MB06 - The Sunshine of your Smile, page 5
When they’d gone, Phoebe leaned forward from the top step. Puckering her lips, she said, ‘Yer can give me a kiss for keeping me waiting.’
Paul was all for that. ‘Oh, yer deserve more than one kiss, babe, after me keeping yer waiting at least ten minutes.’ He kissed her waiting lips. ‘How about a kiss for every minute?’
‘Later.’ Phoebe jerked her head towards the house. ‘Come on in, and yer can tell us all what Auntie Nellie’s been up to now.’
Paul breezed into the living room and was surprised to see there was only Phoebe’s mam and dad in. ‘Where is everyone?’
Her dad, well, he was really her step-father, stood up and gestured for Paul to sit on the couch. At six foot five, built like a battleship and with hands the size of shovels, the man who was now Phoebe’s dad, and had always been Paul’s Uncle Corker, was a man you couldn’t miss seeing. A seafarer all his life until just a few weeks ago, his weatherbeaten face was hidden behind a broad moustache and beard. He was a gentle giant, loved by his family and friends. The kids in the neighbourhood called him Sinbad because he looked so much like the character in their story books. ‘Well, if we’re to believe what they told us, Dorothy has gone to the pictures with a girlfriend from work, Gordon has also gone to the flicks with Jeff Mowbray, and Peter is in his mate’s having a game of cards. Gordon and Peter I believe, but Dorothy I have me doubts about. I think she’s got a boyfriend on the sly. Anyway, sit yerself down, son, unless you and Phoebe are going straight out?’
‘If I don’t tell yer me reason for being late, and if yer don’t believe me, then Phoebe will get a cob on with me and we won’t be on speaking terms for a few days.’
Corker had known the Bennett and McDonough families for as long as he could remember. When he wasn’t sailing the seven seas, he’d lived at the top of the street with the widowed mother he adored. That was long before he’d married Ellen after her first husband died. He’d been a rotter, had Nobby Clarke, a violent, gambling drunkard, who treated his wife and children like animals. He was his own worst enemy, and on VE Day went on a drunken binge while his wife and children starved. But he got so drunk that day, he walked in front of a tram. He wasn’t killed, but very seriously injured and never came out of hospital. Ellen was left penniless, and would have been thrown on the streets with her children but for Molly and Nellie. They did everything they could to help her, even getting her the job in the butcher’s. And Molly had been instrumental in bringing her and Corker together, for which he would be eternally grateful. The three families, the Bennetts, McDonoughs and Corkhills, had grown closer still, when Jill Bennett married Steve McDonough and went to live with Corker’s mother until they could afford a home of their own.
Lowering himself into a fireside chair, Corker lit a cigarette. ‘Come on then, son, but if this has anything to do with yer mam, then I believe yer before yer start.’
Ellen, a quiet, gentle woman, leaned forward. ‘We could do with a good laugh, so give it to us word for word, and with the actions if possible.’
‘Ooh, I don’t know about that, Auntie Ellen, ’cos I haven’t got me mam’s – er – me body isn’t like me mam’s. But I’ll do me best.’
Paul stood up for better effect, and started the tale. He did a pretty good impersonation of his mother, bar the mountainous bosom. As the tale unfolded, his audience of three were in stitches, but when it came to his father standing on his head to read the Echo, Ellen and Phoebe were bent over having convulsions, while Corker’s loud guffaws could be heard by people passing in the street.
Paul was very pleased with his own performance when he saw the reaction of his girlfriend and her parents. ‘So, am I forgiven for being ten minutes late?’
Phoebe had to swallow hard before she could speak. ‘Yes, I forgive yer for being late, but look what yer’ve done to me face. Me eyes are all red, me powder’s come off on to me hankie, and me lipstick is ruined.’
Paul held his open hands out to Corker. ‘See what I mean, Uncle Corker? I can’t win. And it’s all me mam’s fault. In future I’ll leave the room when she’s having her funny half hour, then I can’t get into trouble.’
Then Phoebe, who like her mother was shy, did something she’d never done before in front of her parents. She put her arms around Paul’s neck and kissed him. ‘No, yer must never do that, ’cos I look forward to hearing what Auntie Nellie’s been up to. I don’t mind yer being ten minutes late, but if it ever gets to eleven minutes, then ye’re in trouble, Paul McDonough.’
