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Chapter Sixteen

‘Why ain’t you in uniform? Too yeller to go to war?’

Alice snatched the white feather that the woman had thrust against Geoff’s chest and threw it on the ground. ‘You stupid old fool!’ she hissed. ‘He ain’t even old enough to join up. He ain’t even sixteen yet.’

The woman showed no sign of remorse. Her features remained contorted by bitterness. She was dressed head to toe in black and it was easy to guess what caused her spite: she’d recently lost her husband or son to the war. Women of all ages, sour of countenance, dressed in mourning clothes, were an increasingly common sight on the streets.

Alice marched on, urging Geoff to do the same by clutching tightly at his elbow. Her hostile glare clashed with the woman’s belligerent stare until they’d passed her by.

‘Me husband’s gawn and me son were short of seventeen when he joined up,’ she yelled after them. ‘Brave as a lion, he were. Now he’s dead fighting fer the likes of them’s too yeller to go and do their bit. You’re big enough to do your bit.’

‘Don’t take no notice,’ Alice mouthed at Geoff as they kept walking. She took a keener look at Geoff’s strained features. He was too young to officially join up but Alice could tell he’d been affected by what the widow had shouted at him. There were tales going around of boys as young as twelve who’d lied about their age and gone off to help win the fight against the Germans. The street was crowded and people were turning to stare at them. ‘Gotta make allowances,’ Alice announced loudly. ‘The poor old soul’s grieving and it’s done her a damage in the brainbox.’ Alice gave Geoff a playful nudge to try and coax a smile from him.

Geoff obliged with a little grunt of laughter. ‘Times like this I wish I weren’t so tall. That’s the second time this week some old gel’s said I should get meself to France in uniform.’

‘Good job your mum weren’t about. She’d have something to say about it!’

‘Bleedin’ hell … would she,’ Geoff agreed in alarm. ‘If I decided to go down the recruiting office, and she found out, she’d be down there after me to drag me home. She’s still not got over losing Dan’s wages.’

‘I’ve got a letter from Sophy in me pocket,’ Alice told him, glad to change the subject to something more pleasant. ‘When we get to the caff I’ll read it to you. Well, the bits that aren’t personal, that is.’ Alice qualified her offer with a cheeky grin.

A sleety rain started to fall. Pulling up the collar of her coat, Alice speeded up her pace and urged Geoff to keep up and trot with her.

It was an icy afternoon in April and they’d been out for the afternoon browsing with friends in Chapel Street Market. Sarah Whitton had been with them but Sarah and Herbert Banks had decided to go somewhere dry and warm when the weather took a turn for the worse. They’d headed off to the flicks for the matinee while Geoff and Alice dodged the showers and continued looking at what was on offer on the stalls. Finally having decided there was nothing she liked enough to pay good money for – apart from a toffee apple for each of them – they had been on their way to the café for a nice hot drink when the widow had accosted Geoff.

As Alice turned to look over her shoulder she saw in the distance the widow stoop and collect the feather from the wet pavement then wander off, darting looks here and there as though seeking another young fellow to embarrass with it.

Alice knew the attitude of the people to the war was changing. Christmas had come and gone months ago and still there was no sign of the Germans being defeated. Every evening she sat at the table with her dad and they scanned the paper to find out what was happening over there … and over here. She remembered reading over and over again, open-mouthed, the article about something called a Zeppelin that had flown over the Norfolk coast to carry out a raid. That had been a long while ago – back in January. Then just last month the allied fleet had lost two ships and thousands of sailors and retreated from the Hun around a place called Constantinople. The allies were struggling and people at home were not now so confident as they’d once been of a fast, easy victory. Feelings were beginning to run high over it all as the casualties increased.

A swift glance at Geoff told Alice he was still looking a bit morose after being unfairly called a coward. ‘Gasping for a cuppa,’ she said cheerily. ‘Let’s get in there and have a warm-up.’

They entered Kenny’s café and found seats. While Geoff went off to fetch the drinks Alice fished in her pocket and pulled out Sophy’s letter. She spread it on the table and smoothed her fingers gently over her sister’s spidery writing.

After warming her cold palms on the hot cup and taking a few sips Alice picked up the note.

