Down Daisy Street (32 page)
‘What about dogs?’ Alec said as the two of them turned away from the post and set off towards the streets they were to patrol. ‘The noise alone is enough to send any dog mad wi’ fear, I reckon.’
‘We’ll use our common sense and try to persuade them to go down to the shelters,’ Jimmy said with a grin. ‘God almighty, that was a near one!’
The all clear did not go until past three in the morning, by which time Alec and Jimmy would have been glad to return to their beds, but unfortunately they were in the vicinity when a warehouse containing lard and margarine was hit and set on fire. It was near enough to the docks to endanger shipping and everyone who could be spared immediately began to try to at least contain the conflagration, so it was not until five in the morning that Jimmy and Alec were able to fall, exhausted, into their beds.
When, scarcely two hours afterwards, Alec felt his shoulder being shaken, he groaned aloud and tried to bury his face in his pillow, saying groggily: ‘Go ’way. That can’t possibly be morning yet.’
‘Gerrup, you lazy great Norfolk dumpling,’ Jimmy said cheerfully. ‘Don’t you remember? You said you’d go down to Rhyl with Kathy and Jane and they’re waitin’ for you. Mam and me will be busy all day with funeral arrangements and Annie’s asked for time off so she can look after the kids. Oh, come
on
, Alec, or you’ll find yourself dressin’ wi’ half a dozen McCabes lookin’ on.’
on
, Alec, or you’ll find yourself dressin’ wi’ half a dozen McCabes lookin’ on.’
That made Alec scramble upright and cast off his blankets. He had met Annie the previous evening and, though he would not have dreamed of saying so to Jimmy, he had thought her far too sexually aware for her years. He had been uneasily conscious that she lost no opportunity to press up against him and constantly suggested that he might like to see the city in her company the following day.
However, he need not have bothered. He was up, dressed and out of the house before any of the other McCabes were out of bed. Jimmy seemed unaware of his sister’s forward behaviour, though he did say, uneasily, that ‘it were about time the lazy lummock gorrout of her pit and came down to give a hand wi’ breakfast’.
Since breakfast consisted of tea and bread and jam – they had run out of porridge oats the day before – it was a meal which Jimmy and Alec were quite capable of making for themselves, but presently there was a tap on the door and Jane’s head appeared in the aperture.
‘Mornin’ both,’ she said cheerfully. She stepped into the room, glanced around and then went across to Jimmy, giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the side of his face, though Jimmy immediately tried to kiss her properly and was repulsed. ‘Stow it, Jimmy! This ain’t the time or the place for canoodlin’. You’re home for a week, remember, but today we’ve simply got to get Kathy’s mam settled in. I’ve already told them in the factory that we’re not coming in for a day or two.’ She turned towards Jimmy’s companion. ‘Are you ready, Alec? It’s high time we were off. We’ve packed up all the things Kathy’s mam wanted and divided ’em into three bundles, one each. Yours is the heaviest! Have you had breakfast?’
‘Yes thanks,’ Alec said, somewhat thickly, through his last mouthful of bread and jam. He turned rather awkwardly to Jimmy. ‘You’re sure it’s all right if I go, old feller? Only it seems awfully mean to leave you here alone to do all the – the arranging and that.’
‘Yeah, it’ll be better. I’d feel awful guilty takin’ you with me, an’ worse leavin’ you to Annie’s tender mercies. She seems to have turned into a maneater while I were away.’
Kathy had followed Jane into the kitchen and the remark made her giggle. ‘I think the nippies have to be able to deal with their male customers and that means they’re always quick with an answer,’ she said. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind comin’ down to Rhyl, Alec? It would be such a help.’
For answer, Alec headed for the back door. ‘Where’s my bundle?’ he asked. ‘Lead me to it, fair damsels!’
The three of them went out into the street. It was a clear morning, though still somewhat chilly, and suddenly Alec was seized with an attack of reasonless optimism – they were going to the seaside! And they were also going, he felt sure, to have a grand day out.
It was late when Alec returned to the McCabe house and he did so reluctantly, since the girls had refused his invitation to accompany him. ‘Jane and I will make ourselves a hot drink and a snack and then try to get some sleep before the sirens sound,’ Kathy had said, smiling at him. ‘Thank you ever so much for your help, Alec; I don’t know how we would have managed without you. And didn’t our Billy take a shine to you? He’s determined to join the air force as soon as he’s old enough, which makes a change from train drivers or ship’s captains!’
