‘Oh,
my bum feels so cold on this step, Sis; I’ll have to move or I’ll freeze me
knickers off.’
Jumping
up, twelve-year-old Chrissie James started running up and down the garden path,
rubbing her backside trying to increase the circulation. Babs, her
fourteen-year-old sister, doubled up laughing as she watched her sister’s
antics. She called, ‘Pack it up or you’ll have the whole terrace laffing at
you. Our mum will clip your ear’ole for showing us up if you ain’t careful.
Mind the cat, you nearly tripped over her, ’er’ll be having ’er kittens soon,
look at the size of ’er!’
Chrissie
stopped dead; no way did she want to anger her mother. Their mum was someone to
be reckoned with when she lost her temper.
Hearing
footsteps coming up the path running between the back-to-back houses, they saw
a tall, heavily built woman in her thirties advancing towards their gate. The
woman had long black hair held back with hairgrips on either side of her face.
What drew Babs’ attention more than anything was the slash of bright red
lipstick the woman was wearing, giving her long, pale face a ghoulish look. Her
blue eyes almost popping out of her head, Babs gave the woman a hard stare,
which the woman returned with a wide smile, revealing the largest set of teeth
the young girl had ever seen, and to make matters worse, they were smeared with
lipstick. Babs froze for a minute then hurried back to her sister. Snuggling up
beside Chrissie on the doorstep, the girls watched the woman push the gate open
and proceed to walk up the path.
‘What’s
up, Babs?’ Chrissie queried, wondering at her sister’s reaction to the
stranger.
‘I
don’t like the look of ’er, Chris. She gives me the creeps.’
By
this time, the woman had reached them. ‘Your ma in?’ she demanded sharply in a
strange-sounding accent.
They
nodded, staring up at the woman’s mouth; the girls couldn’t take their eyes off
her. ‘Tell ’er I’m ’ere then,’ the woman demanded impatiently. ‘I ain’t got all
day, you know.’
Clutching
her sister tightly, Babs yelled, ‘Mom, there’s a woman ’ere wants to see you.’
‘What
now,’ a tired-sounding voice called irritably from the darkness within. ‘What
ya been up to, our Babs?’
‘Nothing,
Mom, an’ that’s the truth,’ Babs shrieked. ‘Ain’t dun nuffink, nor our
Chrissie, honestly. This ’ere woman wants to see ya. Can she come in?’
‘I’m
feeding ya brother. Bring her in for Gawd’s sake, then go to the corner shop
for me. We need some bread.’
Leaping
up, Babs motioned the woman into the small dark room.
Blinking
her coal black eyes, the woman tried to adjust to the gloom. She saw a slim,
blonde-haired woman feeding a baby boy of some eleven months with mashed
potato, carrot, and milk, from a chipped, cream-coloured crock dish. Two old
horsehair chairs in front of the fire had bits of fabric hanging in shreds
beneath them. The pegged rug spread across the hearth in between the chairs had
seen better days. However, as her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she couldn’t
fault the young woman’s housekeeping skills, she was impressed by the
cleanliness of the room. The room smelt of carbolic soap and Mansion Polish.
She also noticed how sparkling clean the sash window was. This really surprised
her as most of the houses up the terrace had rags and newspapers plugging up
their broken window panes. The smoke produced by the coal fire normally put
layers of dust over everything in sight and to see such a clean room in one of
these houses was astonishing. She had been expecting a drab, run-down, dirty
house, but instead she noticed even the towelling nappies airing on the
fireguard gleamed white through the gloom. The fly paper hanging from the
ceiling looked as if it was changed regularly, astonishing her as normally they
were a revolting sight full to overflowing with dead flies.
‘Who
are you and what do you want?’ Lily asked the woman directly, eyeing her up and
down as she busily tried to keep up with the baby’s demand for his dinner.
‘I’m
a friend of your ex-husband, he sent me to see ya, missus,’ she replied.
‘Ya
what,’ the mother shrieked. ‘Him who I divorced some years ago for adultery and
desertion.’
‘Err,
yes, Mrs?’ Pausing on a stutter and stepping back, the woman licked her bright
red lips nervously seeing the angry glint in Lily’s green eyes.
