells and his mother even busier than she was now.

  He bumped into Celia in the lobby and blurted out. ‘Ma’s having a baby.’

  Celia’s mouth fell open. ‘She’s going to have her hands full!’

  ‘I know. I wish Gran was still alive. I don’t know how we’re all going to cope. Can you see Hannah being any use?’

  Celia eyelashes flickered involuntarily as their eyes met and she said bluntly, ‘Would you like me to stay?’

  He was unsure how to take that question. He felt there was more behind it than staying because of the baby. ‘I’m sure Ma would like you to stay,’ he said carefully.

  ‘But not you?’ There were two patches of colour on her cheeks.

  ‘I’m not the boss,’ he responded, considering how he still felt something for Celia, although he was not sure what. ‘Ask Ma.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ll bother. I’m not that keen on babies anyway,’ she said and walked on upstairs.

  Mick thought how he would never understand girls.

  ‘You do realise,’ said Teddy when he and Mick were in bed, ‘that Ma’s going to be busier than ever when the baby comes?’

  ‘Of course I do, nit! And Celia almost said she’d stay, but I think she wanted me to say I wanted it and I’m not sure I do.’

  ‘You should have said yeah for Ma. You should have sweet-talked her.’

  That comment annoyed Mick. ‘Since when have you been an expert on girls?’

  ‘I’m not. But one of the fellas said that girls like all that soppy stuff they hear in films. You know the sort of thing! You tell them that they mean the earth to you and you can’t live without them.’

  ‘I thought I couldn’t once,’ said Mick, and was silent, remembering.

  ‘I hope I never feel like that,’ said Teddy seriously. ‘I just want that job permanent at Laystall’s – and a motorbike.’

  Mick was glad to be distracted from his thoughts. ‘You’ve got a hope. I heard Ma talking to Mrs O’Neill about turning you into a chef.’

  ‘A what!’

  ‘You know what a chef is!’

  ‘I know, I know! It’s a bloody cook! I’m not having it,’ said Teddy with a hint of desperation. ‘I’ll – I’ll run away first rather than be stuck in that kitchen all day doing women’s work.’

  ‘Don’t be daft. You’d worry Ma silly.’ Mick said absently. ‘The person we need is Annie. She was the best.’

  ‘Yeah, but I don’t know where she is exactly,’ said Teddy gloomily.

  ‘She’s in London,’ murmured Mick.

  ‘I thought it was Rhyl. That’s where Jimmy is and you know she had a pash on him.’

  ‘It’s London I tell you! Ma had a Christmas card from her.’

  Teddy scowled. ‘I don’t know why Ma can’t just hire another maid. Another two in fact!’

  ‘She won’t take just anyone on since Hetty let her down, and none of Aunt Jane’s lot want to work here. They want to work in shops. I think it’s going to be down to us. I don’t know why she bothered letting me have an education,’ he said, feeling depressed.

  ‘Damn daft,’ muttered Teddy. ‘I’m not having it, Mick. I can’t be doing women’s work.’

  Mick yawned. ‘I bet you’re not the only one who isn’t happy. I bet the big fella’s really cock-a-hoop with the idea of having you around all day.’ He turned his back on his brother and pulled the covers over his head.

  Teddy’s jaw set. ‘I’m not going to be able to stand it, Mick. I’m going to have to do something.’

  His brother made no reply, so Teddy slid down the bed and began to make plans.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Is Teddy here?’ asked Kitty, popping her head round the boys’ bedroom door a few days later.

  Mick paused in the act of taking off his school tie. ‘Isn’t he in the kitchen?’

  ‘You haven’t seen him on your travels?’

  He shook his head. ‘I thought he was helping you in the kitchen.’

  ‘No. I’ve just come from there,’ she said patiently. ‘He’s not in the dining room either or anywhere else and he better hadn’t be in the coal cellar. I’ve told him no more scuttles. He’s got to keep his hands clean.’

  ‘I know,’ muttered Mick. ‘He’s not to clean shoes, either, or empty chamber pots.’