‘Sophy’s having a grand old time of it. She says she might get promoted from the kitchen and be a proper housemaid in a month or so when one of the women leaves to get married. Then she gets to stay upstairs and polish all the lovely furniture. She says here,’ Alice pointed at a place on the letter, ‘she’d like to eventually train up to be a lady’s maid and do hair stylin’ and sewing. The pay’s better, of course, and like that, when her mistress or her daughters go here ‘n’ there on visits, the lady’s maid sometimes gets to go too to keep them all neat ‘n’ tidy.’ Alice gave Geoff a twinkling smile. ‘If she manages to pull that off, I bet she’ll get to see some smashing places. Might even get took on holidays abroad.’ Her eyes swooped back to Sophy’s letter. ‘And listen to this, what they had for dinner last week when guests come up from London and stayed over at the Manor.’ Alice cleared her throat to recite, ‘“We had a sheep butchered for that weekend and also a goose and lots of chickens. Even us servants got to have a three-course dinner in the evening with puddings and cheeses. Oh, Al, you should’ve been here, it was wonderful grub.”’ Alice’s wide eyes met Geoff’s. ‘Coo, she’s lucky …’ Alice had already read the letter several times since it arrived in the post yesterday but the part about the delicious food her sister was enjoying, she could feast her eyes on time and time again.

Once in a blue moon in The Bunk, they might, when times were good, have a joint of beef or lamb roasted with potatoes on a Sunday dinnertime. She was usually the one to rush up to the baker’s with the tin containing their dinner. Along with most Bunk families lucky enough to occasionally have a Sunday roast they paid the baker to cook it to perfection in his big oven. The hob grate at home wasn’t adequate to do justice to such a fine meal. The last time Alice could recall having such a lovely feed was about the same time as the piano turned up. It had been ages ago: the weekend when her dad first got good work doing up Basher’s houses to satisfy the sanitary inspector. Alice tore her mind from the memory of more bountiful days and back to the letter in her hand. ‘Then Sophy just says that the housekeeper’s alright and lets her and Dan sit close together at the big table in the servants’ hall ’cos they’re sweethearts.’

Alice folded the paper and put it away. ‘You had any letters from Dan yet?’

‘Nah!’ Geoff said and gulped his tea. ‘Think me mum got something from him on her birthday earlier in the month. Weren’t expecting him to keep in touch with me in particular.’

‘Perhaps when the summer gets here … if we save up the fare … we could go on a trip and see them. I’d like that,’ Alice added dreamily. ‘It’d be nice to go to the seaside.’

‘Yeah … p’raps,’ Geoff said quietly. He knew full well the expense of such an outing was beyond him now Dan had gone and he was the main breadwinner at home. ‘Anyhow,’ he said roughly, ‘the amount of food the two of ’em are tuckin’ away we probably won’t recognise them. They’ve probably turned into a right couple of fatsos.’

Alice’s gurgle of laughter was soon fading away. ‘Oh no! Not him!’ she muttered in a dejected tone.

Geoff turned to glance over his shoulder to see who had entered and upset Alice with his presence.

Jimmy Wild was brushing rain from his coat and shutting the door with a clatter of the bell that hung on the back of it. He was with another man who Geoff recognised. He’d seen the fellow hanging around on the corner on Paddington Street when gambling schools were out. He believed his name to be Benny.

Jimmy caught sight of the young couple and with a grin he immediately sauntered over to their table. ‘Alright, young Alice?’ he greeted her cheerily.

Alice dredged up a smile, hoping he’d then go away again. She hadn’t seen her uncle Jimmy for very many months. Nor had she wanted to. Now she was older she understood much more about him and his mean, selfish ways. She knew he’d gone off with a fancy woman and abandoned her aunt Fran when she was very ill from giving birth to their dead daughter. He’d left Bobbie and Stevie for Tilly to deal with, for he must have known that Fran couldn’t cope with them considering the state she’d been in. Alice understood too that her uncle wasn’t really a happy chappie who blew his top once in a while and found it necessary to chastise his kids, or return the slap his wife had given him. And Alice knew that husbands and wives did come to blows. She’d seen her mum and dad go at it like cat and dog on occasions. She’d seen her old Nan try and separate them with a broom. As she brooded on those occasions the song that her dear departed Nan would croon came in to her mind and refused to budge:

Sally, roll your sleeves up, Take your mother’s part, Father’s come home drunk again And he’s broke your mother’s heart. They’re fighting one another And he’s give her two black eyes, But he’ll tell her he still loves her in the morning.

‘So, how’ve you been, Alice?’ Jimmy’s loud enquiry brought an abrupt finale to the ditty rotating infuriatingly in Alice’s mind. ‘Ain’t seen you in a good while. Gettin’ big now, ain’t you?’

He slowly inspected her in a way that made Alice feel uneasy and unpleasantly hot.

‘You gotta be fifteen now, ain’t you?’

‘Fourteen,’ Alice told him quickly and picked up her cup and drank from it.

‘I know you too, mate.’ Jimmy turned his attention to Geoff. ‘You live next door, don’t yer?’

Geoff simply nodded and sat back in his chair, ready to push it back and get to his feet in an instant.

