Sadie Was A Lady (8 page)

Gripping Sadie’s arm he marched her along until they came to another clearing. ‘Now,’ he said, his hands on her shoulders, ‘the bloke you were with tonight – he didn’t try to get fresh with yer, did he?’

Sadie stared back. ‘He’d have had a hard job tryin’ to get fresh with me outside the picture house in broad daylight, wouldn’t he?’ She pushed her face closer to his. ‘What’s it got to do with you, anyway?’

‘Because I worry about yer, that’s why.’

‘You’re the only one in the world that does, Harry, so I wouldn’t bother if I were you.’

‘It’s no bother, Sadie.’ Harry calmed himself down, afraid she’d walk away and leave him. ‘Yer a nice girl an’ I don’t want yer to come to any harm, that’s all.’

‘I know all about the facts of life, Harry, I was taught them at a very early age.’ Sadie sighed. How could she tell him that even the baby, eighteen months old, saw sights that no child should see? And why was she shouting at him anyway? Harry Young was the only person in the street who still had a smile for her when the rest of the neighbours were openly showing their distaste as the Wilson house deteriorated into a hovel. But for all that, he was still a man and had admitted that most men were only out for what they could get. Wasn’t her father the best example? And Alec? Oh, she was under no illusions about him. He was handsome all right, but he didn’t half know it. He thought he only had to crook his finger and any girl would come running. Well, he was in for a big surprise with her because she wasn’t going to be the one doing the running. ‘Remember, Harry, I’m one of six children and it’s a long time since I believed the fairies left us under a cabbage leaf.’

‘I hope yer as wise as yer make out, Sadie, ’cos
with
your looks there’ll always be men after yer.’

‘Haven’t you got a girlfriend, Harry?’

‘Yeah, there’s a girl I go out with, but it’s really only for dancing. She’s a smashing dancer, a dream on the dance floor.’ Harry grinned. ‘I think she’ll be giving me the heave-ho soon, because she’s getting fed up with me being late every Saturday. By the time I get there it’s nearly the interval.’

Sadie’s eyes held his for a few seconds, then she asked, ‘Why d’yer waste yer time on me? Surely yer can get as many kisses as yer want from yer girlfriend?’

‘Let’s just say I like a variety, eh? Yer know what they say about variety being the spice of life.’

‘If yer don’t put a move on yer’ll be losing yer girlfriend and then yer’ll have no variety.’

Harry took her hands in his before dropping a light kiss on her lips.

‘That was just a taster to get meself warmed up for the big one. And while I’m building meself up for the main event, can I ask if it’s two for the price of one again this week? Will yer meet me on Wednesday again?’

‘It’s your money, Harry, and although I think yer’ve got a screw loose spending it on me, I’m not goin’ to stop yer.’ Sadie’s mind was on a pair of shoes she badly needed. The old pair were nearly dropping off her feet and spoiling the effect of her new clothes. And it was Harry’s sixpences that were getting her the things she wanted. ‘I’ll meet yer here on Wednesday.’

‘Move that paper out of the way.’ Florrie Young waited until her son had folded the
News of the World
, then she set his breakfast before him. ‘Get that down yer.’

Harry eyed the bacon, egg and black pudding with relish. ‘Mmm, that looks good, Mam.’

‘I want me head testing, givin’ yer a breakfast this late – it’s nearly dinner-time. Yer a lazy article, sleeping till eleven on a Sunday. Most people have been to Mass and back by now.’

Her husband, Jack, came through from the kitchen
drying
his hands. ‘Yer Mam’s got you and me down for the fires of hell, son. She reckons we’ll never see the pearly gates.’

Harry reached for a piece of bread. ‘D’yer think Mr Watson from number six will make it to heaven, Mam? He goes to Mass every Sunday morning as regular as clockwork. And just as regularly he beats his wife up every Saturday night after he’s had a bellyful of ale. If he makes it to the pearly gates, and I don’t, then there ain’t no justice. What do you think, Dad?’

Jack picked up the paper and made for his favourite chair. He was a well-made man, tall and muscular. He and his son were very alike in looks and temperament, with their dark curly hair, dimpled cheeks and an easygoing manner. ‘I agree with yer, son. That Norman Watson is a real bad ’un. He’s a bully and a blackguard. I’m used to bad language on the docks, but some of the things he comes out with make me cringe. I’m surprised the church doesn’t fall down on top of him.’

