Stay as Sweet as You Are (30 page)

‘We’ve already tried, with no luck. It was thoughtful of yer to ask her, and I’m proud of yer. But I think the reason she won’t go out is because she’s no clothes to go out in. It’s never been mentioned, like, but I’ll bet a pound to a pinch of snuff that the two washed-out dresses I’ve seen her in are all she possesses. And they’re nearly falling off her back – she wouldn’t want to be seen out in them.’ Aggie picked up her knife and fork. ‘This dinner will be stiff if we leave it any longer, so get stuck in.’ She cut a potato in half and speared it with her fork. ‘It’s early days, yet, son, just give it time. Me and Irene will keep working on her, and George and Bob will do as much as she’ll allow them to do. Only God can do more than that.’

Titch walked up the street with a swagger. With his seaman’s bag slung over his shoulder, his navy-blue peaked cap at a rakish angle and a twinkle in his eye, he was feeling in high spirits. He’d been away for two months and was looking forward to seeing his mother. He had the key ready in his hand and was smiling as he imagined the delight he’d see on her face. And he knew his heart would lurch, as it always did, at the love that was plain to see in eyes moist with tears of emotion. He was about to insert the key in the lock when he heard a piercing whistle and turned his head to see Steve Fletcher running towards him, a hand waving in the air.

‘Mr Titch, I’ve got a job!’ Steve was breathless with excitement. ‘I started two weeks ago. I’ve been dying for yer to come home so I could tell yer.’

‘Good for you, lad.’ Titch was highly delighted for the boy. ‘Come inside and tell me all about it.’

‘Nah, I won’t come in. Mrs Aggie’s been so looking forward to yer coming home, she won’t want me in the way.’

‘Yer know me ma better than that, Steve. She’s always glad to see yer.’

‘I’ll wait here for five minutes, so yer can give her the kiss and cuddle she said she always gets. I don’t want to spoil yer homecoming.’

‘Okay, I’ll leave the door open and give yer a shout when the coast is clear.’

Aggie was in the kitchen when she heard the key in the
lock. Her heartbeat quickened as she dried her hands on the corner of her pinny. She entered the living room at the same time as Titch came in from the hall. Her arms wide, she walked towards him. ‘It’s a sight for sore eyes yer are, sweetheart. Welcome home.’

He held her close and they rocked from side to side. ‘It’s good to be home, Ma. And I’m happy to say yer’ve got me company for at least ten days.’

‘Oh, that’s good. The last couple of leaves ye’ve had were a waste of time. Yer barely had time to unpack before yer were off again.’

‘Listen, Ma, Steve’s outside. Is it all right if he comes in? I told him it would be, but he wasn’t having any. He said he didn’t want to spoil yer kiss and cuddle.’

Aggie grinned. ‘I told him yer were due about this time – he must have been watching out for yer. I’m not going to say anything, he’ll want to tell yer the news himself.’

And Steve couldn’t get his news out quick enough. The words tumbling from his mouth, he brought Titch up-to-date. ‘Yer know Jack got a job at Dunlop’s when he left school – well, he got an application form for me from the office. Mrs Pollard helped me fill it in, then she asked Mr Whittle from the corner shop if he’d give me a reference. He gave me a good one, too, and so did the headmistress at school. They must have done the trick because I got an interview and was told to start on the Monday.’

‘I’m really pleased for yer, lad.’ Titch eyed him up and down. ‘Yer haven’t half shot up in the last few months. Either that or I’m shrinking.’

‘It’s me what’s growing, Mr Titch.’ There wasn’t an inch of Steve’s face that wasn’t smiling. ‘Me mam had to let the hem down on the trousers.’

‘I bet she’s proud of yer, is she?’

‘Not half! I had to work a week in hand, but I got me first wage-packet on Friday. I couldn’t get home quick enough to see her face when I handed it over.’

‘And he wouldn’t take a penny back.’ Aggie knew the lad wouldn’t say it, so she did. ‘He walks to work every day, there and back, to save the tram fare.’

Titch looked surprised. ‘That’s some walk, that is. How long does it take yer?’

‘I can do it in half an hour. And I don’t mind. If I went on the tram, there and back, six days a week, it would be two bob out of the seven and six I earn. Then there’s me carry-out. Me mam has to buy that as well.’

This lad is a bloody hero, Titch thought. For years he’d been deprived of even the basic needs in life. Things other kids took for granted. But it hadn’t made him bitter or resentful. He was healthy in mind and body, kind and caring, and appreciative of the good things that came his way. A son to be proud of. ‘How is yer mam?’

