by Paul Kelly
To me, human beings were to be cared for and even idolized. I loved my work and I told Jane just how much it meant to me to be able to help in the school and I asked her if she wanted me to clarify my position with Miss Johansson, but she told me to forget the incident and added that Miss Johansson was an atheist and that she just thought I was an unusually kind, charitable and forgiving person because if we were living in Nazi Germany now, neither Miss Cohen or any of the school children would be alive today. They would have been tortured mercilessly to death and then the world would have forgotten. . . I pondered over what I had thought about my life as a Jewess and wondered if it would have been any different if I had been born of Christian parents, when suddenly Jane interrupted my dreams.
“Steph,” she said and her voice was vague as if she had something to say that would be difficult to express and I waited, “Steph, I am afraid I haven’t been entirely honest with you,” she said and I was puzzled as to why she should say that as I had always felt happy and content in Jane’s company. “My brother Karl who came to see me the other day, was one of the reasons why I invited you to stay with me in my flat, Other teachers in the school had problems with living quarters but I would never have thought to suggest that any one of them would come and stay with me . . . and there were ulterior motives in my plan. I knew Karl was coming to see me for a few days and I already knew of his infatuation for this other creature at the hospital where he works. You know the other doctor with the kids . . .”
“Yes, you already told me about that and I am truly sorry and wish he could find a more suitable partner, but if this other doctor truly loves your brother and he truly loves her, there could be no harm in their joint relationship, surely Jane.”
“Stephanie Cohen . . . what are you saying? You know that this could not be love. It is purely a fascination as I have said because I understand this female doctor is very well qualified and is expected to become a senior surgeon very soon. . . as indeed Karl had ambitions to become a surgeon himself. This is the attraction. It is NOT LOVE . . . or if it is with Karl, I would say it is self-love in the hopes that she may better his career.”
I was sorry to hear what Jane had to say and as I thought hard about her premise; I realized that there could be some truth and reality in what she said, but I was not prepared for what she would say next.
“Steph, I like you as a friend. You know that, don’t you . . . and I think you are a devoted and lovely person to have on my staff. From the first moment you came to me for that interview, I knew before I asked you a question that I wanted you to be here. I wanted you to share my flat as I knew that Karl was coming to see me and I had hopes that he might find you attractive enough to want to stay longer here in London or at least, to rethink his thoughts on this other woman. He likes you. He told me he thought you were very attractive and even went on to ask if you were married. Now surely that should give you some idea of how he felt. Can you ask yourself why he would ask if you were married or not? He must have had some ideas in his head that would contradict this other ‘attraction’ in Canada, surely.”
I understood what Jane was saying and I was flattered in some way.
Well most any girl would be flattered since Karl was a very good-looking guy with terrific prospects, but I think my ideas were different from those of Jane and I sat down beside her and took her hand in mine.
“Jane, I am indeed flattered at what you say and how you feel about me as a friend, but although I thought Karl was . . . very dishy, to say the least and I could say that I could very easily be attracted to his company as a man, I could never say that I was in love with him to marry him and to be honest, I don’t think for one single moment that marriage with me was ever a single thought in Karl’s mind.” Jane looked into my eyes and squeezed my hand.
“I think you are wrong, Steph. If you had heard what Karl said about you, you would think very differently. He thought you were . . . to use his own words, GORGEOUS and asked me to tell him more about you. Now would that be the thoughts of a man who had never seen you before he came here to stay in this flat?”
“Men are prone to flattery, Jane, but I think if you get in touch with Karl now you will find that he still feels strongly for this woman doctor at his hospital.”
At that moment one of the other teachers came in to ask me if I would be kind enough to deal with my little friend Adam who needed his nappy changed and I went straight away to do what I loved doing and my thoughts for Karl Templeton were farthest from my mind.
Chapter Eight
It was just on three-thirty in the afternoon and I had changed into my coat when little Adam’s father appeared at the school gates. He smiled at me again as I was leaving to go home to the flat and I smiled back telling him I was glad that Adam’s mummy had called to pick him up the day before and he looked strange for a second before he smiled again.
“Oh no. . .that would have been my sister-in-law. My brother and his wife are staying with me for a few days,” he said and I made a feeble apology thinking I had said the wrong thing as I told him that I had anticipated that the lady who came for Adam was his mother and I got my answer . . .
“Adam’s mum does not live with me anymore and my brother and his wife are hoping to buy my house and come and live here.”
“But why would you have to move away?” I dared to ask and Adam’s father shook his head as he explained that the mortgage had become impossible and he had the offer of a smaller flat which would do for him and his young son Adam.
“I don’t suppose I will be seeing Adam here anymore then . . .Is that right?”
“Yes, that is right,” he replied, “and I will be very sorry to leave this district also and especially Adam’s school as I never expected such care and excellent attention for Adam when I first brought him here. I wish you well in your job, Miss and I am sorry I have never been given your name and you have been the one here who has been kindest to my little boy. Adam grins and chortles every time he sees you and that is a great compliment. He doesn’t talk very well at the moment but we are working on that.”
