A Nest of Singing Birds

by A Nest of Singing Birds (retail) (epub)

  ‘I was driven mad,’ she said, moaning with pain as she attempted to move.

  Fred told Julia and Pat about it when they came to see Carrie, alerted by Eileen.

  ‘I can’t speak civilly to that old faggot,’ he said forcefully. ‘I’m sorry, Julia. I know she’s your mother but when I see the pain Carrie’s in I can’t help it.’

  Julia went to see her mother and told her that while Carrie was in bed it would be better if she came to stay with her family.

  ‘We’ll bring all your statues and anything you want, Ma, and we’ve got a warm bedroom ready for you,’ she said.

  She said nothing of the shift round that had been necessary to make room for her mother and her mother asked no questions but simply decided that she would be more comfortable with Julia.

  She said nothing to Carrie or Fred about the ten years of care she had received from them, only said that the sciatica was a judgement on Carrie for her laxness with Theresa.

  ‘It’s people like her who get religion a bad name,’ Fred said but Julia said softly, ‘We appreciate what you and Carrie and all your family have done for her, Fred,’ and Pat shook his hand.

  ‘You’ve been a trouper,’ he said. ‘I only hope we can be half as patient.’

  When the time came for Grandma Houlihan to leave the Andersons’ Fred relented and kissed her and told her that she would be welcome to come back when Carrie was better.

  ‘I think this winter has got us all down,’ he said, and later to Pat when they were in the pub he said that Grandma was ‘not a bad old bird, really’.

  ‘I still say that you and Carrie have been Trojans,’ Pat said. ‘It won’t be so bad for us because we’ve come fresh to it but you’ve had nearly ten years.’

  ‘We used to get on like a house on fire, in spite of her religious mania,’ Fred said, laughing heartily. ‘It’s only this last year or so we’ve rubbed each other up the wrong way. She’ll enjoy the change of scene with you and she’s very fond of all your family.’

  ‘She hasn’t lived with them at close quarters yet,’ Pat said with a grin.

  Anne still felt resentful about being forbidden to go out with Tom but enjoyed the repartee with the other young men. Sarah was upset because Michael had asked her to go to the cinema only a few weeks after her grandfather’s death.

  ‘He knows I’m in mourning,’ she said to Anne. ‘My grandma says my grandfather didn’t think people should feel obliged to mourn, but I want to. I certainly don’t feel like going to the pictures and I thought he’d understand that.’

  ‘Perhaps he thought it would cheer you up?’ Anne suggested.

  ‘He doesn’t know me very well then,’ Sarah said. ‘It’s as bad as Mabel with her daily dose of news about deaths in the neighbourhood.’

  Anne smiled. ‘She does it for the same reason,’ she said. ‘She thinks it might make you feel better to know that others are bereaved too. I know it’s daft but as my Grandma Fitzgerald used to say: “There’s nowt so queer as folk.” At least it gives us a break from royalty.’

  Sarah smiled ruefully. ‘Do you know, she’s been five times to see that Pathé News where they showed the king’s funeral?’

  ‘Everyone in Everton must have heard her tell about the cross falling from the State crown as the gun carriage bumped over the tramlines.’

  ‘And Gypsy Rose Lee’s prediction that the Prince of Wales or rather King Edward VIII would be king but would never be crowned.’

  ‘I suppose if he has so much as a cold they’ll expect him to die,’ Sarah said.

  ‘I can’t understand why Mabel’s so obsessed with royalty,’ Anne commented but Sarah said tolerantly, ‘She hasn’t much else in her life. Hardly any relations.’

  Anne talked to Maureen about Mabel that evening. ‘Strange how some people have hardly any relations and others have almost too many, like us,’ she said. ‘Even Sarah hasn’t many. Her father was an only child and her mother only has one sister who lives in America. Sarah doesn’t like her.’

  ‘How does she know, if the aunt lives in America?’ Maureen said.

  ‘Apparently she came home last year. Sarah liked her husband but said her aunt was very vain and selfish.’

  ‘She won’t see much of her anyway if she lives in America,’ Maureen said. ‘Do you think Sarah’s getting over her loss?’

  ‘It’s a bit soon, isn’t it?’ Anne said. ‘She was upset because Michael asked her to go to the pictures. Not very sensitive, is he? And she said her brother was very bitter about all the fuss about the king’s funeral. He says his grandfather was more worthy of all that palaver.’

