Try a Little Tenderness (23 page)

‘Ay, there’s nowt wrong with me, Molly Moynihan, me mind’s as pure as a baby’s. But you two, well … yer’ve got minds like muck-middens. Dirty pair of buggers, that’s what yer are. Just wait until I tell my Ben yer were making fun of his nose.’

Mary reached into the pocket of her pinny for a handkerchief. She gave her nose a good blow before saying, ‘And just wait until I tell my Stan we couldn’t get any work done for you talking the legs off us. We’ll never get this room finished tonight.’

‘Oh now, have faith, me darlin’,’ Molly said. ‘You see to that pot of tea while me and Amy go at it like the clappers. These walls will be stripped before the men come home, so they will. Even if we die in the attempt.’

‘Ooh, ay, I don’t like the sound of that,’ Amy said. Her lips were pursed as she shook her head, her legs dangling six inches from the floor. ‘I don’t mind going like the clappers, I’ll pull me weight as good as the next one. But I don’t fancy this dying in the attempt lark. I knew a woman once who said that, and d’yer know what happened to her? She died, that’s what! And she stayed dead, into the bargain. I don’t fancy that happening to me, not when I’ve just joined the ranks of the well endowed.’

Mary jumped to her feet. ‘Oh God, she’s off again! Get cracking, Amy Hanley, and not another word out of you until we’re finished.’

‘Not even to say “thank you” for the cup of tea? If we ever bleedin’ get one.’ Amy winked. ‘Okay, okay, I’m starting. And I’ll work that bloody fast yer won’t see me arms moving. You just watch, girl, I’ll make Buster Keaton look as though he’s standing still and the Keystone Cops are closing in on him.’

Cynthia closed the door behind her and linked her arm through Laura’s as they set off down the street. ‘Where shall we go?’

‘
The Prisoner of Zenda
is on at the Atlas, and one of the women in work said it’s marvellous. Thrilling, frightening and dead sad. We’d be in time for the big picture if we hurry.’

Cynthia pulled a face. ‘I’m not in the mood for crying or sitting with me eyes closed all night. Couldn’t we go and see a comedy?’

‘It won’t make yer cry, soft girl, it’s only a picture. Anyway, we could stay on and see the shorts, there’s bound to be something on to make yer laugh.’

‘Oh, all right.’ Cynthia gave in because she had other things on her mind. ‘Ye’re still coming with me tomorrow night, to meet Larry and Jeff, aren’t yer?’

Laura took a deep breath. She’d been dreading this. ‘I can’t come with yer, not tomorrow, anyway. It’s me birthday and me mam’s making a little tea for me, just for a couple of the neighbours and John Hanley and Mick Moynihan.’

Cynthia pulled her to a halt. ‘Yer gave me yer word that yer’d come! Ye’re not backing out now, Laura Nightingale, or I’ll never speak to yer again. I’d look a right fool, telling Jeff yer’ve gone to a kids’ tea-party. He’ll think we’re giving him the round-around, and he won’t be very happy – neither will Larry.’ Her face like thunder, Cynthia began to walk
away. ‘If yer don’t come with me tomorrow night, then we’re finished. Please yerself.’

Laura hesitated for a few seconds before hurrying to catch up with her friend. What was the point of telling a lie to get out of something she didn’t want to do, when she was going to have to tell another one next week? ‘Cynthia, don’t let’s fall out over it.’

‘You’re the one that’s falling out, not me,’ Cynthia answered, keeping up the fast pace. ‘Real friends don’t make promises and then break them. And all for the sake of a stupid flaming party! What a lame excuse that is.’

‘There is no party, that was a lie.’

The words brought Cynthia to an abrupt halt. ‘So, ye’re coming tomorrow night, after all?’

Laura shook her head. ‘No, not tomorrow night nor any other night. I’ve tried to talk meself into it because ye’re me mate and I didn’t want to let yer down. But I don’t want to see Jeff again because he scares me. He’s too old for me, same as Larry is too old for you. They’ve both been around and are out for what they can get. A glass of sherry and then down a dark entry with any woman who’s daft enough to go with them. On their way home to their wives and kids, they probably laugh themselves sick over how easy some girls are.’

‘You speak for yerself, Laura Nightingale. Anyone would think yer were an angel, to hear yer talk. And I’m not just any woman to Larry; he really likes me, so there.’

‘If he likes yer that much, he’d have told yer all about his family and where he lives. But I bet he hasn’t.’ When her friend didn’t answer, Laura persisted. ‘Well, has he?’

‘What’s it got to do with you? I don’t have to tell you nothing.’

