The Forget-Me-Not Summer (27 page)

Despite the excellence of the meal Mrs Higginbottom put in front of them, Miranda found that her usual hearty appetite had fled, and she had to force herself to eat. They did not leave the farmhouse until darkness had fallen and Julian crept along, headlights blazing, clearly worried that the car might skid and deposit them all in the ditch. However, this worry proved groundless, and soon enough Miranda and Avril were thanking the brothers sincerely for a wonderful day and promising to entertain them, in their turn, to what Avril described as a ‘splendiferous high tea' in the flat the following weekend.

‘And with a bit of luck you'll of got out of your bad mood by then and be pals wi' Steve again,' she said airily, filling the kettle at the sink. ‘I dunno what were the matter wi' you and Steve, but I could see you'd both got a cob on when not a word was exchanged, and I wasn't the only one to notice; Julian asked me what was up.'

Miranda felt her cheeks grow hot. ‘I don't know what you mean,' she said feebly. ‘What makes you think I was annoyed with him? He's my best pal . . .'

Avril gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘No one treats their best pal the way you treated poor Steve,' she said roundly. ‘And no matter how hard you tried not to show it, any fool could see you were in a bate. For a start, whenever you thought no one was looking you had a face like a smacked bum, and so did Steve.'

Miranda began to mutter that Avril had misread the situation but, having started, Avril did not intend to let the matter lie. ‘Don't try to pull the wool over my eyes, 'cos it won't work,' she said firmly. ‘I don't know what's been goin' on betwixt the pair of you but it's pretty
obvious you've had an almighty great quarrel, probably your first from what I know of you, and I guess seeing poor old Steve give that girl a peck on the cheek just about put the lid on it.' She grinned widely, then stretched across the table and tapped Miranda's hot cheek. ‘No use getting in a rage with me, 'cos I've read the situation like a perishin' book,' she said breezily. ‘I don't know who was in the wrong to start with, but you couldn't get a sweeter-tempered feller than that Steve, so if I were you I'd go round to his house early tomorrer mornin', before he sets off for work, and admit you were in the wrong and apologise.'

Miranda was about to say that she knew Avril was right and would do as she suggested when, all unbidden, a picture rose up before her inner eye. It was a picture of Steve –
her
Steve – kissing Pearl's infuriatingly pink cheek and then slapping her resoundingly on her neat little bottom. ‘Shan't!' she almost shouted. ‘It's up to him to say he's sorry for kissing that little tart. Why, everyone knows she'll do anything for a bag of crisps and a bottle of fizzy lemonade, and if that's the sort of girl he wants . . .'

Avril was beginning to reply when the kettle reached the boil, and she took it off the Primus and began to pour the contents into Miranda's hot water bottle. She pressed the bag until all the air was out, then screwed the top on tightly and handed it to her still simmering flatmate, before beginning to fill her own bottle. ‘Don't go losing your temper wi' me, luv, or you'll end up wi'out a friend in the world,' she advised kindly. ‘It started last night, didn't it? The row, I mean? I knew you were upset about summat; was it the letter you and the Grimshaw boys
were talking about at teatime? If so, I'm awful sorry, but it won't do you no good to turn on your pals, you know.' She squeezed the air out of the second hot water bottle, made to head for the bedroom and then turned and gave Miranda an impulsive hug. ‘Oh, Miranda, I'm sure your mam's alive and kickin' somewhere,' she said gently. ‘But when you're in trouble that's the time to value your friends, not drive them away from you. Just you take my advice – remember, I'm older than you, with a great deal more experience of life – and make it up wi' Steve first thing tomorrer. Unkind words fester and produce more unkind words; you can do wi'out that. Will you promise me you'll go round to Steve's place as soon as possible?'

At Avril's kind and understanding words, the ice seemed to melt around Miranda's heart and with a choking sob she ran round the table and cast herself into her friend's welcoming arms. She wept convulsively for several moments, then stood back and gave a watery smile. ‘I'm really sorry I was horrid to Steve and you're quite right, I should tell him so,' she admitted. ‘We had a stupid quarrel over something so trivial that I'm ashamed to mention it, but I'll go round as soon as I'm up and dressed and tell him he was right and I was wrong. Will that do, do you think?'

