Now the War Is Over (12 page)

Melly backed away towards the door. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, I never meant to . . .’ But neither of them could hear her. She didn’t like to
leave. She stood by the door, crying tears of sorrow at what she had caused.

Eventually Stanley quietened. Lil got wearily to her feet and noticed Melly’s tearful face.

‘It’s all right,’ she said, her voice flat and tired. ‘I just never thought you’d touch him.’

Stanley was staring at them both.

‘Who’s that wench?’

‘It’s little Melly from number three. ’Er just came in to keep us company. Come on, bab – sit down again. Just never touch him – he can’t be surprised, ever.
I’m gonna put the light on now, Stanley, all right?’

The bulb spread its weak light round the room. Melly found Stanley looking at her, his eyes now watery.

‘Sorry, bab,’ he said and with a shaking hand he indicated the chair that she had been on before. ‘Come and sit down. I never meant to frighten yer.’

‘I’ll make us that tea,’ Lil said. ‘I might find the odd biscuit . . .’

Melly wanted to open the door and run home across the yard, but she went back to the chair, wiping her eyes, and perched on the edge of it. ‘Sorry, Mr Gittins,’ she said. ‘I
never meant to make you jump.’

Stanley sank back, clenching his quivering hands to try and still them. ‘I know, wench. It’s just the way I am. You’re all right. Sit and have yer tea.’

‘Lil said you went in to see them,’ Mom said on Sunday morning. She and Lil had been chatting in the brew house. She looked at Melly, seeming puzzled.

‘I told you I was going,’ Melly said, shrugging. Mom hadn’t been listening.

Rachel put her hands on her hips. ‘Well, it’s an odd choice of company, I must say.’

Melly didn’t know how to answer. She had a sense of pride that in the end they had sat and drunk their tea. Not much was said, but it seemed to be all right that she had visited and when
she left Mr Gittins looked up and said, ‘Ta-ra, bab,’ as if it was normal that she should be sitting there.

‘Come another time, if you want,’ Lil said, sounding as if she didn’t think this likely.

But Melly turned at the door and said, ‘All right – ta, Mrs Gittins.’ There was something she liked about being there. Everyone at home was so busy all the time and the one
thing the Gittins had was time. She felt a bit useful.

‘How is he, anyway?’

Melly saw her father look up. He was sitting forwards, leaning on his thighs in the way he often did, smoking.

‘He’s . . .’ Melly hesitated. How would you describe Mr Gittins? ‘He’s jumpy.’

‘You can say that again,’ Danny said. He threw the stub on the floor and ground it out before picking it up again. ‘Poor sod.’

Gladys was putting her coat on. ‘You coming to church, Melly?’ Gladys had her routines – church on Sunday, a matinee at the pictures one day in the week.

Melly nodded. Church meant her best frock and time with Auntie. She liked the atmosphere in the church and the singing. ‘Can Tommy come?’ She thought that now Tommy was at school and
going out every day he might be all right with being out on the street. But Tommy was already shaking his head.

‘No – don’t want – to.’

‘All right, bab,’ Gladys said. ‘No need. Come on, Melly, get a move on.’ As they walked across the yard, Gladys said, ‘Dolly said Reggie’s coming home this
week. She’ll be glad to have him back . . .’

The words passed into Melly, a thumping excitement in her blood which rushed to her cheeks. Reggie!

‘Oh,’ she said, not looking round. ‘That’s nice.’

‘He’s here!’ Freddie Morrison came charging along the entry into the lamplit yard. ‘He’s just got off the bus!’ He disappeared back out to
the road again.

The Morrisons, who were eating their tea, came pouring out of the house.

‘Hark at that,’ Gladys said.

Melly rushed to the door. The others followed. Dolly and her boys had hurried out to the street and in a few moments the entry was full of shouts and laughter. Ethel Jackman poked her head out
of number two to see what was happening, then went in again.

‘Mardy old thing,’ Melly heard her mother mutter.

Reggie came into the yard, cuffing Freddie round the head in a playful manner, and was immediately jumped on by Wally and Jonny as well. Once he had emerged from the tangle of lads, with
Wally’s arm round his neck, Melly saw a tall, muscular man with cropped hair, wearing a suit with wide lapels. She could see the glint of his teeth as he grinned and joked with everyone. She
stood at the edge of the crowd, feeling as if a bird was beating its wings inside her. Wally might be as handsome as a film star but it was Reggie she knew was the one. Everything felt right now he
was home for good again, like the biggest piece of a puzzle that had been missing.

