The Girl From Number 22 (47 page)

His sister smiled at him. ‘That’s a lovely thought, our kid, and I appreciate yer thinking of me. But what am I to do with meself for the next few years, while I’m waiting for yer to grow up? I can’t stay at home and twiddle me thumbs every night. Mind you, I could take up knitting, and knit meself a man who fulfils all the requirements I’d like in a boyfriend.’

Annie clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. ‘Surely that’s doing things the hard way, sweetheart. Why not go to a dance where there’ll be lots to choose from? Yer could do a deal with Danny that would suit you and also put my mind at rest.’

‘Ah, ay, Mam. It’ll have to be some deal that’ll suit me and
Danny, and also put your mind at rest. What are yer thinking of?’

Annie chuckled. ‘We’ll do me first, eh? Yer see, I always worry when you and Ben are out on these dark nights. Ben I don’t have to worry about so much, him being a lad and big for his age. And he’s always in at a respectable time. It’s you I worry about more. But if yer went to the dance with Danny, I wouldn’t have to ’cos yer wouldn’t be coming home on yer own in the dark. And to keep yer independence, which seems to be important to yer, well, yer could buy yer own tram and dance ticket. That way yer’ll not be under any obligation.’

Jenny’s shoulders started to shake with a low titter behind her hand. Then the sound grew into full scale laughter as she rocked back and forth on the chair. ‘Oh, Mam, ye’re priceless! Yer’ve got it all worked out, haven’t yer?’ She wiped away the tears of laughter. ‘But has it never entered yer head that Danny might take one of the girls home when the dance is over? Or that he’d be embarrassed if I sat next to him on the tram and insisted I paid me own fare? And when we get to the dance hall, I’ll let him hold the door open while I rush in and buy me own ticket? I’m sure he’d love that.’

Annie frowned. ‘But I’m sure Danny would understand if yer explained to him that yer’d feel better paying yer own way. He’s very easy-going, and he’s not the kind to take the huff over a little thing like that.’

Across the table, Ben shook his head. ‘No, Mam, our Jenny’s right. When I’m a bit older and take a girl out, I wouldn’t want her to pay for herself. I mean, it’s the feller’s place to look after his girlfriend, and pay to take her out.’

‘I know that, lad, ’cos I had a couple of dates before I met yer dad, and the lads always paid. But it’s different with Danny. He
wouldn’t be courting Jenny, only travelling there and back to the dance with her. I don’t see what’s wrong with that.’

‘Poor Danny,’ Jenny said, ‘I’m beginning to feel sorry for him. Here’s us, sitting here planning his life for him. And while I can see the funny side, I’m blowed if I can see Danny thinking it funny and laughing his head off. So, if yer don’t mind, Mam, we’ll leave Danny to lead his own life, eh? He seems happy enough as he is, so why should we, who are almost strangers to him, come along and spoil things?’

‘If that’s the way yer want it, sweetheart, then we’ll say no more about it.’ Annie was disappointed but not defeated. She was determined her daughter wasn’t going to marry a rotter, like she had. And Danny Fenwick was certainly no rotter. And as the saying goes, ‘Hope springs eternal.’

‘Yer never did get yer living room decorated in time for Christmas, did yer?’ Ada looked past Hetty, to where Annie was walking on the outside. ‘Even if yer got the paper yer wouldn’t have it done in time now.’

‘I haven’t got quite enough money for it, sweetheart,’ Annie told her. ‘I’ve enough to buy the paper, I think, but as yer know, yer can’t put paper up without doing the ceiling and the woodwork.’

‘It’s a pity that,’ Ada sympathised, ‘’cos if we all got stuck in to help yer, we could still have it done in time.’ She chuckled. ‘We’d be at it until midnight on Christmas Eve, like, but it would be nice for Father Christmas to see when he comes down the chimney.’

‘If Annie hasn’t got the money, girl, then there’s no use talking about it,’ Hetty said. ‘We could give her a hand after the holiday’s over and she’s got the money to buy what she needs.’

‘Yeah, I know that, sunshine, but I was only saying it would have been nice for her. Put a bit of colour in the room and cheer it up a bit.’ Ada nipped in front of her friend and placed herself between Hetty and Annie. ‘That’s better, I can see what I’m saying now.’

Hetty tutted. ‘Don’t mind me, girl, you just look after yerself. It’s about time I put me foot down with yer, and thought of meself for a change.’

Ada put an arm across her mate’s shoulder and squeezed. ‘That’s right, sunshine, you start sticking up for yerself. I would if I were you, and it would liven things up a bit.’

