The Girl From Number 22 (34 page)

There was a smile on Hetty’s face. ‘I can’t say I remember, girl. Was this last Christmas?’

Ada shook her head. ‘No, sunshine, it was the second Christmas after we moved into this street and became neighbours.’

‘But that was eighteen years ago!’

‘Yes, I know, sunshine. But it goes to show what a good joke it was if I can remember yer telling it after all that time.’

Hetty had a look of expectancy on her face as she leaned forward. When a few seconds had passed and there was nothing forthcoming from her mate, she asked, ‘Well, come on, tell us the joke and give us a laugh.’

Ada’s eyes flew open in surprise. ‘Yer don’t think I can remember a joke after eighteen years, do yer? I’ve got a good memory, but not that ruddy good.’

Hetty took a leaf out of her mate’s book and put on a show. ‘Oh, yer can remember it was a couple of days before Christmas eighteen years ago, but yer’ve conveniently forgotten what the ruddy joke was! Pull the other one, girl, it’s got bells on.’

‘The trouble with you, sunshine, is that yer believe everything I say. Yer should know by now to take most things with a pinch of salt.’

‘Oh, so ye’re telling me I shouldn’t believe a word me best mate says ’cos she’s a liar?’

Ada moved her head slowly from side to side. ‘I wouldn’t go
as far as to say I’m a liar, sunshine. I’m just a teller of fairy tales. They don’t hurt no one, and if they give people a laugh, well, what harm is that?’

Hetty gave in. ‘No harm at all, girl, no harm at all.’

‘Right, well now we’ve got that settled, let’s get down to discussing something that isn’t in the least bit funny.’ Ada looked at Annie. ‘How did yer get on after we left yer last night, sunshine?’

Her neighbour gave a deep sigh. ‘Me and the kids went straight up to bed, so whether Tom slept all night, I don’t know. When I came down this morning he was getting washed in the kitchen and I just went about making his breakfast as usual. There wasn’t one word out of his mouth. Not to me, or the children. And the only time I spoke to him was to tell him Ben wouldn’t be going out at the same time as him any more. He didn’t answer, just walked out of the house and banged the door behind him.’

Ada’s face showed her amazement. ‘Yer mean he was capable of going to work this morning, after being so rotten drunk last night he could barely stand?’

‘You don’t know Tom, Ada. He could drink a pub dry and still find his way home. He gets drunk and causes a scene, but it never stops him from going to work the next day.’

‘I don’t know how he does it, then,’ Ada said. ‘Two pints and that’s the lot for my Jimmy. He couldn’t take any more, even if he could afford it.’

‘I’m just worried about what the neighbours thought last night.’ Annie was wringing her hands. ‘I’ve been ashamed of showing me face this morning. I was at the shops before they opened and was back before any of the neighbours came out. They must wonder what sort of a family they’ve got living in their midst.’

‘Things are not as black as yer think, sunshine, so stop fretting. The neighbours either side of yer are really nice people, and they’re the only ones yer need worry about. There were a few out last night, but it was mostly out of curiosity. In fact, there’s some who would have enjoyed a bit of excitement to brighten up their lives. Gives them something to think about.’ Ada chose her words carefully when she spoke again. ‘We were talking to the neighbours either side of yer this morning at the shops, weren’t we, Hetty?’

‘Yes, girl, we were. Jean Bowers and Edith Watson, they’re lovely people. Yer’d get on like a house on fire with them, if yer had the chance to get to know them.’ Hetty decided it would be best to leave the rest of the talking to her mate. Ada seemed to have a knack of using the right words, while she’d most likely put her foot in it.

Annie let out a sigh. ‘I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be friends with me neighbours, Hetty. I’m not allowed to live a normal life, Tom won’t let me. He’s beaten me into submission over the years and I haven’t had the strength to fight back. And I bet me neighbours were calling us for everything, were they? I wouldn’t blame them if they did, ’cos no decent family would want us living next door.’

‘Well, I’m not going to lie to yer, Annie, ’cos I know yer wouldn’t believe me anyway. Jean and Edith weren’t very happy about the commotion last night. They’ve both got teenage children, and they objected to the bad language as well as the noise. But I don’t think you should take the blame, or be punished because yer’ve got a lousy husband. So I tried to put the record straight with them. Yer don’t mind my doing that, do yer, sunshine? Yer need to have friends in the street if ye’re ever going to settle down here. And let’s face it, yer can’t be moving to a
different house every year. That’s not the answer to yer problem, is it? The answer lies in bringing Tom Phillips to heel.’