‘You two walkin’ out, are you?’ Jimmy went on, swinging a leer between the young couple, oblivious or uncaring of the fact that they clearly wanted him gone.

‘No …’ Alice said.

‘Yeah …’ Geoff said.

They’d spoken at the same time and Jimmy chuckled. ‘Right … right … geddit.’ He gave Geoff a jokey punch on the arm. ‘Gotta try harder, mate. Change her mind. Little Alice’ll be well worth the trouble, I reckon. Pretty as a pitcher, ain’t she?’

Geoff stood up swiftly in a way that made Jimmy back off a step. They locked eyes for a minute then Jimmy chuckled again. ‘How old are yer, son? Never could tell who was older out of you ‘n’ your brother. Both lanky sods. Surprised you ain’t got yourself off fighting the Hun. You’d have no trouble passing yourself off as nineteen.’

‘He’s not yet sixteen.’ Alice slid that in quickly. She could tell just by glancing at Geoff that he was getting riled.

‘Right …’ Jimmy drawled in a sarcastic tone. ‘Gonna wait are you, till you get a bit taller?’

‘Surprised you ain’t got yourself down the recruiting office,’ Geoff said through his teeth. ‘Fit bloke like you, who’s keen on using his fists, is just what they’re after for a bit of hand ter hand in the trenches.’

Despite the sneer in Geoff’s tone Jimmy couldn’t resist flexing his toned biceps at the backhanded compliment. ‘If I weren’t a family man with me kids relyin’ on me to provide for ’em I’d be enlisted. But I got responsibilities, y’see …’ he added on a sigh.

‘Yeah,’ Geoff said. ‘I see alright.’

Jimmy stepped closer, his chin poking out pugnaciously but at that moment his mate called him from where he was sitting at the bar. ‘’Ere … drink’s going cold, Jim.’

‘Comin’, Ben. Done ’ere.’ Following a lopsided smile for Alice, that went unreturned, Jimmy swaggered off.

‘Finished your tea?’ Geoff asked Alice quietly.

Alice nodded and stood up at once.

‘See yer then, Al.’ Jimmy called that from the bar as Geoff opened the door.

‘Coming over to see the boys someday soon. Might see you later then. Mind how yer go, sweet’eart.’

Alice simply gave a nod before she went out into the drear afternoon.

‘He back with your aunt then?’ Geoff asked as they set out at a fast pace for home.

Alice huddled in to her coat. ‘Not as far as I know. If he is you can bet it’s only ’cos his fancy woman’s had enough of him and chucked him out.’ She cast a look up at Geoff. ‘Either that or he’s pretending he’s a family man with a wife ‘n’ kids, instead of a cheating layabout, so he don’t have to explain why he’s not joined up.’

‘You won’t get the likes of him to join up till the Hun send out armies of frauleins,’ Geoff observed sourly.

‘That what you’re waiting for?’ Alice joked then regretted her remark. ‘Didn’t mean that … sorry,’ she mumbled, thoroughly ashamed. ‘You must be sick of people dropping hints about you joinin’ up when you’re not even old enough to go.’

‘’S’alright,’ Geoff said. ‘I know you don’t mean no harm.’ He smiled thinly. ‘Got a feeling your uncle don’t like me though,’ he added.

‘Well, don’t worry about that!’ Alice returned forcefully. ‘None of us like him! He’s a pig and I hope he don’t come round The Bunk to see Bobbie ‘n’ Stevie. I hope he gets himself back down Finsbury Park with that old bag and stays put with the ponces!’

‘I saw Uncle Jimmy when I was out,’ Alice told her mum as she sat down at the table. ‘He came in to Kenny’s café when I was in there with Geoff.’ She watched her parents exchange a look. Her dad then continued reading the paper.

‘You just ignore him,’ her mother firmly instructed. ‘We’re well rid of the likes of him round here.’

‘He said he’s coming to see Bobbie ‘n’ Stevie,’ Alice informed her.

Again her parents exchanged a look.

‘He won’t be by,’ Jack reassured Tilly. ‘He’ll be too worried Fran’ll want money off him fer the kids.’

‘If Nellie’s kicked him out he’ll be by,’ Tilly responded roughly. ‘He’ll come crawling back as soon as he needs a bed to stick his boots under.’

Alice could sense the atmosphere getting a bit strained between her parents and wished she’d kept her news about Uncle Jimmy to herself. ‘Who’s coming over tonight? Same lot?’ she asked cheerily about the Saturday night singsong.

‘’Spect so,’ her mother replied grumpily.

Alice tried another diversion.

