Ruby's War (5 page)

‘That fresh air has given you some colour,' he said. ‘Take the dog round to the back door. I'll get some water for her, and we'll use the old towel under the sink to wipe her paws. Then you can help Grandma and Sadie to make the tea.'

The disappointment sank quickly; it was an accustomed sensation and didn't last. By the time she'd finished helping her granddad rub Bess's muddy paws, the feeling had been replaced by the hope that there would soon be a letter from her father asking her to go to him.

‘There's stewed plums in that pan,' Jenny said, handing Ruby a china bowl, ‘you can put them in here. I've made some cream. It should have thickened up by now, though I'd almost run out of vanilla essence to flavour it. It's in a mixing bowl in the scullery. If it's thickened, pour it into that glass jug on the top shelf of the kitchenette. Be careful, mind, that's my best jug.'

When Ruby returned with the mock cream, Jenny was carrying a white enamel dish from the meat safe over to the kitchenette. The contents were covered with a plate and a flat iron had been balanced on top. Jenny put the dish on the flap of the kitchenette, took the iron off the plate, carefully inverted the metal dish, and tapped the bottom
with the tip of the flat iron. Then she gently lifted the dish to reveal a wobbling mass of clear jelly with fragments of pale meat suspended inside.

‘This brawn's set lovely, if I do say so myself,' she said. ‘I was lucky to get a whole sheep's head.'

Years ago, when she and her parents once stayed at Everdeane as guests, there'd been brawn for tea. Ruby hadn't been able to look at the wobbling mess on her plate. She'd been afraid that Auntie Ethel would be cross, but her mother had winked and slithered the foul stuff on to her father's plate. Then they'd giggled so much that her dad said they'd nearly given the game away.

The pressed-brawn sandwiches were to be eaten with pickled onions and beetroot. When she took her first bite, Ruby felt her stomach begin to rebel. She tried not to look at the glutinous substance oozing out from between the slices of bread, and Bess, sensing that Ruby needed her help, quickly settled to the task of delicately licking the gluey stuff from her fingers.

Unlike her, Mrs Lathom, Granddad and Jenny were all munching happily, but Sadie only nibbled at her sandwich and refused the pickled onions.

‘No thanks,' she said. ‘Me and Lou's been invited to a farewell do at the Railway.'

‘I'd forgotten about that,' Granddad said. ‘Some of the Yanks from the base are leaving. Should be a good do. Hal and his mate asked me to call in for one last game of darts. I said I might call in to wish them all the best. Why don't you come, Jenny?'

‘How can I?' Jenny said. ‘I've still got the washing to put to soak.'

‘Oh, leave the washing for once. It'd be nice to give him and his mate a good send off. Very generous, they've been. A bit loud, but grand blokes. Hope the next lot's as friendly. You could come with us as well, Nellie.'

‘Well, I've got the doctor's shirts to put to soak, Yanks or no Yanks,' Jenny said, collecting the empty plates.

‘Ruby can do them shirts and these pots,' he said, handing his granddaughter his empty plate. ‘Go and get that dish of plums and the cream for us, Ruby, love. She can manage the washing-up, and you can show her what to do with the shirts.'

The dish of spiced fruit was waiting on the kitchenette, along with a set of five smaller matching dishes. Each was decorated with a repeating pattern of soft fruits in red, yellow and purple. Ruby took in the dishes, collected the heavy glass jug of mock cream and put the teapot to warm in the hearth.

‘I've always thought these dishes were lovely,' Nellie said, taking a bowl of fruit from Jenny. ‘I remember how your poor Lucy loved them, Henry. They were a wedding present from her side of the family, weren't they? They look expensive. But I don't recognise this,' she said, pouring the mock cream from the glass jug. ‘Lucy had a lovely cream jug. Is this one new? It's the war, I suppose, you can't get the quality.'

‘You want a cup of tea, Ma?' Sadie asked. ‘Look, Ruby's warmed the pot.'

‘Oh, that would be nice,' Nellie said. ‘Then I'll take Bess home, before we go out.'

The tea was drunk in silence by everyone, except Mrs Lathom, who gave them a detailed account of her medical
complaints. When she'd left, Jenny went upstairs, the sound of the bedroom door slamming behind her startling Granddad, who'd just poured his second cup of tea into his saucer and was gently blowing on it.

