Chapter 9
Later, Bobby and Charlie walked to the Golden Hart to meet Lilian and Tony. They found the Scotts already there, although not together. Tony was at the bar talking to Pete Dixon, while Lilian sat by herself with her knitting and a glass of sherry.
The Hart had an almost cosmopolitan flavour these days compared to the staid, old-fashioned place it had been when Bobby had first entered it.
It had been a man’s domain then, its only female patron being eccentric Maimie Hobbes, Topsy’s former nanny.
The regulars had evinced a certain wariness when this girl from the city had first appeared in their midst.
It was true that in appearance, the Hart had changed little.
The floor was still bare stone flags, the air thick with smoke.
High-backed wooden settles still lined the walls.
The clientele was decidedly more varied than the cloth-capped farmers who had been the sole patrons two years earlier, however.
There were several women in here now. A couple of Land Girls laughed as they leaned against the bar.
Mabs Jessop was in one of the settles with her fiancé Gil Capstick, who whispered sweet nothings to his blushing bride-to-be.
And here and there was a flash of blue or khaki: soldiers home on leave, off-duty Home Guard troops, airmen billeted locally.
There was even the odd hospital uniform as some of the wounded men recuperating at Sumner House found their way into the village for a drink.
It was the slate blue of the regular Air Force uniforms that drew Bobby’s eye, however, making her wistful for her days in the WAAF.
She had been granted compassionate discharge by the Air Force with the idea that she would be needed to make a home for her injured husband. Bobby couldn’t help feeling guilty that in their reversed roles, it was actually Charlie who was making a home for her.
It made her wonder if she’d have been better off remaining in the WAAF, where there were higher wages to be had, and sending money home until Charlie was able to find work. Except that Marmaduke would have made staying in the services impossible before long, of course.
Bobby hoped something would turn up for Charlie soon, but it worried her what this was likely to be.
The jobs in their farming community were all active, and his injuries meant he was no longer fit for prolonged outdoor work.
Nevertheless, he had a private education and a good brain.
That had to count for something, even if he needed to travel for work.
He could be a clerk in an office, perhaps, where his injuries wouldn’t be such an issue. True, the pay was likely to be lower than he was used to, but work was work. It would still be more than Bobby earned on The Tyke. She’d miss the little mag, but working for it was never going to make her rich.
Bobby watched Charlie’s hands tremble as he lit a cigarette and suppressed a sigh. He had been so good with his hands, before. She remembered the wonderful dolls’ house he had carved and painted for the Parry girls last Christmas. Now, he would struggle even to grip the paintbrush.
It reminded her that there was one injury which might always pose a problem, and that was the one in Charlie’s brain. His handwriting was often barely legible thanks to the tremor in his hands. That could mean even work as a clerk would be impossible.
This bloody war, that chewed men up and spat them out with never a care for how they would survive in civilian life!
Lilian was right: Bobby should be angry.
It made her sick that people who had given everything for their country should be forced to suffer for it.
But what was there to be done, when men were no longer fit to work?
‘You go and join Lil if you want,’ Charlie said. ‘I’ll buy drinks and play at happy families with Tony. I just hope he’s not too well-oiled. It always brings out the worst in him.’
‘All right, I’ll have the same as our Lil. You’d better offer Tony a pint, since I told him I’d be buying.’
Charlie flushed. ‘Have you, um, got any money? I don’t want to spend the housekeeping.’
‘Oh. Yes, of course.’ Bobby surreptitiously pressed a note into his hand, knowing how humiliated he would feel if the other men saw her giving him what looked like pocket money. ‘See you in a minute, love.’
When she joined Lilian, Bobby found her sister’s knitting needles frozen in mid-stitch as she watched Tony talking to Pete. Lil’s eyes had an odd, feverish sparkle to them.
‘Are you all right?’ Bobby asked, sitting down opposite. ‘You look a world away.’
Lilian roused herself. ‘Sorry. Just hoping that old rogue isn’t trying to get my other half into trouble.’
Bobby frowned. Lil’s words were clear enough, but her pronunciation seemed slow and deliberate, as if she was having to focus to enunciate.
‘How long have you been here?’ Bobby asked, glancing at Lil’s sherry.
‘Ten minutes or so.’
Bobby lowered her voice. ‘Lil, have you been drinking?’
Lil laughed. ‘Well, yes. We’re in the pub.’
‘I mean before. You seem a little… off.’
‘I had some tonic wine after I’d put Annie to bed.’ She shook her head. ‘Oh, don’t give me that look. This is doctor’s orders, Bob. He says I need it to get my strength up.’
‘All right,’ Bobby said, with a curious glance at her sister’s unnaturally sparkling eyes. ‘Just don’t overdo it, eh?’
‘I’m fine. Stop worrying, please.’ Lilian glanced around as if she had a secret to share before pressing something into Bobby’s hand. ‘I brought you a present.’
‘Oh my goodness! Knicker elastic?’ Bobby fixed an awed gaze on the coil in her palm before stowing it away in her handbag. ‘Where on earth did you find it? I haven’t been able to get any since I left the WAAF.’
‘It’s a gift from George Parry. His department store had a fresh delivery yesterday and he bought us all some.’ She smiled. ‘He asked me to be the distributor though. I can just imagine how the poor man would blush if he had to hand it out himself. I’ve some for you and some for Mary.’
