The Bells of Bow (56 page)

‘Yeah, ta, Floss.’ But Georgie didn’t have much time to worry.

Within minutes the reports were coming in again and he had no choice but to put his daughters to the back of his mind and concentrate on driving his crew.

When Georgie eventually got back to the sub-station, dawn was breaking.

Yawning loudly, he dragged himself into the watch room where he knew, even though her shift was over, Maudie would be sitting waiting for him.

‘Bought yer a present,’ he said, kissing her on the top of her head.

He stuck his filth-engrained hand into his tunic pocket and took out a slab of grey, bone dry cake wrapped in his hankie.

Maudie fluttered her eyelashes. ‘You old romantic,’ she said.

‘An old girl come out with it from one of the houses opposite where we was working. “Get yer laughing gear round that,” she said. “Used me last few currants in that, I did.”’

Maud took it from him and looked at it closely.

Georgie winked at her. ‘ “I’m giving this to me girl,” I told her, and that’s what I’ve done.’

‘Aw, ain’t he sweet,’ said Flossie from the battered old armchair in the corner.

‘You still here as well, Floss?’

‘Yeah, we can’t sleep till all our boys are home, can we, Maud?’

‘Well, they’re here now, so bugger off,’ one of the girls from the other shift said. ‘Go on, go and get some kip.’

Outside in the playground, Georgie said to Maud, ‘Yer ain’t really gonna eat that horrible cake, are yer?’

‘Not if you promise you won’t be offended. But it does seem ungrateful when the woman’s used her last currants and everything.’

‘I didn’t wanna take it off her, but she really wanted me to have it.’ Then Georgie grinned. ‘I know someone who’ll really enjoy it.’

He led Maud over to the pen the firemen had built for the pig club sow, took the cake from her and threw it to the fat pink creature who snuffled it up in one appreciative gulp. Then he put his arm round Maudie’s shoulder and started to laugh loudly.

‘What’s tickling you?’

‘I just thought about a stroke that Albie Denham pulled. He was a rogue, that one. Know what he did? Went to all these restaurants up West, pretending he was collecting swill for pigs. The restaurants was only too glad to let him have the stuff, specially when he offered ’em a nice little monthly payment and all. Well, he told ’em they had to supply their own drums, right, told ’em to use old oil drums ’cos they was the right size and everything. And what does he do? He goes round and collects ’em all, dumps the swill and then sells the drums for scrap. What a character.’ Georgie shook his head. ‘But yer know, Maud, wicked as it sounds, and I wouldn’t wish anyone dead, I have to admit that there’s part of me that’s relieved that he ain’t around to bother our Evie no more. She can be a right little mare at times, I know that, but at other times she’s a different character altogether. She can be a really good kid. Kind and caring. Yer know, before I came on shift, Rita was telling me how she’d gone and looked after Minnie and Clara this morning.’

‘Yesterday morning, you mean,’ said Maudie looking up at the now brilliantly blue sky.

George rubbed his hand over his stubbly chin. ‘Yeah, yesterday morning. Come on. Let’s get home.’

They walked along slowly, enjoying the fresh, early morning air.

‘I often wonder, yer know, what would have happened if Evie had landed herself a decent bloke and not got herself hiked up with Denham. Someone steady like, who would have kept her in order a bit. I ain’t saying it was all his fault. I mean, she don’t need much encouragement, that one. She can be a right little madam, I can tell yer. And that temper.’

Maudie nodded. ‘You should have heard her the other day, going on about Albie’s mother.’

‘Her. Hard old cow. Babs is always saying how she’s Betty’s nan and we should make allowances, but when all’s said and done, she’s bad news, that one. Real bad news. I don’t trust her. Wouldn’t trust no one what makes a living out of other people’s trouble and misery.’

Maudie grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him up short. ‘Queenie Denham might be bad news, George, but look there. There’s definitely a bit of good news.’ She pointed excitedly to the headlines on the newspaper stand. ‘Someone’s tried to assassinate Hitler!’

It was a warm summer evening in August, almost a month since the factory had been hit, and Babs and Evie were still shocked enough by the fact that one of them might have been injured or even killed to still be in a reasonable state of truce in their dealings with one another. It hadn’t, however, stopped them from carrying on with their usual, everyday needling of each other.

As she stepped into the front bedroom, Babs’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Gawd help us, Eve,’ she said, screwing up her nose at the overpowering scent of Evening in Paris. ‘It stinks like a tart’s parlour in here. How much of that stuff have you put on yerself?’