‘What Hetty said about putting her foot down,’ Annie said, ‘well, I did that last night, good and proper. I had a real go at my feller and got everything off me chest.’

Ada pulled the trio to a halt. ‘And yer got away with it? Go ’way, yer couldn’t have told him off that much, or yer wouldn’t be here to tell the tale.’

‘I did though, and I am.’ Annie still couldn’t believe she’d found the courage to stand up to Tom Phillips. She probably wouldn’t have had the nerve to say half she did if he hadn’t said what he did about Jenny. That was the straw that broke the donkey’s back. Something she couldn’t stand there and listen to without retaliating. But no one else would be told what he’d said in case it got back to Jenny. ‘He had everything flung in his face that he’s done to me and the kids over the years. He tried to be cocky at first, but I’d got meself so riled up I pushed him down in the chair and made him listen to everything I’ve wanted to say for so long.’

‘Ooh, I want to hear this,’ Ada said with relish. ‘I want to hear every word, yer mustn’t leave anything out.’

Hetty gave her a dig. ‘Ye’re not going to hear it now, girl, ’cos here comes Ivy Thompson the troublemaker. Every word yer say, she doubles, then adds anything she can think of to spice it up.’

‘Damn and blast her,’ Ada said. ‘I had geared meself up for a bit of excitement. But never mind, yer can come back to mine when we’ve finished shopping, sunshine, and give me and Hetty the news over a nice cup of tea, and the biscuits what Hetty is going to bring in.’

Hetty just had time to say, ‘Ye’re a cheeky article, Ada Fenwick,’
before the neighbourhood gossip and bully came up to them. Most people in the area would scuttle away, or cross the street, when they saw Ivy Thompson, for she had a terrible mouth on her, and if you tried to argue with her she’d think nothing of belting you one. So, all in all, she was very unpopular, and afraid of no one. No one except Ada Fenwick, who, when it came to fisticuffs, could give as good as she got. Not that Ada was a bully, like Ivy, for she wasn’t. Ada was very popular with everyone, whereas Ivy liked nothing better than to pick on someone she knew was afraid of her.

Ivy stopped in front of the trio, effectively barring their path. ‘Good morning, Ada.’

‘Good morning to you, Ivy,’ Ada answered. ‘Not that it is a good morning, mind yer, ’cos it’s ruddy freezing. Still, we have to be polite, don’t we?’

Ivy was a big woman, easily twenty stone, and with muscles any man would be proud of. And now she was eyeing Annie up and down. ‘This yer new neighbour, is she? The one that took over Eliza’s house?’

Ada nodded. ‘Yeah, this is Annie Phillips. Annie, this is Ivy Thompson, otherwise known as the neighbourhood bully. Yer’d do well to cross the road when yer see her coming towards yer, sunshine, ’cos she packs a very hard punch.’

As Ada was wearing a smile when she spoke, Ivy looked uncertain. She didn’t know whether to treat it as a joke, or an insult. After a few seconds’ debate in her head, she decided there was no use picking a fight, not with Ada Fenwick. She’d tried a couple of times but in the end had had to admit defeat. ‘Take no notice of Ada, queen,’ she told Annie. ‘If ye’re a friend of hers, then ye’re a friend of mine.’

And to the surprise of everyone, Annie did something no one
else had ever done. She held out her hand to the local bully. ‘Pleased to meet yer, Ivy.’

Ivy looked down at the outstretched hand, and a second later she was pumping it up and down. No one had ever shaken her hand before, and she was over the moon. She squared her shoulders and her mountainous bosom stood proudly to attention. Over the next hour, the whole neighbourhood would hear about this. Ivy Thompson was going up in the world, and woe betide anyone who wouldn’t stop to listen, and nod their head in agreement. ‘Nice to make yer acquaintance, Annie. As I said, any friend of Ada’s is a friend of mine.’

‘Well, it does me heart good to know we’re all friends,’ Ada said, smiling to take the sting out of her next words. ‘But I’m afraid I’m going to have to break the party up, ’cos I’ve got a load of shopping to do. I’ve no spuds and not a crust of bread in the house. It’s been nice talking to yer, Ivy, and we’ll see yer around.’ She gripped an arm either side of her and marched her friends forward. ‘Come on, ladies, time and tide wait for no man.’

When they’d walked what Hetty thought was a safe distance, she said to Annie, ‘I hope yer know how privileged yer are, girl, ’cos If Ada hadn’t been with us, Ivy Thompson would have made mincemeat out of you and me.’

‘She’s a big girl, all right,’ Annie said. ‘I wouldn’t like to get on the wrong side of her.’

