Stop! In the Name of Love

by Shiralyn J. Lee

  Bernadette replied, “I have no idea. The woman thinks that she’s phoned France, though.”

  “Hello, can anybody hear me?” Cheryl shouted down into the mouth piece.

  “Cheryl, hello, it’s Carry Ann,” she spoke quietly.

  “Yeah, it’s me. How come I’m phoning a French woman’s number?”

  “Oh that was Bernadette, didn’t I tell you, she’s French,” Carry Ann continued. “Perhaps if we spoke on Friday instead, it would be easier, I wasn’t expecting Bernadette to be home this afternoon,” she whispered.

  “No I bleedin’ well can’t. Why can’t ya talk to me now? Did I do summat wrong?”

  “Oh, no! Not at all, it’s just right now really isn’t a good time,” Carry Ann tried to convince Cheryl.

  “Why not?”

  “I thought that she’d be at work but she decided not to go in, please, Cheryl, don’t make this harder for me than it already is.”

  Cheryl’s heart began to sink fast. She had been looking forwards to seeing Carry Ann and now her hopes had been dashed. “I thought we was gonna arrange an afternoon together and maybe…”

  “Maybe what? Cheryl? Cheryl? Are you still there?” Carry Ann asked, her voice trembling.

  But Cheryl had already walked away leaving the handset dangling. She sauntered down the street, miserable and feeling lost, she paid little attention to any traffic driving by. With tears flowing down her cheeks and stained from her black mascara, her dress became spoiled as drips trickled onto the lace fabric.

  She found herself helplessly wandering around in the park until she came to a large acorn tree where she sat herself down at the root of the tree trunk, resting her back up against the bark surface. Normally she would have paid attention to a squirrel running along the branches just above her but her thoughts were far away and focused on only one thing. ‘Why had Carry Ann acted so callously?’

  For an hour she plucked the blades of green grass around her and also made a daisy chain bracelet from the daisies that were dotted around and slipped it on her wrist being careful not to break it. Then she held a buttercup beneath her chin and checked out her reflection in her compact mirror to see if was true that she would like butter if her skin shined yellow.

  “Bleedin’ old wives tales,” she said to herself.

  She laid down on her back and looked up at the thick green foliage above. Thinking about Jeannie, she wondered if this could possibly have been the tree that she and Tommy Perkins had lain together and shagged beneath.

  •••

  Cheryl and Jeannie were hanging around outside of Cheryl’s flat, chewing bubble gum and leaning over the concrete balcony. They were staring down at the lads playing ball in the courtyard below. Cheryl poured some of her pop over the ledge and then both girls stepped back away from the edge so they wouldn’t be seen. They crouched down and giggled when they heard one of the lads yelling out that whoever just did that had better watch themselves.

  “Guess who I saw yesterday?” Jeannie asked, then swigged on her bottle of pop.

  “I ain’t no good at games, Jeannie, ya know that,” Cheryl responded.

  “Tommy Perkins, that’s who.”

  Cheryl having just gulped some pop down, spat it straight out. “Bloody hell, girl, did he say anything, did you tell him about the baby coming, for god sake gal, tell me what happened?”

  “I didn’t say anything about the baby. But he did ask me to go to the dance on Friday night at the Workman’s club. I thought that maybe I could tell him then. Would you come with me, Cheryl?”

  “Like you had to ask me. Anything to go to a dance. I hope they play some decent music.” Cheryl said, rolling her eyes.

  “And what’s happenin’ about you and Carry Ann?”

  “I dunno, Jeannie. She wanted me to phone her and when I did, she completely changed her way with me. I felt like she didn’t wanna talk to me AND there was a French bird there too, that Bernadette, she’s bleedin’ French and she called Carry Ann Mon Cheri.”

  “Maybe that’s what the French do, I spose,” Jeannie guessed.

  “Dunno.”

  “Cheryl, you out there?” her mother shouted from her armchair in the front room.

  “Yes, mum, we’re ‘ere.”

  “What you up to?”

  “Nothin’ just talking to Jeannie.”

  “Well make sure ya stay outta trouble,” she yelled back.

  “What’s up with her?” Jeannie asked.

  “She just wants me to keep me nose clean now that I’m a working gal.”