Chapter Three
Molly handed her coat to Tommy before pulling a chair from under the table and sitting down. ‘I won’t ask how yer are, Ma, ’cos you and me da look the picture of health. In fact, yer look younger every time I see yer.’
‘Oh, it’s fine we are, me darlin’, thanks to the Good Lord and Rosie. And it’s happy we are to see our daughter has brought her husband with her tonight. Sure it’s not often we have that pleasure.’
‘Yer know I don’t like leaving Ruthie in the house on her own, Ma, that’s why Jack doesn’t come very often. But she’s having Bella over for a few hours tonight for a game of Ludo, so I don’t mind when there’s the two of them, they’re both quite sensible, but I’ve promised Mary Watson I won’t keep Bella out too late.’ Molly craned her neck to look into the kitchen. ‘Where’s Rosie?’
Just then there came a clatter of feet on the stairs and Tommy’s bride of three weeks entered the room. ‘I was combing me hair, Auntie Molly, so I was. Sure, I couldn’t have me mother and father-in-law see me looking dowdy. They’d wonder what my dearly beloved husband had let himself in for.’ Rosie, with her black hair and blue eyes, was a true Irish beauty, and her rosy apple cheeks were always creased in a smile. When she walked into a room, it was as though the lights had been switched on. Now she kissed Molly’s cheek before moving on to Jack. ‘It’s lovely to see yer, so it is. And, sure, every time I see yer, Uncle Jack, I can see what me darling husband is going to look like when he grows older. A fine, handsome figure of a man.’
Molly looked from Rosie to her own dear mother, and thought, this was indeed history repeating itself. Her ma had come over from Ireland as a young girl to seek work, not knowing a soul in England. She’d managed to find lodgings for the week she sought employment, but had never made any friends. The only work she could find was as a junior pantry maid in a large house in Princes Drive, owned by a wealthy shipping merchant. She never settled down, though, and was homesick for her family and the lush green fields of County Wicklow. That was until the day she met Bob Jackson, who retrieved her hat when it blew off at the Pier Head where she’d gone to feed the pigeons. It had been love at first sight for both of them, and they’d married within two years. The love they’d felt on that first day had never wavered since. They loved each other now nearly fifty years later more than ever, and showed it in every glance and every touch of their hands.
Rosie O’Grady had been more fortunate than Bridie because a distant cousin had written to ask the Jacksons if they would take in a fifteen-year-old girl until she could find work and somewhere to live. The Jacksons fell in love with the young Irish beauty whose lovely lilting brogue was like sweet music to Bridie’s ears. Indeed, everyone fell under the spell of Rosie O’Grady, with her beauty, her marvellous sense of humour, and her kind, caring nature. The only one she didn’t attract at first was Tommy who at fifteen was at the awkward age where girls are a nuisance and to be avoided at all costs. Especially when she said, in front of all the family, that she was looking for a boyfriend, and wasn’t he a fine figure of a man? Molly remembered that night as though it was yesterday. Tommy had run up the stairs, his face the colour of beetroot. Little did he dream then that in a couple of years’ time he’d fall head over heels in love with Rosie, and that a few years later they would wed.
When Tommy touched his mother’s knee, Molly shook her head to chase away her thoughts. ‘Mam, yer’ve been miles away for the last ten minutes! Yer haven’t heard a word anyone’s said to yer.’
Molly had been listening to the Irish accent since the day she was born, and when she chose she was quite good at it. ‘Well, now, me darlin’s, wasn’t it meself that was going back over the years in me mind, to when Rosie first came. And wasn’t I thinking how her life mirrored that of me own dear mother? Both came to England as young girls to find work. Both of them suffered homesickness for a long time, and both married the first Englishman they exchanged words with. And didn’t they both have the sense to pick the best two Englishmen in the land, with the exception of my Jack? Oh, and Steve and Phil, of course. But, sure, doesn’t that go without saying, me darlin’s?’
‘Auntie Molly,’ Rosie’s long black hair swung on her shoulders, ‘isn’t it meself that lies in bed every night thinking the very same thing? Sure, God’s been good to every one of us, so He has, and it’s meself that thanks Him every night in me prayers.’
