Born Bad (13 page)

Helping Sammie into the car he waved them goodbye, but as Brian drove off, with four arms sticking out of the window waving back, Don felt suddenly alone in the world. He loved his family with a passion, but he loved Sammie most of all. She was a very special person; with a beautiful and loving heart.

He had only ever loved one other person in the same
way he loved his granddaughter. She too, had been another bright and lovely creature: Judy, the daughter now estranged from him. The daughter he and the family had so deeply wronged.

He remembered Nancy’s cruel words – ‘She’ll be all cosied up to some no-good bloke.’ In his deepest heart, and even after all she had done, he could not believe that Judy would have sunk so low.

Collecting his cap
and jacket from the hall stand, he looked at himself in the mirror there, his eyes stern with determination.

‘Come on, Lottie!’ Clipping the lead through the dog’s collar, he led her outside. ‘Once we’re clear of the lanes and that mad postman in his delivery van, I’ll let you loose,’ he promised.

With the family away for a time, there was only one thought blazing in his mind.

He had to find
Judy
.

He needed to know whether his younger daughter had made good her life, and whether she had forgiven them all for their cruel treatment of her.

H
ARRY WAS MORE
nervous than he had been in a long time. Having suffered a sleepless night, he felt both weary and anxious, and now as he came into Kathleen’s kitchen, he wasn’t at all sure that he had made the right decision in accepting the job at Jacobs’ Emporium.

What if it all went wrong? What if he hated the work? What if he made a complete hash of it and nobody else would
ever give him a job? What if … what if?

Kathleen looked up as he entered. ‘Jaysus, Mary and Joseph! Sure, anyone would think you were on your way to the hangman, so they would.’

She noted the slouch of his shoulders and the way he fidgeted nervously with his tie, and her heart went out to him. ‘Will ye just look at the state of yourself!’

Laying down the knife, she crossed the room to him.
‘Sure, I’ve never seen a man yet who can fix his tie.’ Reaching up, she flicked the tie here, then crossed it over there, and now she patted it down. Standing back to admire her handiwork, she gave him a little push. ‘Sit yourself down,’ she told him. ‘Young Tom is already up and dressed, and ready for breakfast, bless his little manly heart.’

When Harry began fiddling with his tie again, she
slapped the back of his hand. ‘Will ye leave that alone, or do I have to clip your ear an’ all?’

‘Sorry, Kathleen,’ Harry said. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. All I’m doing today is accompanying one of the salesmen on his rounds, and I feel like a little boy on my first day at a new school.’

Kathleen laughed out loud. ‘Do ye not know what us women have always known?’ she asked.

‘No, but
I’m sure you’ll tell me.’ He relaxed with a smile. ‘So what is it that you women have always known?’

Kathleen chuckled. ‘Only that a man needs a wise woman to tell him what to do.’ She patted her ample chest. ‘And they don’t come any wiser than Kathleen O’Leary!’

‘Well, thank you for that, Kathleen O’Leary,’ Harry grinned, tongue in cheek. ‘I feel ten times better now, for knowing that.’

‘Sausage or black pudding?’ she wanted to know. ‘You can’t have both, because there are only two sausages and somebody’s got to go without.’

Harry loved her jolly banter. It lifted his spirits. ‘I’m happy either way,’ he told her.

‘But what would you prefer?’

‘The sausage, if it’s going begging.’

‘Right then! You can have the last sausage. Tom’s already opted for the other one.’

‘No, I’m all
right, Kathleen, honestly. If Tom’s already claimed one sausage, you’d best have the other. I’ll be absolutely fine with the black pudding.’ He glanced about. ‘Where is Tom, by the way?’

‘Outside, chasing the cat.’

Harry went to the back door and called him in. ‘Hurry up, son. I’ll be away to work in a few minutes.’

When Tom came running in through the back door, Harry scooped him into his
arms. ‘I hear you’ve been chasing the cat?’

Tom shook his head. ‘No, Daddy. I was just running, and the cat ran after me.’

‘Oh, I see. The cat was chasing
you
.’ Harry set him down. ‘Well, now it’s time for breakfast. After that, I’m away to my new job, and you’ve got the lovely Kathleen to take care of you.’ He lowered his voice to a more intimate level. ‘So are you happy with that, son?’