Florrie was clasping and unclasping her hands as she watched her husband bury his head in the paper and her son concentrate on his breakfast. She was a good-looking woman, with a girlish figure, laughing hazel eyes, a good complexion and a happy disposition. The one disappointment in her life was only having the two boys. She would have dearly loved a daughter, but after Paul was born she was told she would never have any more children. Paul, who had gone out to one of his mates, was two years younger than Harry, and in looks he favoured his mother. He also had her sense of humour, and when the two of them got together there was bound to be laughter.

‘What are yer thinking about, Mam?’ Harry asked. ‘Yer miles away.’

Now is the time to get it off me chest, Florrie told herself. But how to find the right words without starting an argument? ‘I’ve been told yer were seen talking to Sadie Wilson, is that right?’

Harry laid his knife and fork down and pushed the empty plate to one side. ‘Is that a crime, Mam?’

‘It all depends. There’s no harm in talking to the girl, but I wouldn’t like yer to be seeing her.’

‘That’s a funny thing to say, isn’t it, Mam? Yer don’t mind me talking to her but yer don’t want me to see her! What should I do, take a blindfold out with me in case I bump into her?’

‘You know what I mean, so there’s no need to be funny. All I’m asking is, are yer seein’ the girl?’

‘Mam! She lives next door, I could hardly miss her! Unless you need yer eyes testing, you see her as well.’

The newspaper rustled and Jack’s gruff voice came from behind it. ‘I hope you two don’t come to blows. I refuse to referee a fight on me day off.’

Florrie wagged her head. ‘It’s him, he’s trying to be funny.’

‘I thought you were the one being funny, Mam, not me. I mean, what does it matter if I see the girl and speak to her? She lives next door, for heaven’s sake! And she’s a nice kid – yer can’t blame her for the rest of the family.’

‘She’s one of them and that’s enough for me. Any decent feller wouldn’t touch her with a bargepole. I’d be ashamed to hold me head up in the street if one of mine got involved with scum like them. So you keep well away from her, d’yer hear?’

Harry leaned his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his clenched fists. ‘Did yer say you’d been to church this morning, Mam? If yer have then yer’ve been under false pretences because there’s nothing Christian in what yer saying. I thought yer were supposed to help those not as well off as yerself, not condemn them.’

‘No one could help the Wilsons, they’re past redemption.’ Florrie was getting her temper up. ‘There is no need for them to live in filth like they do. He works full-time and there’s the girl’s wages goin’ in. Many a folk get far less but manage to live a decent life because they don’t go out pubbing it every night.’

‘I agree with yer, Mam, on that score. But Sadie … the one you call the girl … is only fifteen years of age – what
can
she do about it? D’yer think she likes living the way she does?’

‘Yer can talk till yer blue in the face, Harry, but yer won’t change me views on the Wilsons. They’re a bad lot and there’s no gettin’ away from it. If I see her trying to get pally with you, I’ll have something to say to her, believe me.’

Jack shot forward in his chair. ‘No, love, you mustn’t take off on the girl, that wouldn’t be fair. As Harry said, she’s only a kid and it can’t be much of a life for her with the mother and father she’s got. After all, she didn’t ask to be born into this world.’

Florrie bit on her lip. She wasn’t expecting so much opposition. ‘Harry, just answer me one question. Are yer goin’ out with her?’

‘No, Mam, I’m not going out with her. But I will see her and I’ll speak to her whenever I feel like it. She’s a human being and I’ll treat her as one. So go back and tell that to the nosy parker who started all this off. Tell her I said it’s a pity she’s got nothing better to do.’ He pushed his chair back. ‘Give us a couple of pages of the paper, Dad, and I’ll lie on me bed and read it.’

‘Are yer wearin’ that dress to go out in tonight?’ Brenda asked, a dozen pairs of sheets in her outstretched arms ready to be laid with care in the packing crate. ‘Alec saw yer in it when we went out for our chips, so if I were you I’d put something else on.’

‘Brenda, I don’t need you to tell me what I should do.’ Sadie was trying hard to be patient, but her friend had talked about nothing else all week and it was grating on her nerves. ‘If it makes yer feel any better, I’ll be getting changed.’

‘It doesn’t make me feel any better.’ Brenda’s lips were pursed as she packed the sheets. ‘I don’t know why we couldn’t have gone out in a foursome, like we did last week.’

‘Some hope you’ve got after the way yer treated Bobby. I felt really ashamed of yer. The poor lad probably left himself skint all week after forkin’ out for yer, and yer never spoke one word to him! He won’t be wanting to take you out again in a hurry.’