‘Enough to do its job, I hope,’ said Evie with a saucy wink. She carefully replaced the lid on the bottle of Cutex varnish then started flapping her hands and blowing on her nails to dry them.

Babs fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes. ‘I’m too tired to go out tonight. Tell Dad that I’ll have Betty, and him and Maudie can go out for a drink or something.’

‘Well, if you wanna stay in on a Friday, it’s up to you. But I think yer must be mad.’

Babs opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. ‘It’s not as if I had anything much planned really. Lou mentioned going to the flicks, but she wasn’t that keen. She’s broke again and wants to save her dough for when we go out tomorrow night.’ Babs levered herself up onto her elbows. ‘Where you going then? Somewhere good?’ Evie twisted round on the dressing table stool and struck a fashion-plate pose with her hands cupped beneath her chin. ‘I, my dear,’ she said in a mock posh voice, ‘am going with Gina to Rainbow Corner.’

Babs yawned. ‘What’s that then?’

‘Don’t yer know nothing?’ Evie sounded scandalised. ‘Blimey, Babs, I think the world passes you by. I wonder if it’s even worth talking to yer sometimes.’

Babs flopped back onto the pillows. ‘All right, if that’s how yer feel, don’t tell me.’

Evie tutted dramatically. ‘Calm down. It’s a club in the West End, all right? It’s been set up special like, for American servicemen.’

Babs yawned again. ‘Aw yeah?’

‘Yeah, it’s on the corner of Shaftesbury. Avenue and Piccadilly. You know, where Del Monico’s and Lyon’s Corner House used to be.’

Babs sat up. ‘How the hell would I know about places like that, Eve? I wasn’t married to Albie Denham, was I? I never went out gallivanting all over the West End. Now name any pie shop in Bow and I’m yer girl.’

‘Oooo,’ Evie teased her. ‘You know how to enjoy yerself, don’t yer?’

Babs got off the bed and went and sat on the stool next to Evie. ‘Good, is it?’ she asked. ‘This Rainbow place.’

Eve turned back to face the mirror. ‘Dunno. I ain’t never been there. But Gina goes mad about it. A lot of girls do.’ Evie took the top of her pancake stick and stroked streaks of the thick, pinky beige make-up onto her cheeks and forehead. ‘Do you know, she had to put me name down
forty-eight hours
ago to say that I was gonna be this bloke Ray’s guest? That’s how hard it is to get in there.’

Babs wasn’t sure how Evie expected her to respond. ‘Well, fancy that,’ she said, for want of something better to say.

Evie finished smoothing the foundation over her skin and then liberally dusted her face with powder. Then she held up a deep red lipstick. ‘See this,’ she said, nodding at the scrap of lipstick protruding from the end of the tube. ‘I’m gonna use all of it. It’ll be a good investment.’

Babs frowned. ‘I hope so, ’cos that lipstick’s bloody mine.’

Evie waved her hand dismissively. ‘Don’t worry about it. According to Gina, the Yanks have got loads of everything in this place. Even more than they usually have. And yer can imagine what that means. She says they’ve got as much lipstick as yer can carry. And they’re right free with it and all. Tell yer what, I’ll bring yer home a few tubes, if yer like.’

‘Aw yeah. Lovely,’ Babs said sarcastically. ‘But don’t go putting yerself out, will yer? Just a plummy sort of colour and a pillar box red’ll do me.’

‘You can laugh, Babs,’ Evie said primly. ‘But Gina says they’ve got everything.’ She thought for a moment. ‘Meat they’ve got. Real meat, I mean, no stinking snook or Woolton pie for them. And, well, everything.’ She looked at herself dreamily in the mirror, and began carefully applying the colour to her mouth. ‘All it takes,’ she said through stretched lips, ‘is a ride on a number fifteen bus and yer in Paradise.’ She tossed the empty lipstick tube onto the dressing table. ‘Right, that’s me done.’ She turned to Babs for her to get the full effect. ‘Gorgeous, eh?’ she said blowing a pouting kiss.

‘Eve.’ Babs touched her gently on the arm.

Evie drummed her fingers impatiently. ‘Yeah, I know,’ she said evenly. ‘Be careful.’

‘Actually, I was gonna say have a nice time.’

Evie’s expression softened. ‘I will, Babs,’ she said, running her hand down her sister’s cheek. ‘Ta.’

As Evie left the drab greyness of the wartime London street and stepped inside the doors of Rainbow Corner, it was as though the world had suddenly been painted with Technicolor. Her mouth fell open.

‘It’s just like yer said,’ she whispered to Gina. ‘It
is
Paradise.’