  ‘I thought his grandfather had a wonderful funeral,’ Maureen said. ‘From what I’ve heard, I’d be proud if I was shown half that respect when I died.’

  ‘Oh, don’t, Mo!’ Anne exclaimed. ‘Don’t talk like that.’

  ‘Let’s talk about something nice instead,’ her sister said. ‘Bridie came to see Mum today and gave her a lovely bit of news. She’s going to have a baby.’

  ‘Bridie is? I’m made up,’ Anne said joyfully.

  ‘So am I,’ said Maureen. She looked doubtfully at Anne. ‘I suppose you understand about babies?’

  Anne blushed. ‘I thought they came in the nurse’s bag until just before I left school,’ she said. ‘But a girl in the class told me that they grow inside their mother. I thought she was having me on at first.’

  ‘I didn’t know until after I left and neither did Eileen,’ Maureen said. ‘That girl must have been very forward.’

  ‘She said her mother told her,’ Anne said. ‘Imagine Mum telling us.’ ‘Don’t tell her I told you,’ Maureen said. ‘She’s very reserved about such things. She only told me for – for a special reason.’

  Anne guessed that the special reason had something to do with the mystery she sensed surrounding Maureen but her sister said no more. The news about Bridie had cheered Anne and she told Sarah hoping it would have the same effect on her but warned her not to mention it to Mabel.

  ‘I don’t know whether Bridie wants everyone to know,’ she said. ‘My mum doesn’t know that I know. She hasn’t mentioned it to me – she might think I don’t know anything about babies.’

  ‘Mabel would probably say she was forty when she found out,’ Sarah said with a grin. ‘I’m made up for your aunt though, Anne. She deserves to be happy, doesn’t she?’

  ‘Yes. It’s nice to hear some cheerful news, isn’t it? This winter seems to be lasting forever. I’m really fed up.’

  A few days later she felt even more despondent. The firm where Tom worked closed down and he stopped coming to the shop for pies.

  ‘I suppose that’s the last I’ll see of him,’ she told Sarah. ‘He didn’t even come to say goodbye.’

  ‘He didn’t have any warning though, did he?’ Sarah said. ‘Their cards and wages were sent to them on Sunday.’

  A few days later Tom called at the shop and told Anne that he was searching for another job, but so far without success. ‘The firm played a dirty trick on us, I think,’ he said. ‘We got no warning at all but they must have known it was closing before we left work at midday on Saturday.’

  He continued to call into the shop at intervals, seeming more and more depressed about his prospects of finding another job. Eventually he told Anne that the only job he had been able to obtain was in Scotland and he would have to move there.

  ‘I don’t want to leave Liverpool but anything’s better than being out of work,’ he said.

  ‘You’ll feel at home there with your red hair,’ Anne joked, hoping to cheer him up, but he still looked gloomy.

  He asked her to write to him and said he would wait for her to grow up, which annoyed her, but she replied to his letters when they came.

  The bitter weather continued and everyone seemed downhearted. Trade was slack and Mrs Dyson said it was always the same. ‘You do well before Christmas,’ she said, ‘then afterwards nobody has any money and the shop’s empty.’

 
; ‘And the customers we do have, every one of them leaves the door open,’ Mabel grumbled. ‘In the summer they close it and in the winter they leave it wide open.’

  Anne and Sarah agreed but while Mabel and Mrs Dyson talked Sarah said to Anne, ‘My grandma gave me Grandad’s books last night. I was reading one of the books of poetry and I came across “The West Wind” by Shelley. Do you know it?’

  ‘Not off by heart,’ Anne said. ‘But I remember some lines from it.’

  ‘Do you remember the last line?’ Sarah asked. ‘“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” It really cheered me up to read that.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Anne said rather doubtfully. ‘Except that spring does seem far behind this year. I don’t ever remember being so fed up. The cold, and slipping and sliding to work, and chilblains and then at home Grandma Houlihan sitting there. We’ve got to watch every word we say and we can’t get near the fire. If I didn’t love this job I’d shoot myself.’

  Sarah grinned. ‘You are in a bad way,’ she said. ‘I thought your grandma stayed in bed.’