  •••

  Over the next two days, Cheryl pondered over her feelings towards Carry Ann. She was confused enough over what type of relationship that this actually was and it wasn’t like she could just go out and flaunt it and tell everyone that they were lovers. And still not understanding the relationship between Carry Ann and Bernadette, she thought it would be wise if she just cooled it between them all together, before somebody really got hurt. Although deep down, Cheryl was already hurting.

  She was looking forward to the dance and had talked about it to everyone she came across, including Mr. Glenn who had shown her some of his own dance moves. His fancy footwork didn’t impress Cheryl at all but at least she got a laugh out of it. She had spoken about the dance to most of the customers too, and had had plenty of offers from some older gentlemen to take her there. She joked around with them and told them that they were very kind to offer but she was going with her best friend.

  After finishing work at 4pm Mr. Glenn gave her a small brown envelope again and this time Cheryl tore it open in front of him. She had done a few extra hours this week so she knew her wages would be good. £2.10 she got. She was so happy that she kissed Mr. Glenn on the cheek before running out of the café and skipping down the street. She was going to show everyone that she was on her way to the top with her savings of £3 so far.

  “Is that you, Cheryl?” her mother yelled from the kitchen AS Cheryl entered the flat.

  “Yes, mum, I just finished worked. Mr. Glenn paid me all of £2.10 this week.”

  Her mother walked into the front room. Wiping her hands on a tea towel, she looked very pleased for her daughter. “Well that Mr. Glenn’s a very kind man, you tell him for me that I said that. Maybe I should bake a nice pie for him. Shame he doesn’t ‘ave a nice wife to take care of him, bet he would make a lovely husband. Shame he’s a lot older than you Cheryl, although I don’t spose it makes any difference with you young one’s these days.”

  “Mum, really!” Cheryl scoffed. “I’m going with Jeannie to the dance tonight. Do we ‘ave any hot water so I can take a bath?”

  “Ya father isn’t home yet to use it all, so if ya need a bath, then ya had better take one and quick sharp. He’ll be wanting to clean himself off after working all day in that dirty factory. Now go on, then, quick sharp, mind.” She returned to the kitchen to carry on cooking the tea. “Chips an’ egg for tea,” she yelled after Cheryl.

  Cheryl relaxed in a nice hot bath, filling the room with steam, she carefully shaved her legs with her dad’s razor blade and plenty of soap. Her fingers and toes had wrinkled up from the amount of time she had spent in the water pampering herself.

  Her dad knocked on the door, “Cheryl, luv, are ya gonna be much longer in there?”

  “Give me five minutes dad,” she called back at him. She wrapped a towel around her wet hair and another around her body, pulled the plug from the bath tub and then ran across the hallway so no one could catch sight of her half naked and still dripping wet. “Bathroom’s free, dad.”

  Her dad sprinted down the hallway and into the bathroom carrying his newspaper under his arm. “Thanks, Cheryl,” he shouted from behind the closed door.

  Cheryl sat on the carpet and dragged her clunky yellow hair dryer and rollers from beneath the bed. She parted sections of her hair with a comb and then rolled the pink plastic rollers, keeping them in place with the pins. She turned her hair dryer on and spent the next fo
rty minutes holding it over her head until her hair was dry. Leaving it to cool, she started to apply her makeup. She applied a white eye shadow and edged the lower lid line with a dynamic black liner, flicking it out at the edges to create wings. She then added not one layer but two layers of false eye lashes and then added an intense black shadow to run over the edge of the upper lid and cover the line of the lashes. She tweezed her eyebrows, then perfected them with an eyebrow liner. She chose a coral blusher to colour her cheeks and brushed her jawline and hairline lightly to add a little definition. She coated her lips with a beige-pink nude lipstick and then added a little Vaseline over the top to get a wet look.

  The dress she chose to wear was one of her favourites. A black mini dress with a small flower print and a scooped neckline with long sleeves that flared out from the elbows to the wrists. She paired it with her white knee high GO GO boots. Removing the rollers and brushing her hair to ensure the curl went underneath, she then sprayed a ton of hairspray to keep it in place. Her finishing touch was a white plastic daisy hairband.

  Looking in the mirror and checking the back of her dress as well as the front, she said, “Bleedin’ gorgeous.” Then she picked up her blue, red and white panelled handbag, shoved her purse, cigarettes and lipstick inside it, sprayed herself down with perfume and popped that in the bag too.