“My name is Cohen . . . Stephanie Cohen, but likewise I don’t know your name as I am quite new here and I never look at the register. I just get to know the children by their Christian names.”
“I’m Stan . . . Stan Baldwin,” he replied and put forward his hand as if to shake mine. “If you are free this evening, could I be so bold as to ask you out to dinner with me. This is one free evening for me now that my brother Robert is here and he and his wife will be able to look after Adam . . .if you are free.”
“Yes,” I replied very happily, “and you are very bold but I would like to have dinner with you this evening. Can I meet you somewhere or will you . . .?”
“Tell me your address and I will pick you up there.”
As we were talking I could hear a car hooting its horn and as I looked I could see Jane waving at me to let me know that she was ready to drive me home, so I apologised to Stan Baldwin; gave him my address and sped off home with Jane. When I told Jane what had happened, she told me that Mr. Baldwin was waiting for his divorce as his wife of only three years had found someone else and had decided to leave Stan Baldwin and their little son Adam. When I told Jane that I had agreed to have dinner that evening with Stan Baldwin, she looked at me in surprise.
“At Mr. Baldwin’s home, I presume,” she said, “and what will young Adam be doing?” she asked and I explained that Stan’s brother and his wife had come to stay with him for a while and they would look after Adam whilst Stan Baldwin and I went out to dinner.
Stan Baldwin picked me up in his car and we had a lovely meal together where he told me that he was waiting for his divorce as his wife had fallen out of love with him after three years of marriage, although he had lived with her for seven years before they married. . . but mostly because she could not bond with little Adam.
&nbs
p; His wife, Jenny could not bathe or do any toilet jobs with Adam, whereas Stan could do nothing else. He loved the little boy and found it hard for his then wife Jenny to feel as she did, but when she told him that she had found another man in her life, he knew it was time for a divorce and to allow her to go free wherever she wished to go Stan Baldwin told me there was no comparison between his wife and his son. His son Adam was HIS LIFE AND HIS PURPOSE FOR LIVING . . . It seems too, that Jenny had found another man . . . a young boy of seventeen . . .and Stan simply stood back and let her go.
Stan told me that he was buying a small flat near Southend and suggested as it was not so very far away that I might like to come and visit him sometime when he had got the flat all cleaned up, which he thought might take him at least six months and then he added I could see Adam again and he knew that would be a great day for Adam if I could do that. Apparently Robert, Stan’s brother and Robert’s wife Sylvia wanted to move into Stan’s house and they intended to do so straight away as soon as Stan moved to Southend and I was led to believe that Stan was leaving in two days’ time.
Our evening ended happily and I agreed to visit Stan whenever he had his flat sorted out and he drove me home and blushingly kissed my cheek as I left the car to go to Jane’s flat.
Looking back after that lovely evening and after many other evenings had passed, I never ever heard any more from Stan Baldwin and I put that silence down to some important event happening in Stan’s life since he moved. After all, he was a very handsome GENTLEMAN and he could well have found himself a very beautiful LADY somewhere out there in the wicked, evil world of partnerships.
Chapter Nine
Jane and I spent many happy evenings together chatting about everything imaginable as most woman do, but on one particular evening, she asked me if I had ever seen Stan Baldwin again and I told her that I hadn’t seen him but I had never ever thought that I might.
“Have you ever had a boyfriend,” she asked me and I shook my head as she sat back in surprise, “But you are rather a beautiful girl,” she added “and I would imagine that many a young man has made a pass at you, yes. . . No?”
“NO,” I replied very enthusiastically and she giggled.
“And what about you, Miss Jane Templeton?” I asked and Jane looked to the ceiling.
“Do you remember I told you that I had sister and that she was very happily married and living in Glasgow?” she said and I sat back waiting to hear what juicy news was to come next and I say ‘juicy’ as Jane’s face didn’t look too happy and she continued. “Well, my lovely sister Amelia Florentine BRADY, nee TEMPLETON, is not as happily married as I would have hoped her to be. In fact, Amy as we call her was a veritable cow to live with, now that you ask. She could never do wrong and was more beautiful than me by a long chalk, so she told me . . . She could have been a film star . . . she said of herself. . . I laughed when Jane said that, but her face took on a very serious expression as she went on.
“Amy is younger than me by three years and even a saint would have to have patience to live with her, but you could never tell her that.”
I had to laugh again when I looked at Jane’s face and listened to what she was saying “Steph, you have never been engaged or married or anything like that, have you?”
“No,” I replied, “but I think you mentioned once that YOU had a love, but you didn’t tell me what happened and I didn’t push it.”
“Yes, I did have a love once in my empty old life,” said Jane, “but my beautiful sister jumped in and seduced him and that is why she is living unhappily with him in Glasgow, but I could have told her that, if she would have listened, but she knew everything and told me that he would USE me to get to her as indeed any man would.”