Avril thought that it would do very well, but unfortunately the best laid plans usually go awry. First Miranda overslept on Monday morning, and though she hurled her clothes on, snatched a slice of bread and butter to cram into her coat pocket and ran all the way to Jamaica Close, Steve had already left when she arrived. Considerably flustered, and fearing that Steve had
probably told his mother how badly she, Miranda, had behaved, she left no message, merely saying that she would meet him at the factory after work. That afternoon she hung around Steve's workplace and was both cold and cross by the time one of his workmates stopped by her, eyebrows rising. ‘Hello, queen. Who's you waitin' for?' the young man asked curiously. ‘You're young Mickleborough's pal, ain't you? He come in late this mornin' an' went straight in to see the boss and got give a day off. Gone to London, I gather. I dare say he'll be here tomorrer, but there's no point in you waitin' now.'

Miranda mumbled her thanks and left, wondering why Steve should have gone to London now, particularly since he worked shifts and she knew that he would not be at the factory towards the end of the week. However, there was nothing she could do about it, so she returned to Russell Street and when Avril came in she had prepared vegetables to go with the two mutton chops she had bought for their tea. Avril bounced into the kitchen, slung her thick coat on the hook by the door and sniffed at the delicious smell of cooking. ‘You've got the tea on early; does that mean Steve's comin' round later to take you to the flicks?' she asked, peeping into the oven of the Baby Belling Mr Grimshaw had given Miranda as a house-warming present. ‘Hey, mutton chops! Is there any of that dried mint what the old lady on the Great Homer Street market give us a couple of days ago?'

It was tempting to pretend that she had made her peace with Steve, but Avril was far too canny to be taken in. As the other girl straightened up, Miranda nodded. ‘Aye, there's some mint, and I didn't catch Steve, though it wasn't for lack of trying,' she assured the other girl. ‘I
went round to his place first thing this morning but he'd already left, so I went to the factory as soon as I'd finished work and one of his mates told me that he'd gone to London and wouldn't be in till tomorrow.'

Avril's brow puckered. ‘Very odd,' she said slowly. ‘I wonder why he's gone? Not with either of them girls he were with yesterday, I'd put money on it. Oh well, tomorrow he'll be full of whatever scheme he's hatched, and eager to bend your ear with his doings. But if I were you I'd set the alarm for six, lay out your clothes all ready and be on his doorstep by the time he wakes up. He's a good bloke is Steve; you don't want to lose him to young Pearl.'

Miranda sighed, but she nodded too. ‘I reckon you're right, and I'll do as you say. I just wish I knew what it was all about, though. Me and Steve have never had secrets from one another, and I can tell you I don't like it.'

But though she took Avril's advice and hung around Jamaica Close until well after Steve's normal leaving time he did not appear, and though she contemplated going to the house and asking Mrs Mickleborough when he would be back her pride would not allow her to admit that she was no longer in his confidence. Instead she returned to the flat and did a few small tasks before setting off for the office, wishing the quarrel had never happened. With no other course of action open to her, she simply settled down to her work, and waited.

Steve had felt just as furious with Miranda as she had with him; probably more so. He had spotted her on the sledging slope before she had seen him and had
deliberately plonked a kiss upon Pearl's hot cheek, knowing how it would infuriate his old bezzie. He had been truly hurt by the fact that she had spurned his invitation, but accepted a later one from Julian and Gerald. It was a dirty trick to bring them to the same spot where he had intended to take her, and from what he had seen of her a good deal of her animation had been put on to upset him. He and Cyril had talked for a long time when they got back to Jamaica Close after seeing the girls home and Cyril had laughed when Steve had told him how he longed to join the air force, as Cyril himself had done. ‘Then why not do it?' his old friend had said. ‘I took me uncle's advice – he were in the Royal Flying Corps during the last lot – and he said the sensible thing were to get in early because once war was declared there'd be a rush and them as was already in would get the plum jobs.'