  “Cheryl, Jeannie’s ‘ere,” her mother yelled down the hallway.

  “I’m coming now, Jeannie,” Cheryl yelled back.

  Walking into the front room, Cheryl’s mother gasped. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen ya look so beautiful, Cheryl, dear. Doesn’t she look all grown up, Jeannie?”

  Jeannie nodded in agreement. “Yes, Mrs. Carter, she does.”

  “And I must say that, Jeannie, ‘ere, scrubs up quite well an’ all,” Cheryl complimented her.

  Jeannie had made an immense effort to make sure that she looked more attractive than ever tonight. She had chosen to wear a navy blue sleeveless mini dress with a high neckline and white frill collar. She wore black calf length boots and matched them with a black patent dolly bag with a large circle buckle for decoration.

  “You can barely notice me bump, neither,” she said excited that she wasn’t quite showing yet.

  Chapter Six

  The girls had left half an hour earlier than needed so that they could have a swift half cider and a Vimto in the pub before going to the dance. Harry was sat on his usual stool at the bar and as always, he paid for their first drinks.

  “Thanks, Harry, you’re a real trooper,” Cheryl said to him. She kissed his cheek and picked up their drinks. Just as she turned around, Harry let out a whimper. “Everythin’ all right, Harry?” she asked him.

  “Yeah, Cheryl, just me old bones playing havoc once again,” he replied.

  She continued to proceed to the table that Jeannie was already sitting at.

  “Your dad would have his guts for garters if he knew how many drinks that old codger had bought ya,” Jeannie said quietly.

  Cheryl looked over at Harry, then back to Jeannie. “He don’t look too good, does he?” She opened her handbag and pulled out her cigarettes, then offered one to Jeannie and stuck one between her lips. “Gotta light?”

  “Well he don’t seem his usual self, if that’s what ya mean,” Jeannie commented, striking the match and holding it below Cheryl’s cigarette.

  Concerned with Harry’s welfare, the girls hadn’t noticed a girl walk into the pub and who was now making a beeline for their table. She halted at Cheryl’s side, put her hand on the back of her chair, and said, “Are you Cheryl? Cheryl Carter?”

  “Yes, who the bleedin’ hell are you?” Cheryl asked, looking up at her.

  “I’m Valerie Jones, do you remember me? We went to the same school.”

  Cheryl gazed at her, then at Jeannie. “Do you remember her?” she asked Jeannie.

  “Can’t say that I do,” Jeannie responded, shrugging her shoulders.

  “Oh that’s right, my hair was blonde, usually in pig tails and I was 4 stone heavier,” Valerie informed them.

  “Oh my god, Valerie, the girl who everyone called lavatory Valerie!” Cheryl blurted out as her memory came to her. “But look at you now! You’re pretty enough to be a model.”

  Valerie, long brown tousled hair, dressed in a white cotton turtleneck mini dress with ¾ length sleeves and red flat shoes with a white daisy design on the top, gave a twirl, then said, “I was teased a lot about my weight and spent most of my time in the bogs.”

  “Hey, neither of us ever teased ya, I just want ya to know that!” Cheryl immediately jumped in defensively.

  “Yeah, that’s right, although I think I did call ya lavatory Valerie when the others did,” Jeannie confessed.

  “I know. I wouldn’t be talking to ya now if ya had.”

  “Are you on ya tod?” Jeannie asked her.

  “I was spose to meet some friends in ‘ere but they ain’t turned up. I should’ve known better.”

  “You can come with us to the dance if ya like, can’t she Cheryl?” Jeannie asked, nudging Cheryl’s arm.

  “Yeah, course.” Cheryl answered back.

  The three girls got up to leave, catching Harry’s attention.

  “Bye, Cheryl, luv. You take care, now, won’t ya,” he said, holding his pint of Stout.

  “Bye, Harry,” Cheryl said, slightly confused by his need to acknowledge her leaving.

  •••

  Walking into the Workmen’s club, the live band were on the stage singing, ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy,’ the dance floor was packed and Tommy Perkins was standing at the bar drinking a pint of Bitter when he spotted Jeannie. He made eye contact with her and summoned her over.

  Jeannie nudged Cheryl’s arm. “Bleedin’ hell, Jeannie, I wish you’d stop doin’ that,” Cheryl told her.