I felt very sorry for Jane when she told me that, but I was about to ask her how she knew that her sister was unhappy if she never ever heard from her when she sighed heavily and looked straight into my face.
“Damien Brady is her husband and the man I loved before Amy took over and he telephoned me about a week ago . . . just to ask how I was . . . which I thought was rather odd . . . and after a little while it came out that he was very unhappy with Amy and that he thought she was seeing another man. I asked him how he could be sure of this and he told me that Amy had moved out of their house and he understood she was now living down in London. This was the reason for the telephone call, because Damian thought that Amy would get in touch with me as she had left Glasgow, but I assured Damian and I had never seen her and if I had done, I would hardly have welcomed her into my home. Damian asked me if I had got married since he last saw me and I was tempted to tell him that I had married four times and was now happily divorced from the lot of them, but I started to cry and he tried to console by telling me that he had always loved me and that he had made the biggest mistake of his life when he went off with Amy. He and Amy had no children and yet I am sure she told me once that they wanted to have a large family . . . So much for her enthusiasm to make sure I would feel all the pain she could give.” I put my arms around Jane and she cried all the more.
“And Amy has never been in touch with you,” I asked, “Now that she is supposed to be so near . . . in London?”
“No, and I don’t want to see the bloody cow . . . Oh sorry Steph.
That is not the language I should use, Sorry.”
Everything we said and did that evening which was on the Tuesday would stay in our minds for a long time, but both Jane and I had to attend the school every day and work conscientiously with the children, however I was a little surprised that Jane did not come to school on the following Friday and as I had set off normally that morning going to school by bus as I always did if Jane was not outside the flat with her car and there were several reasons why she did not use her car and anyway, I felt I was imposing and often felt relieved that the car was not there. I began to wonder if she had been taken ill after I had left the flat, but there was no phone call to let me know if anything untoward had happened to her. It was later that day when I arrived home about 4.0pm and found Jane crying as she sat beside the television, but there was no picture on the screen. The TV was not turned on. It took me some time to get her to speak to me and when she did, she was very upset.
“When you left for school this morning Steph, I was just about to follow you and I remembered that the car had been in the garage for its MOT. I knew then that you must have remembered and had taken the bus, but as I made my way to the bus stop, I was waylaid by someone who took my breath away. To my utter surprise it was my sister Amy and I asked her how she had managed to find out where I was staying.”
I was just as surprised as Jane to hear this news and I asked her what explanation she was given and it was the same answer as I had expected, the secretary at the school was the culprit. Someone had telephoned the school and given her name as Mrs Brady and she wanted to speak to Miss Templeton, but Jane was only told this when the secretary phoned her and by this time Amy was on her way to your address.
Jane dried her eyes and looked very sadly at me, but I made her sit still whilst I made a pot of tea.
“Amy told me that she had been living in London for the past five weeks and when I asked her where she had stayed in that time, she couldn’t give me a satisfactory answer. All she said was she was sleeping rough and that she had met a nice fella who took her for meals occasionally and I wondered who paid for the meals” We had our tea and a few little sponges that I found in a kitchen cupboard as Jane continued. “Amy seemed very keen on this ‘fella’ but she was more keen to find a place to stay and when I asked her what thoughts she had on that matter, she simply answered that she was sure I would help her out and let her stay with me, but I protested immediately and told her that I had a ‘lodger’ and there was no more room for visitors. Amy began to swear when I told her this and said she couldn’t understand how a stranger would be more welcome in the flat than s
he as she was flesh and blood.”
‘Who the fuckin’ ell is this bastard?’ she said and I told her to watch her language, but she paid no heed and added that I was a ‘stupid fucker’ to let anyone stay in my flat unless I could prove that they were ‘ligit’
I had to smile at the way Jane spoke about her sister and her choice language. This was a vocabulary totally strange to Jane and she didn’t even pronounce the vulgar words with any authority and I was lost for anything to say to her that would make any sense.
“Should I move out for your sister to come in here,” I said and I was very sincere in the way I wanted to help as I could have moved back, even reluctantly with Sarah and Martin, but Jane would not hear of it.
“No, you will not move out . . No, not ever. My sister is foul mouthed and I do not want her to be anywhere near me. Let her get this man that she is so fond of to get her a place if he doesn’t want her to move in with him.”
We talked for a long time but with no resolution except that Amy was not going to stay at the flat . . .
It was more than Jane could stand to live again with her hateful sister.
Chapter Ten
Jane and I went to school the following morning, but we got a greater surprise than either of us had expected. Sitting on a seat near Jane’s office was a girl with tatty clothes and large ladders in her tights.
Her lipstick was all over her chin and she looked as though she hadn’t washed for weeks. . . Jane gasped and stood still. . . It was Amy and she grinned stupidly as we approached.
“What are you doing here?” Jane shouted and several of the teachers looked round, “I want you out of this school immediately, do you hear .. .”
