Читать книгу: «A Daughter’s Disgrace»

Chapter Two

The factory wasn’t far away but Alison always arrived tired and out of breath from scurrying along the street trying not to be noticed. It never worked. The following week, on Friday morning, two of the paperboys from the local newsagent-cum-corner shop had been the ones to torment her. The fact that her mother worked in the same shop didn’t deter them.

Now she made her way to the small canteen to grab a warming cup of tea before starting her shift. It was freezing outside and her own house was little better, as Cora always said there was no point in lighting the fire if nobody was going to be home. ‘Look who’s here,’ called Ron Small as she approached. She forced herself not to turn and run away. Ron was the father of young Jimmy Small and had an even crueller way with words than his son. ‘Watch your milk, folks. One look from her’ll curdle it.’ He laughed at his own joke, though some of the women standing around the tea urn glanced at him sharply. ‘Cheer up, love, it might never happen.’ He gave a heartless chuckle and moved off.

‘Don’t you pay him no mind,’ said Betty Shawcross, handing Alison a cup. ‘Not exactly God’s gift himself, is he?’ She buttoned her overall. ‘Empty vessels and all that. Nobody takes him seriously and neither should you.’

‘Thanks,’ said Alison nervously. Even though many of the women she worked with were kind to her, she couldn’t help feeling that this might change at any moment, although she’d been working with them for several months. She just wasn’t used to it. The only person who’d ever been nice to her was her big sister Linda, and these women hardly even knew her. She found it hard to know what to say to them, as she’d always felt safer staying in her shell. She sometimes wondered if she should try to make friends with them but as she’d never really had any she wasn’t sure how to start.

‘Come on, we’ve been called to a meeting outside the foreman’s office,’ said Marjory Weekes. ‘All of our section is to report there in five minutes. So give me a cuppa sharpish. If this is about laying people off then I’m going to get one last drop of tea out of them.’ She pulled off her bright headscarf and dug in her pockets for her factory regulation cap.

‘Don’t say that, you’ll frighten the girl,’ said Betty protectively, noticing how alarmed Alison looked, and hoping Marjory was talking her usual nonsense. None of them could afford to lose their job. They weren’t that well-paid but it was regular work, nine to five. It was typical Marjory, speaking before she thought.

Alison shuddered. She dreaded what her mother would say if she came home without work. The best day of the week was when she brought back her wages and handed them over to Cora, who was always so pleased to see the money that she’d almost be pleasant to her youngest daughter. It was the only thing that didn’t make her feel completely worthless, and she knew how much her mother relied on her contribution.

There was a commotion at the door as a young woman rushed in. Vera Jewell was cutting it fine as usual, shaking out her shiny curls and unbuttoning her fashionable mac in one fast and fluid movement. She caught Alison’s eye and grinned. They were almost the same age and Alison had managed a few conversations with her without being rebuffed, which was a welcome novelty. She wondered if she might be able to make a proper friend of her if she could only hold her nerve.

Vera joined the group of women as they made their way along to the meeting. Alison was trying to look on the bright side. Maybe it was a new rule they all had to know about, or a change to the machinery. She hoped it wasn’t going to be something difficult. Learning something new always made her extra clumsy. Once she got the hang of something she was fine but the thought of everyone looking at her for the first few goes made her nervous, then her hands would shake and she’d make a mess of it.

‘Morning, ladies,’ said the foreman, even more careworn than usual. ‘I won’t keep you waiting. Some of you will have heard the rumours going round that we’ve lost the Pagett’s contract. I’d love to be able to tell you it’s a load of tosh but sad to say, it’s true.’ There was a gasp at this. Clearly it was news to most of them. ‘Right,’ he went on briskly, obviously keen to get it over with. Sweat was beginning to appear on his balding head. ‘You’re not daft. You’ll have worked out what that means – we can’t keep all of you on without those orders coming in. So it’s last in, first out.’ He glanced at a piece of paper he’d been holding. ‘Mrs Tullis, Miss Jewell, Miss Butler. That’s you. Come into my office, please. The rest of you – back to work.’ He turned and opened his office door.