There was a lot of ribbing and joking as everyone greeted him. Mrs Davies came out, wanting to be part of things, and Lil emerged, smiling, to see him. Melly watched, her excitement dulled a
little by how grown up Reggie looked. He would be twenty in a few months. He had been out into the world, the army – why would he take any notice of her? She ached, remembering when they were
both children: his cheerful, grinning face, the black-and-white rabbit he had adored for a few days as a pet before it escaped and was never found again; his rolling the rusty rim of a bike wheel
across the yard to her, gently, calling out, ‘Catch it, Melly – go on! Cop hold of it!’ He was always older, of course, but back then they had all counted as the little ones. Now
she felt the distance between them even more than before.

‘Ooh, Dolly – hasn’t he grown up,’ Lil said, hugging herself in the chill evening. ‘Even since last time he was here,’ she said. ‘He’s a proper
man now.’

Melly fixed Reggie with her eyes, willing him to look at her as he stood in the middle of the crowd chatting and greeting him. Dolly started rounding the family up.

‘Come on in – tea’s getting cold.’

As they turned towards the house, at last Reggie caught Melly’s eye.

‘All right, Melly?’ he called to her.

‘All right,’ she said, quiet and shy.

And he was gone but inside her world was lit up.

Melly stood in the yard, shivering as the winter cold gnawed at her bare legs. It was a Friday evening, school had just broken up for Christmas and there was nothing useful she
could pretend to be doing out there at this time of night. Tommy didn’t want her. Cissy was here to see Freddie. Again. Cissy had pleaded to be allowed to go out with him – to town, to
the Odeon – but Rachel had refused.

‘Ciss, don’t ask me that. What would Mom say if she found out?’

‘She won’t,’ Cissy pleaded. ‘How would she, if you don’t tell her? Anyway, when you and Danny—’

‘That’s enough,’ Rachel snapped. ‘You’ll stay here and that’s that.’

Cissy sulked for a while but was soon out there again, up by the factory, tittering away with Freddie. She had no time for Melly when he was about.

The light had already died and the yard lamp was giving out its feeble glow. But under it was the Norton and bent over it, with tools and a torch, were Wally and Reggie. Round them was a shoal
of admiring little boys – Kev and Ricky and some other tag-alongs and Frankie Davies, their breath clouding the already smoky air as they shouted questions about the bike. Wally kept trying
to start it. The machine made efforts but then coughed into silence.

‘Out the way, you lot!’ Wally kept shooing them back. ‘I can’t get round it with you in the way – go on, hoppit!’ But they crept back, shoving each other,
giggling. This was the most interesting entertainment on offer. Melly could see that Kev was fascinated with Reggie now he was back. She wished she could just hang around them the way the little
boys did, but she wanted to hold herself apart.

Melly pulled her coat round her, willing Reggie to turn and notice her. She wasn’t just a kid any more, she told herself. Reggie had grown up, into a man of nineteen. But she had grown
too. Thirteen sounded so much older than twelve.

More often these days, she longed to be able to be on her own. What with sleeping in the same room as her brothers, with only a bit of curtain between them, and the house so full all the time,
there was barely a moment to be alone. Mom tried to shoo the boys out when they brought the tin bath in by the fire. She would go first and they would follow after and Mom would make them wait in
the yard. But of course Tommy was always there, being told to look away. She was never truly alone unless, on rare and special occasions, they went to the baths in Victoria Road and she could
wallow in the big bath all on her own for twenty minutes or so.

Sometimes she would go into the scullery, climb on to an upturned pail to look in the dingy mirror nailed to the wall in which her dad shaved himself every morning. Looking back at her she saw a
girl with a thin, pale face, shoulder-length mousey hair and big eyes which held a wistful expression. If she stretched her lips to smile at her reflection, big, slightly uneven teeth appeared. She
hoped her smile gave her a friendly look. At least they didn’t stick out like Lisa ‘Bunny’ Riley’s at school.

