Northern Girl (22 page)

‘Club?’

‘Oh, come on, lad. I’ll explain on the way. You’ll learn,’ Tom said, before calling out over his shoulder, ‘Be back in about an hour, Mam!’ He didn’t wait for an answer, knowing that she’d be only too pleased to get them out of the way for a while.

‘Ah s’ppose
ah’ll
have ter find somewhere ter go, while me grandda ’as ’ees bath, an’ all,’ sighed Jeannie, fully resigned to the situation.

‘There’s some bits of crayons upstairs in yer room, pet. Ah got them from the school cheap, like, and yer’ll find some old rolled-up wallpaper cut-offs in the bottom of the airing cupboard at the top of the stairs. Yer could draw something nice on the back fer yer mam when she gets back,’ Hannah said.

‘OK, Gran.’ Jeannie sighed again. ‘Ah get the hint. Ah wouldn’t want the shock of seeing me grandda with no clothes on now, would ah?’

‘Get yerself upstairs, yer cheeky monkey,’ Hannah chided.

Jeannie ran upstairs giggling, while Jack rattled about with pans of water on the stove.

Dominic and Tom sat across from each other at a table in the working men’s club. The club, which had been frequented by miners for as many years as anyone could remember, was at Bank Top, across the road from the bus shelter.

Once inside, both Tom and Dominic had to wait for their eyes to adjust to the gloom, and Dominic experienced a moment’s embarrassment when, as they entered, the only other occupants, a group of old miners, fell silent. But after Tom nodded to them they quickly resumed their conversation.

Listening in to what they were saying, Dominic concluded that they might as well have come from another planet, for all the sense they made to him.

Tom grinned. ‘You’ve no idea what they’re talking about, have you, lad?’

Dominic smiled, and shook his head. The way the miners talked was yet another worry. Even if Madeleine somehow managed to master the English language, she’d still have a terrible struggle coming to grips with this unusual way of speaking in the North. And, lovable though Tom’s family obviously were, he wasn’t sure that their kindness would compensate for having to live in that small house, with no privacy at all, not even when you
bathed
! He was still trying to come to terms with Tom’s papa washing in a bath in the front room, as they called it.

And what about when Madeleine had the baby? Oh, this whole situation was impossible! He felt as if his head was going to explode, and his hands automatically clutched at it.

‘What is it, Dominic?’ Tom asked.

‘It’s Madeleine,’ Dominic blurted out. ‘We need to talk about Madeleine.’

‘I know, but what am I to do?’ Tom answered looking crestfallen and hopeless, as he stretched his arms out emphasising the question. ‘I’ve no money, no house, no nothing! You’ve seen how it is, Dominic! Tell us, what can ah do?’ There was a moment’s silence between them before Tom went on awkwardly, ‘She does definitely want the bairn, I suppose – er, the baby, I mean?’

Although Dominic was aghast, he tried not to show it. He choked down his feelings, and struggled to answer reasonably. ‘Even if she did not want the baby she has no choice. The Catholic religion does not allow otherwise, as you know.’

Tom, sensing Dominic’s horror, tried to explain. ‘I’m sorry, mate, but I need to ask these questions. We need to explore all the avenues. You must see that.’

With a sudden surge of confidence, and without warning, Dominic blurted out, ‘Do you love my sister, or not? If you don’t there is no point in trying to – as you say – explore anything!’ After all, he reasoned, there was no point worrying about how his sister was going to cope here if Tom didn’t want her. He felt Tom just wanted to avoid discussing the issue for as long as possible. But Madeleine’s baby was not going to go
away, so Tom had to be given a push. He was angry with himself now: he’d been so nervous about meeting this English family that he hadn’t insisted on talking about the problem with Tom’s mother that afternoon. She’d deliberately steered clear of the subject.

It seemed to him that everyone here was afraid of saying the wrong thing, and so they said nothing. All the conversations so far had been small talk, or flippant, even. Well, maybe it was their way of dealing with things, but it wasn’t his family’s way. It was wrong, too, when he knew that his maman and papa were waiting, and wondering anxiously what was going on.

Tom, not answering Dominic’s question about whether or not he loved Madeleine, instead asked lightly, ‘Another one, mate?’

Dominic finished what was in his glass and nodded as he handed it to Tom, who’d been caught off guard by Dominic’s question, and needed time to think how to answer it.

‘Same again, please,’ he said to the barman.

