‘You’ve got good minders there, Bridie,’ Fred said, and she said fondly, ‘Yes. I don’t know what I’d do without the lads to help me.’
Minnie and Dympna were absent but Carrie told Julia that Dympna was having a difficult pregnancy. ‘I went to ask them to come tonight and felt really sorry for Minnie and for Dympna. They both looked terrible.’
‘I know. I feel so sorry for them too,’ Julia said. ‘Minnie came to see Ma at Christmas and she broke her heart crying. Ma told me afterwards that Dympna’s husband is always out drinking and he comes home and threatens Minnie and her if they say a word to him. It’s a thousand pities she ever married him.’
‘Poor Minnie,’ Carrie said. ‘She’s got a wicked tongue, but she hasn’t had much luck in life, has she?’
Carrie was called away and Tony came with his girlfriend to sit with his mother. Helen was a tiny girl with a pretty face and a warm personality, and all the Fitzgeralds liked her. Anne thought she had never seen Tony so happy. Helen had been to tea with the Fitzgerald family, and Tony had been invited to her home.
* * *
Anne had decided that as soon as Christmas was over she would try again to see Kathleen O’Neill, and on the next Wednesday went to wait near the coal merchant’s office. Mrs O’Neill and Cormac were not there and Anne was delighted to see Kathleen leaving the office with another girl.
She sped across the road to Kathleen. ‘Hello,’ she said breathlessly. ‘How are you?’ Kathleen seemed pleased to see her and introduced her to the other girl as a friend from school. ‘Ella works with me,’ she explained. ‘And she lives in the next street so we walk home together.’
‘No sense in her mother coming out in all weathers to meet Kath when I pass her door,’ Ella said robustly. She was a well-built girl with bright dark eyes and plump rosy cheeks, and Anne thought she would be just the right person to overrule Mrs O’Neill.
‘How are your mother and Cormac?’ Anne asked.
‘Fine. He had a bad chest and was in bed for three weeks but he’s better now,’ Kathleen said. ‘Are your family okay?’
‘Yes, thanks. Mum wasn’t well but she’s better now. We’ve got my Grandma Houlihan living with us,’ Anne said. She hesitated. If Kathleen had made a friend she was unwilling to intrude, but felt that she should say more.
‘We never did have that night out, did we, Kathleen?’ she said with a smile, and Ella said cheerfully, ‘I’m tired trying to get her to go out more, but we did go to the flicks one night, didn’t we, Kath?’
‘Yes, but Mother worries so much when I’m out,’ Kathleen said. ‘I don’t like to upset her.’
‘If you went out more she’d get used to it then she wouldn’t worry,’ Ella said briskly. Anne said goodbye to the two girls thinking that if anyone could help Kathleen it would be Ella with her no-nonsense approach. She felt the weight of responsibility for Kathleen roll away, and walked away with a light heart.
Chapter Sixteen
The winter was milder than the previous year’s, and after Christmas Anne and Sarah were out nearly every evening and at weekends. They were still as popular with the young men at the caelidhes and still as determined not to start courting seriously with anyone.
None of the young men Anne went out with interested her as much as John Redmond, although she said nothing to Sarah.
Theresa’s wedding took place on the second Saturday in January, but neither Minnie nor Dympna attended.
‘I suppose you can’t blame them,’ Julia said to her mother. ‘They’re bound to feel the difference in the circumstances, God help them. Poor Dympna’s marriage and the way it’s going, and everything set fair for Theresa. I thought she made a beautiful bride.’
‘She did so,’ said Grandma Houlihan, who had attended the Nuptial Mass in a wheelchair. ‘She looked like a little girl with Carmel and Eileen as bridesmaids. The size of them!’
‘It’s a pity you weren’t able to stay for the wedding breakfast, Ma,’ Julia said, ignoring the remark about Eileen. ‘Sure there was no stint of anything.’
Pat had come in and said heartily, ‘Aye, trust Fred. He really pushed the boat out. Must have cost him a fortune.’
‘Well for him that he has it,’ Grandma said. ‘A lovely Mass and a grand sermon from Father Ryan. I hope the girl realises that was more important than all the food and drink there was all the fuss about.’