‘Come on, Ruby,' Sadie said, rolling her eyes towards the ceiling and collecting the dishes from the table, ‘we'll take this stuff through and wash up.'

‘Aye, good lass,' Granddad said, abandoning his saucer of tea and hurrying towards the stairs. ‘I'd best get my collar and tie on.'

When the sound of angry voices from the room above grew louder, Sadie switched on the radio and sang along, as they carried the pots through to the kitchen.

‘Put that lot on the draining board, and I'll show you what you have to do with the shirts,' she said, leading the way to the small brick scullery off the kitchen. ‘These are the doctor's shirts, so be careful,' Sadie said, pulling a shirt from a pile of clothes in a washing basket. ‘Before they're soaked with the rest of the wash, you rub the collars and cuffs with that yellow soap over on the windowsill. Then, they go in the dolly tub. It's easy, but make sure you rub them well. Now, I'll get the hot water for the washing-up.'

On the wall next to the sink, hanging by a wooden handle, was a small mesh box with thin slivers of soap inside. When Sadie had poured in hot water from the kettle and topped it up with cold from the tap, Ruby took the box down and whisked it through the water until suds appeared on the surface. Then she began washing the dishes, and Sadie unhooked the small shaving mirror that hung above the sink and began to apply her make-up.

‘Do you think this jumper's too plain?' she asked, eyeing herself critically through the little mirror. ‘I mean, we are only going to the Railway. Hal doesn't call them jumpers. He says sweaters. I was wearing my white silk one when I first met him. When we was dancing, he says, “Gee, I like your sweater.” I love the way they talk.'

‘Is he your boyfriend?'

‘No, he isn't,' Sadie said, pausing her lipstick in mid application, ‘I was being friendly, that's all. I mean, Hal's too old for me for a start. He's thirty. They come to dances in town and ask us back to dances at the base. Anyway, Jack's … Well, we don't know when we'll see him next, when he'll be back.'

By the time Ruby had finished the pots, the house was quiet again. Granddad came downstairs wearing his collar and tie and looking quite cheery. He wandered around the kitchen humming to himself, jangling the coins in his pockets and inspecting their handiwork. Jenny appeared a few minutes later. She had long earrings swinging from her ears. The red and white stones matched those in the necklace sparkling on the expanse of flesh above her low-cut, black blouse.

‘You look nice, Ma,' Sadie said. ‘I'll just get my coat.'

‘Bring my fur jacket down will you, love,' Jenny called after her. ‘I think it might be chilly.'

As Jenny looked around the kitchen, noting the pile of clean pots and the empty flap of the kitchenette, the red and white stones chopped the air.

‘What's she done with the rest of that brawn?' she asked.

Granddad looked over at Ruby and followed her gaze to the meat safe.

‘It's in here, see,' he said, opening the wire mesh door to display the remaining brawn quivering on its plate. ‘And Sadie's been showing her how to do the laundry.'

Jenny patted the row of stiff, yellow curls along her forehead and frowned.

‘He's very particular is Doctor Grey. Well, at least, his wife is. She'd best make sure they're really well rubbed and she'll have to check for any missing buttons. There's spare ones in a box, and the cotton's in a toffee tin in the dresser.'

‘Don't worry, Ma,' Sadie said, handing her mother an off-white coat of baby-seal skin. ‘I'll get the box and the cotton.'

‘You can shut that radio off as well,' Jenny said, shrugging on the coat and heading towards the living-room door, ‘radio batteries are scarce.'

Hal pulled up the collar of his coat and started the jeep. Since he'd arrived in England, a lid of grey cloud had been clamped permanently over the whole island. As far as he could see, there was no corner of the entire place that wasn't damp. He sighed, stared out at the slick, dark road and watched his buddy Clayton jog over from his quarters.

‘Lieutenant Roach reckons it's much warmer in the south,' Clayton said, as he climbed in beside him. ‘Says the place is altogether different. No industry, for a start. Fishing, mainly, and farming. Less people altogether.'

‘Well that could be good, or not so good,' Hal said, lighting his cigar. ‘I mean, there might not be enough women to go round. Or if they're country girls, and not like the tramps around here … But then, a uniform goes a long way with a simple country gal.'