‘I’ve given up all hope of that happening, sweetheart,’ Annie said. ‘I’ve seen him getting many a good hiding off neighbours twice his size, who were fed up with his carryings-on. He’s often been knocked out, and left on the pavement for me and the kids to drag into the house.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s been going on too long for him to change. It would take a miracle, and yer don’t hear of many of them, do yer?’

‘I didn’t have a miracle in mind, sunshine,’ Ada told her. ‘Yer could say a prayer, or wish on a star, but that wouldn’t do yer any good, either. What might do the trick is having enough friends in the street on your side. If we could bring that about, it may get through Tom Phillips’s thick skull that his days of ruling the roost are over. For even he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and take the street on.’

‘D’yer think I haven’t tried to make friends over the years, sweetheart? Believe me, I’ve had women who I thought were tough enough to forget Tom and take me on as a mate. But no one has ever stuck it out, and I’ve had me heart broken a few times. There’s not many will stand by me once they’ve found out what sort of a husband I’ve got.’

‘Me and Ada have, girl, and we’ll not be walking away from yer,’ Hetty said quite emotionally. ‘And there’s many more like us.’

Ada gave her mate a smile of thanks before facing Annie again. ‘What Hetty just said is true, sunshine. And I’m going to introduce yer to Jean and Edith, to prove it to yer.’

A look of alarm crossed Annie’s face. ‘Oh, no, Ada, I couldn’t meet them. They must think I’m the lowest of the low after last night, and I couldn’t look them in the face.’

In for a penny, in for a pound, Ada told herself. If it didn’t happen now, it would never happen. ‘You can look anyone in the face, Annie, for yer’ve done nothing wrong. And don’t fly off the handle when I tell yer that Jean and Edith will be over any minute now. They want to meet yer, so I invited them. There’s no need to be afraid, sunshine, and any time yer feel uncomfortable, then all yer have to do is make an excuse and leave. That won’t happen, I know. And I also know that before the afternoon is over, yer’ll have four friends in the street, not two. And yer’ll find yerself getting along with them as well as yer do with me and Hetty.’

‘Ooh, I don’t know, sweetheart, I don’t think I can do it. I’ll nip out the back way, and leave you to enjoy the company of yer friends.’

Just then there came a knock on the door, and Ada pushed Annie back down on her chair. ‘It’s too late now, sunshine, they’re here. And let’s see a nice smile on yer face when I introduce yer to two women who are the salt of the earth. I promise yer won’t regret it.’

Annie was a bag of nerves when she shook hands with her next-door neighbours, and her smile was shaky. But their returning smiles were so friendly, and their faces so open, her heartbeat began to slow down. ‘I’m glad to meet yer, so I can apologise for the rumpus my husband caused last night. I’m sorry yer had to put up with it. I only wish I could put yer minds at rest and say it won’t happen again. But I’m afraid that is something I can’t promise. My husband is a law unto himself.’

‘We’ll be prepared for it next time, and we’ll shut him up before he starts,’ Jean said. ‘I’ll have the rolling pin ready to hand, and Edith said she’ll lift me up so I can hit him on the head with it.’ She smiled to show she wasn’t in earnest. ‘Anyway, let’s talk
about it over a cup of tea. It’s not the end of the world, girl, so don’t look so worried.’

‘Is that a hint for me to put the kettle on, by any chance, Mrs Bowers?’ Ada was feeling relieved that things seemed to be going well. ‘Ye’re not backward in coming forward, even if yer pretty face makes yer look shy and retiring, as though butter wouldn’t melt in yer mouth. It goes to show yer can’t take people at face value.’

Hetty jumped to her feet. ‘I’ll help yer with the tea, girl, or it’ll be time to go home before we get one.’ She followed Ada out to the kitchen. ‘I’m starving, and me tummy is beginning to rumble. Don’t forget I didn’t have any lunch.’

‘Ye’re not on yer own, sunshine, ’cos I’ve had nothing to eat since me breakfast. So ye’re not likely to get any sympathy off me.’

Edith called through from the living room. ‘We’re a chair short, girl, so can I fetch the one over from by the window?’

‘Of course yer can, sunshine! Make yerselves at home and pretend ye’re at yer granny’s. Me and Hetty will see to the tea while you and Jean get acquainted with Annie.’

Hetty mouthed the words, ‘It seems to be going well, girl, don’t yer think?’

‘Like clockwork, sunshine, like clockwork. And even though it sounds as though I’m bragging, I’ve got to say I’m feeling pleased with me little self.’