‘He’s a nice kid,’ Alec had said. ‘See you tomorrow, then.’
‘See you in the air raid shelter, you mean,’ Jane had said. She twinkled up at him, a grin lurking. ‘We’ve come to accept that we’ll be stuck down that bleedin’ shelter for the best part of every night, you see.’
Alec’s heart gave a lurch. She was, without doubt, the loveliest creature he had ever seen and he envied Jimmy his good fortune. Fancy going to the same school as a little smasher like Jane – fancy being the one to squire her to dances and cinema shows, theatres and amusement parks. And it wasn’t just that she was so adorably pretty, she had a lovely bubbly personality as well. He liked her quiet little friend but not, he realised ruefully now, as he let himself into the McCabe kitchen, the way he liked Jane.
‘Alec! How did you get on, old feller? You’re awful late but we guessed you would be. Want some supper? Our mam bought one of them pie things – sausage meat ain’t it? – and there’s still some spuds left. I can pour some gravy over it, heat it through and you can get it down you before the sirens start shriekin’.’
‘Thanks, that ’ud be grand,’ Alec said. ‘And we got on grand an’ all. We took the stuff up to Mrs Kelling’s flat – that’s a nice place, right on the main street – and then we went down to the beach and had a paddle. Most of it’s wired off, of course, but there’s a strip you can use which goes right down to the sea.’ He remembered Jane, flushed with excitement, lifting up the full skirt of her blue gingham dress and running into the sea, as pleased to splash into the salt water as any child would have been. He had run after her, and when Kathy was helping Billy to gather shells he had grabbed Jane whilst her hands were busy holding up her skirts, lifted her off her feet and let her slide back into the water again, kissing her full on the mouth. He had half expected a slap round the chops or at least a murmur of protest, but when he released her she did not look angry. She looked, he concluded now, as though she had enjoyed the kiss and had half expected more.
By the time they had left the beach, Alec believed that he was fathoms deep in love with Jane and despite his friendship with Jimmy he meant to win her, if he possibly could. He knew she liked him but did not know how she behaved with other young men. He guessed that she was innocent, only ever having had one boyfriend in her whole life, and decided that she had simply fallen into a relationship with Jimmy, accepting him as her boyfriend, without ever having asked herself whether she really loved him or whether it was simply that they had known one another for ever.
‘Penny for your thoughts, old man? You’re sittin’ there with your gob open, starin’ into space as though you’d seen a perishin’ vision. Whazzup?’
At the sound of his friend’s voice Alec, guiltily, dragged his mind away from Jane and back to the present. ‘Sorry. I were just thinking that I wouldn’t mind living in Rhyl myself, when the war’s over,’ he said untruthfully. He looked around the kitchen. ‘Where is everybody?’
‘They’ve gone to the shelter. They thought they’d get settled in the bunks before the raid starts tonight,’ Jimmy said. He had been stirring a pan on the stove and now he tipped the contents on to a plate and slapped it down in front of his friend. ‘There y’are, a dog’s dinner made wi’ me own fair hands. Get it down you, then we can try for some kip.’
Alec looked down at the mashed up mixture of sausage meat pie, gravy and potatoes and pretended to shudder. ‘That looks as though you’ve cooked the dog rather than his dinner,’ he said, beginning to shovel the food into his mouth. ‘Mmm, but you aren’t a bad cook, old Jimmy. This here’s real tasty.’
Kathy and Jane returned to the Kellings’ home to find it cold and empty. Kathy looked around her, at the kitchen which had always seemed so warm and welcoming when Mam was here. Seeing it thus confirmed her intention to join the WAAF. She and Jane were both working girls and they would be coming home to a cold, unwelcoming house every night of the week. Moving into digs nearer the factory did not really appeal to her and she said so as she got out the loaf and a box of Oxo cubes.
Jane agreed with her that there was no point in remaining in Liverpool. ‘Because if I do – stay here I mean – I’ll be hauled back every two minutes to take over from me mam,’ she said frankly. ‘And Tilly is every bit as good at it as I was. No, I’m determined to join one of the services – the WAAF if they’ll have me – and
really
help the war effort.’
really
help the war effort.’