‘You'd best watch your mouth, now. Who you calling names? Not that nice Sadie you've been hankering after?'

Hal stared gloomily out at the darkening streets. Since he'd met her at the dance in town, Sadie had been on his mind. She was so pretty and had seemed just as sassy as the others. Yet, Sadie had managed to outfox him every time. She loved to dance, and her legs … Well, those were film star legs. He sighed. Sadie, for all her cute green eyes, was a flirt and a cock-teaser.

‘I'm sick of Sadie and her ways,' he said. ‘She says she don't have a boyfriend, and then she says she's promised to an army guy. She's a tease and she knows it.'

‘She's no innocent, ain't Sadie. I've heard—'

‘We know what you've heard. Well I don't buy it.'

‘You sayin' if you can't crack it, nobody can?'

‘I'm sayin' she don't play fair. The others know the score. If they want nylons … well …'

‘We know,' Clayton laughed, ‘it's one before an' one after. So why we goin' to see her?'

‘Seein' her's just a perk. I'm on business. You and me's goin' to say our goodbyes to the locals. Good relations an' all that. And I've got some business.'

‘You're a grabbing bastard. You don't need the money.'

‘If I don't, someone else will,' he said, swinging the jeep around a tight corner on the road out of the camp, making the cases of whisky and gin in the back tinkle. ‘And I'll need money to entertain those nice southern girls.'

When Henry opened the pub door and pushed aside the thick curtain, the two Yanks were already handing out drinks and Johnny Fin was playing the piano. The women
followed him through the low-slung clouds of cigarette smoke and he found them a table by the fire in the pub's lounge. The Yank sergeant brought over a pint of beer for him and a sherry for Jenny. When he was introduced to Nellie, he smiled bashfully.

‘It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am,' he said. ‘I've heard such a lot about your son from Sadie. He sounds a real wonderful guy.'

Nellie flushed with pride and, as most women did, immediately fell for his handsome, open face and guileless charm. She shyly accepted a sherry, and Hal was able to draw Sadie away from the group, explaining that she had promised to sing for them on his last night.

‘Sadie, you goin' to miss me at all?' he asked, when they were out of earshot.

‘I'll miss all you boys,' she said, sipping the gin and tonic he'd bought her.

‘All of us, equally?' he asked, trying to put his arm around her waist.

‘We'll all miss you, Hal,' she said, removing his arm. ‘Mum and Henry were ever so grateful for that tinned stuff you gave us, and I know that—'

‘Kiss me,' he said, pressing her against the wall.

‘Don't, not here,' Sadie said, wriggling free of his grasp. ‘Jack's mother …'

‘Well, come outside.'

‘I thought you wanted a song,' she said, smiling at him over her shoulder, as she headed for the group around the piano.

He didn't follow. Instead, he joined Clayton at the corner of the bar, where his light eyes flicked constantly
around the crowded room and back to Sadie, who was chatting to Johnny Fin and the landlady by the old upright piano.

‘What's up with Hal?' Johnny Fin asked.

‘He's really sweet on you,' Vera, the landlady, said as she picked up the empties from the piano's scuffed lid. ‘It's his last night. You don't know when your luck's in, you don't.'

‘We'll all miss him,' Johnny Fin said, with a toothless, gummy grin.

‘Wouldn't hurt you to give him a cuddle,' Vera said, before heading back to the bar.

The first time Sadie had seen Hal at a dance in town she'd been taken by his big-boned good looks. In the shabby dance hall, his strong white teeth, wide shoulders and thick sun-bleached hair looked completely out of place, as though a movie star had stepped down from the screen and asked her to dance. Yet, Sadie soon found that he'd none of the easy-going manner of many of the other GIs she'd met.

She gazed over at the bar where Hal had a crowd of locals around him. All the women – no matter how young or old – fell for him. Everybody loved him. The little kids and the old folk saw his broad smile and his strength. He made them feel safe. Hal drew people to him and he was desperate for everyone to like him. Hal wanted to charm everyone. It didn't matter who it was: it could be the priest who wanted help sorting out a children's party, or one of the old folk who was short of coal, or someone needing a lift to the hospital. Hal would be there listening politely, and they would hang on his every word. It was the only
time he looked relaxed; the only time the coldness left his eyes.