Bridie reached for her husband’s hand. ‘It’s the truth I’m telling yer when I say me and Bob often sit and talk about how lucky we are, with our family and with our friends. Sure, no one can have been more well blessed than we are.’
Jack nodded. ‘When yer think of all our friends, like the McDonoughs, the Corkhills and the likes of Maisie and Alec . . . they’re the salt of the earth.’
Molly nodded in agreement. ‘Yeah, where would we have been without Corker to help out with food for the two weddings? Not to mention all the parties we’ve had. And Maisie and Alec have been a godsend through the war, with their extra slices of corned beef, and tea and sugar. Without them we’d never have set eyes on luxuries like biscuits all through the war.’
As soon as she mentioned the word biscuit, Molly’s mind went to Nellie. ‘Would yer like to hear a little tale about Helen Theresa McDonough and her way with biscuits?’
Tommy was sitting at the table next to Rosie. He slipped his arm around her waist as he smiled and said, ‘Go on, Mam, what’s me Auntie Nellie been up to now?’
‘There isn’t a minute of the day goes by that yer Auntie Nellie isn’t up to something, sunshine, but I’d be here all night if I repeated everything she gets up to. Going to the shops with her every day is like a pantomime. I don’t know how she thinks all these things up, because every day is different.’ Molly shook her head and tutted. ‘We took Victoria to the shops with us today, Ma, just to give her a breath of fresh air. And, honest to God, I didn’t know where to put me face at times, ’cos yer know how prim and proper she is. I’ve never heard her use a swear word in all the years I’ve known her but, by golly, she’s heard plenty from that mate of mine. And when we were in the butcher’s – well, I won’t go into details, I’ll just say I’ll not be going to the butcher’s with Nellie next time I want breast of lamb for our dinner!’
‘Oh, I think Victoria will have enjoyed herself, me darlin’, ’cos she’s always saying how funny you and Nellie are when yer get together. Sure, she enjoys a joke as well as the next woman, so she does.’
Molly grinned. ‘Yeah, I know that, Ma, ’cos I could hear her chuckling when I put me hand over Nellie’s mouth to shut her up.’
Tommy was picturing his Auntie Nellie, and tried to guess what her reaction would be to that. ‘Did she bite yer hand off, Mam?’
‘No, did she heckerslike! I only kept me hand there until we were far enough away from the butcher and his breasts of lamb. Yer’ve no idea what she’s like, doesn’t care what she comes out with or who’s in the shops to hear her. If I think she’s going too far and could upset some customers with her choice of words, I usually drag her out by the scruff of her neck.’
‘Oh, Nellie doesn’t upset people, lass, she brings a smile to their faces and a little happiness into their lives,’ Bob said. ‘She’s brightened up my life many times over the years.’
‘I know that, Da, and I know how dull my life would be without her. And I could eat her when she looks so innocent and asks me why it’s wrong to talk about her voluptuous body when I can see with me own eyes that all the men find her desirable. Then I’m called all the narrow-minded, miserable sods going, and told the only reason I object is because I’m dead jealous ’cos, comparing my body to hers, I’m not in the meg specks.’
‘That’s all in fun, Mam,’ Tommy said, after laughing his head off with the others. ‘I bet she wishes she had a figure like yours.’
‘She could have, sunshine, if she didn’t eat all of the things that make her fat. And that brings me right back to the tale I was going to tell yer about my mate and her craving for sweets and biscuits.’
Molly was determined to make a good job of her impersonation, and gave attention to every little detail. Sitting back in the chair, she folded her arms and pretended her normal-sized bosom was as big as her friend’s. Narrowing her eyes, a habit of Nellie’s, she said, ‘I don’t care as long as the tea’s wet and warm, girl. And I know yer’ve got a couple of custard creams in the pantry ’cos I’ve seen them.’
Taking first the part of her friend, then of herself, Molly put her heart into her performance, and enjoyed every minute. With the guffaws and chuckles coming from her audience to egg her on, she surpassed anything she’d ever done before. She ended with Doreen saying she’d heard on the wireless that sweets were now off rationing, and Nellie punching the air for joy. ‘And this is what she said to me: “I’m going to stop at the corner shop on our way out, and I’m buying meself the biggest slab of Cadbury’s that Maisie’s got in. And I’m not giving yer any, I’m going to eat it all meself. So there!”’
