Ruby McBride

by Freda Lightfoot

  ‘Nay, don’t worry, love. You look well enough.’ Marie studied her more carefully, taking in the full measure of her youthful appearance, the telltale uniform, then glanced across at the sleeping Pearl and Billy, curled up together in their favourite fashion. Her gaze now was thoughtful and filled with pity. ‘How old are you, love? If’n you don’t mind me asking. I’d like to help you look after them babbies but, as you can see, me hands is a bit full already. And once I’ve weaned this little ‘un, I’ll have to get back to work meself. Old Maggie upstairs’ll watch childer fer me in return for a few handouts.’

  ‘Oh, that’s all right. I can manage, thank you. I’m nearly sixteen,’ Ruby lied.

  Mare’s eyebrows lifted slightly in disbelief, then she gave a gentle sigh. ‘Well, you’re welcome to stop on till you find yer feet, but even if you finds a proper job like, getting paid a living wage that’ll keep a family is well-nigh impossible. Make you old before yer time bosses do, allus clipping a bit off here, cutting a penny off there. Just when you think you’re sorted you find you can’t afford to pay the rent and eat. Not both at the same time anyroad.’

  ‘We’ll manage. I’m sure we will.’

  ‘Happen so.’ The sadness in the woman’s voice expressed a weary lack of conviction, despite her efforts to inject enthusiasm into her voice. ‘I can see yer a lass with a bit of gumption about her.’

  Or impulsive, rebellious stupidity, Ruby thought.

  At that moment the door burst open and Kit strolled in to place a cabbage and a couple of pennies on the table in front of his mother. ‘Best I could do.’

  ‘That’s grand. I can buy some tatties and onions, and make us a bit of soup. Bless you, luv. It might even run to a gill of milk for the little ‘uns, though I’ll need a penny for the gas soon, come to think of it.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m off now to do me bit of delivering for Willy, then I’ll see what else is going.’

  ‘All right, chuck. Take care.’ There was a warmth in her tone as she addressed her eldest son, and pride shining in her eyes.

  ‘I allus do.’ He didn’t glance at Ruby until he’d reached the door, almost vanishing from sight, then he popped his head back inside and said, ‘Are you coming or not?’ His voice was impatient, just as if he’d been waiting hours for her to make up her mind.

  His mother chuckled. ‘Go on with yer. I’ll see to these two nippers,’ and seconds later Ruby and Kit were out on the streets of Salford on a cold, autumn morning, and somehow, against all odds, everything seemed right with the world.

  Life on the streets with Kit Jarvis was an education for Ruby. In the days and weeks following, she discovered that it might be precarious but certainly never dull, even at times quite exciting. She often accompanied him on his delivery round and was amazed to find that at many of the big houses where he took the boxes of groceries, he’d be given a halfpenny, a newly baked cake from the oven, and once a few broken eggs which they took straight back to Marie. They all fed like kings and queens that dinnertime on scrambled eggs and milk.

  ‘Are people always so generous?’ Ruby wanted to know.

  ‘Them that aren’t can fetch their own groceries,’ came his cutting reply.

  Ruby didn’t dare risk sending Billy and Pearl to school, in case too many questions were asked or Sister Joseph had reported them missing, so most days they came along too. She was always nagging them to behave, afraid they might run off. Not that Billy would, he stuck to her like glue, but Pearl was perfectly capable of doing something daft. ‘You do what I tell you, remember?’ she constantly remind them.

  ‘What, me an’ all?’ Pearl would ask. ‘Even though I’m ten now, and not so daft as our Billy?’

  ‘You an’ all, madam. You haven’t a sensible notion in your pretty head, so let me do the thinking.’

  Pearl purred with pleasure, taking this as a compliment. They were joined during the course of that first week by the other boys who made up Kit’s gang. One, introduced as Jackdaw, apparently had a knack of finding useful stuff for them to sell. Charlie and Clem were brothers and hard to tell apart for all they weren’t twins. They also had a habit of finishing each other’s sentences.

  Charlie said, ‘He’s thirteen and shouts all the time. He can’t hear proper, and I’m. . .’

  ‘. . . eleven and got a club foot so he walks funny.’

  They both giggled and started pushing and thumping each other, just as if life were some silly jape.