If she wanted to see any more of herself she had to lean right against the wall and try to look down. That wasn’t much good. But in shop windows she could see her long, thin legs. She was
growing, becoming a bit gangly. She was thin and had barely begun to develop, but she could feel her body changing. Cissy was quite big at the front now. She had whispered to Melly importantly all
about her Monthly. This was something Melly was still waiting to happen. She wished she was curvy and rounded like Cissy.

Trying to keep warm she shifted from one foot to the other. She kept thinking about going in by the fire, instead of standing around in this bone-aching cold. But she couldn’t tear herself
away. Five more minutes, she kept telling herself.

The bike roared suddenly into life. The little lads leapt back, yelling, and everyone cheered.

‘Come on, Wal!’ Reggie said. ‘Quick, while she’s in the mood – let’s take her out.’

Wally was walking the Norton across the yard. The miracle happened then: a moment she would never forget. Reggie, beside him, caught sight of her standing there all alone.

‘Hey, Melly – fancy a ride?’

For a second she couldn’t believe he’d actually said it. Was he joking?

‘What – me?’

All the boys swarmed round.
‘I’ll
go – I wanna ride!’

‘Yeah, you!’

‘Reg,’ Wally protested. ‘There’s not room . . .’

‘Ah, come on – she’s only a tiddler. We can fit her in. Come on, Melly – come and try her out.’

‘I want to go!’ Kevin squeaked, furious at this betrayal, at them asking a
girl
out for a ride.

‘Nah – you’re too small,’ Reggie said. ‘Yer mom’d kill me.’ To Melly he added, ‘Come on then, if you’re coming.’

She didn’t give it a thought that Mom was about to call them all in for tea or about telling anyone where she was going or that it was freezing cold.

‘All right,’ she said.

‘Come on.’ Reggie beckoned her down the entry.

In the road, Wally got on at the front, settling himself with a bounce on the seat.

‘Shift up a bit, Wal,’ Reggie said. ‘Right – you get behind him.’

Melly tried to do as she was bidden but it was hard trying to climb on, yanking her skirt up.

‘Here.’ Reggie’s arms were round her waist, lifting her, and she found herself straddling the hard saddle and Reggie trying to climb on behind her. She had never felt more
important in her life.

But there was scarcely room for two, let alone three.

‘Look, it ain’t meant for this,’ Wally said, irritated, climbing off again. ‘You take her for a quick spin and come back for me. But don’t be long.’

‘Shift back,’ Reggie said. The next thing Melly knew, Reggie was leaping on to the bike in front of her.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘Hold on to me.’

Hold on to me!
She was shy of touching him but as soon as he pressed the bike into movement, she clasped her arms round him for dear life, her face sideways against the cloth of his
jacket. The ice-cold air bit into her legs as the bike tore off along the road. They were going terrifyingly fast. She couldn’t see anything behind Reggie and in any case she was so
frightened of the force of the ride that she screwed her eyes shut.

The main thing in her mind, in the rush of it, the cold, alarming, gathering speed, was, I’ve got my arms round Reggie
. . .
Her hands were pressed against his ribcage, her face
against his long, lean back as they turned one corner, then another. Opening her eyes a crack she saw the houses, adverts, lights rush giddyingly past. The engine was so loud that Reggie would not
hear if she shouted anything. It was utterly terrifying and absolute heaven all at once.

It was over in five minutes but it felt to her as if she had been on the Norton for ages. She got off, her legs shaking and every part of her tingling with cold.

‘Oops,’ Reggie teased as she stood, unsteadily. He grinned at her. ‘All right? Did you like that?’

She beamed at him. Did she
like
it? It had felt as if she was flying, even if she couldn’t feel her feet and her hands were blocks of ice! Reggie had taken her for a ride!

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Ta, Reggie.’

‘Come on!’ Wally was impatient to be off.

Melly watched, still trembling, as Wally got on at the front, him steering this time and Reggie riding pillion. Her face was still smiling of its own accord. She felt part of things, as if she
had been invited to join a special club. Someone had taken notice of her and wanted her. And it was Reggie. Lovely, lovely Reggie.

‘Have a nice ride!’ she waved.

They didn’t wave back but her smile was undimmed.

Wally set the bike away with a great roar of sound and she watched the two of them disappear round the corner.

When she walked in, everyone was sitting round the table, including Cissy who tried to look completely uninterested in her arrival, even though she was obviously dying to know
all about it.