‘No, yer don’t, Cynthia. You do what yer want to do. If yer want to go out with Larry, then you do that. But don’t expect me to go out with someone I don’t like, just to please yer. All yer’ve got to do is to tell Jeff that I’ve got a
boyfriend now. He can’t argue with that, can he? And if he does get a cob on, so what? There’s plenty of girls about, let him find one for himself instead of pestering me through you. I don’t like him, I think he could be dangerous if he didn’t get his own way, and he hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of getting me down an entry ever again.’

‘Well, I think ye’re dead mean. It wouldn’t hurt yer to come with me just this once, to save me looking a fool. I’d never ask yer again. Anyway, yer could tell Jeff yerself that yer’ve got a boyfriend and that would put a stop to him asking Larry all the time.’

‘No, Cynthia,’ Laura said, noting the petulant droop of her friend’s lips. She was like a baby who couldn’t get her own way. ‘It’s you that’s mean, not me. Ye’re trying to talk me into something yer know I don’t want to do. I told yer how rough and bad-tempered Jeff was, and how he scared the life out of me, but ye’re still trying to talk me into seeing him again. That’s being selfish, that is, and not something yer’d do if yer were a real friend. So, if yer think more of Larry than yer do of me, then we’d better go our separate ways.’ Laura wrapped her coat more tightly around her slim body to keep out the cold wind that was blowing in from the Mersey. ‘Yer don’t want to see
The Prisoner of Zenda
, so I’ll go on me own and you can please yerself.’ With that she set off down the street, the click of her high heels on the pavement breaking the silence.

‘It’s no skin off my nose,’ Cynthia shouted after her. ‘I don’t need you to hold me hand, I’ll be better off without yer.’ But it was all bravado. She’d thought she could talk Laura around if she kept on at her, but it hadn’t worked. And now she’d lost the only girlfriend she’d ever had. It was a stupid thing to fall out over, too! All because of Jeff, whom she didn’t much like herself, either! He certainly wasn’t worth losing a friend over.

Laura had turned the corner of the street when Cynthia caught up with her. ‘It’s daft to fall out over a feller, kid,
there’s none of them worth it.’ She linked her arm through her friend’s and pulled her close. ‘Let’s forget it, eh? I’ll tell Jeff ye’re courting strong and that’s the end of the matter. You and me are still best mates, aren’t we?’

‘Yeah, of course we are.’ Laura gave a sigh of relief. Being allowed to stay out until eleven meant she could go to places that were out of bounds to her before, and she’d set her heart on going dancing. But she didn’t fancy doing it on her own. ‘How about going somewhere exciting on Saturday?’

‘Such as where?’

‘I’d like to go dancing. Some of the girls in work go, and they don’t half enjoy themselves. There’s two or three dance halls not that far from here – a couple of stops on the tram, that’s all. And it’s only a tanner to get in, which includes tea and biscuits.’

‘I can’t dance for toffee, and neither can you!’

‘There’s a first time for everything, kiddo, and if we never try we’ll never learn.’ Laura’s voice was filled with excitement. ‘We can watch for a while, then have a go ourselves.’ She chuckled as she squeezed her friend’s arm. ‘You can be the man.’

‘How soft you are! You look more like a man than I do.’ But Laura’s excitement was contagious and Cynthia found herself warming to the idea. ‘Yeah, we’ll give it a whirl, eh? Who knows, we might get two fellers willing to teach us.’

‘That is the general idea,’ Laura said. ‘The fellers will be older than the kids we’ve been hanging about with. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping for someone who is tall, blond and as handsome as a film star.’

‘I want mine to have something more than that, kid. I want a man with loads of money who isn’t too mean to spend it. Someone who’ll show me a good time and take me places.’

‘Yeah, me too.’ Laura fished a silver sixpence out of her pocket as they neared the Atlas. ‘I won’t see yer tomorrow
night, with yer meeting Larry, but I’ll call the next night and we can talk about what we’ll wear and how we’ll do our hair.’ She held out her hand for Cynthia’s money and passed the two sixpences to the girl in the ticket kiosk. ‘Two fourpenny ones, please.’ As they entered the darkness of the cinema, she handed Cynthia’s change over and whispered, ‘I can’t wait for Saturday to come, me tummy’s turning over now, I’m that excited.’

They weren’t to know that many tears would be shed before Saturday.

When Laura parted from Cynthia outside her house, there was a spring in her step as she carried on up the street. Oh boy, what a lot she had to look forward to. But she’d need some new clobber if she was to go dancing, especially silver dance shoes. Even if she couldn’t dance, at least she could look the part.

