Facing the World (15 page)

‘What? But how did that happen?’ Sally gasped.

‘My parents owned a large fashion house and after Daddy died, Mummy has kept in touch and she spoke to a few people and, there you are, an interview. Give it your best, Sally, and the job will be yours.’ She handed her a pile of fashion magazines. ‘Here’s your homework. Look and absorb,’ she said to a delighted Sally.

The following day, with Valmai having promised to meet Sadie from nursery, Sally and Amy went into Cardiff. They looked in all the better dress shops and Amy encouraged Sally to examine
everything
on display, try on several and discuss with the assistants what the summer styles and fabric were. She spoke to managers too, and a few buyers, discussing the fashion world as though she was well aware of the current trends and the prospective colours for autumn. She learned a lot and used her knowledge to learn more. In one department store she spoke to a senior buyer who told her she was due to retire. A word with the manager followed.

She had a flair for choosing the right accessories and bought scarves and hair ornaments as well as shoes and handbags. Amy said she was proud of her and knew she would be successful. ‘You shed your unhappy put-upon self as soon as we walked into the first shop,’ she told her.

They returned home exhausted and carrying two outfits plus the rest, and some jewellery. The jewellery was Amy’s but she wanted Sally to borrow it for her interviews, of which there were now two.

Going to clean for Mrs Glover the following day was unreal. She had dreamed of going back to her previous career so strongly the real life was the dream, the new life the reality. She told the friendly lady what she was hoping to achieve and Mrs Glover gave her a pair of pure silk stockings. ‘I know nylons are all the thing now, but real silk has a softness that caresses you and makes you feel so good you can achieve anything.’

Eric was waiting for her when she and Sadie reached home that day and he came in and began to light the fire while she prepared their usual light lunch. ‘You’ll stay, won’t you, Eric?’

‘I’m sure you’re busy,’ he said.

‘Sit down and enjoy the fire you’ve lit,’ she said, but he went first to the coal store to fill her scuttle and chopped sticks and brought them in to dry.

‘I have two interviews in about ten days,’ she told him.

‘Good luck, it’s about time things started to get better for you. You have to leave this place soon, I suppose, now the work is done.’ He hesitated and she stared, smiled, encouraged him to speak. ‘I have the best room in the boarding house at the moment,’ he said, ‘and if you’re thinking of moving in – just until you get a proper place – I’ve arranged to move to the top room which is the only one vacant, and let you have mine. Better for Sadie, being on the ground floor.’

‘Thank you, Eric. You’re such a lovely man. But I wouldn’t have
you climbing all those stairs because of me. I’ll manage fine. Who knows, if this interview becomes an offer I might be able to move into a flat. And you, dear Eric, will be our first visitor.’

She crossed her fingers superstitiously and reminded herself that the chances of well-paid work was little more than a dream and the dreary boarding house was likely to be her home for months to come.

She went to tell Valmai and Gwilym the times of her interview as they would be involved by looking after Sadie. Shouts were heard coming from next door, the voices of Netta and Walter raised in anger. She found Jimmy in with Gwilym, the radio turned up loud to muffle the distressing sounds of his parents’ quarrel.

‘Go on in, Valmai’s in the kitchen,’ Gwilym said. ‘Come on Jimmy, we’ve got some freshly made pasties, just for you.’

Covering his ears, Jimmy ran inside.

Valmai willingly agreed to look after Sadie on the days of the interviews and Sally felt both relieved and guilty for making use of them while being determined never to let Rhys come near her daughter again. Jimmy walked back with them pushing Sadie’s chair while the little girl walked beside him holding his hand and chatting happily.

Amy and Rick called that evening, carrying flowers and a book containing all the various lists of things to do for the wedding. ‘Can you listen while I go through these arrangements for the last time? I know it’s boring but I’m so afraid I’ll forget something and turn the whole thing into a farce,’ Amy said light-heartedly. ‘Rick is going to see Gwilym about making an arch for the garden. We’ll plant roses and honeysuckle. Rick’s idea, but Mummy agrees.’

‘For once,’ Rick added, with a wink for Amy.

