Читать книгу The Dreaded Workhouse - Danny McFaul - Страница 7

Vera was trying to sort out which of her outfits to wear on her first date with Kirk Hansen for the following evening. She had been on exactly three dates in the past year and none of them were with people that she had met at a grocery store. He said that he was taking her to a dance at the local Pavilion Dance Hall in Main Street, but she didn’t quite know what to wear, so she rang a friend from the bank who was more the dance-hall-type than she was. ‘He suggested that we meet at the dance hall,’ Vera told her friend Julie. ‘Wear something flamboyant then,’ suggested her friend. ‘Oh sure, let me go and find a shocking pink top and a silver skirt,’ was Vera’s reply. ‘I have those,’ said Julie. ‘I know you have,’ Vera answered. ‘And I am sure you look great in them being so slim, willowy, and blonde. You suit those kinds of outfits. Petite little redheads do not possess flamboyant clothes, unless you count my royal blue twin set as opposed to my purple siren suit but I will sort something out, no doubt.’ ‘Well, I had better get going,’ said Julie, ‘I am late for my date. Just relax and enjoy yourself. Oh. .. What did you say his name is?’ Julie asked. ‘I didn’t,’ Vera replied. ‘Are you going to tell me?’ There was a short pause before Vera said, ‘If it goes well, maybe I will.’ ‘Why all this paranoia and superstition, I thought that you didn’t like superstitious people?’ ‘I am not at all superstitious and I am certainly not worried. If I tell you who he is and it doesn’t work out, it would appear as though I am counting my chickens before they are hatched,’ Vera said. ‘You have finally gone over the edge, Vera Roberts. Do you think that I might know this bloke and you are scared about falling for someone that I might know?’ ‘I have a suspicion that you might possibly know him, or know of him. I really don’t want to be influenced in any way towards him. I would like to enter into this with my eyes and mind open.’ ‘Are you worried whether I would approve or not?’ ‘No, I can judge for myself,’ Vera replied. ‘Well, now I must go, or I will be very late,’ said Julie. But Vera had something on her mind. ‘Julie,’ she said, ‘why is it that men never ask me out twice?’ Julie hesitated and then asked gently, ‘What is it that I sometimes call you?’ There was a short pause. ‘You know, I don’t like that,’ said Vera. ‘Vera, it is not always bad to have a touch of the ice maiden attitude. It lets you be detached from situations and think more clearly about things. It also helps with relationships that are not worth your time. But for those that you like and want to have a relationship with, perhaps a little warmer towards them might be the answer’. Vera hesitated for a few moments before saying, ‘That was a very nice way of telling me that I scare them off and that I am afraid of commitment.’ ‘Yes, but don’t you go staying up half the night analyzing yourself. We are all afraid of commitment to some extent. Get a good night sleep and remember where dress is concerned, black can be dressed up or down. Oh, and I shall expect a full report, Bye.’ The following day, Vera spent her lunch hour in the only second-hand clothes shop in the town. This was the easiest and cheapest way to get clothes during the war. Not only was it cheaper, but they did not require ration coupons to buy. She did of course have some misgivings about buying things that other people didn’t want nor had no longer any need of, but this was wartime. The Pavilion Ballroom was a small sparsely furnished place. It had dark hardwood floors with plastic chairs round three-quarters of the perimeter of the main dance area. In one corner, a spiral staircase wound its way up to the second floor, which was more of a balcony with about half a dozen small tables for two. This balcony offered an excellent view of the dance floor underneath. Vera had arrived at the hall twenty minutes early, and she couldn’t help noticing that there was little evidence that Christmas was just around the corner. A poster was advertising a forthcoming fight between two of Belfast’s top boxers and the hours of opening and closing over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. It was the same story in the Main Street. The wartime ‘Black Out’ regulations prevented the streets and shop windows from being lit up with lighted decorations and lively colours. The only concession seemed to be that the largest store in the Main Street Woolworths was permitted to stay open for an extra two hours and to play Christmas music over a Tannoy Public Address System on Christmas Eve during the War years. Typical of the town at this time of the year, it was cold and carrying a stiff breeze off the sea. As she was early, Vera decided to go up onto the balcony and sit there and wait. It would command a good view of Kirk when he arrived. She spotted him as soon as he entered the ballroom from the front foyer. Kirk wasn’t so quick to notice Vera who had taken Julie’s advice and worn black clothes that she had acquired from the second-hand Charity Shop. She was wearing a long-sleeved blouse with an embossed rose pattern with bell sleeves and a straight skirt with a side slit that fell almost to her ankles. A pair of black shoes, one of the only two pairs of shoes that she possessed, completed her outfit. Vera had to raise her hand and wave at him before Kirk raised his hand in recognition that he had seen her before making his way up the winding staircase to the balcony. He sat down on the chair opposite her; there was a short pause, not an uncomfortable silence, but one of those that inevitably occurs on first dates. Vera turned her gaze on him and a smile lurked in the corners of her mouth. ‘I am glad you came,’ she said. Then there was another pause before Vera quietly said, ‘Please don’t be offended, but I was seconds from running away and ditching you tonight. Just as well you are here to keep me from doing that. I guess it remains to be seen if it is a good thing or not.’’ ‘Good from your perspective or mine?’ Kirk asked. ‘I have never been this scared before on my previous dates, and would it make you feel better if I tell you that I didn’t want to run from you, but it was the idea of ‘us’ that scared me?’ Kirk looked puzzled. ‘Now you have completely confused me,’ he said. Vera laughed nervously. ‘I am being much more direct with you than I have ever been with any other man. I don’t know why and I don’t know enough about you, where you live, where you work and those things,’ she said. ‘Let’s dance, and we can talk at the same time,’ Kirk suggested. They got on to the dance floor for a Waltz. This was the first for some time that Vera had been so close to a man. She could feel the warmth of his body as they danced close to each other. Suddenly, she was aware of one of those tensed nervous spells that also crops up on first dates. ‘Can we please sit down?’ she said.

The piping hot water mingled with his tears as Kirk reached for the tap to turn it on some more. His skin was red from the steaming hot water. He didn’t care, his life was over with. What did he care if he burnt himself? He heard his Brother Alan pounding on the washroom door, calling to him, but he ignored him. The pounding on the door stopped but not the pounding in his head that was aching with agonizing pain.