‘Comin’ up!’ the barman answered, pulling the pints. Then, with a quizzical look, he asked Tom, ‘Are you Jack’s lad, be any chance?’

‘I am that!’ Tom answered absent-mindedly.

‘’Ave these on me, then,’ the barman offered.

Seeing Tom’s dumbfounded look, he went on to explain, ‘After what yer must have been through in t’ war, lad, it’s small compensation. Ah just wish that ah could ’ave been there alongside yer, shootin’ the buggers. But
this
…’ he said, looking down at his foot, ‘…
this bloody leg stopped me. Bloody thing’s about an inch shorter than t’other one, yer know!’

Tom winked at him and said, ‘Well, thanks for the drinks, mate.’ Then, after a moment’s thought, he added on a much more serious note, ‘I’ll tell you what I told my mate over there,’ he nodded towards Dominic. ‘Cause he thought he’d missed out, and all. “Well, you missed nowt, and I wouldn’t have wished that purgatory on anybody. If we weren’t roasting in the desert we were half-starved and freezing in a foxhole. And we were shot to bits by the Krauts. I still have the nightmares now, man!”’ He stopped for a second before adding with a wry smile, ‘So just think yourself lucky!’

He picked up the two glasses of beer and hurriedly slurped the froth off one before raising it to the barman in thanks, and leaving him to contemplate his luck at having a gammy leg.

Even before Tom put the drinks down on to the table he could see that Dominic needed some answers. ‘Look, mate!’ he said. ‘I did … well, I still do,’ he corrected himself, ‘love Maddie. You must know that, man. But all I can offer is for her to come and live here with me and my family.’

There was silence between them, before he continued, showing a little more optimism, ‘Mind you, our Rene and the bairn will be moving out soon, so we’ll have an extra room then, and it’s a bigger one than mine.’

‘Tom, I know that you mean well, but can you imagine Madeleine and her baby—’

‘
Our
baby!’ Tom interrupted quickly.

‘Pardon!
Your
baby,’ Dominic apologized, encouraged by the nature of Tom’s interruption. ‘But what about your parents, also, Tom? It will not be easy having a small child in the house, for
any
of you.’

‘Well, if our Jeannie’s going, it might be the very thing me mam needs,’ Tom answered pensively. He added, as if to himself, ‘Aye, a new baby to dote on might do her a power of good.’

Dominic couldn’t help feeling Tom wasn’t thinking this through properly. Nearly all the alternatives were worse. But, on the other hand, if only he could convince his parents to let Madeleine stay at home, maybe Tom could marry her, and then come and visit from time to time, just until he could afford a house. Why couldn’t that work?

‘Come on. Sup up!’ Tom said, looking at Dominic’s troubled face. ‘It should be safe to go home now, my da’s had plenty of time to have his bath. We’ll have a proper talk tonight when the family are all there. See what they have to say, eh?’

Tom got up from the table, and Dominic, seeing that it would be hopeless to try and talk any more until Tom had the security of his family around him, ‘supped up’ and got up from the table.

As they left Tom raised his hand to the barman and called, ‘Thanks again, mate!’ Dominic followed suit by raising his hand and calling, ‘
Merci
, monsieur,
et au revoir
!’ Which created another sudden hush as they left the club.

Tom had to laugh in spite of himself. ‘Ay man! That shut them up! Did you see their faces?’

Dominic smiled politely in reply. More pressing right now was his need to contact his parents. ‘Is there a place where I can send a telegram to my family?’ he asked.

‘Aye, there’s a post office in the village, but what are you going to say?’ Tom looked concerned.

‘I promised my parents that I would let them know when I arrived. What else can I say right now?’

‘OK, let’s call in on the way home,’ Tom suggested.

Once in the post office Tom asked Dominic, ‘Now, what exactly do you want to tell them?’

Dominic thought for a moment. ‘I will write it on a paper, so madame can copy it, no?’

The postmistress behind the counter handed him a form, and Dominic had no idea what to put, so made it short.

J’arrive chez Dawson
.

Tout va bien
.

A bientôt!

Baisers, Dominic

That will have to do, he thought as he handed over the form to the postmistress, who looked on curiously. As she took the paper, he hesitated, wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have included ‘
tout va bien
’ it could be misleading. Reading that all was going well, they might think a solution had already been found.

The postmistress glanced at the alien words. ‘I hope this is not a hoax, young man!’ she said sternly.