‘I’m glad for Annie,’ Hetty said, taking the cloth off the plate covering the sandwiches. ‘It would be nice if the five of us got together once or twice a week for afternoon tea.’ She giggled. ‘Doesn’t afternoon tea sound posh?’

‘It does that, sunshine.’ Ada put three teaspoonsful of tea into the earthenware pot. ‘Yer’ll soon be getting ideas above yer
station. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of these days yer don’t suggest we go to the Adelphi Hotel for our afternoon tea.’

‘Ooh, I don’t think so, girl. Someone told me it’s half a crown to get in, and all yer get for that is a paper-thin sandwich and one scone. Oh, and yer get a cup of tea of course. And it’s served in a china cup.’

‘I know it sounds a lot of money, sunshine, but don’t forget yer get music with it. And, so I’m told, they’ve got palm trees as well.’

‘Go ’way! Ooh, the woman didn’t say nothing about music or palm trees. Where did yer hear that, girl?’

‘I think it was our Danny who told me. He hasn’t been himself, it was only what he heard.’

Hetty was tickled by her thoughts. ‘Ay, girl, can yer just see us sitting in the Adelphi, under a palm tree, nibbling a wafer-thin cucumber sandwich?’

Ada was picking up the full tray when she chuckled. ‘We’d have to remember to curl our little finger, like the posh people do.’

Jean’s voice reached them. ‘Ay, are you two having a party of yer own out there? Here’s us, yer visitors, with mouths as dry as bones, gasping for a drink, while the only noise coming from the kichen is laughter.’

Ada walked through with the tray, and Hetty followed with the plates. ‘Keep yer hair on, sunshine,’ she said, ‘it’s all ready now.’

‘What were yer laughing at, sweetheart?’ Annie asked, feeling much more relaxed now she’d faced her next-door neighbours. ‘Won’t yer let us in on the joke?’

‘Yeah,’ Jean said. ‘Don’t be so miserable, keeping the jokes to yerself. We enjoy a good laugh as well, yer know.’

Ada set down the tray carefully before answering. ‘We haven’t been telling jokes, Jean, we’ve been laughing at what our imagination conjured up. If yer’ll wait until the tea’s poured out, and yer’ve got a sarnie in yer hand, I’ll explain what tickled our fancy.’

A few minutes later, Jean said, ‘Well, go on, girl, we’re all settled.’

Never one to miss an opportunity, Ada decided that plenty of laughter was called for today. She wanted her three neighbours from opposite to go out of her house together. And she wanted them to be laughing, having forged friendships which would endure through hardships and ups and downs. So she sat back in her chair, with her fingers curled round a cup of tea, and an eye on the sandwiches and cream slices. ‘Are yer sure yer wouldn’t like to eat before I start?’

There was a chorus of protests, so she shrugged her shoulders and set off on one of her fairy tales. ‘Me and Hetty were saying we wouldn’t mind going to the Adelphi one day for afternoon tea. We could see ourselves dressed up to the nines, our hair marcel-waved, nails coloured, and wearing bright red lipstick. They’ve got palm trees there, yer know, and we can see ourselves sitting under one. And while eating a wafer-thin sandwich, with our little finger curled, like the toffs do, we sit entranced by the music being played by the four musicians on the stage. There are couples dancing, and the huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling are shining on the jewellery worn by the young women.’

Ada put a hand to her mouth and coughed behind it several times. She did this to stop herself from bursting with laughter. Her four friends were drinking in every word, as though they were seeing the scene as she told it. But it was Hetty who was
bringing Ada to a point where she wouldn’t be able to keep the laughter back for much longer. For Hetty, who was the one who started all this off, was listening as though she believed what Ada was telling them, and she could almost hear the music being played. She was hunched over the table with her arms crossed and her eyes fixed on her mate’s mouth. And she was getting impatient. ‘Well, go on, girl, tell us some more.’

But Ada’s hunger got the better of her, and she decided she’d better cut it short or she’d starve to death. ‘You’re the one that can finish it off, sunshine, ’cos you were the one who caught the eye of a very handsome toff. He came over, and acting like a knight of old, he bowed down from the waist, then held his hand out and asked if he could have the pleasure of dancing the waltz with yer. Well, I got fed up sitting there like a wallflower, all on me own. So after watching you and yer partner gazing into each other’s eyes, and him lifting yer hand to his lips every few minutes, I decided to call it a day. And I came home on the tram, all on me lonesome.’