Wiping away the tears, Rosie asked, ‘And did she do that, Auntie Molly?’
‘No, sunshine, I had the last laugh after all. Yer see, everyone else in the neighbourhood had already heard it on the wireless and within half an hour Maisie had sold every sweet and bar of chocolate in the shop.’
Jack couldn’t mention Nellie’s name without grinning. ‘And was yer mate upset?’
‘I don’t think upset is the word I’d use to describe her reaction.’ Molly pushed her chair back. ‘I’ll have to stand up to do this justice.’
Rosie’s lovely face was agog with anticipation, and as Tommy’s knee was the best seat in the house from which to watch a performance, she moved across to him and put an arm around his neck. ‘Sure, it’s a lucky girl I am, me darlin’, marrying such a foine figure of a man as yerself, and getting a wonderful family into the bargain.’
Molly stood in the centre of the room and squared her shoulders. Then she folded her arms, narrowed her eyes and flared her nostrils. Every action exactly like Nellie’s. Pretending the sideboard was the counter of the corner shop, she snarled, ‘Yer’ve what, Maisie Porter? Well, I’ll be buggered! Yer’ve sold all yer sweets and chocolates to every Tom, Dick and Harry what came in, and yer have the cheek to say yer never gave a thought to me and Molly, what are yer two best customers.’ The eyes became narrower, the lips pursed, and the head began to shake slowly. ‘And you, Alec Porter, it’s no use making excuses, saying yer were rushed off yer flaming feet. That’s the poorest bloody excuse I’ve ever heard. Ye’re never too rushed off yer feet to take our money, are yer? Oh, no, never too busy for that. Well, I’ll be going to the sweet shop for me slab of Cadbury’s, and in future I’ll be getting all me sweets from there. And d’yer know what yer can do with yours? Yer can stick them where Paddy stuck his nuts!’
Molly turned around. ‘This is Maisie now. “It’s no good going to the sweet shop, Nellie, because they’re all sold out as well. I mean, we’ve been caught on the hop. None of us expected them to take sweets off rationing so quickly, and without giving any notice. We only had the same amount as we’ve been getting all through the war. But as soon as we get a delivery, Nellie, I’ll be sure to put some aside for yer.”’
Once again Molly turned to change character. ‘“Yer needn’t bother yerself, Maisie Porter, I’ve told yer what to do with yer chocolate, yer can stick it where Paddy stuck his nuts.”’
Now Rosie had known many men back in Ireland named Paddy, but she’d never heard of them sticking nuts anywhere. And what would it have to do with Nellie not getting her chocolate? ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, Auntie Molly, but it’s meself that would like to be knowing why this Paddy didn’t eat the nuts instead of sticking them somewhere?’
Molly was laughing so much she had to sit down. ‘Oh, sunshine, don’t ever ask yer Auntie Nellie about Paddy and his nuts, because she’d tell yer.’
‘Well, if I asked her then I’d be expecting her to tell me. But can yer not tell me yerself?’
When Molly looked to her mother for guidance, Bridie’s eyes told her she’d got herself into this mess, she could get herself out. ‘That would be a bit difficult, sunshine, ’cos it’s just a saying that’s been around for as long as I can remember.’
But the Irish girl was intrigued and wouldn’t let go. ‘So, you and Auntie Nellie don’t know this Paddy personally? Somebody else told yer about him and where he stuck his nuts?’
Tommy was chuckling inside. When he was younger, he’d asked the same question as his wife had just asked. His Auntie Nellie had used the expression in front of him, and being young and inquisitive, he’d wanted to know where the nuts were stuck. And if his mam hadn’t been there to keep his Auntie Nellie in check, she would have told him without seeing any harm in it. As it was, his mam gave her friend daggers, and answered the question herself. To get her off the hook now, he repeated what he’d been told all those years ago. ‘Rosie, the man wouldn’t tell anyone where he’d put the nuts, except to say it was somewhere where the sun don’t shine.’
Rosie’s brow furrowed as she gave this matter some thought. ‘Sure, the sun doesn’t shine in a lot of places, so Paddy was a clever man, so he was.’
Bridie and Bob tried very hard to keep their faces straight, but Bob couldn’t resist saying, ‘He was a man who must have been able to stand a lot of pain, too.’