‘Dympna must be near her time,’ Julia said. ‘It seems she’s not sure when she’s due.’ She was only trying to change the subject but the following morning word was brought that Dympna’s baby had been stillborn and she was very ill.
Julia went down to Minnie’s house and found Carrie already there. She was trying to comfort Minnie who was crying bitterly and said quickly to Julia, ‘Dympna’s been taken to hospital. She’s in good hands.’ But Minnie refused to be comforted.
‘What time’s the visiting?’ asked Julia.
Minnie wailed even louder and Carrie said, ‘Should we make you a cup of tea?’
Minnie wiped her eyes and stood up. ‘I’ll do it myself,’ she said. ‘I don’t like other people in my kitchen.’
She went into the back kitchen and Carrie whispered, ‘We could go anytime to see Dympna. She’s on an urgent note.’
‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph watch over her,’ Julia exclaimed, crossing herself. ‘She’s very bad then?’
Carrie nodded, and under cover of the clink of crockery whispered hurriedly, ‘Brendan came home and had the husband beaten up. It brought Dympna on.’
Minnie came in with the tray of teacups and Julia asked if they could go with her to the hospital. ‘No, they wouldn’t let you in,’ Minnie said.
‘But, surely, one of your sisters?’ Julia said. ‘Someone should be with you.’
‘I’d rather be by myself,’ Minnie said. She seemed anxious to hurry them away, and only when Julia put her arms round her and wept did she say gruffly, ‘Our Brendan will meet me there.’
Carrie came back with Julia to see her mother and on the way told Julia what she had learned. ‘It seems the husband had come home in drink at New Year and hit Dympna, and Minnie when she tried to interfere. Brendan must have got word and a couple of fellows set about Harold Duffy and battered him. He came home covered in blood and Dympna went into labour.’
‘Good God, it could have been the death of the girl,’ Julia gasped, and Carrie said grimly, ‘It might be yet.’
‘Oh, Carrie, let’s hope not. Please God, she’ll be all right. She’s young and strong,’ said Julia. ‘I wish Minnie’d let us help her.’
‘She couldn’t get rid of us quickly enough, could she?’ Carrie said. ‘I keep saying I’ll have no more to do with her, but she gets a cob on if we don’t go yet doesn’t seem to want us when we do. She doesn’t know what she wants.’
‘Ah, well, I suppose she can’t help her nature,’ Julia said gently. ‘Bad as he is, it’s a good thing she has Brendan. He does try to be a good son to her.’
‘By getting his brother-in-law knocked about?’ Carrie said ironically, but they had reached Julia’s house and carefully edited what they told their mother.
Later when Julia told Pat he said shrewdly, ‘The quare feller must be near enough to get home pretty quickly if he was going to the hospital with Minnie. I wonder how she gets word to him?’
‘God knows. We’d never find out from her. She’s as deep as a drawn well.’
Dympna slowly recovered, but by the time she left the hospital her husband had disappeared. With Dympna unable to work and her husband gone, the family thought she might be worried about money and Carrie tried tactfully to tell Minnie and Dympna that Fred and Pat would look after them.
Before Minnie could speak Dympna said rudely, ‘We don’t want your charity. Tell them to stick it where the monkey stuck the nuts.’
Carrie’s eyes widened in shock. ‘Well!’ was all she could say.
‘Dympna, that’s not nice,’ Minnie said then turned to Carrie. ‘She’s right,
though. We don’t want your charity.’
‘Charity! I’ve never heard it called charity – families helping each other,’ Carrie said angrily. ‘You’ve changed your tune anyway, Minnie.’
She stood up. ‘I won’t bother you again. If you need us, you know where to find us.’ She hurried out but as she went through the front door heard Dympna say loudly, ‘Good riddance.’
Tears of mortification filled Carrie’s eyes but by the time she reached Julia’s house anger was uppermost. Fortunately Grandma Houlihan was in bed and she was able to pour out the whole story to Julia.
‘The impudent faggot!’ she exclaimed. ‘And such a low expression. Sure the dregs of the gutters don’t talk like that.’
‘I’m finished with them,’ Carrie declared. ‘I mean it. I’ll tell Fred I want nothing more to do with Minnie, but I won’t tell him or anyone the expression Dympna used to me. I’d be ashamed.’
