Anne Douglas (7 page)

‘Bet you didn’t say that exactly,’ Shona said, laughing. ‘You know what she’s like about swearing.’

‘Call what I said swearing? Wait till I get going in the navy!’

‘You’re joining the navy?’

‘Sure – early entry.’ Archie put his face close to Shona’s. ‘Think you might go out with me when I’m in my bellbottoms? All the nice girls love a sailor, you know!’

‘Go on!’ she said, pushing him away and laughing again. ‘I’m going to find Cassie. It’s nearly tea time.’

‘Don’t need to tell me,’ he called after her as she sped away. ‘I’m starving!’

But he was already far from her mind, which was occupied only with the changes that would be coming her way.

‘I know the very place for you to get a room!’ cried Mrs Hope, her face alight with excitement when Shona had finished talking the following Saturday afternoon.

They’d had an early cup of tea, just the two of them, as Jock was at the mill, Kitty at the bakery shop where she now worked, Biddy and Pat out with friends and Jamie and Dair playing football in the street.

‘And you can tell Miss Bryce, who’s going to write to me, that you can stay with me till we get things fixed up,’ Addie Hope went on, refilling their teacups. ‘Which’ll no’ take long because Mrs Gow is just up the street here, eh?’

‘Mrs Gow who lives at the top, in the Row?’ Shona was immediately interested. ‘I remember her. Didn’t I hear that Trissie Gow got married and moved away?’

‘Aye, Joan’s been on her own since then. George Gow died a while back, so it was a blow when Trissie wed an Aberdeen man, but there you are, lassies have to make their own lives, eh?’ Mrs Hope sighed. ‘I’ll bet my girls don’t stay long, either. Kitty’s already got an admirer – one o’ the bakers where she works.’

‘I know, she told me,’ Shona said with a smile. ‘More than once.’

‘Well, she’s nearly sixteen, just the age to be noticing the boys. Listen, what I want to tell you is that Joan Gow’s very keen to let Trissie’s room, but scared in case she gets the wrong person. That’s why she’s never advertised – says you never know who’ll you’ll get. But you’d be perfect, Shona, eh?’

‘Would I?’

‘’Course you would! Joan knew your ma, knows all about you. I say, if we go up and see her now, she’d take you on the spot!’

‘Won’t she be at work, though?’

‘She’s at the same bakery as Kitty, but doesn’t work Saturdays.’ Addie leaped to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

The way things went with Mrs Gow was Shona’s second piece of luck, the first being Miss Bryce’s surprising cooperation. Would there be a third? Shona wondered, after it was arranged she should move into Trissie Gow’s room as soon as she left Edina Lodge. Would it just so happen that the ideal job would fall into her lap? Probably not. Too unlikely. No harm in hoping, though.

Certainly, it looked as though she’d found a grand place to live, thanks to Mrs Hope, for Mrs Gow’s house was neat as a pin and comfortable with it, and she herself was something of the same. Fair and on the large side, she had mild blue eyes and an easy manner, especially when she greeted Shona, exclaiming at her height, how she’d grown up and how it was so lovely to see her, before finally folding her into a warm embrace.

‘I canna believe it’s four years since this lassie went to the orphanage!’ she cried to Addie. ‘And now she’s seeking a room and a job. Have you thought of anything, pet? There’s always the bakery business here, or else a few women’s jobs at the mills. But maybe you want something different, eh?’

‘I’ve thought about it, Mrs Gow, and it may sound a wee bit odd, but I’m wondering if I could find some work to do with plants.’

‘Plants?’ The two older women exchanged dubious glances.

‘You mean gardening?’ asked Addie. ‘Don’t see many women gardeners, Shona.’

‘Don’t see any,’ said Mrs Gow. ‘Except ladies, maybe, gardening for a hobby. But then they have a man to do the heavy stuff, eh?’

‘Well, it was just an idea,’ Shona admitted. ‘Because I love the gardens at the Lodge, and I’ve always liked flowers, too.’

‘Fancy the orphanage having a garden!’

Mrs Gow at that point had waved a hand to her little staircase. ‘But come and see the room, then, though you’ll ken fine what it’s like anyway, seeing as it’s the same as all the second bedrooms in the Row.’

The same, yet not the same, thought Shona, looking round the delightful room that had been Trissie’s. It was far removed in comfort from her own plain little room at Edina Lodge, or Addie’s and Jock’s, that was stuffed with everything they couldn’t fit into the double room the girls had been given. It was clear that Mrs Gow was a true homemaker, with a talent for making pretty curtains and bedspreads, and the late Mr Gow had been something of an amateur carpenter, for he had made the chest of drawers and wardrobe and painted them, too.