‘I think she’s a lot better, Mr Titch. Don’t you think so, Mrs Aggie?’

‘It certainly seems that way. She’s been out to the shops a couple of times and that’s a good sign.’ Aggie chuckled. ‘Me and Irene pulled a fast one on her. Steve knows about it so I’m not telling tales out of school. We’d been taking turns getting her messages in, like bread and something for the lad’s carry-out. But we decided that as long as we did that, Olive would never go out. So one day we told her we wouldn’t be able to see her the next day until late, ’cos we were going to visit Irene’s family. We both felt a bit mean about it, but it had the desired effect. If she didn’t go to the shops, there’d be no bread for carry-out. And she wouldn’t see her son go without, ’cos as we all know, she loves the bones of him.’

Titch clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. ‘The older yer get, Ma, the worse yer get. Is it you leading Irene astray, or the other way around?’

‘Six of one and half-a-dozen of the other, son. Me and Irene think alike, always have done. And that little trick paid dividends. Since that first day, Olive’s been to the shops a few
times. Once with me, once with Irene and once on her own. So things are definitely looking up.’

‘I’ll go and leave yer in peace now,’ Steve said. ‘I can smell Mrs Aggie’s got a nice dinner ready for yer.’ He hesitated for a second. ‘How long are yer home for, Mr Titch?’

‘Ten long, beautiful days, lad. Ten days of being spoiled rotten by me ma. And that dinner yer can smell is only the start.’

‘I know what it is, but I’m not going to tell yer. Me and me mam had the same, thanks to Mrs Aggie.’ There was fondness in the look he gave the woman who was like family to him. ‘She’s a smashing cook.’

‘She’s everything a mother should be, and more.’ When Steve moved towards the door, Titch followed. ‘I’ll have a look down the paper tonight and see what’s on at the pictures this week. Then we’ll let the gang decide if they want to see a cowboys and Indians, a thriller or a comedy.’

‘That’s smashing. I don’t care what we go to see.’ Steve turned on the top step. ‘Are yer going to ask me mam if she’ll come?’

Titch pursed his lips. ‘I don’t think so, lad. She hasn’t wanted to come the other times I’ve asked her, and I don’t want to put her in an embarrassing situation.’

‘She might do, this time. She’s been out now, she hadn’t before.’

‘We’ll see how the land lies, eh? Tell her I’ll nip up and see her tomorrow. Tonight is my night for a drink with me mates. If I’m not mistaken, Bob’s on night shift, so we might get a couple of pints in before he goes to work.’

‘Okay, Mr Titch, I’ll tell me mam.’ Steve lowered his head to gaze down at his shoes. ‘I don’t know how we’d have managed if you hadn’t come down to our house that day. I used to worry meself sick about me mam, but I didn’t have no one to turn to. I could see she was really ill, but she wouldn’t let me get the doctor ’cos we had no money. I knew we weren’t getting enough to eat, that the house was a tip and
I was walking around like a tramp. None of that worried me, I didn’t care what people said about me. But I did care what was happening to me mam, and I used to have nightmares that she was going to die and I couldn’t do a thing to stop it.’

Titch put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Listen to me, lad, all the neighbours in this street have nothing but praise for yer. Yer’ve come through that bad patch with flying colours. Put it behind yer and look towards the future. Ye’re a working man now, with yer whole life ahead of yer.’

‘Without you, Mr Titch, I wouldn’t have had a pair of trousers to wear for the interview for a job. Without Mrs Aggie and Mrs Pollard, me mam wouldn’t have been getting a decent dinner every day. She doesn’t spend all her time lying on the couch now because she’s got good friends that visit and have given her an interest in life.’ His blue eyes told of a wisdom beyond his years. ‘We’ve come through the worst of it, as yer say, but I’ll never forget we didn’t do it alone.’

‘Ay, it’s a good job me ma isn’t here listening to yer, she’d be crying buckets. Life has made yer grow up quick, Steve, but yer’ve got the guts and courage to make a good life for yerself, and yer mam. And all yer friends are behind yer and dead proud of yer.’ Titch punched him good-naturedly in the chest. ‘Now will yer go on home before yer have me bawling me eyes out. Me ma thinks the world of yer, but if she thought yer’d made her lovely son cry, she’d be chasing yer down the street with the poker in her hand.’

He stood for a while watching the lad walk down the street, his back straight, his stride long. A young man with a purpose who deserved to get on in life. ‘Olive might not have been able to give that lad any luxuries, Ma,’ Titch said when he went back in the living room to find his mother setting the table, ‘but she’s given him something more important. She’s taught him honesty and a respect for people. I think she’s done a damn good job on him.’

