The Girl From Number 22 (20 page)

Hetty caught her friend’s eye. ‘Yer did all that in bed last night, eh, girl? That’s not like you to waste time like that. Yer’ve usually got far more important things to occupy yer mind when ye’re in bed.’

‘Well, well, well!’ Ada said. ‘Life is full of surprises! Only a few weeks ago yer used to blush if I even mentioned going up the stairs to make the ruddy bed! Ye’re certainly coming out of yer shell, sunshine, yer’ll be swearing next.’

‘That’s your fault,’ Hetty told her, cursing herself for saying what she had. She should have known not to give her mate the ammunition to fire a shot. ‘It’s you what’s given me a bad mind. Before yer started sharing yer bedroom antics with me, whether I wanted them or not I must add, the only time my thoughts were in the bedroom was when I was making the bed. So there, Ada Fenwick!’

‘Ay, sunshine, yer should be showing me gratitude, not laying the blame at my door. Before we became mates, yer didn’t know what life was all about. Oh, I know yer’ve had two children, which means yer don’t still believe the old fairy tale about babies being delivered by a stork, or being found under a cabbage patch. But did it never occur to yer that men and women were made different for a reason? And I don’t mean just to produce
children, but to give pleasure. And that, sunshine, is what life is all about.’

‘Oh, and I suppose I’m supposed to get down on me hands and knees to thank yer for giving me a bad mind, am I?’

‘No, not a bad mind, sunshine, but a mind that sees and enjoys the good things life has to offer without feeling guilty.’

A voice over their shoulders made them jump, before turning to see Edith standing behind them.

‘You two seemed to be so deep in conversation, yer didn’t hear me calling yer.’ Their neighbour grinned. ‘What plan are yer hatching up now?’

Hetty’s eyes were sending daggers to Ada, in a bid to tell her not to dare repeat what they’d been talking about. And Ada got the message. ‘I don’t know about hatching a plot, Edith, but it sounds more exciting than talking about joining a Christmas club, which is what we’ve been doing. We’ve had a long discussion about how much we need to put in the butcher’s shop if we want a turkey for our Christmas dinner. We’re late starting the clubs this year, we haven’t put anything away up to now, but we’re starting in earnest today. And first on the list is the butcher.’

Hetty thought they were on safe ground now, and found her voice. ‘After the butcher’s, we’re off to the baker’s and the candlestick-makers.’

‘Don’t be going overboard now, sunshine, ’cos we don’t need to save up for cakes, and the chandler’s sells candles at two for a penny.’

‘I wasn’t being serious, Ada Fenwick, and you know it. So don’t be making fun of me.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of making fun of yer, not when ye’re me best mate.’ Ada jerked her head at Edith. ‘Don’t take no notice of
her, she often has spells of insanity like that. I put it down to her age. I think she’s in the early stages of the change.’

There was a loud gasp from Hetty. ‘I am thirty-eight years of age, Ada Fenwick, nowhere near the change of life.’ Her eyes became slits as she added, ‘And with the difference in our ages, that should be six months after you.’

‘Blimey! We’re not having a race, are we, sunshine? A competition, like, to see who goes first? And is there a prize to be won?’

‘Well, you started it, not me.’

Edith thought it time to interrupt. ‘If I listen to you two for much longer, yer’ll have me feeling old before me time. I’m over a year younger than either of yer, but ye’re putting years on me!’

‘Ye’re right,’ Ada agreed. ‘In the last ten minutes every one of me bones has started to complain. Particularly the soles of me feet. From what they’re telling me, they don’t like being stood on for too long. So seeing as yer seem to be going in the same direction as me and me mate, we’ll walk along with yer, and yer can tell us how ye’re getting on with yer new neighbours.’

Edith snorted. ‘Sorry to disappoint yer, Ada, but that would take me all of ten seconds. I can’t say how we’re getting on with them ’cos I know no more about them than I did the day they moved in. If you hadn’t got their name off Mr Stone, Ada, I wouldn’t even know that. I was coming back from the corner shop yesterday morning – we’d run out of milk, and I ran down the entry to save time. I’d just reached our back door when she came out of theirs. I thought it was a good chance to introduce meself properly. So I said, “Good morning, Mrs Phillips, I was hoping to meet yer again. My name’s Edith Benson, and I’m yer neighbour.” And she looked at me with a blank expression on her face. “I’m in a hurry, I’ve no time to
stand talking,” she said. And she was gone in a flash. When we were having our dinner, I told Joe that it had all happened so fast I thought I’d imagined it. And I still can’t believe that knowing I was a neighbour, she couldn’t spare a few seconds to talk, or even give me a smile.’