Vera turned and pulled a face but Alison shut her eyes in horror. This couldn’t be happening. What was she going to do now? It was all she could do not to cry out in despair.

‘You all right, love?’ asked Betty, briefly touching her arm in the kindly way she had with everybody. ‘You’ve gone all pale. Don’t take on. You’ll be fine, a hard worker like you, young, fit and healthy. You’ll have no problem getting something else. An’ anyway, you’ll be better off away from the likes of that Ron Small.’

Alison made an effort to pull herself together and nodded grimly. But a little voice inside her head told her it wasn’t going to be quite as simple as that.

‘I might’ve flamin’ well known it was too good to last,’ snapped Cora as she came through the door. ‘Useless lump like you. What was it you did to get the sack? Knock something over, clumsy great thing that you are?’ Cora hadn’t had to wait until she got home to hear the news. One of the blessings of working in the newsagent’s was she managed to pick up all the gossip as soon as it started, and Vera Jewell’s mother had been straight in there the moment she learnt her own daughter was out of a job. Winnie Jewell had been incensed on Vera’s behalf, wanting to make an official complaint, claiming the foreman had been unfair and that her daughter was an innocent victim who deserved to be taken back. But Cora wasn’t having any of it. Secretly she was surprised Alison had lasted as long as she did. She was also sure that Vera Jewell, whose lipstick was always bright scarlet, couldn’t be described as innocent in any way.

‘I didn’t do anything,’ Alison protested, going to put the kettle on in the vain hope a cup of tea would keep her mother quiet. ‘It was last in first out. Betty Shawcross said I was a hard worker. I’ll get a good reference. I didn’t do anything wrong.’

‘Well, you needn’t think you can sit around here on your arse all day,’ Cora warned her. ‘You’ve got to earn your keep and more besides. I’ll need your wages more than ever if that sister of yours insists on marrying that good-looking layabout across the road. She says she’s in love! What’s that got to do with anythin’?’ she snorted in derision as her youngest passed her a cup.

Alison raised her eyes to the ceiling but said nothing. Even if she did get another job, and that would be a miracle, she’d have to shell out towards Hazel’s wedding. As if her cruel sister deserved any help towards her perfect big day.

‘Neville works hard, Mum,’ she pointed out. ‘And he’s really keen on Hazel, anyone can see that.’ She might not like the idea of helping towards the wedding but she had nothing against the young man himself – at least he was never mean to her.

‘He works in the paint factory,’ Cora said. ‘Where’s he going to go with that? He’ll be stuck in the same place on the same pay year after year, and your sister won’t like that one bit. I raised her to expect more. Course, you can expect that, but Hazel …’ Cora broke off, gripped with disappointment for her beloved middle daughter. She could have done so much better for herself. Cora knew that Hazel’s expectations were high and feared Neville Parrot was never going to be able to make her happy, whether she loved him or not. Clearing her throat, she pulled herself together. ‘She could have done like our Linda. Look what she’s managed – to get away from here, out into the fresh air, husband who could run his own business one day. That’s what I scrimped and saved for. To give you girls a better start.’ Grimly she set her cup down on the chipped Formica table and slumped back, fearing the future.

Early on Saturday morning there was something to cheer Cora when she heard a knock at the door and, opening it, in stepped Linda, holding her daughter by the hand. Cora gasped in amazed delight. Unplanned visits from her eldest were few and far between.

‘Say hello to Granny and Auntie Alison, Junie!’ Linda smiled at the effect her arrival had had. ‘Isn’t it lovely to see them so soon after our last visit?’ She began to take off her new winter coat. ‘Sorry to just drop in on you but I had to come as soon as I heard Hazel’s news.’