‘He would if you asked him.’

‘Not on your life! I wouldn’t put the poor lad through that again, not for all the tea in China.’ Sadie decided now was the time to get it all off her chest. ‘Anyway, this first-house lark is ridiculous. Young people our age are just goin’ out at eight o’clock, all set to enjoy themselves. As their night begins, we’re toddling home like two young kids. No bloke is goin’ to put up with that.’

‘I can’t help it if me mam’s strict with me. She says only cats and loose women are out late at night.’

‘And I can’t help it if yer mam doesn’t trust yer. All I know is that in two weeks we’ll be sixteen, old enough to look after ourselves. So it’s no more first-house pictures for me after the next two Saturdays.’ Sadie ran a hand over the top sheets in the crate before pulling the lid down. ‘I’d like to learn to dance, or go over on the ferry to New Brighton and see the fairground … anything but be stuck in the routine of goin’ to the pictures every Saturday.’

‘My mam wouldn’t let me do anything like that.’ When Sadie didn’t show any signs of sympathy, like she usually did, Brenda went on, ‘Anyway, clever clogs, where’s the money coming from for all this? Yer’ll not do it on a shilling a week.’

‘Oh, no? Well, just you watch me.’ Sadie looked around for the floorwalker and when she caught his eye she held up her hand, a signal that she needed the full crate replacing with an empty one. Then she turned to Brenda. ‘I’ll start gettin’ dates and they can pay for me.’

‘Yer’ll get yerself into trouble, Sadie Wilson, if yer start going out with every Tom, Dick and Harry.’

‘Is that you talking, or yer mam, Brenda?’ Sadie smiled as the floorwalker approached. He was a nice bloke, was Benny, always had a smile and a cheery word for everyone. He was over six feet tall, pale-faced and as bald as a billiard ball. The empty wooden crate he was carrying looked too heavy for his painfully thin body to bear, and Sadie rushed forward to give him a hand. ‘Yer should get one of the young lads to do this, Benny, otherwise yer’ll be doin’ yerself a mischief.’

‘It’s all right, lass, I’m no Tarzan but I’m stronger than I look.’ He positioned the crate in front of Sadie before casting an eye on Brenda’s work. ‘Give us a shout when yer ready.’

Brenda nodded, then waited until he was out of earshot before turning on Sadie. ‘You have no right to talk about my mam like that.’

‘Like what? I’ve got nothing against yer mam, she’s never done me any harm. In fact, I’ve always envied you your family and nice home. But I do think she’s doing
you
more harm than good by wrapping yer in cotton wool. There’s a big world out there; some of the people in it are good, some are bad. By the time your mam thinks yer old enough to be let out on yer own … probably by the time yer twenty … yer’ll have had no experience of people, especially boys, and it’s you that’ll get yerself into trouble, not me.’

Brenda thought on this for a while. Sadie was the only friend she had; none of the girls in the street where she lived bothered with her because they knew how strict her mam was and they weren’t prepared to put up with it. ‘Will you come to our house an’ ask me mam if I can go to the second house at the pictures? She might say yes if you ask.’

‘No.’ Sadie shook her head. ‘Yer’ve got to learn to stand on yer own two feet, Brenda. I haven’t had the cushy life you’ve had – I’ve had to stand up for meself for as long as I can remember. I’ve got to scheme to get the things you take for granted, so there’s no way I’m going to take on your troubles as well. Fight yer own battles, kid, and learn to grow up in the process.’

‘I’ll have a word with me mam tonight. But we’re still going to the first house tomorrow night, aren’t we?’

Sadie closed her eyes in exasperation. ‘Yes, and the Saturday after. But the following week you can forget it. We’re sixteen within a few days of each other, old enough to do what we want.’ She pointed to the crate in front of Brenda. ‘Unless yer want to lose yer job, get cracking and fill that crate.’

‘Okay, don’t be gettin’ yer knickers in a twist.’ But Brenda’s hands were slow while her mind was busy. If she fell out with her friend then she’d lose contact with Alec and that didn’t bear thinking about. She was determined to make him notice her, and every night in bed she would dream of how she’d stun him with the new clothes she’d get even if she had to defy her mother. ‘You’re lucky going out with Alec. He’s so nice, and very handsome.’

Sadie didn’t answer because she could see no point. Brenda would have to find out the hard way that being
handsome
didn’t automatically mean the person was nice inside. If she couldn’t see that blokes like Alec were wolves in sheep’s clothing, then it was God help her.