‘A hoax?’ Dominic bemused, looked at Tom, who
immediately turned to the woman demanding, ‘Just get it sent. You can hear that he’s French, can’t you? Well, that writing is in French.’

‘Huh!’ was her reply as she looked disdainfully down her nose at the pair, who, in her opinion, smelled suspiciously strongly of alcohol.

‘Take no notice of ’er,’ said the young assistant behind the counter, as the postmistress retreated to a back room. ‘Always got ’er knickers in a twist over somethin’, that one! She’s an old spinster, yer see.’ Then, leaning towards them over the counter, she added in a whisper, ‘If yer ask me she’s in need of a good—’

‘There’ll be no takers here!’ Tom interrupted sharply, before grabbing his change and leaving the post office. ‘Feeling better now, mate?’ he asked Dominic, who only shrugged in reply.

Tom put an arm around his shoulder, and that’s how they walked down the road back to Glamis Terrace.

‘Ah, Rene!’ Tom called as he walked through the door, followed closely by Dominic. ‘Meet Dominic! Dominic, this is my sister, Rene!’ Rene stepped forward, uncertain whether she should hold out her hand, or offer her cheek for a kiss.

Dominic, sensitive to her dilemma, placed his hands gently on her shoulders before kissing first her left cheek, then her right. She couldn’t help thinking how much more civilized this was, compared to ‘How now!’ or ‘Hoo noo!’, which was the usual greeting around here.

As Dominic let her go, he said, ‘I have heard so much about you, Rene.’

‘And likewise,’ Rene responded with a smile. ‘It’s so nice to meet you, I just wish it was under other …’ The moment was spoiled as Hannah came through from the scullery, telling them all that they could go and wash their hands because tea was nearly ready.

Jack chirped in, ‘Wash me hands! Ah’ve just washed me whole body, how much cleaner der yer want uz, lass?’

‘Get on with yer, yer daft ha’porth,’ she said, dismissing him with her usual flap of the tea towel.

‘Where’s our Jeannie, anyway?’ Jack asked.

‘She went out with a couple of the lasses from down the road ter play at skipping. They called round for ’er when yer were in the bath.’

‘Aw, yer didn’t let a couple of lasses in while ah wuz in the bath, did yer?’

‘What, and frighten them off men fer the rest of their lives, poor lasses!’ Hannah winked at the others, who just raised their eyebrows as they went through to wash their hands.

There they go, joking again, thought Dominic. And yet, even after knowing them for a short time, he was aware that under all this teasing they were deeply troubled by the change about to come into their lives. They needed time to come to terms with it, and giving themselves this space – and filling it with trivialities and jokes – was obviously how they coped with unpleasant situations. And although he didn’t really understand
their behaviour, there was something warming and comforting about it, too. He was suddenly sure that when they did finally settle down to talk properly, all the joshing would stop.

Tom watched as Rene dished out the potatoes, carrots, cabbage
and
a chicken, which Hannah had somehow miraculously got hold of since Dominic’s arrival. It never ceased to amaze him how his mam got decent meals together when rationing was so stringent.

‘Come and sit yersel next ter me, lad,’ Jack said to Dominic, patting the seat to his right.

Dominic sat down willingly. He felt so drawn to this family that it was as if he’d known them for years, not just a single day.

‘Tom, run out and fetch our Jeannie in, will yer!’ Hannah called from the kitchen, where she was vigorously stirring the gravy. ‘And be sharp about it, else yer tea’ll get cold!’

Outside, Tom could hear Jeannie and her pals chanting a skipping song further up the back street. My God, nowt changes, he thought in amazement. Why, they were chanting that old verse when
I
was a kid!

‘
Ah wish ternight was Satder night
,

termorra would be Sunder

and ah’d be dressed in all me best ter go out with
…

Molly!’

He arrived just as Molly jumped in.

‘
Molly likes whisky, Molly likes rum
,

Molly likes ter kiss the boys, eee by gum!
’

And Jeannie jumped out from the rope straight into Tom’s arms. ‘Steady on, lass,’ he said, as he caught her. ‘Your tea’s ready, and Gran’ll be spitting blood if we’re not there double quick.’ At that he grabbed her hand, and before she had the chance to object – before she even knew it – they were down the street and into the backyard.

‘Get yourself in there and get your hands washed,’ he said, shoving her unceremoniously towards the sink.