Stay as Sweet as You Are (33 page)

Bob stepped down to wave to Aggie. ‘Goodnight and God bless, Aggie. Sleep well. And you, Titch. I’ll see yer.’

The night before Titch was due to sail, he went to say goodbye to Olive and Steve. He also went with a plan in mind.

‘How long are yer away this time, Titch?’ Olive asked. ‘A couple of months?’

‘Could be longer this time, Olive. That’s why, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask Steve to do a job for me.’

‘Of course I will, Mr Titch.’ Steve would willingly run to the ends of the earth for this man. ‘Just name it and I’ll do it.’

‘Only on certain conditions, Steve. I want to pay yer for it. Not much, mind yer, but I don’t want yer to do it for nothing.’

‘Steve wouldn’t take money off you, Titch!’ Olive protested. ‘After all you’ve done for him, he wouldn’t dream of it.’

‘Me mam’s right.’ Steve was highly indignant. ‘I wouldn’t take no money off yer.’

‘But it’s a big job I’m asking yer to do, Steve. Yer see, I’m worried about me ma, now the winter has set in. I don’t like the thought of her having to lug coal up the yard in freezing weather. I have visions of her slipping on the snow or ice and laying in the yard with no one knowing she’s there. So I was going to ask if yer’d slip up there each night and fill her coal scuttle for her and make sure she’s all right. I’d have an easy mind when I’m away if I knew she was being cared for.’

‘I’d do that with pleasure,’ Steve said, looking happy at just the thought. ‘Yer don’t have to pay me no money to look after Mrs Aggie.’

‘I’ll keep me eye on her, too,’ Olive said. ‘I won’t go up at night, but I’ll call in each day.’

This was what Titch had been hoping for. It was a good way of getting Olive out of the house. ‘That’s taken a load off
me mind. But if I’m away for two or three months, it’s a lot to ask of yer. So if yer won’t take money off me, will yer let me do something for yer?’

Olive tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. ‘Oh, aye, what are yer up to now? I don’t trust you, Titch McBride.’

Titch winked at Steve. ‘Will yer sit on yer mam for me, so she can’t scratch me eyes out or wallop me one?’

Steve left the wooden chair to sit next to his mother on the couch. He put his two arms around her and held her tight. ‘Safely anchored, Mr Titch.’

‘What I’ve asked you two to do is a very big favour. Now I’d like yer to let me give a little back in return. It’s not much, but it would please me to do it.’

‘I don’t like the sound of this,’ Olive said. ‘Spit it out and get it over with.’

‘Promise yer won’t hit me, fall out with me or throw me out?’

‘In the name of God, what’s the man up to now?’ Olive managed to keep her face straight while asking herself how could anyone fall out with Titch when he had that huge smile on his face and mischief dancing in his eyes. ‘Come on, out with it.’

‘Well, now I know me ma’s going to be well looked after, I’d like to think you two were happy and comfortable. So let me buy the wallpaper to brighten this room up.’

‘You what!’ Olive’s voice was shrill. ‘Not on yer blinking life.’

‘Excuse me, Mrs Fletcher, but I haven’t finished yet. There’s more to come.’ Titch wagged an admonishing finger. ‘So be a good girl and listen before disagreeing with me. I knew I’d have trouble getting Steve to take money off me, so I went ahead and bought wallpaper for this room. I didn’t pay full price for it because I’ve got a mate what’s got a mate with a wallpaper shop. So I’m not being as generous as yer think. It only cost me a few bob. And George and Bob have said they’d be delighted to do the work.’ Titch grinned before
letting out a deep sigh. ‘Now I’ll ask Steve to keep tight hold of yer until yer’ve had time to think it over. But to help yer come to the right decision, close yer eyes and imagine how nice and cheerful this room would look for Christmas. And remember, I wasn’t too proud to accept your help, so to keep things square, the least yer can do is accept mine.’

When Olive stayed stony-faced, her eyes fixed on the far wall, Titch wagged his head at Steve before asking, ‘Is yer mam still breathing, lad?’

‘I think so, Mr Titch, I can see her nostrils going in and out.’

‘That’s good. It means she hasn’t gone and died on us.’ He leaned forward and looked into the solemn face. ‘I’m glad about that, ’cos I’d have been left with eight rolls of wallpaper and a lot of explaining to do.’

Without moving a muscle, Olive asked, ‘What colour’s the paper?’

His face as straight as hers, Titch said, ‘Pea-green.’

‘I’m not having no pea-green wallpaper on my walls, Titch McBride – yer can take it right back and change it.’

‘How about a pale beige with little sprigs of pink flowers on?’

‘That sounds more like it.’ Olive faced him with a beaming smile. ‘How soon can the workmen start?’