The kettle boiled and Kathy made two large mugs of Oxo and cut two thick slices off the loaf. It was her mother’s homemade bread and she thought, wistfully, that she would be unlikely to taste anything as good in the WAAF. Settling down opposite Jane at the kitchen table, she began to sip her drink. ‘I saw you helping with the war effort in Rhyl earlier in the day,’ she said slyly. ‘Just what did you think you were doing, kissing Mr Hewitt?’
It was said half laughingly but Kathy saw that it brought a flush to Jane’s cheeks. ‘Me? It weren’t me, it were him,’ Jane said at once. ‘I think it were just the sea and the sun and me being near at hand . . . it were just a bit of fun.’
‘Try telling Jimmy that,’ Kathy said, still only half serious. She had known Jane for so long, and for years now it had been generally accepted that Jimmy was her boyfriend, would one day be her husband. She had grown quite fond of him herself, thought him good fun and even nice looking, though she reminded herself now that he was nowhere near as nice looking as Alec. Still, she couldn’t believe that Jane would ever look twice at any man other than Jimmy, which was a good thing, since from the first moment she, Kathy, had seen Alec she had known she was going to like him very much indeed. And it was not just his looks either, she told herself. He was kind, thoughtful, sensible. He had been marvellous with Billy, patient and funny, yet when Sarah had said he must have younger brothers of his own he had said no, he was an only child. What was more, Kathy remembered, he had behaved beautifully towards her mother, telling her about his own home and parents, helping to move furniture around when necessary and congratulating her on the excellence of the meal she had provided.
He was pretty nice to me, as well, Kathy thought now. Talking to me on the journey home, asking about school, my work at the factory, what my likes and dislikes are. And he told me a lot about the WAAF and what trades are available to someone with my sort of education. He’s nice to everyone, I should say. Jimmy’s lucky to have such a pal.
‘I’m not going to tell Jimmy anything, an’ nor are you,’ Jane said, breaking into Kathy’s thoughts and suddenly sounding almost aggressive. ‘Jimmy an’ me know each other and understand each other, but if he thought I’d been playin’ fast an’ loose with his best pal . . . well, don’t you dare say a word, Kathy Kelling, or you an’ me will fall out.’
Kathy was astonished. Jane had never spoken to her in such a manner before, and for the first time she began to wonder whether Jane really did like Alec. Oh, not in a friendly sort of way, but in a kissy and cuddly sort of way. She stood her mug down on the table and stared across at her friend. Jane’s blue eyes met hers defiantly but she thought she saw a trace of shame in their depths. ‘Jane, how could you? As if I’d dream of upsetting your Jimmy by telling tales! I know it was only a bit of fun really, but I thought at the time it was a good thing Billy’s living in Rhyl and not in Daisy Street, because you know how tactless kids are. The first thing he would have done the next time he saw Jimmy was tell him you’d kissed his pal, and then the fat would have been in the fire.’
‘Like in that warehouse full of fat and margarine that went up last night, during the raid,’ Jane said dreamily. All the aggression had left her face and a gentle smile curved her lips. ‘I know it were only a bit of fun, but – but Alec’s awful good looking, don’t you think? I do like his hair – what colour would you call it, queen? It ain’t red, norrit ain’t brown. It’s something between the two, and his eyes are the same colour. I’ve never knowed anyone with eyes and hair the same colour, have you? And his teeth are ever so white and even. I didn’t think teeth mattered, but they do, you know. Jimmy’s teeth are a bit crooked and a bit sort of yellowish, wouldn’t you say?’
‘No, I would not,’ Kathy said roundly. Her friend was talking in a way which worried her – surely Jane wasn’t going to cast her warm and loving relationship with Jimmy aside because she’d met a young man with beautiful white teeth? ‘Jimmy’s teeth look fine to me. Anyway, you don’t fall in love with someone because they’re handsome!’
‘I haven’t fallen in love with anyone – except Jimmy of course – and I certainly don’t mean to make a fool of meself over Jimmy’s best friend,’ Jane said, putting down her own drink and reaching for a slice of bread. ‘Remember, Kathy, those two fellers are aircrew in the same plane. If they were bad pals it would wreck the whole team. Jimmy’s telled me, often and often, how important it is that they genuinely like one another. Now, what shall we do when we’ve finished our food? Go up to bed here, or go down to the shelter?’
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