‘There’s no reason to get on the wrong side of her,’ Ada said. ‘If yer see her before she sees you, then run to the nearest entry. But if she sees yer, then give her a big smile, and be as polished as Hetty’s sideboard on a Monday morning.’

Hetty screwed up her eyes, thought for a few seconds, then asked, ‘Why Monday, girl, and not any other day of the week?’

‘Because Monday is yer day for hard work, sunshine, that’s why. I know yer dust every single day, but Monday is the day for using yer elbow grease.’

‘Yer haven’t half got sharp eyes, girl, ’cos I think me furniture looks highly polished every single day.’

‘Now don’t be taking the huff, sunshine, just because yer took what I said the wrong way. The only reason I mentioned yer sideboard was because it’s the first thing anyone sees when they go in yer living room. And one Monday I called to yours for something, and me eyes were so dazzled by the shine I couldn’t see properly for over an hour. All I could see was flashes before my eyes.’

‘This is one of yer made up stories, isn’t it?’ Hetty asked. ‘I know it is, so yer’ve no need to deny it. I’m used to yer by now, I know all yer little tricks. And what makes me so sure is that yer’ve never been in me house on a Monday morning.’

‘Or any other morning, sunshine, don’t forget that. I have never once been over the threshold of your door in the morning.’

Annie was finding this very interesting, but was hard put to it to know if the two friends were really having a serious conversation, or whether it would end up as a leg-pull. ‘Does this story have an ending, or is it one of the tales Hetty mentioned? I’m only asking so I’ll know whether to take sides if it comes to blows.’

Ada shook her head. ‘No, it’s all right, sunshine, ’cos that’s what I use while Hetty is busy sweating using elbow grease.’

Hetty’s head quivered and her lips became a straight line. ‘I do not sweat, Ada Fenwick. Even on a really hot day, yer’ll not see any sign of perspiration on my brow. And would yer mind answering Annie’s question? What is it you use when I am supposedly sweating?’

‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Yer do take on so, Hetty! If yer’d listened carefully, yer would have heard me telling Annie that while you polish yer furniture, all I do is blow the dust away. I know it only goes from one end of the sideboard to the other, but on the second blow I can sometimes get it as far away as the kitchen.’

‘Go ’way!’ Annie was chuckling inside. ‘D’yer know, I’ve been taught more in the last ten minutes than I was in the whole nine years I was at school. Do you two often have these deep conversations?’

Hetty looked at Ada and raised her brows. ‘How often would yer say, girl? Once a week or once a month?’

The women were standing outside Irwin’s the grocer’s by this time, and Ada rubbed her chin. ‘No, ye’re miles out, sunshine. I’d say twice every day.’

‘Yer must have learned a lot from each other,’ Annie said, straight-faced.

‘Oh, we have, girl, ye’re so right. We are twice as daft now as we were when we first moved into the street and became neighbours.’

Ada nodded her head vigorously. ‘I blame the landlord. If he hadn’t given us houses next door to each other, we would have been much saner people now.’

‘Yeah,’ Hetty agreed. ‘Not as happy, like, but much more sane.’

‘Well, no matter how it came about, the pair of yer would be lost without each other. And for meself, I have good reason to be grateful to the landlord for putting yer next door to each other. And for letting me have the tenancy of number twenty-two. My life has been changed completely since yer were kind enough to make friends with me. It’s not perfect by any means, but much
better. And after I tackled Tom Phillips last night, I know there’s going to be a real improvement.’

‘Yes, I was going to go back to what yer said about last night,’ Ada said. ‘I’m really interested to know whether yer were as firm with him as yer sounded. So how about you getting yer shopping done, while me and Hetty do ours? We’ll all meet up at my place in an hour’s time. How does that suit yer?’

‘Wonderful, sweetheart. I’ll be knocking on yer door in an hour’s time. Ta-ra for now.’

When Ada opened the door to Annie later, she let her neighbour pass, then said, ‘Not one word until we’ve got a cup of tea in front of us. I can always think better with a cup in me hand. And Hetty has mugged us to a cream slice each, so that’s two things to look forward to.’

While Ada was making the tea, Hetty asked, ‘What are yer having for yer dinner, Annie? Me and Ada bought some pig’s liver, and we’re doing it with onions and mashed potatoes. It’s quick, easy and tasty.’ She gave an exaggerated wink. ‘At least that’s what me mate told me when she talked me into buying the same as her.’

‘Ay, buggerlugs, I heard that.’ Ada came in carrying a tray set with cups, saucers and a plate with three cream slices on. ‘I hope when ye’re enjoying yer very tasty dinner tonight, yer tell yer family it’s all thanks to me.’