When they were on their own, with Sadie asleep, Amy said, ‘How are you feeling, about the first interview?’

‘Guilty about the money we spent, that’s my strongest emotion. What if I don’t get either? I’ll be stuck with clothes I can’t wear and not enough money to pay rent on a decent flat. Eric came earlier and he offered to move from his downstairs room so Sadie and I can have the best in the house.’

‘Sweet of him, even if he’s no better than a tramp!’ Amy smiled ruefully. ‘I was mistaken about him and several others, wasn’t I?’

‘We are all guilty of making snap judgements. I didn’t like David Gorse but he helped me when the baby was born and he was kind and thoughtful. I presumed he was lazy and not to be trusted just from listening to others.’

‘That’s one person I haven’t changed my mind about,’ Amy said sharply. ‘Smarmy – that’s an old-fashioned word but it’s how I’d describe him. Unpleasant to some and showing a different face to others.’ She laughed then. ‘When do you leave here?’

‘At the end of April. I can’t complain. The man has been very generous.’

‘Plenty of time to find a place to live. Once you get this job
everything
will settle in no time at all.’

Sally wished she could believe her.

When Rick returned he came back to the door after Amy was seated in the car. ‘Sally, I need someone to clean the house now the workmen have finished. It mustn’t be you, but I wonder if you know someone who would do a good job. You know how fussy Amy is.’

‘Leave it with me. I know just the person. But she’s shy, so if you leave her money and give her the key, she’ll work in the evenings. A week should see it done.’

‘What’s her name?’

‘Frankie. I can really recommend her.’

The following week, while Valmai sat with Sadie, Sally scrubbed the house. Once she saw Amy at the gate and panicked but Amy obviously thought better of it and walked on. Rick had kept his word and no one came to interrupt her. The money was left for her in advance and at the end of the eight days it took to finish, there was an added bonus.

Sally could hardly move and the following day she stayed in bed on Valmai’s firm instruction while Valmai took Sadie to nursery and then back to her home in Mill Road.

Sally was still very stiff and sore but after one day of being spoilt by Valmai she returned to her usual jobs. Monday was only three days away, the deciding moment when she knew that if she failed to get one of the jobs for which she was being interviewed she would have to accept facts and look for something less than the dream.

On Monday morning she rose early, bathed in the sunshine-yellow bathroom and laid out her new clothes. It was daunting, this sudden
change from cleaning lady to fashion expert and she panicked and wondered why she had even considered being able to carry it off. She looked at her hands, neglected and with nails so short they almost looked bitten. With Sadie still sleeping, she filed them and applied some pale varnish. As she sat there waiting for them to dry, a letter came through the door. Puzzled, she picked it up to find a card from Amy and Rick, wishing her luck. She placed it on the hall table, telling herself that she would do her best and her best was very good. As a sort of mantra she repeatedly murmured to herself that ‘Second best will not do.’

Later, with hair arranged and wearing her new clothes she went out to meet Amy, who was going to drive her to the first
appointment
. A last glance at the card cheered her and added a smile to her lovely face.

The questions were varied, mostly to test her knowledge of the business and others about herself and her ambition. Some were about Sadie, the interviewer wanting to know what arrangements she had made for childcare and if the little girl became ill. ‘Reliability is
paramount
,’ she was reminded. ‘You will have to be prepared to travel at very short notice sometimes.’

‘My daughter is a healthy child but if she were seriously ill she would be my priority.’ She looked at the interviewer anxiously but he smiled and said, ‘That’s how it should be, Mrs Travis.’ She didn’t correct him about her marital status.

The second interview was similar in content but this time, instead of sitting in a chair facing someone across a desk, she was shown around the premises and asked her opinion on the layout and contents of the stockrooms. She decided to be bold and offered
opinions
on some areas that could be improved. Even in the office she pointed out, trying to hide her nervousness at her audacity, that the typists’ desks should be moved as they were blocking the way to a cupboard that was in constant use. She added that blinds were more businesslike than the flowery curtains hanging at present and – trying not to smile – pointed out the need to tell the cleaners to move furniture occasionally and make a particular note of corners.

