Chapter 16 #2
The main difference was in the presence of Annie – not only her little self but the many baby items that now littered the house.
Two clothes horses filled with terry towelling were standing by the fire, beside the bucket Lilian used for soaking them.
Pieces of matinee coat were bundled on the settee waiting to be sewn up.
Annie’s tiny tin bath hung on a hook above the fireplace, next to the larger one that served the full-grown members of the family.
On wandering into the kitchen, Bobby found it filled with glass bottles, rubber teats, tins of Household Milk and other signs of the infant resident around which life in Cow House Cottage now revolved.
It must be trying for Lilian, living in such a small space with all this clutter.
It would be difficult for the other residents too – her father particularly. Bobby knew he must feel more keenly than he let on that he was occupying a home he could no longer be the head of.
She wondered how her own home would be transformed when Marmaduke arrived. Her parlour wasn’t so confined as Cow House Cottage’s, but there was only one small bedroom. There wouldn’t be much space for her little family once they had to squeeze in a cot, bath and other baby items.
Still, at least she and Charlie had running water, unlike poor Lilian.
Bobby well remembered how she had ached after drawing water from the cow house’s stiff outdoor pump.
With two men and a baby to provide for, bottles to sterilise and napkins needing constant soaking, Lilian must have to visit the evil thing several times a day.
Bobby found her eyes drawn to the door that led from the parlour to the extension that had housed Charlie’s veterinary practice. She went to peep inside.
Everything was as it had been when Charlie had left for the RAF: the steel examining table, the metal instruments hanging in their customary places. Lilian had clearly been keeping everything dust-free in there.
Bobby winced to think that her sister, whose days were already long and hard, should have been spending time polishing Charlie’s old instruments.
She vowed to have a word with him about it.
There was really no need for this room to be kept as it was, when his veterinary days were over.
He might as well sell his equipment, and let Lilian and Tony have the room for a nursery.
How would Charlie feel about gutting his old surgery? Bobby had a suspicion it would be a wrench for him, for all that he accepted it would be impossible now to return to veterinary work.
It reminded her of how she had felt when her dad had talked about selling the house in Bradford.
Bobby had no wish to live in the place again, now her home was here.
It wasn’t even as if she’d been particularly happy there – or at least, the happy memories were tainted by the recollection of her mother’s illness and death.
But it was a part of her past, synonymous with growing up and with family.
The idea of another family making it their own…
She could imagine Charlie feeling the same about the surgery, symbolising the job that had been such a big part of his pre-war life. But what else was there to do? It would be foolish to make a shrine of the place.
As she scanned the room, Bobby’s eyes flickered to one of the lockable cupboards. When she had lived here, she had used it to keep the spirits she gave her dad after a nightmare safely locked away. Bobby had handed custody of the key to Lilian when she had moved out.
The spirit was one Bobby’s friend Don Sykes got for her, distilled by a pal of his from potato peelings. Bobby had made sure to stock up the last time Don had been on leave from the army, in case it was a while until he could get more for her.
She wasn’t sure why, but something drew her to the cupboard. She found herself trying the handle.
Strange. It was open. Surely Lil hadn’t been so remiss as to forget to lock it? She said their father hadn’t been drinking, but if a low mood struck, the temptation of an unlocked cupboard full of spirits might prove too much.
Bobby stared when she opened the door. It was empty.
Empty! But she had bought a dozen bottles from Don a few weeks before Christmas. Even in his worst drinking days, her dad hadn’t knocked it back at that rate.
She felt a cold dread settle on her.
‘It isn’t what you think,’ a quiet voice said from the doorway. Bobby looked up to see Lil, baby Annie in her arms.
‘There were twelve bottles in here less than a month ago,’ Bobby whispered. ‘Dad didn’t… he couldn’t have…’
‘No. Not him.’
Bobby stared at her. ‘You didn’t.’
Lilian laughed. ‘Mercy, Bob, is that really what you think of me? I’m not quite on the road to becoming a dope fiend just yet.’
‘Then where is it?’
‘I… all right, if you really want to know – I sold it,’ Lilian said, flushing.
‘Sold it? To who?’
‘Pete Dixon.’
‘Pete! But why on earth…?’
‘Dad asked me to get rid of it. Told me to pour the lot down the drain. He said he didn’t need it any more and he’d rather be rid of the temptation.’
‘Dad said that?’
‘Yes, a couple of weeks ago. But it seemed such a waste, and I struggle so on the housekeeping Tony gives me…’ She sighed. ‘I’m sorry. It was wrong to do it without telling you. You’ve every right to be cross.’
‘I’m not cross. Just relieved, if that’s all there is to it.’
‘I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I wanted to make sure there was no chance of being overheard.
’ Lilian rocked Annie, whimpering in her sleep as her second little tooth made its presence felt.
‘It seemed better than letting it go to waste after you’d laid out money for it.
Still, I guess it’s against the law to sell illegally distilled alcohol to a black-market trader.
I wouldn’t want to get us into trouble.’
‘No,’ Bobby said, rather dazed. ‘That was… good thinking.’
‘I’ll pay you back with interest, I promise. Pete gave me a good price for it – fourteen shillings a bottle, six bob more than you buy it off Don for. I’ve been using it to eke out our rations. Tony’s on so little that even a couple of bob extra a week makes a difference.’
‘You don’t need to pay me back,’ Bobby said, getting to her feet. ‘I wish you’d told me, though, Lil. My heart nearly jumped out of my mouth when I saw it was all gone. I thought Dad must be slipping back into bad habits.’
‘Or that I was,’ Lil said with a smile. ‘I’ll put Annie in her cot and we’ll have that cup of tea, eh?’