  The last of the group was Pongo, so named, he explained to Ruby, because he had a good nose for sniffing out which dustbin was worth exploring for food that had been thrown away, yet was still fit to eat.

  ‘It’s all in the nose. Yer know what I mean?’ he said, tapping it and giving her a huge wink.

  Ruby didn’t care to consider how hungry a person needed to be to scavenge dustbins for food. They wouldn’t find much in the bins behind Ignatius House, she thought, trying not to show her revulsion, or the fear of what lay ahead that was curdling her stomach. She wasn’t concerned in the least on her own account, quite certain she could survive by her wits as Kit did, but Pearl and Billy were too young to suffer such deprivation. They deserved better. Oh, what had she got them into?

  All the gang seemed to be shabbily dressed in trousers of varying lengths, any slack taken up by a wide leather belt in addition to braces. Some wore jerseys, others a jacket or waistcoat. They all had clogs or boots, of course, and an identical slouch cap tugged ruthlessly into place or tipped rakishly to the back of their head. And every one of them would have had Sister Joseph reaching for her scrubbing brush and a bar of carbolic soap.

  Without exception, Ruby liked the entire gang and, as the weeks passed, only hoped they wouldn’t prove to be too bad an influence on young Billy who was hanging on to their every word, even copying the way they swaggered along, sparking the irons on the soles of their clogs every five minutes. It made her laugh just to watch him trying to appear as grown up and manly as them.

  Most days the whole gang would go off scavenging leftover vegetables from the allotments down by the River Irwell, or picking mushrooms or blackberries by the canal. When dusk fell, they would move on to the slag heap to pick coal. In no time at all they would be covered in dust and soot. Everyone seemed used to this, so Ruby said nothing. Billy was always happily enthusiastic, the nuns never having allowed him the opportunity to get dirty. Pearl, however, complained bitterly about the state of her pinafore, her pretty face streaked with black tears, and her dandelion hair clouded with black dust.

  ‘How will I ever get clean again?’ she’d groan.

  ‘Why would you want to?’ Charlie asked. ‘We like. . .’

  ‘. . . getting mucked up,’ Clem finished for him.

  ‘It’s more important to keep warm,’ Kit told her, without a trace of sympathy.

  ‘Is this how you survive?’

  ‘In these streets you learn to get by on your wits. We barter, exchanging our time and skills for a copper or two here and there, doing whatever odd jobs come our way. When that don’t work, we buy and sell any odd bits Jackdaw finds fer us - bits of rags, metal, nuts and bolts. And we scrounge whatever’s going begging, like coal and tatties. We ain’t criminals, that’s for sure.’ For a moment his eyes blazed, fists clenched, and his whole body became tense with anger.

  ‘I didn’t say you were.’

  ‘So long as you understand. We happen let off steam now and then, do a bit o’ fiddling, but we aren’t violent. Not like the Napoo who carry cut-throats and lop off girls’ plaits. We don’t hurt or attack anyone, Ruby, not like them what went for you. “Street barbarians”, “slum monkeys”, that’s what some folk call us, yet we have our standards, our code of honour. We only do what’s fair game, enough to get by. If the government won’t help us, we have to help ourselves, see?’

  ‘Oh, yes, I do see,’ Ruby agreed with feeling.

  ‘Property, jobs and money only goes to them what already has plenty. It’s the toffs’
way of keeping us down. ‘Tai’t right, so we have to look after our own as best we can. How else can we survive? I mean, when did you last see anybody coming round with any handouts?’

  Ruby was gazing up at him, drinking in every word. Only a few inches taller than she and eighteen months older, yet he seemed so much wiser in the ways of the world, so much more in control of his life. ‘So you hang around shops hoping for cheap stale bread or free handouts? Not forgetting broken biscuits.’

  Kit gave a careless shrug. ‘Accidents will happen.’

  ‘What about the poor shopkeeper?’

  ‘We only take what’s due to us, from them who can afford to spare it, and allus share equally with the rest of the lads in the gang. It’s vital that everyone plays fair. Right?’

  ‘Right!’

  ‘Aye, well, so long as that’s understood. You’re either with us or against us.’