Steve had nodded wisely, agreeing that he had heard other fellers say the same thing, but had Miranda come a little earlier to Number Two on Monday it is doubtful whether Steve would have gone off early to call for Cyril, who had offered to go along to the recruiting office with him. There he had filled in many forms and answered many questions, and the feeling of resentment and pain which had haunted him over Miranda's defection began to lessen. He was doing what he should have done all along, refusing to let her affect his life. He was a man, wasn't he? Well, he looked old enough to join the Royal Air Force, at any rate.

The helpful sergeant behind the desk had advised him to take his completed papers along to somewhere called Adastral House, in London, not very far from Euston
Station. Handing in his papers personally might speed things up a bit, the sergeant thought.

Feeling that his future was mapped out for him, he hurried to work to see his boss. Mr Richmond was not best pleased, but agreed that it was every fit young man's duty, in time of war, to do his best for his country. Steve was rather startled to hear his boss talking as though war were already a fact, but when he saw the hum and bustle at Adastral House he knew that he was doing the right thing. Cyril, who had accompanied him to London and was looking forward to a night on the town with his old pal, reminded him of the old saying ‘One volunteer is worth ten pressed men', and he thought that this was probably true. He was given papers to take to a medical centre the next day so that his health could be checked. If all was well he might find himself in uniform within the month.

When he got home on Wednesday morning, full of excitement, Mrs Mickleborough cried, Mr Mickleborough clapped him on the shoulder and wished him success in this adventure, and his brothers stared round-eyed, though Reg and Joe reminded the family that they both intended to follow Ted into the Navy, and Kenny wept bitterly at the thought of being the only boy living at Number Two.

Steve laughed, and Kenny's tears disappeared as if by magic when his brother reminded him that he would soon have a new baby to play with, and promised that on his next trip to London he would bring back a model Spitfire for his little brother; a toy which Kenny had longed for.

‘And now all I've got to do is tell Miranda. Has she
been round asking for me?' Steve said with pretended indifference.

Mrs Mickleborough wrinkled her brow. ‘She came round Monday morning, after you'd left for Cyril's,' she said rather doubtfully. ‘She said she would meet you at the factory after work. Didn't you tell her what you were going to do?'

‘No,' Steve said airily. ‘Didn't want her hangin' round me neck in floods of tears and beggin' me not to leave her.' He grinned at his mother. ‘Some perishin' chance o' that! The mood she was in she'd probably have said good riddance to bad rubbish!'

Mrs Mickleborough tutted. ‘What a horrible thing to say! She's a grand girl your Miranda, and when she does hear I dare say she'll be upset. She'll miss you something awful – so will us, won't us, Dad? But there, Steve luv, I'm sure you've done the right thing. You'll find your carry-out by the back door, so off you go and don't be late this evenin' 'cos it's Lancashire hotpot, and I know you love that.'

Having learned that Steve had gone to London, apparently for some reason which he had not seen fit to confide either to his pals at work or to herself, Miranda fully expected him to come thundering up the stairs which led to the flat on Tuesday evening. But this did not happen. In fact Miranda lost patience and decided to go round to Jamaica Close the next day, ostensibly to visit Aunt Vi and Beth, but really so that she might meet Steve by accident on purpose, so to speak. But on Wednesday morning Gerald telephoned her at work, suggesting that they might go to the cinema together that night. It was
a film she very much wanted to see, and she was tempted to leave visiting Jamaica Close till the following day. She wondered how Gerald had got permission to leave school and come into the city, but he explained that his teachers thought he was going with his classmates to see another film, one which was part of their School Certificate curriculum and so would be helpful to them. ‘But surely the other boys will report that you left them?' Miranda objected.

Gerald laughed. ‘It's clear you know nothing about fellers at public school,' he said reprovingly. ‘We drew lots; one of the fellers will actually go to the other film and take notes. Then, on the bus going back to Crosby, he'll fill the rest of us in. Everyone else wants to see
A Day at the Races
, but luckily the chap who drew the short straw is a swot, so he's quite happy to miss the Marx brothers and watch boring old Shakespeare instead.' His tone changed from explanatory to wheedling. ‘Do say you'll come, pretty Miranda! I've already told the fellers that my girl will be one of the party. I'll look the most almighty fool if you turn me down.'