  ‘No, she says she can’t get used to the strange room,’ Anne said. ‘I know I shouldn’t grumble about her but I’m sure she comes down and sits there for spite. Mum used to sit in that chair by the hob and Dad on the oven side of the fire and we could all gather round, sitting on the rug or on stools.’

  ‘That’s how Mum and Dad have their chairs,’ Sarah exclaimed. ‘But we sit in them if they’re not using them.’

  ‘So did we, but there seemed plenty of space. Now Grandma seems to spread right across in front of the fire with all her wrappings and if we stand close she says we’re distracting her from her prayers. Our Stephen says he’s saying his prayers backwards when she talks like that. I think he means he’s swearing under his breath,’ Anne said. ‘And she finds fault with everything we say.’

  ‘Perhaps it’ll get better as she settles in,’ Sarah tried to console her.

  ‘It must do,’ Anne said. ‘I’m sure the Andersons couldn’t have put up with this for all those years.’

  ‘The weather’s bound to get better soon and then it won’t matter about the fire,’ Sarah said and Anne smiled ruefully.

  ‘I’m sorry. I sound a right moaner and I haven’t got much to moan about really. It’s funny though, sometimes I feel really miserable and the next minute I feel happy and don’t know why.’

  ‘That’s funny. So do I,’ Sarah said.

  ‘I wonder if it’s because we’re what my mum calls betwixt and between?’ Anne said.

  ‘Probably,’ Sarah agreed.

  ‘You’ll have to ask your friend what it says in Peg’s Paper,’ Anne said, laughing, but mention of the magazine made them both think of Michael.

  ‘I’m sure he’ll ask you out again when you’re out of mourning,’ Anne said. ‘He really cares for you, Sarah. I know by the way he looks at you.’

  ‘He puzzles me,’ she said. ‘We’ve been talking more in the shop lately and sometimes he seems as though he really likes me then he seems to go all formal. As though he likes me but thinks he shouldn’t.’

  ‘You don’t think Michael could be married?’ Anne asked Sarah one day when she had seen them talking together and thought she saw the sudden stiffness in Michael’s manner that Sarah had spoken of.

  ‘I’m sure he’s not.’

  ‘Perhaps he’s just shy then as Mabel says,’ Anne said. ‘You’d think with looks like that he’d have plenty of experience with girls, though, wouldn’t you?’

  They were interrupted by customers and Anne decided that Michael’s behaviour was just one more mystery. I feel as though I’m surrounded by them, she thought.

  She had heard no more about the O’Neills. It was too cold to hang about waiting to see Kathleen leave work and Maureen had heard no more because the O’Neills’ neighbour had sprained her wrist in a fall on the icy pavements and had been unable to knit.

  Maureen was spending more time than ever at church and seemed moody but Anne sensed at times that she was very unhappy. It was impossible to ask Maureen or her mother why and no one else seemed to be aware of the mystery.

  Anne passed a wayside pulpit outside a small church on her way home and one night there was a fresh poster there saying: ‘Be not afraid. In due time all will be revealed’. She took it as a sign and decided to stop wondering about all that puzzled her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  At last spring arrived, with a warm west wind melting the snow and ice which still lingered in places. Everyone was suddenly more cheerful and Anne told Sarah that it felt like a new lease of life.

  ‘Even Grandma seems different,’ she said. ‘Although that’s got less to do with spring than with Father Monaghan.’

  ‘Why? What did he do?’ asked Sarah.

  ‘He came to see her. The priests often visit her and Mum leaves them to talk to her. I don’t know what he said but Mum told us that Grandma said to her, “You won’t hear me grumbling again, Julia. I’m going to keep a still tongue in my head and offer up my sufferings and the annoyances I have for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.”’

  ‘It’ll be a relief for all of you but especially for your mum,’ Sarah said.

  ‘Yes, she’s borne the brunt of it and never moaned like the rest of us,’ Anne admitted. ‘I think I’ll offer to stay with Grandma tomorrow so that Mum can go to see Aunt Carrie. Strike while the iron’s hot and Grandma’s more likely to agree.’

  Grandma Houlihan agreed and Julia was able to go the following day, which was Anne’s half day. No one expected visitors during the extremely cold weather, and although the Fitzgeralds had visited Carrie while she was confined to bed, it was several weeks since anyone but Eileen had been to the Anderson house.