‘What do you think, then?’ Mrs Gow had asked, and of course Shona and Addie had been quick to praise, as well as truthful.

‘I love it,’ Shona had declared, ‘and I’d love to rent it, if you’re willing, Mrs Gow. The only thing is, I’m no’ sure how much I can pay until I find a job. I’ve a bit my mother left me and I can always use that to begin with.’

‘No need for that, Shona. I’ll no’ be charging a fortune, and we can leave fixing a price till you get yourself a wage. I’ll make you a nice bit o’ breakfast and a good tea so you’ll have no worries, eh?’

No worries. So it seemed, and Shona still couldn’t believe how smoothly her plans were working out. Until, back at Mrs Hope’s, when all the family had returned, the first scan of the advertisements in the evening paper showed nothing at all of interest. Plenty of jobs going for domestic servants, of course. Plenty for shop assistants, too, but as the Hopes took turns at calling out what was on offer, Shona only sighed and shook her head.

‘Greengrocer’s assistant!’ cried Dair, looking at her with round brown eyes so like his mother’s and Kitty’s. ‘Any good?’

Weighing carrots and potatoes, sorting out cauliflowers? Oh, no!

‘Draper’s in Lothian Road,’ said Biddy, twelve years old and with features like those of her fair-haired father, not yet back from the mill. ‘That’d no’ be bad, eh? Working with materials?’

Measuring and cutting, selling curtaining and cushions? Shona looked mournful. She’d die of boredom doing that.

Even when Kitty found her a dress shop position, to ‘suit young lady interested in fashion’, she had to turn the suggestion down.

‘No’ exactly a young lady, am I? And I know nothing at all about fashion. They’d never want someone from an orphanage, anyway.’

There was a silence as they considered this, and it was only Mrs Hope, setting the table for tea, who called across that being an orphanage girl should make no difference at all. Shona would get a good reference from Miss Bryce and as soon as folk saw her, they’d know she’d do well.

‘Got to get them to see me, though,’ Shona said gloomily. ‘And so far I’ve no’ even seen a job I’d like. I want to learn something – maybe a craft, you know – for a career.’

A career? The Hopes fixed her with wondering eyes. They didn’t know anyone who had what could be called a career.

‘What was all that about wanting to work with plants?’ Mrs Hope asked as she waved her family over to the table, seeing her Jock come through the door. ‘That wouldn’t be a career, would it?’

‘Oh, I wasn’t serious,’ Shona murmured, taking her place next to Kitty. ‘I know I couldn’t have that sort of job.’

‘Hello, Shona!’ Jock Hope cried cheerfully as he washed his hands at the sink. ‘Nearly ready to leave Edina Lodge, eh?’

‘Looking for a job,’ his wife told him, as Shona smiled and nodded. ‘Nothing in the paper today but there’ll be other days. It’s never easy to find just the right thing.’

‘If you don’t want to be a housemaid,’ said Kitty. ‘And who does? How about a bakery, Shona? I love selling bread and cakes.’

‘Well, there might be something for another lassie where I am,’ said Jock, eyeing his wife’s meat pie. ‘Doing packaging and that sort o’ thing. I could put in a word if you’re interested.’

‘Oh, Dad, Shona’d never want mill work!’ Kitty cried. ‘She’s looking for something different from that.’

‘That right? Well, it’s probably no good, then, but I did see a notice on a shop in George Street. You remember, Addie, when we went up to town on my half day?’

‘What notice?’ asked Addie, busy organizing food on to her family’s plates. ‘What shop was it? That ironmongers?’

‘No,’ Jock answered, as he slowly cut into his portion of pie. ‘It was a flower shop.’

A flower shop? As a great bell began ringing inside her head, Shona put down her knife and fork.

‘No’ Maybel’s?’ she asked tremulously. ‘Maybel’s Flowers?’

‘That’s it. That’s the one. Big place, window full o’ plants.’

‘Plants?’ cried Addie. ‘Why, there you are, Shona! That’s just what you were wanting – a place o’ flowers and plants. Now, why did I no’ see that notice?’

‘You were too busy looking in the shoe shop next door,’ Jock said with a laugh. ‘But it was there, all right, on the window. “Junior Assistant Required. Apply Within.” That’s what it said.’