  ‘You don’t empty chamber pots!’ She made it sound like an accusation. ‘And Ben’s doing his bit now so I don’t know what you’ve got to complain about.’ She hesitated before adding, ‘John went round to Laystall’s yard this morning and they said Teddy hadn’t been there today, but he had been there yesterday.’

  Mick lowered his gaze. ‘It’s where he wants to work.’

  ‘It’s not where I want him to work,’ said Kitty crossly, and sat down abruptly on one of the beds. ‘He’s been missing all day and he hasn’t come back yet. He’s an ungrateful wretch! There’s boys who’d give their eye teeth for a nice comfy job indoors on a day like this! Don’t you agree?’ He said nothing. ‘You don’t agree?’ she added.

  ‘He loves engines!’ blurted out Mick. ‘You know that, Ma! And it’s not as if they won’t give him a job round at the yard. They will! If you’re not careful you’ll drive him away.’

  ‘What d’you mean by that?’ It was John standing in the doorway.

  ‘It was just something he said.’ Mick shrugged and began to take books out of his satchel. ‘He was probably only joking. Can I get on with my work now? I’ve my big exams this year.’

  ‘Let’s in on the joke,’ said John.

  Mick hesitated and John seized him by the back of his collar and lifted him off his feet. ‘I can understand your loyalty to your brother,’ he said against his ear. ‘But I will not have your mother upset! Now tell me what you know.’

  ‘John, put him down!’ cried Kitty, jumping to her feet.

  Her husband ignored her whilst Mick scrabbled at his collar. ‘He said something about running away,’ he gasped.

  John lowered him to the ground. ‘Did he have a place in mind?’

  ‘He didn’t say. He was just fed up.’

  ‘We all get fed up! Now think! Where could he be?’

  ‘I don’t know!’ Mick could not think straight with John glaring at him.

  ‘Dammit!’ John thumped the end of the bed. ‘Think, Mick!’

  ‘I don’t know!’ yelled Mick. ‘He doesn’t tell me everything. He has mates, you know. Go and ask his mates. He could be at one of their houses.’

  ‘Names and addresses,’ said John, picking up Mick’s pencil from a chest of drawers.

  Mick found a sheet of paper in his satchel and wrote down a couple of names and addresses but he did not know exactly where all his brother’s mates lived. John snatched the paper from him and strode out of the bedroom.

  Kitty sank onto the bed and Mick sat next to her. ‘I didn’t realise he wanted it that much,’ she said woodenly.
‘I didn’t know he was so unhappy.’

  ‘That’s because you don’t hear things you don’t want to hear, Ma!’ His tone was earnest. ‘You love this place. How would you feel if someone took it away from you? You’d be miserable wouldn’t you?’

  Kitty remembered how she had felt when Jimmy had asked her to marry him and run the Arcadia alongside her and how determined she had been to hold on to what was hers. John had never asked that of her. He just did what he felt needed doing without question.

  ‘See!’ exclaimed Mick when she made no answer. ‘You’d hate it! I’d like to do something with signwriting or commercial art.’

  ‘But – but I’d like one of you working here,’ she said.

  ‘There’s always Ben.’

  She protested. ‘He’s not even eight! I need more help than he can give. It’s not fair, Mick. One of you’ll have to work here.’ And on those words she got up and walked out.

  John came in an hour later on his own.

  ‘You haven’t found him?’ said Kitty, whirling round as he entered the kitchen.

  ‘No. But when I do I’m going to kill him for getting you worked up like this,’ he said grimly.

  ‘Me too, although …’

  ‘Although what?’

  ‘Nothing! I’m not going to say. Perhaps I was wrong to try and force him.’

  ‘He should be damn grateful he’s got a home like this,’ muttered John, picking up the flour sifter and putting it down again. ‘There’s thousands who would leap at the chance of doing the job he’s been asked. Thousands who go to bed hungry because they have no jobs to go to!’