‘Thank the Lord,’ Bobby said fervently. ‘This rubber shortage has been the devil. My WAAF friend Dilys wrote that she had an incident in the NAAFI last week. How the lads wolf-whistled! Dilys just laughs it off, but I’d blush fit for anything if it happened to me.’
There was plenty in the press about the impact of war shortages, but the difficulty of getting new knicker elastic was one issue on which the papers remained primly silent.
Every woman had at least one friend who’d suffered an ‘incident’ when their worn elastic had given out, if they were lucky enough to have avoided it themselves.
There was nothing to be done in such situations except step demurely out of your fallen undergarments, stuff them into your bag and hurry to a public convenience to fix it with a safety pin.
‘Do give the captain my thanks, and tell him I’ll pay whatever it cost,’ Bobby said. ‘It was thoughtful of him to make sure we got our share.’
Lilian shook her head. ‘I already tried to press payment on him, but he insisted it was a gift. He’s going to get us some nylons when they next get any in. Tailors can be useful men to know when there’s a war on.’
‘I do hope he can. I’ve darned my last good pair so many times that they’re nothing but lumps and bumps. Oxo cubes are all right for summer but it’s too cold for bare legs now, and Reg doesn’t approve of me wearing slacks to work.’
Lilian nodded to the slate-blue uniforms that had caught Bobby’s attention earlier. ‘Speaking of slacks, there’s an old friend of yours over there.’
Bobby winced. She couldn’t fail to have noticed Ernie King drinking with his billet mate Sandy, and had quickly looked away before she met his gaze. Luckily the pub was busy, and he hadn’t spotted her in the throng.
‘I know, he’s just come back,’ Bobby said. ‘Charlie said Ernie was very pally when they bumped into each other earlier, so I’m hoping things won’t be too awkward.’ Of course she had told her sister all about her Canadian suitor’s proposal in the spring.
Bobby had her back to the Canadians, but Lil had a good view of them.
‘He’s looking at you,’ she told Bobby.
Bobby grimaced. ‘Oh Lord, is he? I hope he doesn’t come over.’
‘Why? You’ll have to talk to him sometime.’
‘I know. I’d just prefer not to do it tonight.’
‘Just because you’re married, it doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate a handsome admirer.’ Lilian took a sip of her sherry. ‘Enjoy it while you can, love, before you turn into a sack of potatoes.’
‘All right, keep your voice down,’ Bobby murmured. ‘I don’t want any admirers, especially not Ernie. I hurt him, Lil, and I feel dreadful about it.’
‘A supremely Bobby-like answer.’ Lil finished off her drink. ‘I wish a handsome officer or two would fall in love with me. I could do with a few compliments from the opposite sex.’
‘Tony doesn’t pay you compliments?’
Lilian laughed. ‘Only of the “cracking cup of tea, love” variety. But that’s Tony. I’ve learnt not to expect love talk from him.’
‘Was Dad all right being left with Annie?’
‘He’ll be fine. Mary said that if he needs a woman’s help, he can take the baby to sit with them. They’ve got the girls over too, so it’ll be a jolly party.’
‘Is the captain there?’
‘No, he’s going out,’ Lilian said. ‘Mary offered to have the children.’
Bobby hesitated, wondering if she should mention what her dad had told her earlier. He hadn’t made any secret of it, so she supposed it was all right.
‘Has Dad said anything to you about housing arrangements?’ she asked.
‘How do you mean?’
‘Only, he was talking about finding somewhere else to live earlier.’
Lilian blinked. ‘Why, has something happened to put him out?’
‘I don’t think it’s that. He just feels guilty about taking up space in that little house.’
‘I know it must be difficult for him feeling as if he’s living under another man’s roof. But he can’t move out, can he?’
‘Why?’ Bobby asked. ‘Has he been any worse lately?’
‘Well, no. Actually he’s been full of buck these past few months. He still has the occasional nightmare, but he never drinks anything other than beer now. Still, he couldn’t live alone.’ Lilian looked at Bobby with burgeoning hope. ‘Could he?’
‘You’d like him to,’ Bobby said softly. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
Lilian sighed. ‘Yes and no. I want to know he’s being looked after by someone who understands his needs, and realistically that has to be one of us.
But the cottage is so small, Bob.’ She picked up her knitting, a matinee coat for Annie, and idly worked a couple of stitches.
‘It does feel awkward when we’re practically living in each other’s laps.
It makes it difficult for me and Tony to be… intimate as often as he’d like.’
‘It would make a big difference for you two to have a home to yourselves.’
‘It would. But it can’t happen, so what’s the point dreaming?’
‘Perhaps it can,’ Bobby said. ‘I admit that when Dad mentioned it, I thought the same as you. But he says he wouldn’t be alone. He’s got a friend who wants to take a house with him.’
Lilian frowned. ‘What friend?’
‘He didn’t say, but Charlie heard Stan Henderson was looking for someone to share with. Stan was in the trenches too, so I guess he’d understand the way Dad is.’
Hope started to blossom in Lilian’s eyes.
‘Yes,’ she said slowly. ‘Yes he would.’
‘It isn’t confirmed yet, Dad said, but that could solve all our problems, couldn’t it? I’m still cautious, but it could work out best for everyone.’
‘I’ll try not to get my hopes up, but oh, to have a nursery room would make such a difference!’ Lilian glanced towards the bar, where Charlie and Tony were collecting their drinks. ‘Don’t say anything to Tony, though, will you? Not until it’s certain.’