As she neared her front door, she noticed two figures standing outside and the smile dropped from her face. It was their Jenny and Janet’s brother, Bill. He always walked her sister home to make sure she arrived safe, but Laura thought it was stupid. What did they think could happen to her in the five-minute walk from the Porters’ house? It must be his mother’s idea, he certainly wouldn’t do it off his own bat. He’d left school before she did, so he must be going on for seventeen, too old to waste his time on a fourteen-year-old. With his looks he could have any girl he took a shine to. Tall, broad, and not a pimple in sight.

Jenny was putting the key in the lock when Laura stopped in front of them. ‘Hi-ya, Bill! What have you been up to with my kid sister? Me mam will have yer life, keeping her out until this time of night.’

‘Permission for a late pass was requested and granted. Ten thirty yer mam said, and we’re right on the dot.’

‘I get to stay out later, after tonight. It’s me birthday tomorrow, I’m sixteen.’

‘Yes, Jenny told us. I hope yer have a happy birthday.’

Completely ignoring her sister, Laura went on, ‘Me and Cynthia are going dancing on Saturday night and I’m not half looking forward to it. Do you go dancing, Bill?’

Jenny had had enough. Trust her sister to push herself forward and take over. ‘I hate to break this up,’ she said, ‘but I’m going in. Thanks for walking me home, Bill, and I’ll see yer soon. Good night.’

‘I’m going meself now, Jenny. Up early for work tomorrow, and I need me beauty sleep.’ Bill was too wise to walk into Laura’s trap. ‘I’ll bid you good night, Jenny, and you, too, Laura. Sleep well.’ With that he strode away, leaving Laura fuming that he’d given her the brush-off. Raging inside, she pushed Jenny roughly aside and made for the stairs. ‘Tell me mam I’ve gone to bed, I’m tired.’

Using the light from the gas-lamp on the opposite side of the street, Laura began to undress. ‘Who the hell does Bill Porter think he is?’ she snarled as she pulled her dress over her head. ‘God’s gift to women, or something? Well, there are plenty more fish in the sea – and I’m going to start catching them at the weekend.’

Laura came out of the factory gates with a huge grin on her face. In her hand she held the six birthday cards she’d got off the women she worked with, plus a pair of rayon stockings they’d clubbed together to buy for her. She was in a very happy frame of mind, declaring this to be the best birthday she’d ever had. There’d been two cards by her plate when she came down for breakfast, one from her mam and dad, and the other from Jenny, and on the top of them were two half-crowns and a shilling. And then the postman had knocked to deliver four more cards, from her grandad, Cynthia, Mrs Hanley and Mrs Moynihan.

‘I’ll see yer tomorrow, girls, and thanks again for me pressie and cards.’ Laura waved before turning to make her way to the tram stop. She’d only taken a few steps when she heard her name called, and looking across to the pavement opposite, she saw Celia beckoning her. Looking both ways to make sure the coast was clear, she hurried over. ‘This is a surprise. Are yer going somewhere?’

‘No, I’ve been waiting for you. Yer grandad said it’s yer birthday, so I’ve bought yer a little present.’ Celia handed her a small parcel, nicely wrapped in pretty paper and tied with a piece of red ribbon. ‘I hope yer like it, but if yer don’t I can easy change it.’

Laura’s eyes were agog. ‘Ooh, that’s the gear, Celia, ta very much.’ She moved a few steps nearer the gas-lamp. ‘Yer’ve wrapped it proper posh, I must say. I can’t wait to see what’s inside.’

‘Open it and see, unless yer’d rather wait until yer get home.’ Celia knew she was on safe ground saying that. She’d had Laura taped all along, knew she was too greedy to wait until she got home. ‘Please yerself.’

Laura’s mind was working exactly as Celia knew it would. Her mam wouldn’t be very happy about this so she’d better keep it to herself. She could always say the girls in work bought it for her. ‘I’ll open it now, Celia, if yer don’t mind. With you and me mam not really getting on, I don’t think she’d like me taking a present off yer. So if I tell her I got it off me mates in work, yer wouldn’t drop me in it, would yer?’

‘Of course not, we’re mates, aren’t we? It’ll be our little secret.’ Celia was gloating inside. This was the first step in getting her own back on that stuck-up daughter of her husband. ‘I didn’t let on to Joe that I was getting it, so there’s only me knows, and I won’t snitch.’

‘Thanks, Celia.’ Laura tucked the cards under her arm while she untied the ribbon and opened up the paper. Then she let out a shriek, and worries about her mother were forgotten as she lifted a lilac underskirt from the paper. ‘Oh, it’s gorgeous!’ Fingering the white lace that adorned the bodice, she said, ‘It’s just what I wanted. Ye’re a real pal, Celia, and I’ll love yer for ever more.’