The Boy with the Latch Key. Cathy Sharp
work on the stalls,’ he’d said as he handed Archie a plastic mug of tea and a sticky bun. ‘If you keep up the good work I could take you on when you leave school. In time you could be running a stall yourself and you might even own one in time …’
Archie knew that Ted Hastings owned several market stalls. His daughter Maggie ran a stall selling material and she’d been busy the whole morning. Ted had sent Archie over with a cup of tea for her and Maggie had been just as friendly as her father.
‘Thanks, Archie,’ she’d said after he’d told her his name. ‘That’s just what I could do with. I hope you’re going to work for us every week?’
‘Mr Hastings said I can work for him when I leave school,’ Archie said. ‘I could leave next term, but Mum wanted me to stay at school and learn to be something proper – in an office or a mechanic or somethin’ …’
‘Dad says you never get anywhere as a wage-slave,’ Maggie told him. ‘I think you should come and work for us as soon as you leave. You’ll do all right for yourself with us. When Dad takes to someone he looks after them …’
Archie wondered what Mr Hastings would think if he knew his mum was in prison for theft … a theft she hadn’t committed. Perhaps he should have told him, but it wasn’t something he was proud of. He might have believed Archie, but if he didn’t he probably wouldn’t have let him help on the stall.
Archie was just going to have to prove himself, before he told his new friend.
‘Where did you get to all day?’
June’s sulky tones made him turn to look at her. He’d been sitting in the little garden behind St Saviour’s because it was quiet and he wanted to think but now he was suddenly angry.
‘I should think you’re the one who should be telling me that,’ Archie said and stood up. ‘Why did you take those lipsticks? You know Mum would be furious if she thought you’d pinched anything.’
‘I didn’t,’ June said truculently. ‘Betty gave them to me …’
‘But she stole them and you knew what she’d done,’ Archie said. ‘It was stupid, June. Do you want to end up in a remand home like her?’
‘No …’ June looked fit to burst into tears. ‘I want to be at home with Mum but she’s in prison …’
‘Because someone lied about her,’ Archie said. ‘You’ve still got your freedom and it’s not too bad here. Sister Beatrice looks stern but she’s fair – and Wendy is lovely, so are Sally and Nancy. All of them are … We could be in a lot worse places, June.’
‘I know …’ June hung her head. ‘It was Betty. She kept taunting me and I wanted her to like me.’
‘If you want me to like you, just behave. I don’t want you sent off to some remand home. Mum would kill me when she got home. We’ve got to stick together, love – don’t you see?’
‘I’m sorry,’ June said. ‘I wish Mum was here …’
As the tears slipped down her cheeks Archie relented and put his arms about her. ‘It’s all right, June. I’ll look after you. You’ll always have me. I promise …’
‘Was it a good film last night?’ Tilly asked as she met Kelly coming into work that evening. ‘My sister Mags wants to see it and I’ve told her she can go with her friends, but I’ve been thinking I’d like to see it myself.’ Tilly’s brother had joined the Army the minute he was old enough and intended it to be his career, but Mags had come to live with Tilly and her husband Terry after their mother had died the previous year. Mrs Mallens had been too fond of the drink and when she caught pneumonia, she hadn’t had the strength to fight it.
‘It was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It came out last year but I hadn’t seen it and I loved it,’ Kelly said. ‘I don’t get to the flicks often, because I work most nights and I’m usually busy at home even if I’m not at work …’
Tilly nodded her understanding. She knew how ill Kelly’s mother was and sympathised with her, because although hers was a happier home than Tilly’s had been, there were several younger children for whom Kelly had been responsible until they were old enough to leave school, and there was still the youngest boy and her sick mother to care for. Until her death, Tilly’s own mother had often been moody, sometimes drunk, and always irritable since her second husband was sent to prison for attacking a young woman. She’d blamed Tilly for everything, but she’d got used to it over the years, ignoring her tantrums until the last. Mags had started working on the counters at Boots the chemist and contributed to the household income, which made it easier on Tilly because she couldn’t do a full-time job now she was married. Mags was a pretty girl and Tilly thought it wouldn’t be long before she was thinking of getting married and settling down.
Tilly was pretty too, or she had been when she was younger. She sometimes thought that she was looking older, perhaps because she’d had to struggle to keep a roof over her family’s head all these years. Sometimes she went out with Terry for a drink, but mostly she just went home so that Mags could go off with her friends. Even after her mother died and she’d married, Tilly didn’t get out much. She and Terry had moved into a nice council house in the suburbs, which meant she had to get the train to come to work and that didn’t leave an awful lot out of her wage. Terry said it was a waste of time and wanted her to take a job in the corner shop near their home, but Tilly liked her work and she was staying put until she got pregnant and she had a feeling that might not be too far away. She was going to have to see a doctor very soon if her suspicions were correct …
Kelly’s situation was different. Her home was filled with love. They weren’t much better off than Tilly’s family had been, because Mr Mason was sometimes on shift work at the Docks and didn’t have a big wage. Yet he loved his sickly wife and all his children, and he made sure that Kelly was rewarded for her hard work now and then – and Kelly was courting. She’d been going with Steve Jarvis for seven years, but both of them had commitments and seemed content with their lives as they were. At least, Kelly never said any different, even if she thought it.
‘Well, I’d better get my coat off and start,’ Kelly said cheerfully and Tilly let her go. She was thoughtful as she left St Saviour’s. It was milder that evening and still quite light. For some reason she was restless and the thought of going home to an empty house wasn’t pleasing. She decided that she wouldn’t catch her bus; instead, she would walk home by the river, give herself time to sort out her thoughts. She’d been stuck in a rut for years and she was getting pretty fed up with it …
‘How is your mother?’ Wendy asked when Kelly popped into the sick ward with a tray of tea and sandwiches for her. ‘Is she any better?’
Kelly shook her head sorrowfully. ‘No, if anything she’s a little worse. The doctor came this morning and he told us he thinks she won’t last much longer.’
‘It’s such a shame,’ Wendy sympathised. ‘You’ve done everything you can to help her but sometimes there just is nothing more you can do – it was like that for me when my mum died. I still miss her so much even though she died years ago.’
‘I don’t know what Dad will do,’ Kelly said and swallowed hard. ‘I haven’t told him yet, though I shall have to, because he has to know …’ She sighed. ‘We thought she would be better when we moved into our new house, and she was for a few years, but since last winter when she had that chest infection she’s just got worse.’
‘Oh, Kelly, don’t cry,’ Wendy said as a sob escaped the younger woman. ‘You know if there’s anything I can do to help, you’ve only to ask …’
‘Thanks, Wendy, you’re a good friend, but there isn’t anything. If the doctor says there’s nothing, we just have to accept it and make her last