All the time, the interviewer made notes and at the end of the thirty minutes Sally was exhausted. She still waited for the one
question
she dreaded, why her left hand bore no wedding ring. 

One more question, Mrs Travis.’ Sally braced herself, determined to tell the truth even if it meant losing the job. ‘Will you come to the staffroom and have a cup of tea with me? I bought some cakes specially.’ Relaxing then and talking easily, she was surprised to be told that if she wanted it, the job was hers.

When she told the landlord of Greenways that she would be moving out as soon as she could find a place, she was prepared to move into the boarding house for six weeks, when she would have her first monthly cheque. Valmai wouldn’t hear of it.

‘Stay here, please, Sally. We won’t interfere with anything you want to do. The bedroom will be your own private place and I’ll only look after Sadie when you want me to.’ How could she refuse?

She moved most of her things that day and left the rest to be collected by a storage firm. Then she made sure everything was clean for the new tenants. She left flowers for them and a card hoping they would be happy in their new home. Then headed back to the single room in the Martins’ house, a place she did not want to be.

Jimmy continued to spend a lot of time out of the house. If his parents noticed, they said nothing. If they were aware of the days he missed school they didn’t comment on that either. With Rick and Eric’s encouragement he attended more regularly but sometimes the warmth of the sun, or the excitement of a gusty wind, or just the scent on the air made him head for the woods instead of the
schoolroom
. He frowned as he wondered how long it would take for his parents to miss him if he ran away from home and found a happier place to stay. Weeks, probably, he thought miserably.

The fields and woods were his playground, and he learned where to find many of the smaller animals and reptiles, like adders, which he watched nervously as though expecting them to leap up at him, although Eric assured them they would move away as soon as they became aware of his presence. He liked the lizards he occasionally saw darting about on warm banks, and the slow worms that looked as though they were made from metal when the sun shone on them. Sometimes he would catch them and draw them then let them go. His notebook was filled with these drawings and on occasions he showed them to his teacher, who admired this work but reminded him that his other subjects were in need of attention. 

He smiled as he tucked the notebook away, having drawn a clump of reeds growing in the stream. Then he walked back to the mill, found his spade and settled to work on the foul-smelling silt around the waterwheel. He had talked to Eric about it and learned that, if he wanted to get the sluice gate to open and free the water, so it ran under the wheel through the leat, that would take a lot of work, freeing the rusted metal. Time to work on the mill was something he had in plenty. Home was a place to avoid.

A few people still gathered each day at the site of the factory where walls were now towering far higher than the original building. The carpenters were fixing the roof struts and soon the place would be weatherproof, allowing the men to work inside. The factory had vanished, and the men who watched its demise wandered off to talk some more about the good old days, when they had work. Eric no longer went to watch the progress but he would sit in a café when he had the money for a snack, and listen to the others talking about the ‘wonderful’ days when they had worked there, forgetting how they had moaned about the job and wished for something better.

The wedding of Amy and Rick was only days away when disaster struck. Amy’s mother was taken ill and rushed to hospital. In panic, Amy came to Sally and together they wrote notes to all the guests explaining the cancellation. The booking for the hall, the florist and the car hire firm were informed, and Amy was sitting beside Sally’s fire looking dejected when Rick came home from work and joined them.

‘Darling, its terrible news, but we’ll rebook as soon as your mother is well enough.’

‘The honeymoon in Paris will have to be cancelled too. I was looking forward to that so much,’ Amy said.

‘Why cancel? You can still go, can’t you? No one will know and you’d lose money on the bookings if you don’t.’

‘Sally! We couldn’t! What a suggestion!’ Amy covered her face with her hands.

‘We could book an extra room,’ Rick said. ‘Or not, as you wish.’

‘Oh, I don’t want to continue with this conversation. What would my mother think?’ 

But they went. With her mother now convalescing in Bournemouth with a cousin, they were seen off by Sally and Sadie as they travelled by train from Cardiff, looking as happy as two lovers should. Sally waved until the last carriage was out of sight.