Slamming
the spoon down angrily, adding yet another crack to the already chipped dish,
the young woman clasped the baby to her chest as she demanded, ‘What the devil
do you want? I finished with that cheat years ago. I told him, I never wanted
to see or hear from him again.’
‘Erm,’
backing towards the door, the woman gabbled, ‘he told me to tell you, he’s
willing to have the girls, missus, he says he’ll tek em off your ’ands. He has
his own place down South, and if you like, they can come back with me.’
Her
words were greeted with an almighty shriek. ‘Get out of here before I brain
you. The ansa’s no, and don’t come anywhere near us again, and you can pass the
message on to ’im as well’
The
new arrival practically ran from the room, jumping down the step, and almost
knocking the sisters over in her haste to escape. They heard the gate slam and
the woman’s high heels tip-tapping down the paved path that ran between the
houses.
‘Lily,
Lily, my luv, are you okay?’ Nellie Garden, who lived across the way, came
running into the front room. Nellie was a mother of six, aged between three
months and seven years, and despite her surname, she wouldn’t know a flower
from a weed. ‘I ’eard enuff to know ya must be very upset by all this, me babby.’
Nothing
in the terrace could be kept secret. Whatever happened inside or outside the
houses would be overheard and passed along the jungle telegraph within seconds.
Lily
held baby Gregory tightly in her arms. ‘How dare he,’ she exclaimed in
righteous anger. ‘The lying, cheating, no-good, deserting, yellow-bellied
coward, how dare he.’ Then bursting into tears, she sobbed, ‘He wants to take
me girls from me, Nellie. I knew ’ed try it on one day. He's not having them,
no, he's not, never. He’s crafty, he only wants them so when they’re old
enough, he can send them out to work and get money from them. He’s a wicked
bugger, no mistaking.’
Nellie
Garden wrapped her plump arms around the slim young woman. ‘Nay, luv, don’t
fret, that slob won’t ever get your girls' cus I know as you’d never let him.’
Hugging Lily to her, she continued, ‘let me mek you a cuppa char, you’ll soon
feel better.’ Turning to head into the tiny kitchen, she saw the front doorway
was crammed with women, all listening intently to what was going on. ‘Come on
now, you lot, stop being so nosy. The show’s over. Flapping a plump arm, she
promptly slammed and locked the door.’
Suddenly,
the letter flap rattled open and Babs called, ‘Mom, let us in please.’ Her
voice travelled through the flap into the dark living room, alerting Lily to
the fact her daughters were locked outside.
‘Thought
you’d gone to the shop,’ she cried, flinging the door wide.
‘Ya
d’ain’t give us any money, Mom.’
‘Ya
could have had it on the slate for Gawd’s sake,’ Lily remonstrated. ‘Here y’are
and I want the change as well.’ She shoved a few coins into the outstretched
paw. Hesitating for a moment, she carried on, ‘Remember what I’m always telling
ya, no speaking to strangers, right? And keep away from that Freddy down the
terrace who’s got that there impetigo, I don’t want ya catching that.’
Nodding,
both girls tripped lightly down the garden path, through the rickety gate, and
turning right, they walked towards Mrs Chance’s corner shop.
‘That
was awful, our Babs,’ Chrissie murmured. ‘I was so scared that ’er with the big
teeth would take us away from our mom. I don’t wanna live with our real father.
I hate him and always will for what he did.’ Tears started trickling down her
pale face.
Stopping
in her tracks, Babs gave her sibling a quick hug, saying firmly, ‘No one, just
no one, will ever take us away from our mom. She wouldn’t let them, silly. She
loves us, and step-father does too.’
Actually,
Babs had always sensed from the word go that their stepfather positively
disliked them. The feeling was mutual; she detested Alf Brown and wished her
mom had never married him. Babs wasn’t going to say this to Chrissie as she
didn’t want to worry her. Chrissie was younger than she was and of a much more
vulnerable nature. She rarely, if ever, stuck up for herself, preferring always
to turn the other cheek when someone had a go at her.
***
‘There’s
something about him I dislike intensely.’ Babs had confided her misgivings
about her stepfather to her best friend, Sandra.
