Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [9]
‘Well, I dare say we can make up a new sash for your polished cotton, love. Suits you a treat, it does, and you’ve got the advantage over Bella, you being that bit taller and having such a lovely neat waist.’
The little boy in front of them in the queue dropped his ice-cream cornet and started to cry bitterly, whilst his mother, who looked harassed and was clutching both their gas masks, tried to calm him. His noisy tears brought an end to any private conversation. Luke disappeared, only to reappear five minutes later carrying three cornets, one of which he gave to the delighted child and the other two to the twins.
‘You’re just as soft as your dad,’ Jean mock-scolded him, after the child’s mother had thanked him profusely for his generosity, and explained, ‘I thought I’d give him a bit of a treat, like, with a day at the seaside, what with me being told that he’d have to be evacuated if there’s a war, and his dad already away in the army, but it’s bin a long day for him and he’s got himself a bit overtired.’
‘It’s only an ice cream, and the poor little chap had only had a couple of licks of it,’ Luke answered his mother now, before turning to his father. ‘Dad, Charlie was saying that he’s joined the TA because he reckons that it means he won’t have to go away to do his six months’ training. He was showing me his uniform.’ There was a note of envy in his voice. ‘I reckon that if I were to join them—’
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ Sam stopped him sharply. ‘The TA lot will be the first in if it does come to war.’
‘Charlie reckons they’ll be posted to home duties.’
‘Aye, well, he would reckon that, him and that father of his being the clever sods they are.’
‘Sam,’ Jean objected, ‘language!’
‘Sorry, love, but it gets my goat, it really does, the way that ruddy Edwin reckons to be such a know-it-all. I’m your father, Luke, and it’s me you listen to. We’ve been through all of this already. If there’s to be a war then you can do your bit just as well here at home with the Salvage Corps, aye, and you’ll have a decent job wi’ it if there isn’t a war. There’s no sense in rushing off joining summat like the TA.’
Jean listened anxiously. This wasn’t the first time that father and son had clashed over the issue of Luke joining up for active service should there be a war. Like any mother she desperately wanted to keep her son safe.
The Royal Daffodil was pulling away from the dock full of passengers and with any luck they would be on the next ferry to leave.
Jean hoped so. It had been a long day, and now she was tired and ready for her own home, and a nice cup of tea and a slice of bread and butter.
TWO
Tuesday 22 August
Grace hummed happily under her breath as she and the other girls working in Lewis’s exclusive À La Mode Gown Salon got their department ready for the store to open, the Tuesday after the family’s visit to Wallasey.
The gowns were kept in the long row of floor-to-ceiling cupboards that filled one wall of that area of the store. The entrance to the Gown Salon was framed by silk curtains, and the carpet was thicker and a different pattern from that on the rest of the floor. All the girls working in the Gown Salon were expected to dress appropriately and were allowed to buy at a special discount the white silk blouses they all wore with their plain black skirts.
On very special occasions and for very special would-be purchasers the curtains framing the entrance could be closed. Three velvet upholstered and extremely uncomfortable chaise-longues were provided for customers, in addition to two large cheval mirrors.
It wasn’t unheard of for naughty schoolchildren with nothing better to do to try to peep round the curtaining to watch customers parading in front of the mirrors in the gowns they were trying on, although the head of the salon, Mrs James, was very swift to ensure that they were given stern warnings and shooed away.
On one never-to-be-forgotten