‘Bob’s on mornings, so he could do a bit in the afternoons. Then on Saturday him and George could go like the clappers and get a fair bit done. But you and Steve could help by stripping the old paper off and rubbing the paintwork down.’ With a cheeky grin on his face, Titch reached into his pocket and brought out a scraper and two sheets of sandpaper. ‘I’ve come prepared for any contingency. These for if yer said yes, and running shoes in case yer came after me with the poker.’

‘It wouldn’t have made a scrap of difference what I said, and you know it. I could have argued until I was blue in the face, yer’d still have got yer own way in the end.’

‘Excuse me, Mr Titch,’ Steve said. ‘Can I let go of me mam now?’

‘Just make sure she’s not frothing at the mouth first. It’s a bad sign that, frothing at the mouth.’

‘I’ll froth you at the mouth, yer cheeky beggar.’ But Olive was feeling very light-hearted inside. It would be lovely to see this room nice and bright. ‘I should tell yer off for being underhanded and arranging all this behind me back. But I’m not going to because I’m really delighted. I’m indebted to yer, Titch.’

‘Ay, remember there’s a price to pay for this. I’m relying on both of yer to look after me ma for me.’ Titch wondered what his mother would say if she knew she’d been used as a weapon in his plans. She’d probably stand on a chair and box his ears for him. ‘It means a lot to me, knowing she’s being looked after.’

‘I’ll keep an eye on her, Mr Titch, I promise yer that. Me and Mrs Aggie get along fine together, we’re good mates.’

‘It does me heart good to hear that, lad. I know she thinks the world of you.’ Titch stood up and put the scraper and sandpaper on the table. ‘I’ll take me leave of yer now ’cos I’m going for a pint with me two drinking buddies. It’s me last night so I’ve got to make the most of it.’

‘Well, look after yerself, Titch,’ Olive said. ‘Next time yer come we’ll be all posh and yer won’t get in unless yer wipe yer feet.’

Titch chuckled. ‘I’m a clever bugger, Olive, but even I can’t walk on walls.’

Olive raised her brows. ‘Oh, no? According to Aggie yer can walk on the ceiling when yer’ve had one over the eight.’

‘I wish me ma would stop bragging about me achievements, it’s embarrassing. But if she ever tells yer I can walk on water, take it with a pinch of salt.’ Titch glanced at the clock before holding his hand out to Steve. ‘Look after yer mam, lad, take good care of her. And, of course, yer mate, Mrs Aggie.’

Steve felt ten feet tall. ‘Yer can rely on me, Mr Titch. But I wish yer weren’t going away, I’ll miss yer.’

‘We all will,’ Olive said. ‘Even if it’s only for yer cheek.’

Titch bent and kissed the top of her head. ‘Yer’ve come on a treat, Olive. Keep it up at this rate and I won’t recognise yer when I come home.’

Mother and son felt sad when they heard the door close behind him. Tommy ‘Titch’ McBride had come into their lives like a ray of sunshine, and picked them up when they were down. They had much to thank him for.

‘Me mate sails today,’ Bob said, flicking a crumb from his lips. ‘We had a cracking night out with him last night. Mind you, me and George can’t keep up with his drinking. If Titch had had his way, neither of us would have been fit for work today.’

‘When are we going to meet this mate of yours?’ Peg Butterworth wanted to know. ‘Tall, tanned and handsome, he sounds right up my street.’

Elsie Burgess, her plump elbows leaning on the table, looked sideways. ‘Any man in trousers is right up your street, queen.’

‘Ay, watch it, you!’ Peg looked put out. ‘Be careful what yer say about my good name, unless yer fancy wearing a black eye.’

‘It’s true! Everyone knows ye’re man mad.’ Elsie’s elbow slipped off the table and her sandwich ended up in her eye. But, undeterred, she carried on: ‘It’s not so long ago that yer asked me about the milkman what was having it off with a woman in our street.’

‘But the poor man wasn’t having it off with the woman in your street, was he?’ Billy Gleeson said. ‘It was your bad minds. If he’d known what yer were saying about him, he could have had yer all up for defamation of character.’

Elsie’s mouth gaped. ‘What was that yer said, Billy?’

‘He could have had yer all up for defamation of character.’

‘Yeah, I heard that, but could yer say it in English, please?’

Peg gave her friend a dig. ‘Don’t show yer ignorance, girl. That
was
English.’

‘Well, I didn’t never learn nothing like that in my school. Some of it, yeah, but not that defation. I didn’t never hear that word before.’

‘The word is defamation, Elsie.’ Billy was highly amused. ‘It means he could have sued yer for every penny yer’ve got.’