Gina laughed. ‘That’s how it takes all the girls when they first come here.’

‘And Ray …’ Evie rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. ‘He is so handsome.’

‘My Eddy ain’t bad either, is he?’

‘He’s gorgeous.’

‘Yeah. And I mean to hang on to this one.’

‘What are you girls whispering about?’ asked Eddy, draping his arm round Gina.

Gina smiled up at him. ‘We were just having a bit of girl talk.’ She pointed to one of the many doorways. ‘Come on, Eve, we’ll get rid of our hats and jackets over there and check our faces.’ She winked at Eddy. ‘Then we can talk about these two in peace.’

As Gina led her over to the Ladies, Evie stared about her at the brilliantly colourful posters and pictures of America that covered all the walls, and gawped at all the activities that were going on, and at all the things like Coca-Cola machines which she had only ever seen in the films.

‘I don’t think I can take all this in.’ Evie stared at herself in the sparkling mirror over the sink as she handed the lipstick back that Gina had lent her. ‘I’ve been out with plenty of GIs since they’ve been over here, but I ain’t never seen nothing like this place.’

‘Glad yer like it.’ Gina twisted round to check the seams of her stockings in one of the elegant full-length mirrors.

‘And I wanna remember every bit of it all to tell Babs.’

‘You’ll remember it,’ Gina said. ‘Now come on, Ray and Eddy’ll be getting fed up waiting out there.’

When she and Gina closed the door of the Ladies behind them, Evie didn’t need to turn on her dimpled smile as Ray and Eddy came towards them; she was smiling fit to burst already. She thought Ray was quite the most dazzling man she had ever seen. Not quite as tall as Albie had been, but still much taller than she was, he had thick, dark brown hair, eyes as blue as her own and teeth that were so gleaming white they could have doubled as a warning in the blackout.

Eddy nudged Ray and nodded to Gina and Eve. ‘Worth the wait, huh, feller?’

Ray nodded back enthusiastically. ‘Worth every moment,’ he agreed.

Gina and Evie took their partners by the arm. As they walked through the bright corridors, crowded with GIs and their girls, Evie and Ray told each other about themselves while Ray pointed out to her the various rooms and the different things they could do. There were films to see, sports to watch or play, two sitdown restaurants and a cafe that sold a bewildering range of unfamiliar, exotic-looking items; there were quiet places to sit, music to listen or dance to, and everywhere there were delicious, unidentifiable scents and aromas – perfume maybe, Evie thought at times, or perhaps some sort of food, but whatever they were, they made her feel as though she had tumbled into a giant Aladdin’s cave.

‘That’s about it,’ Ray said. ‘End of tour.’

‘It’s … smashing,’ Evie said.

Ray smiled happily at Eddy. ‘“Smashing”, hear that?’ He looked at Evie. ‘You like it then, huh?’

She nodded.

‘Good. How about a little dancing?’

Evie smiled excitedly – she loved the way he spoke – and turned to Gina to see what she should say.

Gina grinned. ‘Smashing,’ she said.

Evie nodded. ‘Smashing.’

‘In here then, ma’am.’ Ray ushered them through another door. It led into a bustling, boisterous dance hall. In the middle of the ceiling was a spinning mirrored ball that sent out sparkling rainbows of light over the band and the dancers gyrating below.

Eve turned to Ray, barely able to contain herself. ‘I love it here,’ she said.

‘Can you jitterbug?’ Ray asked her.

‘Can she jitterbug?’ Gina began, intending to brag about her friend’s dancing skills, but Evie silenced her with a coy smile.

‘I can try, Ray,’ she said demurely. ‘If you’ll show me. I’m a quick learner.’

Gina laughed as Eddy swept her away in his arms. ‘Yeah, she’s a real quick learner, that one.’

After their first dance together, Ray was stunned. ‘Honey, you’re terrific. A natural. I never saw anyone dance the jitterbug so good.’

‘I’ve gotta be truthful with yer,’ Evie said shyly, looking up into his big, deep blue eyes. ‘I didn’t pick it up just like that. It was me sister, the one I told yer about. With the baby, you know.’

Ray nodded.

‘See, she was seeing a GI for a while and he taught her how to do it. And she showed me.’

Ray laughed. ‘Beautiful and honest. I’ve hit the jackpot!’

Evie flashed her dimples. She lowered her lashes and peered up at him, coyly nibbling at her bottom lip. ‘I can sing too. In fact, some people reckon I can sing better than I can dance.’

‘Wow! You should be on the stage.’

‘I could sing now if they’d let me.’

‘Let you?’ Ray guided Evie over to the band.