‘What
do you mean?’ Sandra asked, cocking her head to one side so her long dark hair
fell in a shiny sweep down below her shoulders. Sandra never worried about
having nits; she got the tooth comb out every night without fail and spent
hours combing through the silky strands. She always said she would never cut
it, despite the daily threat of nits that rampaged throughout the school.
‘Well,
it’s like this,’ Babs replied, picking up a pretty flower-backed hairbrush and
running it through her friend's hair. ‘Sometimes I catch him watching us with a
really resentful look on his fat face, he meks sure Mom’s not in the room when
he starts with his looks and nasty remarks though, he’s dead crafty is Alf
Brown. He waits until she’s getting the dinner on or mekkin’ a cup of tea. Other
times, when we’re eating, I get the feeling he's watching our every mouthful
and totting up the cost.’ Then, passing the brush back to her friend, she
continued, ‘I hate his podgy little hands as well. When I see him shoving his
food into his mouth, I shudder. I can’t help it; he gives me the creeps, the
slob.’
‘Gawd,
stop worrying, girl, you’ll be getting married before you know it.’ On these
words, Sandra let out a bellow of laughter, changing the subject smartly.
‘Here, let's see if we have enough material to make our new skirts for the
dance.’ She was used to Babs's obsession with her stepfather’s ways.
Sandra
much preferred to talk about herself as she considered she was the most important person in her world. She was going
places, and in fact, she had told Babs on numerous occasions that she was going
to be a famous film star. Really, she had no space inside her head except for
herself. Sandra loved Sandra and she had plans.
In
the main, Babs kept her feelings regarding her stepfather to herself. She knew
her friend wasn’t really interested in hearing her sounding off about Alf, but
at times she couldn’t help getting angry. It got it off her chest, and
afterwards she could concentrate on Sandra’s latest plans to achieve fame.
***
Babs
was reluctant to mention Alf to Chrissie. She didn’t want to upset her. What
she didn’t realise was that Chrissie also experienced the same feelings, but
was unwilling to mention them to her for exactly the same reasons. Alf
frequently took Chrissie aside and told her she was stupid and a daftie, he
would shout and threaten what he would do to her if she told anyone; he
frightened her. She avoided him whenever she could. He revelled in dominating
his youngest stepdaughter.
Bending
down, Chrissie carefully tugged her ankle socks up as she didn’t want to make
the holes in them any bigger, but they kept disappearing into her black lace-up
shoes. She gave a little wriggle and a tug at her waistband.
‘What
yer doing, Chris?’ Babs asked, smirking.
‘You
know as well as I do,’ she giggled. ‘Me drawers keep slipping down. I wish our
mom or you would tighten the elastic in them for me.’
‘I’ll
do ’em tonight, come on, let’s hurry or Mom’ll be after us.’ As an
afterthought, she asked, ‘You okay now?’
Nodding,
Chrissie averted her eyes. She was thinking, No, I’m not really, but I can’t tell you about the ghost of the soldier
who was following the woman with the big teeth ‘cus you didn’t see him. Holding
hands, they made their way to the corner shop, each sister deep in their
private thoughts.
Chrissie
was thinking about Amelia, who at one time had been her best friend. She could
tell her anything and know for certain not a word would ever be repeated to
Babs or any other family member. The trouble was she hadn’t seen her for some
time.
She
had first met Amelia, or Amy for short, many years ago, after being shouted at
and bullied by some lads in the school playground. As she walked home, a girl
had suddenly popped up beside her, saying, ‘Hello, my name’s Amy, may I walk
home with you?’ Nodding glumly, Chrissie had agreed. Much to her delight, her
day brightened after looking into the smiling sea green eyes of her new friend.
She thought how pretty she was and admired the way Amy’s blonde hair curled in
long ringlets beneath her dark blue bonnet.
Wait
a minute, she couldn’t understand why the girl was wearing a bonnet. Nobody
wore a bonnet nowadays, except in picture books in the library, girls wore
pixie hoods nowadays. Chrissie was puzzled by the girl's appearance as a whole.