  ‘I understand.’ Ruby felt a shiver of apprehension at the stark anger in his face. He obviously liked things to be done his way, a message that had come across loud and clear. She swallowed a spurt of anxiety and offered him a radiant smile which, unknown to Ruby, made her look suddenly pretty. ‘What else do you do?’

  He tapped one finger on the tip of her nose. The gesture made her blush bright pink. ‘Questions! Questions! You’ll find out soon enough, if you hang around long enough.’

  The chill of her reservations melted under the warmth of his grin, and the prospect of hanging around with Kit Jarvis for any length of time brought a burn of excitement to Ruby’s heart, a sensation quite unlike anything she’d experienced before.

  The days passed in a whirl of activity. There always seemed so much to achieve and so little time in which to do it. Finding sufficient food for them all to eat, and fuel for the fire so they could keep warm, was a relentless, all-consuming task. And since there were so many of them in the Jarvis household, Kit’s share had to stretch further. Ruby, still fearful of becoming a burden, was not surprised when one morning, over their usual cuppa together while Kit was at the docks, Marie asked how much longer she would be staying. It was gently done, with shamefaced reluctance, but the meaning was clear.

  Quick as a flash, and without giving it a moment’s thought, Ruby answered. ‘We’re leaving today, s’matter of fact. Meant to tell you but I forgot.’ She could feel her cheeks growing warm at the lie but Marie didn’t notice, or if she did, chose not to question the decision. ‘It’s long past time we moved on but thanks for your help. We’ve really appreciated it.’ She kissed the baby’s cheek, hugged Marie, and then ordered her somewhat stunned brother and sister out of the door. Billy, as always, blindly obeyed, having made up his mind that so long as he stuck fast to Ruby, he’d be all right. Pearl was not so easily budged. She stood on the steps in a sulk.

  ‘Do we have to go now? This minute?’

  ‘Yes, Pearl. Come on.’

  ‘But where will I sleep?’

  ‘You’ll sleep with us, as always. Come on, Pearl, we haven’t all day.’

  ‘But where are we going?’

  ‘We’ll talk about that later.’

  ‘What if I get cold or hungry? What will I do then?’

  Ruby felt close to panic, not having a single idea in her head as to where they should go or what they should do, yet desperate not to be a nuisance to anyone. Pearl’s selfishness wasn’t helping. ‘Stop saying I ... I ... I! There’s three of us here. We’re all in this together.’

  ‘You don’t have to rush off this minute,’ Marie said, having followed them outside. ‘Wait till our Kit gets back at least.’

  ‘No thanks, best if we get on our way.’ Now that she’d made up her mind to accept the inevitable, Ruby knew that seeing Kit again would only undermine her resolve.

  Coping alone on the streets proved to be every bit as dreadful as Ruby had feared. She did her best for her family, but somehow the tricks she’d learned from Kit didn’t seem half so much fun on her own, or half so easy to accomplish. They were chased off the allotments by an angry old man when he caught them pulling carrots, and Pearl nearly fell in the river when they tried, and failed, to catch fish. Billy found what might have been mushrooms but since Ruby wasn’t sure, she made him throw them away in case they were poisonous toadstools. The little boy didn’t even have the energy to cry.

  Unfortunately, not even exhaustion kept Pearl quiet. ‘I’m hungry,’ she’d wail, or ‘I need a rest,’ at what seemed to be half-hourly intervals throughout the long days and nights.

  ‘Oh, Pearl, do please shut up. We’re all hungry and tired. Your constant complaining doesn’t help.’ Ruby grew increasingly afraid, felt exhausted much of the time, as well as freezing cold, her clothes never quite drying out from one rain shower to the next. And, worst of all, Billy began to cough.

  They slept in doorways, under railway bridges or in back alleys, with nothing to cover them but dirty sacks and any old newspapers they found lying around. Sometimes even this relative shelter would be denied them by one or other of the marauding gangs who roamed the area and proved to be far less obliging than Kit’s lot. So they would move on, further and further away from the territory they knew well.