Ada pulled a face. ‘Not a very good start, eh? Yer’d think with them being new in the street she’d be anxious to make friends of her neighbours. Me and Hetty were only saying this morning that we hadn’t laid eyes on any of the family since the day they moved in. And that was only a glimpse of the mother and daughter. Jimmy saw the father coming out of their house one morning, at the same time as he was leaving for work, and he passed the time of day with him. I asked Jimmy if they’d talked, but he said the bloke just waved back. I left it at that, ’cos men don’t think the same as women, do they? Anyway, it’s better to have neighbours yer don’t see or hear than having a rowdy bunch living next door.’

‘Oh, we hear them all right. There’s not a sound all day, it’s like a ghost house, but the husband makes up for it at night. He doesn’t just speak, he yells. Sounds to me like a bad-tempered bugger. There’s not a whisper from the other three, they’re as quiet as mice.’

‘Is this late at night yer hear him?’ Ada asked. ‘When the pubs are shut and he comes in the worse for drink?’

‘I might be maligning the man, he may be harmless. It’s only happened twice, both times around half seven to eight. So yer could hardly put it down to him being drunk.’ Edith shook her head as though shaking her thoughts away. ‘No, we’ve probably got a bad-tempered neighbour and there’s not much yer can do about it. And if they don’t want to be friendly, then that’s their loss. I just wish Eliza had never left.’

‘It might not be as bad as yer think,’ Hetty said. ‘Perhaps they’ve not settled in proper, still trying to find where things were put on the day they moved in. Removal men are noted for dumping boxes and crates anywhere that is the least trouble to them.’

‘Hetty’s right, sunshine, yer’ll have to make allowances for a couple of weeks. Then, if things don’t calm down, get Joe to have a word with the husband.’

‘Yeah, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and see how it goes. And this is where I love yer and leave yer, ’cos I’m going to see me mam. I can see a tram coming, so I’ll make a dash. Ta-ra for now, and don’t spend all yer money in the one shop.’

As Edith took to her heels, Ada shouted after her. ‘Don’t forget we’re always there if yer ever need any help, or someone to talk to.’

Edith swung herself on board the tram, and gripping the post in the centre of the platform, she stayed there until it trundled past her neighbours. After giving them a wave and a smile, she swayed down the aisle to a seat by the window, where her thoughts turned to the pleasant prospect of seeing her beloved mother.

Ada spread her three Christmas club cards out on the table. ‘Doesn’t look much, does it? A shilling in the butcher’s, and a tanner in the greengrocer’s and the sweet shop. But it’ll soon mount up, especially if I can manage the extra tanner in the butcher’s.’

‘I’m a bit better off than you, girl, because Sally and Kitty are buying their own dresses. I’ll buy them a small present, ’cos it wouldn’t be the same on Christmas morning if they didn’t get a surprise present. I’ll buy them a necklace or a bangle from
Woolworth’s, they’d be made up with either. And Arthur will be happy with a new shirt. I’m not worried about meself, a cheap dress from TJ’s or the market will do me. It’s not as though we’re going anywhere special, no one is going to see us. The girls will be going out to one of their friends, I suppose. I can’t see them staying in on Christmas night.’

‘Well, there’s no need for you and Arthur to sit in the house on yer own, sunshine. Ye’re welcome to come in here. The men can get a few pints in, and we’ll mug ourselves to a bottle of port between us. Christmas comes but once a year, so we may as well make the most of it.’ Ada chuckled. ‘It would be a good chance to show off yer singing voice, except I couldn’t listen to someone singing a song I know the words to without joining in. And that would have to be after we’d had half the bottle of port each. I’d have to be half plastered to let anyone hear the foghorn I’ve got for a voice.’

‘Wouldn’t yer mind if me and Arthur came on Christmas night, then, girl? It would be better than the two of us sitting looking at each other. And we’d only stay a few hours, we wouldn’t outstay our welcome.’

‘I don’t know why ye’re making such a big fuss, sunshine. Yer don’t have to make out that I’m doing yer a favour, because if the truth were known I’d be glad of yer company. Besides, it wouldn’t be anything new, ’cos yer came last year, remember?’

‘Yes I know, and it should be our turn to have you. So shall we swap round this year, and you come to us?’

‘No, we couldn’t do that ’cos I’ve got the two kids to think of. I wouldn’t leave them alone on Christmas night.’