‘And neither will I,’ Julia said. ‘The girl must have mixed in low company. I never heard the expression and I don’t know what it means but it sounds low.’
Carrie was able to keep to her resolve not to see Minnie or Dympna again, but Minnie visited Julia’s house to see her mother. ‘I bid her good morning and she goes right up to Ma’s bedroom,’ Julia related. ‘God knows what she’s saying to Ma, bending over her whispering when I take in a cup of tea, but Ma’s twice as cantankerous when she’s been.’
‘But she drinks the tea?’ Carrie said.
‘No, she leaves it there to go cold,’ said Julia. ‘The first time I asked would I pour her a fresh cup, but now I pour it away when she’s gone and say nothing.’
‘I asked you because I had a spell like that with her one time. When you were ill it was. I just took up the tea whenever she came and handed a cup to Ma so that she drank it, but I said nothing to the quare one and quite suddenly she started drinking the tea again. I don’t know what bee she had in her bonnet,’ said Carrie.
‘I don’t like anyone to leave my house without bite or sup, but I’ll just keep taking up the tea and say nothing,’ said Julia.
‘And you say Ma’s awkward after Minnie’s gone?’
‘Yes, she picks on one or another of the family, and it really vexes me. It was Eileen last time. Ma was downstairs when Eileen said something about that creature in the office that makes her life a misery and Ma practically said it was Eileen’s own fault. She said the others in the office got on all right with the woman.’
‘That sounds like one of Minnie’s bullets made for Ma to fire,’ Carrie said grimly. ‘How would Ma know anything about the office?’
‘Ah, never mind. Tell me about Theresa’s house,’ Julia said. ‘Eileen tells me it’s grand.’
The family all worried about Eileen’s unhappiness. She worked in the office of Benson’s Engineering, where Tony was a toolmaker, and for the first few years was happy there. Now she had a superior who did all she could to make life difficult for Eileen, constantly finding fault with her work and humiliating her before the rest of the staff.
After Grandma Houlihan had gone to bed after criticising Eileen, Tony told the family the reason for the woman’s treatment of his sister.
‘That Ruby can’t do the work,’ he said. ‘We’re always finding mistakes in the paperwork. Our Eileen can run rings round her and some of the lads have said so. Ruby’s jealous of her.’
‘If she’s so thick why was she promoted?’ Terry said.
‘Ah, there’s a reason for that,’ Tony said. ‘She’s Bill Haddon’s girlfriend on the sly and can wrap him round her little finger.’
‘But, Tony, he’s married. His wife comes in the shop,’ Anne said. ‘They live in Queen’s Road.’
‘Yes, and don’t you repeat what I’ve said to anyone, Anne,’ Tony warned her. ‘I didn’t know you knew his wife. It’s common knowledge in the works but he and Ruby manage to keep it quiet outside. I wouldn’t want his wife to find out through me.’
‘So Eileen has no chance no matter how hard she works?’ Stephen said. ‘The only hope is for her to find another job.’
‘Or for this to come out and Ruby get the push,’ Terry said.
‘Why just Ruby? Why not the fellow as well?’ Anne said indignantly.
Terry laughed. ‘Is this Sarah’s influence?’ he asked. ‘Dom told me you were both arguing about the Spanish Civil War.’
‘How did he know?’ Anne asked.
‘He knows a fellow who goes to the caelidhes. Sarah’s brother is fighting for the International Brigade, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, and they were saying at the dance that the Church is on Franco’s side and John should be fighting for Franco. Sarah told him in a letter but she doesn’t know whether he’ll ever get it.’
The Redmond family had received several letters from John, written when he arrived in Spain and later when he was moving to the fighting area. On the back of the last one he had scribbled a note that trucks had arrived to take them to defend the road to Madrid.
Since then there had been reports on cinema newsreels and in newspapers that there had been heavy fighting in Spain and many casualties, and no more letters had arrived.
‘That note was written on the first of February,’ Sarah said. ‘That was weeks ago.’
‘No news is good news,’ Anne said, as much to cheer herself as her friend.
‘My dad went to the club in Byrom Street to ask for news,’ Sarah said a few days later. ‘They told him John was in the fighting in the Jarama Valley, but his name wasn’t among the casualties. They said letters might be held up.’