She wore a long blue dress, black button boots peeping out beneath her dress,
and a dark blue short cape. Chrissie couldn’t remember seeing this girl in her
school, but strangely enough she thought she recognised her. Casting a
surreptitious glance at her new friend, she was greeted with a glowing smile,
linking arms they skipped happily along the dusty pavement, chattering away as
if they had known each other forever.
Amy
always seemed to be around when Chrissie needed her. Whenever the school kids
teased her in the playground, calling her lanky and ugly. Amy always visited
her later and cheered her up.
Sometimes
Alf cornered her in the kitchen when Lily was out and would pinch her hard at
the top of her arms, where it wouldn’t show. Later on as if by magic Amy would
sit beside her on the doorstep whispering words of comfort until she stopped
crying.
A
few of her fears had abated since her new friend had entered her life.
***
Giving
her sister a squeeze, Babs followed her into Mrs Chance’s shop and they quickly
made their way to the magazine and comic shelf.
‘Come
on, girls, it’s not pocket money day.’
Mrs
Chance’s voice brought them down to Earth fast, swiftly altering course, they
made their way to the counter where much to their delight, the plump cuddly
woman gave them each a stick of liquorice. One thing they both loved was to
look at the shelves where the bright, shining jars of sweets stood, the best in
their eyes was the jar of yellow kali. Chrissie’s mouth watered at the thought
of it. She loved the wonderful fizzy taste as it exploded like shooting stars
in her mouth. She couldn’t wait until Saturday when she could treat herself.
Bab’s eyes took in the jars of barley sugar, bulls’ eyes, gobstoppers, mints,
and other mouth-watering sweets and chocolates that she loved. She wished they
were rich so she could buy every favourite sweet and comic she wanted. One day I will have everything I want,
she told herself, paying for the loaf of bread and heading home.
‘Stop
scuffing your pumps, our Chrissie, you know our mom will clip your ear if she
catches ya doing it.’
Chrissie
stopped immediately and together, arm in arm, the girls made their way home in
the gathering twilight, chattering away like two sparrows about the sweets and
comics they would buy on Saturday. The mention of Saturday reminded them of
their favourite meal of the week: bubble and squeak with bacon, and the fat
from the bacon poured over everything. How the sisters loved that meal. Just
thinking about it made their mouths' water. Another favourite dinner was soused
herrings. Bread and milk with sugar for breakfast was their all-time favourite,
as were cocoa and sugar sandwiches for tea, or sometimes if they were lucky,
condensed milk sandwiches. Not that they were always that well off to enjoy
these treats, but on the rare occasions when it was put before them, the food
was greeted with cheers.
Later
that night, cuddled up beside each other in the old double bed they shared,
their mother’s voice drifted upstairs, she was telling their stepfather about
the day’s events.
Babs
choked back the lump in her throat hearing her mom crying about their real
father wanting them back.
‘How
could he?’ Lily demanded of Alf, ‘He’s never even clapped eyes on Chrissie, and
he only saw Babs a couple of times before he disappeared going off with any
woman who would have him. He even had a couple of kids by one woman, that’s
pretty disgusting in my book.’
Hearing
her mom’s distress, Babs found she was having great difficulty in holding back
her tears. My poor, poor Mom, she
thought, trying not to cry aloud, she didn’t want to disturb Chrissie, who was
fast asleep, beneath the old blankets and coats thrown over the top to keep
them warm. Lily couldn’t afford an eiderdown for them. She had it so hard when
he upped and left her. I can’t imagine
what she went through having no money coming in and us two to look after. Thank
goodness our Gran helped look after us while Mom went to work. What a brave
woman Mom is. She could quite easily have put us in a home. Rubbing her
eyes and drying her tears on the sheet, she heard Alf trying to comfort her
mother.
‘There’s
no way that scumbag would ever get custody of the girls. After all, I’m their
legal guardian.’
‘Now that’s interesting,’ Babs speculated, ‘why didn’t he adopt us? Why a legal guardian, I wonder what that
means?’ She fell into a deep sleep, her arm protectively wrapped around her
sister.