‘Won’t they mind me and Arthur coming here?’

‘By the time you get here, they’ll be dead tired and ready
for bed. That’s the two young ones I’m talking about. I can’t tell yer what Danny’s doing, for I haven’t a clue. He may have a girlfriend he’s keeping quiet about, I honestly don’t know. He talks about three dancing partners, but I never know whether he’s telling the truth or not. But no matter what Danny does, it won’t make any difference to you and Arthur coming.’

‘That’s good. Arthur will be pleased when I tell him. He gets on well with Jimmy, they’re good mates.’

‘Yeah, the life and soul of the party, both of them. While you and me are singing our heads off, with a glass of wine in our hand, they’ll be deep in conversation. And what will the topic be that interests them so much? It’ll be about Liverpool’s chances of winning the cup next year.’

‘I thought Danny was an Evertonian?’

‘He is, a red hot Evertonian. And he could be our only hope of a bit of jollity on Christmas night. For if he hasn’t got anything planned with a girl, and he stays in, then our two husbands won’t get a look in. Much as he loves his dad, there’s no way our Danny would sit quietly by and listen to anyone singing the praises of Liverpool Football Club. It’s a wonder yer’ve never heard them arguing. If Everton are playing at home, and Liverpool have a home match as well, then when they both start, no one else can get a word in edgeways. They’re like a couple of kids, and I have a hell of a time trying to quieten them down. I’m really surprised that yer’ve never heard them, ’cos these walls are very thin.’

Hetty shook her head. ‘Well, I can’t say I have, girl, and that’s no lie. And talking of being able to hear through walls, what did yer make of what Edith told us about the new family living opposite?’

‘I couldn’t say, sunshine, ’cos I’d have to have been there meself when it happened for me to form an opinion. One thing I can say about them is that they are conspicuous by their absence, if yer know what I mean.’ Ada leaned forward on the table and cupped her chin in her hand. ‘There’s one way of finding out, we could knock on the door and make ourselves known to the mother. It can’t do any harm, and most people moving to a new house would be pleased to see a friendly face. Anyway, the worst that can happen is that she tells us to sod off. And I’ve got a thick skin, it wouldn’t worry me.’

‘Ooh, I don’t know about that, girl, we might let ourselves in for a load of trouble.’

‘Don’t let’s start thinking badly of them until we get to know them. We should give them the benefit of the doubt until we know different. If we call with the best intention of wanting to be friends, and we’re not made welcome, then that’s their loss. For I would never again knock on their door, or offer a hand of friendship.’

‘My mother used to say, “Never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you.” ’ Hetty informed her. ‘And she was never far wrong in what she said, either.’

Ada repeated, ‘Never trouble trouble, till trouble troubles you.’ Then her eyes slid sideways. ‘Did your mother have false teeth?’

Looking perplexed, Hetty nodded. ‘Yes, she did as a matter of fact, but what’s that got to do with anything?’

‘I bet she had to take her false teeth out before she came out with that mouthful. I had to say it very slowly, and I’ve got all me own teeth.’

There was resignation on the face Hetty turned to her mate. ‘Yer never cease to amaze me, Ada. I don’t know another person
who could, in half a minute, go from the Christmas festivities to my mother’s false teeth. I mean, yer’ve got to admit it takes some doing.’

‘I’m disappointed in yer, sunshine,’ Ada said lightly. ‘Yer don’t do me no justice at all. If yer’d been paying attention, yer would have remembered I started off with Christmas, then went on to suggest we knocked on the door of the new neighbours opposite. It was after that that yer mother’s false teeth came into the scheme of things, and quite frankly I can’t imagine how that came about.’

‘Don’t be trying to pull a fast one, girl, ’cos I know yer too well. You act daft at times, but it’s only put on, ’cos yer know exactly what yer say, and what anybody else says. Yer don’t miss a blinking trick.’

Ada pretended to go all coy. ‘Ah, I’m not as clever as yer make me out to be, sunshine, and yer’ve got me blushing now.’

‘Blushing!’ Hetty’s voice was shrill. ‘Yer don’t know the meaning of the word. The day I see you blush will be the day I think the end of the world is not far off.’

‘Ay, your mother wasn’t the only one who had a saying for everything under the sun, my ma was the same. And if she’d heard what yer’ve just said about the end of the world, she’d have pointed a finger at yer, and warned, “There’s many a true word spoken in jest, girl, so just you take heed.” ’