  One night they were trailing sadly about under the labyrinth of railway arches and the Bridgewater Viaduct that spanned Castlefield, the slap of water in the nearby Rochdale Canal hardly noticeable above the rumble of trains thundering overhead. Somewhere in the distance a whistle blew. No doubt a gang leader calling his lads together, a common enough practice. Ruby paid no heed. She felt light-headed with hunger and fatigue, shivering with cold, and was desperately searching for a safe place to sleep which wasn’t already occupied, or wouldn’t leave them vulnerable to intruders when a figure stepped out from behind a pillar right in front of them. Ruby’s heart seemed to leap into her throat.

  `What way is this to treat a friend, to buzz off without so much as a goodbye?’

  She flung herself into his arms and kissed him full on the lips. For a precious moment Kit responded and she felt herself held tight and warm and safe, his body hard against her own. She was a child still, yet somewhere, deep inside, the woman she was to become stirred into life and Ruby became all too aware of the masculine scent of him, the warm strength of his young body. And she recognised too, in that magical moment, that he was equally aware of hers.

  He let her go abruptly, with a casual shrug of embarrassment, avoiding direct eye contact as he thrust his hands deep in his pockets, as if keeping them from further mischief. ‘I don’t know where you thought you were going, rushing out of Salford like that, but you don’t seem to be making much of a job of it.’ His scathing glance took in the bedraggled appearance of the other two, and Ruby gave a sheepish smile.

  ‘We don’t have your skills.’

  He gave a slow smile that turned her heart right over. ‘Then you’d best come home with me and have some more lessons.’

  Whether she would have gone with him or not, Ruby was never to discover. At that moment Charlie and Clem, who had obviously been acting as lookouts, burst upon them like a pair of harbingers of doom, falling over each other to speak.

  ‘It’s the Coal Wharf Gang, they’ve heard we’re on their patch.’

  ‘Scarper!’

  Before any of them had time to think, let alone make a run for it, they were set upon from every direction. Fists and clogs were soon flying, shouts went up, blood flowed, teeth were broken, jaws cracked. Ruby grabbed Billy and Pearl, her one thought to protect them, and the three clung together, shaking with fear, as the battle raged between the two rival gangs. It was terrifying to watch, and the fear she felt for Kit and his lads grew, for they were seriously outnumbered.

  Then a shout went up. ‘It’s the rozzers!’

  ‘Look out, they’re after you, Kit, and mean business.’

  But it wasn’t Kit the police were after, at all. The three McBride children were suddenly plucked from behind the arch where they were hiding, and found themselves caught up in the arms of
the law.

  They soon learned that Sister Joseph, having remained obstinately persistent throughout these long weeks, had pestered her tame constable to keep a lookout. So it was that on this night when sheer exhaustion had driven the children out into the open, they’d finally been spotted.

  As boys ran in all directions, most making an escape but many failing to do so, Kit too was taken into custody, along with Charlie and Clem. Ruby’s last sight of Pongo and Jackdaw was of them haring away down the canal towpath. She felt glad that they, at least, had got away.

  They were all brought before the magistrates where their punishments were issued with no trace of leniency. No one was interested in listening to their stories, or wished to hear how they’d been desperate to find out the truth about their dying mother, how Billy had been bullied and that they’d wanted only to earn an honest crust and live a normal family life together. Nor did anyone give a thought to how Marie and her four younger children would manage without Kit’s help and the money he brought in.

  The three McBrides were accused of delinquency, as well as gross misconduct and ingratitude to the sisters of Ignatius House. It was decided that they needed to be protected from the evils and degenerative influences of city life, and that the only recourse was for Ruby and Pearl to attend the Girls’ Reformatory for a term of four years. Billy was to be sent to a farm school to learn a trade. Charlie and Clem were likewise condemned to the reformatory. Kit Jarvis, a well-known hooligan in the eyes of the magistrates, was to be consigned to the rigours of the reformatory training ship for a period of three years where a final attempt at reformation would be made. It was made quite clear to him that if this didn’t work, his next place of residence would be in Her Majesty’s prison.

  Kit cast one final glance in Ruby’s direction, and although the blue eyes glittered with outrage rather than good humour, his grin was as cocky and insolent as ever. Ruby suddenly found herself grinning back, her eyes silently begging him to understand that although they could do what they liked to his physical person, they could never crush his spirit. She certainly intended that to be the case so far as she was concerned. But as he was led away, her heart was aching, for she held little hope they’d ever meet again.