  Suddenly Kitty sagged against the table. ‘Hunger! That’s what’ll bring him home. You know how he loves his stomach. He couldn’t have bought food because he was talking at Christmas about not having any money. He can’t have got far, John. He’ll come home soon.’

  ‘And I’ll leather him when he does.’ He put an arm about her, pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. ‘Now you stop worrying.’

  It was useless to tell Kitty to stop worrying and when Teddy had not come home by midnight, despite John’s insistence that she stay behind, she went with him to scour the neighbouring streets, the city centre and as far as the Pier Head, but they did not find him,

  They went to bed but Kitty could not sleep. She was visualising Teddy bruised and bloody in a gutter or drowned in the Mersey. She was up earlier than her usual hour and John rose with her. He lighted fires and polished boots, and after a quick breakfast he went out and visited Teddy’s mates again.

  It was a while before he thought of calling at the yard a second time. A different worker informed him that Teddy had hitched a ride on one of the work’s lorries going to Wolverhampton where they had another engineering works.

  ‘Wolverhampton! What’s he doing in Wolverhampton?’ cried Kitty when she was told. ‘We don’t know anyone there!’

  ‘I doubt Teddy considered that,’ said John, stuffing a change of clothing into a rucksack. ‘I wonder what he was thinking, though. He’s not stupid and he’s sure to know we’ll go looking for him. Anyway I’m going to find him and when I do, Kit—’

  ‘Just bring him safely home,’ she said, watching her husband and wondering if he was glad to be going travelling again.

  He kissed her and left.

  John did not find Teddy in Wolverhampton but he got news of him. ‘A little Scouse lad,’ said a driver. ‘You’ve missed him, mate. Cadged a lift to London. We have another works there.’

  ‘Where exactly?’

  ‘Edgware.’ The man wiped his hands on an oily rag. ‘Determined little sod. Seemed to know exactly where he was going. Said he had a relative in the Smoke he needed to see urgently. A matter of life and death. As it was he slept under a tarpaulin as he couldn’t go until this morning.’

  John wondered if he was right in what he was thinking about Teddy’s destination. ‘Is there anyone going south who can give me a lift?’

  The man jerked a thumb. ‘You’re in luck, mate. Billy over there will be drawing out any minute. Say I sent yer.’

  John thanked him and was soon on his way.

  It was dark by the time the lorry reached London but nobody there could tell John anything about a small wiry Scouse lad. It seemed John had come to a full stop. After thinking for a few moments he went in search of something to eat, choosing a place that had a telephone, and ordered some food and drink before asking could he put a call through to Liverpool. He spoke to Becky and then ate while he waited for a return call.

  Annie sat with a smile on her pointy little face, watching Teddy devour mince and potatoes like a ravenous beast. ‘When did you last eat?’

  ‘Dunno!’ He lifted his head. ‘You’re a good ’un, Annie.’

  ‘I’m daft is what yer mean. I know what the missus would say if she found yer in here.’

  Teddy glanced around the small, sparse kitchen and shivered. It was not very warm but it was much colder outside. ‘Never mind what she says. You’ve got to come home. Ma needs you. She’s going to have a baby.’

  ‘A baby! So that’s what this is all about?’ Annie looked thoughtful. ‘But why couldn’t she have just written to me?’

  ‘She thinks you don’t want to come home but looking at this place I think you would. It’s not as homey as ours.’

  Suddenly she sat down opposite him and rested her elbows on the table. ‘I don’t deny it, Teddy. I’ve been real homesick but it was difficult finding a place and this was the best I could get. It isn’t even what I’d call a proper hotel, more like your guest house, but I just haven’t had the money to get me home. She’s a real skinflint is the mistress.’

  ‘Ma would probably give you more money because she’ll want some help with the baby and wouldn’t that come under special duties?’

  Her face brightened. ‘So it would. But I can’t help thinking, Teddy Ryan, there’s more to your being here than meets the eye. It’s a puzzle to me how you got here. What was Kit thinking about sending you?’ He had appeared on the doorstep only an hour ago and had not given her one word of explanation. Fortunately she had opened the door herself and, swiftly overcoming her initial shock, had ushered him into the kitchen. He had asked for food and she had given up her own dinner because she had felt so emotional at seeing someone from home.

