Stay as Sweet as You Are (22 page)

When Titch stepped into the street, it was to see Lucy standing with her arms folded listening to Rhoda, whose mouth was going fifteen to the dozen. ‘Everything all right, Lucy?’

‘Hello, Mr Titch.’ Lucy put a hand on her friend’s arm. ‘Hang on a minute, Rhoda, I want to tell him something.’ Lucy skipped over the cobbles. ‘Rhoda came to say she was sorry, Mr Titch, and she’s going to apologise to Steve when she sees him.’

‘That’s good. Didn’t I tell yer it would all blow over? I’m on me way to the corner shop for me ma, but when I come back I want yer to come in our house for a minute. I’ve got something to show yer.’

Lucy rolled her big eyes and grinned. ‘Ooh, er, it sounds all mysterious.’

‘It’s nothing to get excited about, sweetheart, just something I think yer’d like to see. By the way, did yer sleep all right last night?’

‘Yeah, I slept like a log. I told me dad about what Rhoda had said, and he said not to worry it would sort itself out. So when I went to bed, instead of letting meself worry, I thought of something nice. When I finally dropped off, I was just stepping on the tram with me dad and we were on our way to town to buy a new coat for me birthday.’

‘Looking forward to yer birthday, are yer?’

‘Oh, yeah! As me dad says, it’s not every day a girl gets to be twelve. I’m dead excited, I can’t wait.’

‘That’s the spirit.’ Titch grinned, thinking about the surprise birthday party. ‘Anyway, I’ll see yer when I get back from the shop. Okay?’

‘I’ll talk to Rhoda till yer come, then I’ll go in with yer.’

‘What did yer want to tell him?’ Rhoda asked, when Lucy came across. ‘It took yer long enough.’

‘Mrs Aggie asked me to go a message for her, and I was just telling him I’d go and see her when I’ve finished talking to you.’ It’s only a white lie, Lucy consoled herself. God
won’t punish me for that. ‘Anyway, I’m glad we’re friends again, Rhoda, I didn’t want to fall out with yer.’ Her green eyes danced mischievously. ‘After all, who could I cheat with if I didn’t have you? If I cheated with anyone else there’d be more rows than enough.’

Rhoda’s smile was one of relief. She’d been so miserable last night, her mam said her face had turned the milk sour. But it was over now; she’d finally plucked up the courage to apologise and Lucy had been smashing about it. ‘When I see Steve I’ll tell him how sorry I am. That’s if I can face him after what I said.’

‘Yer’ll face him all right, Rhoda, and Steve isn’t the type to bear grudges. Then we can all be friends again, like we should be.’ Lucy saw the familiar figure walking down on the opposite side of the road, and said, ‘Here’s Mr Titch, I’ll go and see Mrs Aggie while he’s got the door open. Shall I call for yer tomorrow and we can go for a walk?’

‘Make it about two. After we’ve had our dinner and before me mam collars me to help her wash the dishes.’

‘I’ll try.’ Lucy stepped off the pavement waving a hand. ‘If I’m late it’ll be because I’m helping with our dishes.’

Titch waited for her. With a sweep of his arm, and a bow from the waist, he said, ‘After you. Ladies first.’

‘I’m not a lady,’ Lucy giggled, ‘I’m only a girl.’ She was still giggling when she entered the living room to a warm welcome from Aggie.

‘It’s good to see yer, queen – and with a smile on yer pretty face. Not like yesterday when yer were so upset.’

‘I’m all right now. Rhoda came down to say she was sorry, so we’re friends again. And when she sees Steve, she’s going to say sorry to him.’

‘That’s all water under the bridge now,’ Titch got in quickly, before his mother could say something that would spoil his surprise. He cupped Lucy’s elbow and drew her to the window. Lifting the net curtain, he said, ‘That’s what I wanted to show yer.’

‘Ooh, er!’ Lucy blinked to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. ‘Ay, Steve’s making a good job of it, isn’t he?’

‘He sure is.’ Titch left her to gaze while he tapped his mother on the shoulder and pointed to the trousers on her knee. ‘Put them away,’ he mouthed the words. ‘Don’t let her see them.’

‘Can I go out and say hello to him?’ Lucy asked. ‘I won’t stay long or put him off doing his work.’

‘Of course yer can, queen.’ Aggie pushed the trousers down to the side of the chair. ‘He’ll be made up to see yer.’

Steve wasn’t made up at first, he was embarrassed. But with Lucy’s pretty face wearing a huge grin, and her big green eyes dancing, he soon felt at ease. ‘Have yer come to give us a hand? I’ll get another brush if yer like.’