  “Look, there he is. He’s calling me over, should I go?” Jeannie asked, her eyes fixated on Tommy.

  “Yes, go!” Cheryl said, rolling her eyes.

  Jeannie disappeared into the crowd of dancers, trying to make her way through to the bar.

  “So, should we get a drink?” Valerie asked Cheryl.

  They bought half a Cider each and found a couple of empty chairs at a table already occupied by a group of people. The band finished their song and then went straight into their next number, ‘Oh Pretty Woman.’

  “Oh I love this song,” Valerie said.

  “So can I ask, how come ya lost so much weight, then?” Cheryl asked.

  “After the tormenting at school, I begged my parents to help me lose the weight. It wasn’t that hard really, I just gave up eating so much. My mum gave me smaller plates of food and I went for walks and played with the dog in the park. It soon went.”

  “I think ya done real well for yourself,” Cheryl told her. She paid her a little more attention, staring at her slender figure and her extremely pale skin that in a strange way brought out her beauty.

  Valerie brushed her hair back over her shoulder and as she sipped on her Cider, she caught Cheryl looking at her. She smiled and carried on drinking. Cheryl wasn’t aware that Valerie had seen her doing it and it wasn’t until Jimmy walked up to their table with the blonde girl he’d met, that Cheryl broke her stare.

  “All right, darlin’,” he said with a warm charm about him. His arm was around the girl’s waist and he introduced her as Gloria.

  Cheryl could tell that she wasn’t keen on meeting her and wondered if Jimmy had spent more than five minutes not speaking about the girl he’d fancied the pants off for the past year.

  “You enjoying the music?” Cheryl asked Gloria.

  She just nodded her head yes and then whispered into Jimmy’s ear and simply just walked away without an explanation.

  “Gloria’s just gone to the bog,” he announced.

  “I don’t think we needed to know that, Jimmy,” Cheryl told him.

  “So who’s ya new friend, then?” he asked, looking directly at Valerie.

  “This is Valer
ie, we went to the same school.”

  “Well it’s nice to meet ya, Valerie, and any friend of Cheryl’s is a friend of mine.” He shook Valerie’s hand, then turned back to Cheryl. “I would have thought that you’d be with that gal, Carry Ann. Where is she tonight?” he asked, looking around the room for her.

  “I ain’t got any idea what she’s up to. Summat wasn’t right there, that’s all I can tell ya,” Cheryl told him.

  Jimmy sat in the chair next to her. “So the two of you are no longer…”

  “Jimmy, I told ya, cross ya heart,” she quickly reminded him.

  “Yes, I know, I didn’t mean to bring up any ill feelings.”

  He offered to buy them both a drink as he was going to the bar anyway. Gloria came back to join him and with her eyes, she hinted that they should go to the bar now. Jimmy made his excuses and left with his girlfriend to get a drink.

  Jeannie and Tommy seemed to be getting on well as far as Cheryl could see and Jimmy had managed to coax Gloria over to a dark corner and steal a few kisses. But Cheryl thought that Gloria may have planned this to give out a message that he was her man. Jimmy really had kept his heart crossed if his girlfriend thought that he had any interest her.

  “What did Jimmy mean when he asked about your friend?” Valerie asked her.

  Cheryl felt uneasy. If she confessed that she had shagged with a girl, then it may just scare Valerie away as a friend. She couldn’t think of anything to say and ended up gazing into Valerie’s eyes. But there was something about the way that Valerie was looking back at her that made her feel at ease. “I’m not sure what it was that I had with Carry Ann but it happened fast. We did summat that felt normal but nobody else would see it like that…”

  Showing her sympathy, Valerie placed her hand onto Cheryl’s wrist. “I know,” she said in a simple tone. “It’s not easy to keep summat like this a secret.”

  Cheryl’s eyes widened. Not sure if Valerie had understood just where she was going with this conversation, she quietly asked, “Have you ever kissed a gal?”

  Valerie nodded her head yes. She took a large gulp of her Cider and leaned in close to Cheryl, whispering into her ear, she said, “I’ve slept with one too.” Before Cheryl could make any further comment on the subject, Valerie quickly stood up. “I’m going to dance, I’ve seen a friend over there who looks like she is in need of a dance partner.” She speedily walked away, leaving Cheryl to contemplate what she had just said.