  ‘I’ll get us to Liverpool,’ said Teddy confidently. ‘I got here on me own. I’m sure I can get us back.’

  She looked at him doubtfully. ‘I can’t go just like that. She might dock me wages and I’ll be left with nothing.’

  ‘We don’t need money.’

  ‘She owes me! I’m not going without it,’ she said stubbornly.

  ‘Ma’ll make it up to you. Honestly, Annie, she will. Now she’s married to the big fella we have more money. Honestly you should have seen our Christmas presents!’

  ‘Well, I’m glad about that but even so—’

  ‘Annie, you’ve got to come home,’ he said urgently. ‘Ma wants to turn me into a cook and I can’t bear it. She doesn’t know I’m here. I ran away. You were my best bet for persuading her to change her mind.’

  Her expression was dismayed. ‘You shouldn’t have done that! Kit’ll be worried sick.’

  ‘She’ll feel a lot better if you come home,’ said Teddy persuasively. ‘This place isn’t good enough for you, Annie, and our place hasn’t been the same since you left.’

  ‘Don’t soft-soap me,’ said Annie. ‘Anyway, I never said I wouldn’t come, just that I couldn’t come right away.’

  ‘Tomorrow?’ he said.

  ‘I’ll think about it. You’d best sleep in my room. I’ll sneak you up the back stairs. In fact you’d best go up before she comes home. She’s gone to play bridge with some of her cronies. It’s freezing up there but I’ll give you the oven shelf wrapped in newspaper to put in. If you keep your clothes on and snuggle right down you’ll soon warm up.’

  He smiled at her. ‘I am tired. Thanks, Annie. You’re
real good.’

  ‘Hummph,’ she said. ‘Drink that tea and let’s get you upstairs.’

  It was half an hour later that there was a rat-a-tat on the door. Annie hurried to answer it, thinking that her mistress had forgotten her key again and muttering the little speech she had prepared, only to receive another shock when she saw John standing on the doorstep. ‘You were quick,’ she said. ‘How did yer know he was here?’

  ‘A guess,’ said John grimly. ‘Can I come in?’

  She nodded and led the way into the kitchen and then stood as if on guard. ‘I’ve sent him to bed. He was cold, hungry and tired out.’ said Annie.

  ‘He deserves to be the way he’s worried Kitty sick. Wait till I get my hands on him. He’ll be sorry,’ said John, glancing around him.

  ‘I’m not surprised yer feel like that,’ said Annie. ‘But he didn’t come here for nothing. He says he wants me to come home. That Kitty needs me.’

  ‘She does,’ said John, his expression easing. He leaned against the table and folded his arms across his broad chest. ‘Is there any chance of it, Annie? If there is then I mightn’t skin the hide off him.’

  Annie’s eyes shone. ‘Oh, I said to him I’d come but I feel so much better with it coming from you.’

  He smiled. ‘I’m glad you feel like that. Kit’ll be made up.’

  ‘I’ve missed her,’ said Annie, putting on the kettle. ‘We worked as a team, not like this one here. And tight-fisted!’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I can’t begin to tell yer the way she cuts corners! And the meals – she can’t cook for toffee!’

  ‘Did Teddy tell you Kit was trying to turn him into a chef?’

  ‘He did and I couldn’t believe it! He’d never have her nice light touch with pastry! Her shortcrust melts in the mouth. She’d lose custom.’

  ‘You tell her that.’ John straightened. ‘Don’t bother with tea, Annie. I’ve drank at least six cups already this evening. I’ll be back in the morning but don’t tell Teddy I’ve been, I want to surprise him.’ He squeezed her shoulder and left.

  Annie slept the other end of the bed to Teddy. It was not as comfortable as it might have been but at least it was only for the one night. Come morning, she thought happily, I’ll be on my way back to dear ol’ Liverpool.