‘I would if I could. But you’re miles taller than me, I couldn’t reach that far. I mean, look how long yer arms are to mine.’

‘I could always ask Mrs Aggie for a chair for yer to stand on.’

‘Oh, yeah, and I don’t think!’ The picture that came into Lucy’s mind brought forth a fit of the giggles. ‘I’d spill that much paint, she’d have a chair to match her yard walls.’ She gave a closer look to Steve’s work and thought he was very clever. There weren’t many boys of thirteen who could do the variety of jobs he did. ‘Have yer only got that one wall to do now?’

‘Yeah, I’ll be finished in an hour or so. But it needs another coat to cover it properly so I’m coming back tomorrow.’

Lucy was in two minds whether to tell him about Rhoda, and how sorry she was. But if she did he’d think they’d been talking about him. Anyway, it was up to her friend to tell him herself. ‘I better go and let yer get on with it, or Mrs Aggie will be calling me for everything for stopping the work.’

If Steve was asked who his favourite person was, after his mam, he would say Lucy. The girl always had a smile and a
word for him, no matter how scruffy he looked. She always looked him in the face when she was talking to him, never at the rags he had on his back. And he would never forget that. ‘Perhaps I’ll see yer tomorrow?’

‘Could be. If not I’ll see yer in the street on Monday, after school.’ Lucy got as far as the kitchen door and turned. ‘Ye’re doing a real good job, Steve. It’ll look lovely when it’s finished. Ta-ra for now.’

Aggie was standing by the kitchen sink peeling potatoes, and there was a delicious smell coming from a pan on the stove. Lucy wrinkled her nose and sniffed up. ‘Ooh, that smells lovely, Mrs Aggie. It’s started me tummy rumbling.’

‘It’s mincemeat, queen, with onions in. Titch said he felt like cottage pie, and his word is my command.’

Lucy looked closer. ‘Have yer been crying, Mrs Aggie?’

‘No, queen, it’s the bleedin’ onions, they always make me eyes water. Titch has just told me that that’s how they make film stars cry in the films. They stick a bleedin’ onion under their nose and the tears flow.’ Aggie picked an eye out of the potato she was peeling, then threw it in a pan of water before resting her hand on the draining board. ‘He’s a mine of information, is Titch. If it wasn’t for him I’d be as thick as two short planks. Here was me, thinking what a marvellous actress Greta Garbo was because she could cry when there was a sad bit in the picture. While all the time, she’d just had an onion stuck under her bleedin’ nose. Yer see, queen, ye’re never too old to learn.’

Titch came to lean against the wall. ‘What’s me ma saying about me now, Lucy?’

‘How clever yer are, Mr Titch. That if it wasn’t for you being a mine of information, she’d be as thick as two short planks.’

‘Don’t you believe it, sweetheart. When the day comes that I can outsmart me ma, then I’ll put the flags out. She might act daft, but believe you me, she’s all there on top.’

‘It’s just as well I’m one step ahead of yer, son, or yer’d
have me out of me mind, the things yer come out with.’ Aggie swished the potatoes around in the pan, then emptied the dirty water off and replaced it with clean. ‘Now make yerselves scarce, the pair of yer, and let me get this dinner ready in time for me one and only to go out and get plastered with his seafaring mates.’

‘I better get home meself,’ Lucy said. ‘Me dad will wonder where I’ve got to. I’ll see yer, Mrs Aggie, and you, Mr Titch.’

Lucy was humming as she walked through the front door she’d left open when Rhoda had beckoned her through the window. Life felt much happier than it had yesterday. Her and her mate were speaking again, Steve had a little job which would bring him a few bob to give his mam, and she had her birthday to look forward to. This time next week she’d be the proud possessor of a new coat.

‘Where did you get to, pet?’ Bob asked. ‘Yer mam made a pot of tea and I went out looking for yer to see if yer wanted a cup.’

‘I was talking to Rhoda, then I went in Mrs Aggie’s.’ Lucy plonked herself on the arm of his chair. ‘Guess what, Dad? Steve Fletcher’s painting their backyard wall, and he’s making a smashing job of it.’

‘Oh aye, whitewashing it, is he?’

‘That’s the same as paint, isn’t it? Yer put it on with a brush, just the same.’

Ruby came through from the kitchen, drying her hands on the corner of her pinny. ‘That’s one feller I wouldn’t have near me house. Apart from being filthy and probably walking alive with fleas, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. It’s to be hoped Mrs McBride keeps her eye on her purse.’

Bob could feel his daughter’s body stiffen, and looked up to see her face set. He pulled her down on his knee and put his arms around her comfortingly before saying, ‘Ye’re bang out of order saying that, Ruby. Steve Fletcher’s as nice a lad as yer’ll find. Because him and his mam are having a rough
time, that doesn’t make him a thief.’