Chrissie’s
crying out awakened her. ‘There’s something moving in the bottom of the bed,
Mom, Mom, come here.’ She was screaming even louder. ‘Come quickly, there’s
something in our bed.’
‘Oh
my God, Alf, wake up. Me girls are in trouble.’ Lily fumbled to pick up a
candle and a box of matches then quickly ran into their bedroom where she lit
the candle. She threw back the bedclothes. The sisters huddled together by the
bedroom door.
Alf
shoved them out of the way just as Lily squealed, ‘Oh no. The damn cat has had
her kittens in the girls’ bed.’
Both
girls shrieked loudly in alarm and ran into their mother’s bedroom, quickly
pulling the grey army blankets back, they snuggled into the bottom of the bed.
‘Yuk.
I feel sick,’ cried Chrissie.
Babs
was more concerned as to the fate of the kittens. She knew her mother would
drown them in a bucket of water. Lily had no choice really. They couldn’t
afford to keep them. Babs shuddered, this time not with the cold, but at the
thought of those poor dear little kittens dying in such a manner.
Hearing
Greg starting to cry, Babs leapt out of bed and picked him up from his mattress
on the floor, as they couldn’t afford a cot. She put him between her and
Chrissie. There was no way they would sleep in their own bed that night.
Strangely,
nothing more was said about the events of that day, but they became imprinted
on the girls’ minds for all time. Years later, they often discussed the woman
with the horse teeth and the horror of the cat having her kittens in their bed.
***
The
girls liked to visit Birmingham City Centre, and before Lily married Alf, it
was a favourite Saturday treat for the three of them to walk up Gooch Street
and into town together. They enjoyed wandering around the stalls in the Bull
Ring market listening to the traders shouting out their wares. The only things
they disliked seeing were the rabbits, hares, and birds hanging up in the
butchers’ stores. Seeing the dead creatures would bring a rush of tears to
Chrissie’s eyes, and Babs would feel sick. The smell of the dead birds would
also make them hold their noses. The worst was the fish market, how they
disliked that! The dead eyes of the fish seemed to glare out at them accusingly
as if blaming them for being killed. Chrissie would shudder in fright and hide
her eyes, pictures of the beautiful creatures swimming free in crystal seas
would fill her mind’s eye, she disliked this side of market life. If she could
have avoided it, she would. She would avoid walking along the streets where the
furry creatures were hung in the shop windows. The sight always made her
cringe. At times, her imagination would run riot after she had eaten meat or
fish, imagining that the creatures were actually alive inside her. She would
feel sick at the thought of it. A nasty taste would linger in her mouth for
days.
Lily
would laugh at them when they complained about the smell of the fish saying,
‘Huh, you should smell the sauce factory, I’ve smelt it some days when you aint
with me. I can tell you that vinegary smell nearly knocks your head off.’ The
girls doubted it; they loved HP Sauce if ever they were lucky enough to have
it. Their mom would water it down with vinegar or water to make it last longer.
The same as she made the tea last and last by constantly refilling the teapot
with hot water.
All
the barrow boys loved Babs, her daintiness along with her striking blonde hair
and blue eyes, drew their attention, and they would give her an apple or an
orange, “for looking beautiful”. Lily would sniff, feeling sorry for her
younger daughter, Chrissie, who rarely received a compliment. She did notice
that Chrissie never seemed to mind. Chrissie just accepted that Babs was the
good-looking one and always would be. Truth to tell, Chrissie didn’t mind, she
preferred to remain in the background. Not that she was ugly, far from it; she
had lovely thick, wavy, honey-blonde hair complimented by sea-green eyes. She
was tall and well built, but Bab’s startling beauty overshadowed her every
time.
Since
Lily had married Alf, the girls stayed at home on a Saturday, looking after
Greg, and cleaning the house while Lily went up town with Alf. Lily would
occasionally buy them a small gift from Woolworth; sometimes it was a comic or
sweets, just something to say she had thought about them while she was out. The
girls treasured these gifts from their mom, but Babs often caught a gleam of
resentment in Alf’s eyes when Lily gave them the gifts, although it was gone in
a flash when he caught her gaze. Babs couldn’t wait for the day when she could
leave home and Alf Brown behind.
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