Cora leaned over to kiss the little girl on her head of golden curls. ‘This is a nice surprise for Granny! Didn’t think I’d be seeing you for ages.’ Slowly she arched herself back upright, struggling to hide her pained expression from her granddaughter. She didn’t want to let on just how difficult it was to bend to greet her.

‘We couldn’t stay home after getting your letter,’ Linda assured her mother. She smiled brightly at Alison. ‘Is that kettle on? I’d love a cuppa.’

Alison quickly refilled the battered old kettle and set it to boil once more. Having her big sister drop by was a real pleasure. Smiling back, she took in her eldest sister’s appearance. Even though Hazel was the prettiest of them, people always noticed Linda. Her thick brown hair was in a long bob, and her warm brown eyes sparkled at seeing her younger sister. She had on a neat twinset with pearl buttons that clearly hadn’t come from the local market, which was where the rest of the family were forced to buy their clothes.

‘So tell me all about Hazel’s news!’ she demanded. Alison obligingly filled her in on as many details about the engagement as she could, and Linda nodded approvingly. Finally she was satisfied.

‘How are things otherwise?’ she asked, setting down her cup. ‘What’s changed round here since last week?’

Sighing, Alison knew she had to confess her latest disaster and decided she’d better get the announcement over and done with before her mother could give her version of events. ‘Bad news yesterday,’ she said sadly. ‘I lost my job. They had to lay three of us off because our biggest customer cancelled their order.’

‘Oh, that’s really bad luck.’ Linda went round the cramped kitchen table to hug her sister. ‘You must feel terrible. But it can’t have been your fault, so nobody can blame you.’

‘No, I know, and that’s what everyone at work said,’ Alison replied. ‘But I can’t help feeling I’m to blame.’

Nobody had heard Hazel coming downstairs, but now she stood on the threshold of the room, her expression thunderous. ‘Blame?’ she repeated. ‘Blame for what? What’ve you done now?’

‘Nothing, I’ve done nothing,’ said Alison desperately, knowing what was to come. ‘But as I was last to join the factory, I’m out of a job.’

Hazel stood stock-still and silent but her eyes were flashing.

‘Hazel, we came all the way to congratulate you as soon as we heard your news,’ Linda said hurriedly. ‘Didn’t we, June? Say congratulations to Auntie Hazel.’

‘Con … con …’ the little girl began, moving across to her aunt, confident of another hug.

But Hazel barely registered her niece, or her big sister. She stared in disgust at Alison. ‘God, you really are useless,’ she hissed. ‘How dare you? You bloody well knew that we need every penny for my wedding. You did this on purpose, didn’t you? That’s exactly the sort of spiteful thing you’d do. Well, I’m not standin’ for it.’ She started to edge her way across the kitchen.

‘Hazel!’ Linda cried. ‘Don’t be like that. It’s nobody’s fault. You leave Alison alone. Really, stop it, you’re frightening June.’ The little girl had backed away and was now cowering behind a chair, unable to understand why everything had gone so wrong so quickly.

‘Now, Hazel, we know you’re disappointed,’ said Cora, unable to be cross with her middle daughter. ‘Alison will get another job and we’ll sort things out. Don’t be such a daft mare and calm down.’

But there was no stopping Hazel when she was in a temper, and this time she felt she had just cause. She flew at her younger sister, and if Linda and Cora hadn’t been there to hold her back she would have knocked her to the ground. ‘You make me sick!’ she shouted. ‘All you had to do was hang on to that flamin’ job for a few more months but you couldn’t even do that, could you? What’s the point of you? Why are you even alive? We’d be better off without you!’

An ear-piercing cry filled the air as June began to howl, not sure what was going on, but deeply upset that the people she loved most in the world were so angry with each other.

Alison made good her escape while she could, before Hazel broke free and came after her again. She knew from plenty of past experience that this was the safest thing to do. If only she could escape, like Linda had. She often dreamed of someone sweeping her off her feet, like in the magazines some of the women had brought to work. But what man would ever rescue her?