‘Go ’way, it sticks out a mile. He looks an absolute disgrace, no better than a tramp. And I think he’d nick anything he could get his hands on. He wouldn’t get over my door, that’s a dead cert, I’d chase him.’

Bob patted Lucy’s hand to tell her not to interfere, he’d sort this matter out. ‘Has anyone ever said that Steve has pinched something from them? Have yer any proof that he’s a thief? Of course yer haven’t. D’yer think Joe from the corner shop would let him take orders out if he wasn’t honest? Or the milkman he helps? No, that boy’s as honest as the day is long, and if I were you I’d be very careful what I said. Yer could find yerself in a load of trouble.’

Ruby threw her head back, a look of contempt on her petulant face. ‘Yer can talk till ye’re blue in the face, yer won’t change what I think. He’ll never set foot over my door and that’s the end of it.’

‘Over your door? What am I, Ruby, a flippin’ lodger? No, this is still my house, it’s my name on the rent book. So watch what yer say.’ Bob pushed Lucy gently from his knee. He wasn’t going to get involved in an argument in front of her. But he’d have plenty to say to his wife later. He’d never been as friendly with the Fletchers as Irene and George were, because of working shifts. But he remembered Jim being a fine, honest man, and Olive kind and friendly. Jim would turn in his grave if he’d heard what Ruby had said about his son. And apparently Olive was now a sick woman and couldn’t help the dire straits they were in. ‘Come on, pet, we’ll walk to the shop and see if the
Echo
’s in yet.’

Lucy was glad to get out of the house, she felt as though she was suffocating. Holding on to her dad’s hand as they walked up the street, she said, ‘I don’t care what she says, I like Steve and he’s me friend.’ Her voice choked, she went on, ‘And Mrs Aggie and Mr Titch like him, they think he’s a lovely lad, and a good worker. I don’t know how me mam
can say such terrible things about someone she’s never even spoken to.’

Bob tried to appear calm, but he was anything but calm inside. His daughter had come in happy and smiling, and in a few minutes her happiness had disappeared, along with her smile. ‘The trouble is, yer mam speaks before she thinks. A bit like your friend, Rhoda. So I wouldn’t take much heed to what she says, pet, or get upset about it, it’s not worth it. You and I know that Steve’s a good lad, as do the McBrides and the Pollards. And that’s all that counts in the end, isn’t it? He’s not without friends.’

When Lucy’s answer was a deep sigh, Bob tried to cheer her up. ‘Just think, pet, this time next week we’ll be back from town and yer’ll have yer new coat.’

This went some way towards brightening Lucy up. ‘Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I wonder what colour it’ll be?’

Lucy had gone next door for a game of cards with Irene and her sons, and Bob and Ruby were getting ready for their Saturday-night drink at the corner pub. Bob was struggling with the stud at the back of his collar as he looked in the mirror, and he was telling himself that next time he bought a shirt he’d get one of the new-style ones, with the collar attached. He finally succeeded in getting the fiddling stud through the hole and gave a sigh of relief. Most of the men in the pub wouldn’t have bothered with a collar and tie, they’d be wearing their silk scarves knotted over their Adam’s apple. But Bob didn’t go out very much so when he did he liked to make the effort.

When he turned around it was to see Ruby putting more lipstick on a mouth that already looked as though it had been slashed with a knife and was pouring with blood. ‘D’yer have to put so much of that muck on? It must be an inch thick. And the bright rouge on yer cheeks makes yer look like a clown.’

Ruby pressed her lips together and looked in the hand-mirror she was holding. She twisted her head from side to
side to see the effect from all angles. ‘You dress as you want, and leave me to dress as I want.’

‘Yer won’t give an inch, will yer, Ruby? Yer’ll have yer own way and it’s to hell with what anybody else thinks. At least I try to be reasonable and meet yer halfway, but I’m fighting a losing battle. If it was only meself I had to think about, I’d throw me hands in the air and say to hell with everything, and let yer get on with it. But yer go out of yer way to upset Lucy, and yer do it deliberately. She can’t mention any of her friends, the people she likes, without you having to say something nasty about them. And the sad thing is, I think yer get a kick out of it.’

‘Sing us another one, will yer, Bob? It’s the same old tune over and over again. You and yer precious Lucy. Because she likes someone, it doesn’t mean I’ve got to. And I’m not bleedin’ well going to pretend, just to please her. Yer give in to her too much, she’s so soft-hearted she cries at the least thing. It’s about time she toughened up.’