‘Some Belgian refugees started at the factory. Some of them can’t hardly talk any English. Feel right sorry for ’em, I do.’ Again this got no more response from her mother than a grunt. Alice looked at her; she could tell that the news that Jimmy was prowling about close by had unsettled her mother.

In fact it was six weeks later that Jimmy put in appearance in Campbell Road.

Alice came face to face with him as she was setting off at a fast pace for work one morning. She’d forgotten all about his talk of coming back there to see his sons. Too much that was sensational and important had gone on for her to bother thinking about the likes of him and his pathetic promises. Everyone thereabouts had been preoccupied with the war because it had come close to home: houses in the East End of London had been bombed and people killed and injured and made homeless. Added to that had been the awful news weeks ago that a ship called the Lusitania had been sunk off the coast of Ireland with such a great loss of life that it was hard for Alice to comprehend something so dreadful.

So the sight of Jimmy Wild slinking along with a dog end drooping from his lips came as an unwelcome interruption to the brooding thoughts circling in Alice’s head. The most important of those currently was that her beloved dad had started dropping hints that he felt it his duty to go and help the war effort as the situation was getting grave. And that had started an almighty row with her mum. She’d got very little sleep last night as they carried on shouting at one another into the small hours.

As Jimmy greeted Alice she came to a halt and mumbled a response.

‘Bobbie ‘n’ Stevie gone off to school yet?’

‘Dunno,’ Alice said. ‘Probably.’ In fact she did know very well that they were still at home. But she hoped that by saying she thought they’d left already their wastrel father might turn around and take himself off elsewhere. Alice understood now that there would only be trouble wherever Jimmy was.

Jimmy looked Alice up and down. ‘You’re all grown up, Alice, and quite a looker. Off to work?’

Alice nodded.

‘Where’s that?’

Alice felt an odd reluctance to tell him. ‘Munitions factory,’ she said. ‘Soldering stuff like weapons ‘n’ so on.’

‘Yeah?’ Jimmy affected to look impressed. ‘Doing yer bit for the war effort; that’s my gel.’

‘Gotta go. Be late,’ Alice said swiftly. A weak smile was slanted up at him then she was on her way and uncomfortably aware that he’d turned to watch her walking away.

‘Wot the fuck d’you want?’

Jimmy carried on up the stairs towards his wife’s rooms. ‘That ain’t a nice way to say hello,’ he sneered, sending a sidelong look up at Tilly. ‘Specially when you ain’t seen me for a while. Bet you missed me, ain’t you, Til?’

‘Yeah … like I missed getting smallpox,’ Tilly snapped. ‘Why don’t you just turn around and piss off.’

‘Why don’t you just mind yer own business?’ Jimmy responded. ‘You know if you don’t, I’ll have to make you … just like before. Remember?’ A menacing smile followed the warning and he stopped climbing the stairs to pose against the banister. ‘Y’know sometimes, gel, I think it’s why you goad me so much. You’re after a repeat performance, ‘n’t yer?’

Tilly’s features hardened into a mask of utter loathing. ‘You disgust me. But you’ll never beat me down so you can poke yer threats right up yer arse. Fran’s me sister ‘n’ I’ll look out for her when needs be. We’re family … something you’ll never be, you evil bastard.’

As the door to her room opened and Jack came out Tilly fell silent. Jack’s features set into stone when he noticed who was talking to his wife.

‘Alright, Jack?’ Jimmy asked chummily as though he’d never dream of threatening the fellow’s wife.

‘I was till I saw you.’

‘That ain’t nice, Jack,’ Jimmy protested in a whine. ‘We’re brothers-in-law, you ‘n’ me.’

‘Yeah …’ Jack intoned. ‘And I wish we weren’t ’cos I’ve had more’n enough trouble with you being part of me family.’

‘Bleedin’ hell,’ Jimmy huffed, all indignation. ‘I come to see me kids and hand over a bit of me wages and get nothing but aggravation off the pair of yers.’

As though she’d heard the magical word wages Fran appeared in the doorway. For a moment all four people stood still and silent.

‘Come on,’ Jack told Tilly firmly. ‘We ain’t getting involved in this. I’m off to work. You’re up the shop. We ain’t got no milk or tea. Beth’ll look out for Lucy.’

With that Jack caught his wife by the arm and hurried her down the stairs. Surprisingly, Tilly allowed him to steer her past Jimmy without incident despite her fingers curling at her sides. It was only when they reached the bottom of the flight that she broke free of her husband’s restraint and wheeled about. She simply looked up at Fran. ‘Alright?’ The single word was heavy with significance.

A nod was all the answer she got from her sister.

‘I’ll be back shortly … don’t you worry about that.’ Tilly turned and went out with Jack.