‘There’s no doubt about that, son. There’s not a better-mannered lad in this street.’ Aggie bent over the table, straightening the knives and forks and making sure the condiment set was close to where her son would be sitting. ‘Did I hear yer telling him yer’d be taking the kids to the pictures during the week?’

Titch chuckled as he pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down. ‘My God, yer’ve got good hearing, Ma – yer don’t miss a thing. Yes, I did say I’d be taking them to the flicks. They look forward to it, and so do I.’

‘And are yer going to ask Olive?’

‘There’s not much point, is there? She’d only refuse.’

‘Then I’ll ask her. I’ll say I want to go with yer but I don’t fancy being the only female.’ Aggie bustled out to the kitchen. ‘Come and stand by the door so I can talk to yer while I’m putting the dinner out. Once yer go out to the pub, that’s the last I’ll see of yer until tomorrow.’

Titch leaned against the door jamb, his arms folded and his legs crossed at the ankles. ‘Okay, Mam, let’s have all the news. I’ve got a couple of months to catch up on.’

‘We’ll stick with Olive. She has improved a lot, although once she steps out of that house she gets very nervous. But that’ll pass in time. Irene had some dresses that won’t go near her now she’s put weight on, and she told Olive she was welcome to them if she could alter them to fit. It turns out she’s very handy with a needle and thread and she made a good job of them. That’s why I suggested yer asked her to come to the pictures. Now she’s got some decent clothes she might be glad of a night out.’

‘She’d be more than welcome, Ma. I’d be made up to see her getting out and about. But I’d feel happier if you asked her.’ Titch waited for his mother’s agreement, then asked, ‘What about the Pollards? Everyone well, I hope?’

‘They’re fine. Irene’s still doing her morning job, she’s saving up for some new furniture. They’re pretty comfortable now with three lots of wages coming in, even though young
Jack thinks it’s his few bob that keeps the house going. He takes after his mam, always with a smile on his face and a joke on his lips. They’re a very happy family, the Pollards.’

‘Shall I ask how the Mellors are, or would it put me off me dinner?’

‘It’s hard to say. Sometimes Bob looks as though he’s got the troubles of the world on his shoulders, but he never mentions his wife’s name. They don’t go over the door together, so things haven’t improved. But to give Bob his due, he keeps his worries to himself. I very seldom see Ruby. If we meet in the street we just walk past each other. I’ve no time for her and I’ll not pretend otherwise.’ Aggie drained the potatoes and put a knob of butter in the pan before plunging the masher up and down. ‘Lucy is a little treasure. Every time I see her I want to give her a big hug to make up for the ones she doesn’t get off her mother. She is always happy and cheerful, but I think deep down she’s a sad child. She spends a lot of time in the Pollards’, especially when Bob’s at work. I think she confides in Irene, but I wouldn’t like to say for sure. Irene’s not one to break a confidence.’

Titch moved away from the wall and stretched his arms over his head. ‘In other words, Ma, things are just the same as they were when I went away?’

‘Not quite, son, not quite. I’ve got another wrinkle in me forehead, three more white hairs in me head and a hole in the heel of me stocking that yer could put yer fist through.’ Aggie pointed the masher at him. ‘I’m not complaining, mind. I wouldn’t have mentioned them if yer hadn’t asked.’

‘Ma, yer’ve got steel-grey hair and there’s not a white hair to be seen. Nor have yer got a wrinkle in yer face. What’s more, I’ll bet a pound to a pinch of snuff there’s no hole in the heel of yer stocking. In all, I’d say ye’re a remarkable woman for yer age. And now, while ye’re dishing the dinner out, I’m going to give George and Bob a knock to ask them to be ready for half-seven. I’ll be back in two ticks.’ Titch was
passing the sideboard when he heard his mother talking to herself.

‘I’ll have a little bet on the side meself. I bet that when the world comes to an end, my son will be sitting in a pub somewhere with a bleedin’ pint glass in his hand.’

Titch crept up behind her. ‘Ma, can yer think of a better way to go?’

Lucy was in the Pollards’ when Titch called for George that evening. As soon as he walked through the door she flew to him and put her arms around his waist. ‘I’m glad to see yer, Mr Titch.’

‘And I’m glad to see you, sweetheart.’ He stroked her hair, thinking here was a child starved of affection. Oh, Bob was affectionate with her, he idolised her. But she wasn’t getting any from the one person, who above all, should be showering it on her. ‘Are we all set for the pictures one night, gang?’