Up and down went the table with Elsie’s tummy. ‘Blimey, if he can get his tongue around a big word like that, he’d deserve to take every penny I’ve got. But he’d have to do it on a Saturday, ’cos I’ve never got two ha’pennies to rub together the rest of the week.’ Her face straightened. ‘Anyway, clever clogs, Billy Gleeson, yer’d better be careful what yer say or I’ll have you up for that deffy thing. We didn’t do no wrong, it was a genuine mistake. How were we to know our neighbour was a friend of his missus? And that he stopped for a cuppa and a butty every morning? It was an easy mistake to make.’

Peg sat sideways in her chair and weighed her friend up. ‘And what about the coalman? Was his missus a friend, too?’

‘How the hell do I know!’ Elsie was getting all het up. ‘Yer’ll be asking me next if the bleedin’ horse was a cousin of hers.’

‘Keep yer hair on, girl.’ A glint came in Peg’s eyes. ‘Yer can’t afford to lose any hairs ’cos yer haven’t got many to start with.’

‘Are you looking for a fight? If yer are, I’ll give yer one,’ Elsie said. ‘I’ve got as many hairs on my head as you have, if not more.’

Peg pursed her lips. ‘I’ll bet yer any money yer haven’t.’

‘And I bet yer any money I have.’

‘Okay,’ Peg said. ‘Put yer money where yer mouth is. How many hairs have yer got on yer head?’

Oh, she’s not catching me out there, thought Elsie. She thinks she’s clever, but she’s picked on the wrong one. ‘You
tell me how many you’ve got first, then I’ll tell yer.’

Peg’s expression was superior to say the least. ‘At the last count it was two million, three hundred thousand and twenty-five.’

Elsie managed to look astounded. ‘Well, would yer believe it?’ She gazed around the table. ‘That’s exactly the same number I’ve got.’ She turned to her friend, and before Peg realised what she was up to, Elsie reached over and pulled out a few hairs that were sticking out from under her turban. ‘Now yer’ve got three less than me.’

‘That does it.’ Peg banged her fist on the table. ‘Prove it.’

Elsie looked blank. ‘What d’yer mean?’

‘Start pulling them out and count them. And we’ll all sit here and witness that yer play fair. When yer’ve got to two million, three hundred thousand and twenty-five, if yer’ve still got a hair left on yer head, then you win.’

‘Yer can sod off, you can! Yer must think I’ve just come over! It was you what started all this, so it’s up to you to prove what ye’re saying. Start counting, queen.’

‘I haven’t got time, girl, ’cos the bell will be going in ten minutes. So we’ll call it quits, eh?’

‘Yeah,’ Elsie smiled, ‘we’re both winners.’

Peg delved into the pocket of her overall and brought out a threepenny joey, which she handed over. ‘Here’s yer winnings, girl.’

‘Thanks, queen.’ Elsie stared down at the small chunky coin nestling in her chubby hand. Smiling, she picked it up and held it out to Peg. ‘And here’s yours, queen. It was a good, clean, fair fight and we both deserved to win.’

Bob winked across at Kate. ‘D’yer know, it’s a pleasure to come to work. Apart from when I’m out with me mates, this is the only time I get a few laughs and some decent conversation. Plus the added bonus of having a pretty woman sitting opposite to me.’

Billy swivelled in his seat. ‘Ay, I heard that.’

‘Yer were meant to.’ Bob chuckled. ‘I don’t see why all the
gossip should come from the women, so I thought I’d add a bit of spice to liven things up.’

‘That’s a good idea, mate. Just listen to this.’ Billy leaned across the table and gestured for everyone to follow suit. Then in a loud whisper, he said, ‘Don’t any of yer repeat this, but Kate and Bob are having a clandestine affair.’

‘Oh, the gear!’ Peg said. ‘That’s something we can really get our teeth into.’

‘I don’t agree with it.’ Little Ada Smithson’s thin lips became a narrow line in her pale face. ‘It’s a sin, that is.’

‘What did yer say Kate and Bob were having, Billy?’ Elsie asked, not bothering to keep her voice down. ‘I didn’t hear yer properly.’

‘A clandestine affair, Elsie.’

‘What school did you go to, Billy Gleeson? It certainly wasn’t the same one as me ’cos we don’t speak the same language.’ Elsie leaned her elbows on the table and looked along to where Kate was sitting. ‘You speak English, queen, so you tell me. What are you and Bob having?’

It was with great difficulty that Kate kept her face straight. ‘We’re having an affair, Elsie.’

‘Go ’way!’ Elsie mulled the information over for a few seconds, then asked, ‘What exactly d’yer mean, queen?’

‘Me and Bob are having what you thought yer milkman and neighbour were having. Only they weren’t and we are.’

The bell sounded then and chairs were scraped back. ‘Why didn’t yer tell us that earlier, Billy Gleeson?’ Peg asked. ‘Now we’ve got to wait until tomorrow for the next instalment.’