‘So you can stop worrying,’ Anne said, and Sarah rather doubtfully agreed. Anne told herself that it was ridiculous to be so concerned about someone she had met so briefly, but John Redmond was constantly in her mind.
Meanwhile the two girls continued to enjoy the dances and to make dates with many young men. Mabel had had numerous colds during the winter and a succession of boils and Mrs Dyson decided that she was rundown and was working too hard.
She engaged a young school leaver to help with odd jobs in the shop and Rosie listened open-mouthed to Anne and Sarah talking about their boyfriends.
‘Don’t you be copying these two, Rosie,’ Mabel said sourly, ‘They’ll be getting themselves a bad name.’
‘Oh, Mabel, they’re all harmless,’ Anne protested, and Sarah added that most of the young men were related or she and Anne knew their families.
‘Mabel’s always the wrong side out these days, isn’t she?’ Sarah said, but a letter had arrived from John and she was too happy to care about Mabel’s moods.
He told them that he had been wounded in the foot and was now in hospital, and that he had received letters from home.
‘He said if anyone says this is a Holy War by Franco, tell them that he has bombed towns and villages, and innocent men, women and children have been killed by bombs dropped without warning,’ Sarah said. ‘He said there are Muslim Moors fighting on Franco’s side too.’
‘So we can give anyone an answer if they start about that.’
Mabel’s health improved but not because of Rosie. She was a stupid girl who seemed unable to remember the simplest instruction, but she listened to every conversation and was always ready to air her views.
‘Youse three are always talking,’ she said pertly when Mabel reprimanded her.
‘Yes, but we work as we talk,’ Mabel said. ‘You don’t see Sarah or Anne standing round with their mouths open. They get on with the work.’
Rosie was unconcerned and continued to listen in to conversations even between Mabel and customers, and either said something to the customer or tried to gossip about her when she left. She was impervious to snubs. Billy the bakehouse boy had always joked with the girls when he brought through the trays of hot pies and took away the empties, but they were all usually too busy for more than a quick comment. Now Rosie stood in his way and talked until the pie tray was nearly empty and Mr Dyson in the bakehouse roaring for Billy. She con
tinually went into the bakehouse on one pretext or another until one day Mr Dyson appeared at the door into the shop.
‘Keep that girl in the shop, will you, Mabel?’ he said. ‘She’s getting in Billy’s road while he’s at the oven.’
Anne told her family that she was fed up. ‘I can’t speak to Sarah without Rosie standing there listening with her mouth open or else chipping in, and Mabel’s always in a bad temper. She was a bit touchy before but we knew she wasn’t well and made allowances. This is different. She just can’t stand Rosie.’
Sarah warned Anne to keep the sharp cake knife away from Mabel one day when another row involving Rosie broke out. She had been told to fill up a half-empty cake tray from another one and a customer complained that she was licking her fingers as she handled the cakes. Mabel scolded her, Rosie answered back, and Sarah told Anne that she thought Mabel was at breaking point.
Rosie went for her dinner and Mabel said to Sarah, ‘I’ve had enough. I don’t like to throw Mrs Dyson’s kindness back in her face but I’ll have to tell her that girl will have to go.’
Fortunately before she did so Rosie returned and told them that her sister had ‘spoken’ for her in the bag warehouse. ‘I don’t like it here,’ she said frankly. ‘Youse are all too grumpy. Our Essie says they have a gear laugh in the baggy.’
Whether it was Rosie’s departure or the imminent Coronation the girls were unsure, but Mabel was suddenly herself again. It had been decided to hold the Coronation of George VI on 12 May, the day fixed for the Coronation of Edward VIII who was now known as the Duke of Windsor and rarely mentioned by Mabel.
‘It would be a waste to have a different day when the preparations were so well ahead,’ she said to Anne, and all her interest now was in dressing the shop window. Mrs Dyson had allowed her some money for it, and Mabel had a striking display which was mentioned in the local newspaper.
Mabel painted her front door red, white and blue, and draped her house with bunting. Photographs of the king and queen and of the two young princesses were displayed in the front window, and when someone said to her, ‘Gypsy Rose Lee was right after all,’ she only said, ‘Yes, but it all turned out for the best in the end.’
A Nest of Singing Birds Page 19