  It was longer still since they had seen Minnie but Julia said she would only visit Carrie on this occasion.

  She came home full of news which could not be mentioned until her mother had retired for the night, but as soon as the evening meal and the family prayers were over Grandma was settled in bed.

  Tony, Stephen and Terry were getting ready to go out but the rest of the family had gathered in the kitchen when Julia began, ‘Carrie was so glad to see me. She hasn’t been across the door while the weather’s been so bad, but what a lot has been happening! Brendan’s turned up again.’

  ‘When?’ everyone asked in unison.

  ‘A few days ago,’ Carrie said, ‘and dressed up to dolrags. Fred said his policeman friend told him Brendan hadn’t been in gaol but he thinks he’s been in trouble with a gang and lying low.’

  ‘In Liverpool?’ Eileen exclaimed.

  ‘No, it was a London gang. Brendan did something for another fellow from London and that’s why he was in trouble. Carrie didn’t know the ins and outs of it, but anyway Brendan’s back home as large as life.’

  ‘Has Aunt Carrie seen Auntie Minnie?’ Maureen asked.

  ‘No, but Theresa has. She met her face to face and Minnie said in a nasty way, “Tell your mother my son’s home again and very prosperous. It’s not what she wants to hear but it’ll stop her wondering about him”,’ said Julia.

  ‘What did Theresa say?’ exclaimed Eileen.

  ‘Nothing. She was too flabbergasted, but our Carrie’s furious. She says when she sees Minnie she’ll tell her she doesn’t care whether he’s here or in Timbuctoo.’

  ‘He must think he’s out of danger then,’ Pat said, puffing thoughtfully at his pipe. ‘That lad’s a bad lot and always will be.’

  ‘But that’s not all,’ Julia went on excitedly. ‘Dympna must be getting married! Minnie said to Theresa that there might be wedding bells for Dympna before there were any for her. That’s all Theresa told her mother but she whispered to me in the hall that Minnie said, “There’ll be wedding bells for our Dympna before there are any for you, for all you’ve been passed from one lad to another like an old handrag.” Our Carrie’d kill her if she heard that.’

  ‘What a thing to say!’ Maureen said, looking shocked. A
nd Eileen exclaimed, ‘But Dympna! I’m dying to see the fellow who would marry her.’

  ‘Did you know Theresa was getting engaged?’ Julia asked Eileen.

  ‘Yes, I did,’ she admitted. ‘But I didn’t want to steal her thunder. I thought it was Theresa’s privilege to announce it.’

  ‘Well, Carrie told me so it’s all right to talk about it now,’ Julia said. ‘They’ll get engaged at Easter. Carrie and Fred like the lad.’

  ‘Jim’s a nice fellow,’ Eileen said. ‘I think they’re well suited and Jim’s a printer so they’ll be all right for money.’

  ‘And you’ll be a bridesmaid, Eileen, you and Carmel,’ Julia said.

  She nodded. ‘I wonder what Minnie has to say about our family if she’s saying that about Theresa?’ she said. ‘She’ll be asking about wedding bells for me and Maureen.’

  Maureen blushed but before anyone else could speak Julia said quickly, ‘If that bold Bernadette had her way our Tony would have been married long ago.’

  ‘I know. Jerry said the lads sing “A hunting we will go” when they see her coming,’ Eileen said.

  ‘And she hears them!’ Julia exclaimed.

  ‘Oh, no. They just sing it quietly to tease Tony but Jerry says he should watch out. He’s seen persistence win with other fellows,’ said Eileen.

  Maureen’s blush had faded and she said nothing, but Anne felt sure that her mother had deliberately diverted attention from her. Tony chose that moment to look in and announced that he was going out, and was amazed when everyone laughed.

  ‘Mind yourself, son,’ his mother said. And Eileen added, ‘Yes. Watch out for arrows.’

  ‘Arrows? What are you talking about?’ he said. ‘Who’s firing arrows?’

  ‘Cupid,’ Eileen declared with a laugh, then she and Anne collapsed in giggles on the sofa.

  ‘You’re nuts,’ Tony said. ‘Ta-ra, Mum.’

  ‘You shouldn’t tease him, Eileen,’ her mother said, but she was smiling.

  * * *

  A few days later Sarah asked Anne if she would like to go to the pictures with her.