Shona was sitting very still, a look in her eyes that seemed to have removed her far from Addie’s table and all those watching her. ‘I remember seeing that shop with Ma,’ she said in a whisper. ‘It was one day when we’d gone up to the summer sales – over the bridges, no’ in George Street, they’d have been too dear. We came back through the West End and Ma says, “let’s have a look at the shops”. And Maybel’s was where we looked.’ Shona gave a great sigh, and appeared suddenly to come back to her surroundings. ‘Oh, you should have seen their flowers!’ she went on. ‘So beautiful! And so scented! I peeped into the shop and it was all cool and sort of shady inside, and there was a lady doing watering and she said, “Can I help you, dear?” But Ma came in and grabbed my arm and hurried me out.’ Shona hesitated for a moment. ‘I’ve never forgotten Maybel’s,’ she finished slowly, ‘but I never thought there’d be a job there.’

‘Sounds ideal!’ Addie exclaimed. ‘You’d best apply as soon as you can.’

‘But have your pie first,’ said Dair kindly.

‘Of course she canna go now!’ cried Kitty. ‘You’ve to be back by six, eh, Shona? It’s nearly that now.’

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Hope, I don’t feel very hungry,’ said Shona, looking down at her filled plate. ‘I’m just too excited. Supposing the job’s already gone, though? Maybe I could just run up to George Street—’

‘No, no, the shop’ll have already closed and, like Kitty says, you’ve to be back by six.’ Addie’s voice was firm as she leaned across and tapped Shona’s plate. ‘You settle down, eat up, go back to the Lodge and ask Miss Bryce to help you apply to Maybel’s. The job won’t have gone yet; we only saw the notice on Thursday, so you’ll be in with a chance.’

As Shona took a deep breath and began to eat, Addie smiled and sat back.

‘Never turn down a meal if there is one,’ she pronounced. ‘You never know when you’ll get another, eh?’

‘Is there any more pie, then?’ asked Dair and Jamie together, at which there were groans from the rest of the family, but their mother did find second helpings, causing Jock to ask was she a magician, then? Sure, she was just like that laddie in the fairy story who had a pocket that never emptied, eh?

‘Well, the pie dish is empty now,’ Addie said, laughing, and even Shona, lost in her thoughts as she was, joined in.

All the way home, however, she was consumed by anxiety that she would not be able to find Miss Bryce, or that even if she did find her and was helped to apply for the job, she would be too late and it would have already gone. What she would do then, she didn’t know, for she was strangely certain in her mind that this was the job for her, that it was what she’d been looking for without knowing it.

Was it silly, she wondered, to be so keen on something she really knew nothing about? She’d talked of working with plants but she had no idea what it would be like to work in a flower shop, or train as a florist. All she knew was that she didn’t want to miss the chance of it, and hurrying to Miss Bryce’s office when she got back to the Lodge Shona hoped that luck would be with her and that Miss Bryce would be in and agree to help her. ‘Apply within’, Maybel’s notice had said. Oh, if only she could have already done that!

But only Miss Ruddick, the dark-haired, pleasant-faced assistant to Miss Bryce, answered her knock on the office door. Seemed Miss Bryce was not there – it was her evening off and she’d already left for a concert at the Usher Hall.

‘Oh,’ said Shona, ready to turn away, her shoulders drooping, when Miss Ruddick surprised her by giving her a sympathetic smile.

‘It’s Shona Murray, isn’t it? Perhaps I can help?’

‘I don’t think so – thanks all the same. I was going to ask Miss Bryce to help me apply for a job.’

‘Oh? What sort of job is that, then?’

‘It’s in a flower shop in George Street. Maybel’s, it’s called. “Maybel’s Flowers”. Someone told me there was a notice in the window asking for a junior assistant.’

‘Maybel’s? That’s a lovely shop, isn’t it?’ Miss Ruddick opened the office door more widely. ‘If you’d like to come in, Shona, I could perhaps help you to write something out and show it to Miss Bryce tomorrow? Would that be any good?’

‘Oh, yes! Yes, it would! Miss Ruddick, that would be grand!’

Shoulders up, her face all smiles, Shona took a seat while Miss Ruddick provided paper and pencil and told her she should write out what she wanted to say first, then make a fair copy in pen and ink.

It sounded so easy, but faced with the blank sheet of paper Shona’s eyes were huge with anxiety, and turning the pencil over and over seemed to bring no relief.

‘Come on,’ Miss Ruddick said patiently. ‘What do you think should go at the top? Wouldn’t it be “Application for the post of Junior Assistant at Maybel’s Flowers”?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Shona, blushing, began to write. ‘And then my name, and age?’

‘And address, Edina Lodge.’

Shona hesitated. ‘Think they’ll mind I’m from an orphanage?’

‘No, definitely not. Miss Bryce will make it clear when she gets in touch with them that you’re a very bright, hard-working girl. Having been brought up in an orphanage should not matter at all. What you have to do is convince the employers that you’re really keen to work with flowers.’ Miss Ruddick smiled a little. ‘You are, aren’t you? Somehow, I can tell.’