Tom’s face lit up. ‘Me and Kathleen are going on the train to Bedford, and we might go down to the river and feed the ducks, that’s what Kathleen said.’

‘All the way to Bedford? Wow! And feeding the ducks, lucky you!’ Harry feigned disappointment. ‘And there’s poor me, having to go to work. It’s just not fair.’

‘I’m sorry, Daddy, but you have to go to work,’ the small boy declared. ‘Kathleen
said you have to “shake a leg” and get out to work. Right? I’m not to worry, ’cos you need to earn us a living, don’t you?’ His little head was nodding fifteen to the dozen, as though encouraging Harry to agree.

Harry had to smile. ‘You’re right,’ he answered stoutly. ‘Some of us can play, and some of us have to work. Is that what you mean?’

Tom nodded. ‘Yes, Daddy. That’s what Kathleen said.’

Harry turned away with a grin on his face. This past year had been a nightmare. Only now, with Kathleen back in his life and little Tom taking so well to his new environment, did Harry’s heart feel easier. He realised how his darling wife had known what she was doing, when she made him promise to go back to the place of his childhood. She had been so right. And he was so immensely grateful for
her wisdom.

For a moment he held her memory close, and he was sad.

Then Kathleen’s cheery voice came sailing across the kitchen, and all the pain of the past was pushed into that special, private corner of his heart.

With her usual hustle and bustle, Kathleen served the breakfast, and what a breakfast it was: sausage, black pudding, bacon and eggs, with a pile of newly baked, fresh-cut crusty
bread, and a pint of tea on the side.

‘Crikey, Kathleen!’ Harry was amazed. ‘It’s Monday morning and I’m away to a new job. With this lot inside me, I’ll be lucky to get to the first call.’

‘Away with ye!’ Dipping her crust into the plump egg yolk, she wagged a finger at him. ‘A man needs a good start to the day.’

Harry tucked in. ‘Whatever you say.’ He looked over at Tom who was munching on
a piece of crispy bacon. ‘All right, son?’

Tom gave a little nod. He was far too busy to talk.

‘Hang on, what’s this sausage doing on my plate?’ Harry complained. ‘I thought I said I’d be happy to settle for the black pudding?’

‘Ah, well now.’ Kathleen looked positively guilty. ‘The thing is, I’m very partial to black pudding, only I didn’t like to say, and so I took yours and gave you the
sausage instead. And it’s no good you asking for it back, because this is the last piece!’ With the cheekiest grin, she popped the chunk of black pudding into her mouth.

‘Naughty Kathleen!’ Tom was earwigging.

‘Sure, when ye get to my age, being naughty is the only real thing you have to look forward to,’ she told him.

Tom was intrigued. ‘When will I get to your age?’

‘Let me see …’ Kathleen
pretended to ponder. ‘Well now, I reckon you could get there tomorrow. But if truth be told, ye have to work up to it, and do things, and learn things, and then you get bigger and wiser; and then you might be ready to be as old as your Auntie Kathleen. So, has that answered your question now?’

Tom gave a deep, grown-up sigh, popped the tail end of his own
sausage into his mouth and nodded. Then
he shook his head, and nodded again. ‘Mmm!’

Sausage gone. Subject closed.

Having arrived in Bedford town, Harry parked the Hillman at the back of Jacobs’ Emporium and made his way inside the staff entrance.

‘Morning, Harry!’ That was the effervescent Amy, chirpy as ever. ‘Fighting fit, are you?’

Looking more like sixteen than twenty-four, with her mousey-coloured hair in a pigtail down her
back and a white shirt that gave her the demeanour of a schoolgirl, she merrily informed him, ‘Mr Jacobs isn’t about and Len is up in the office working out his round. I’m just making a brew, so d’you want a cuppa while you wait?’ She had taken to Harry the first time he walked into the shop. He was good-looking and easy-natured, though there was something about him that made her want to cuddle
him and tell him not to worry, that everything would be all right.

Harry shook his head. ‘I’ve had enough tea this morning to float a battleship,’ he laughed. Still full from breakfast, he wanted to be able to tackle the streets of Bedford without puffing and panting at the slightest little hill he might come across.

He did have a question though. ‘This tallyman job – what’s it really like?’
he asked. He’d chatted to her about it last time, before his interview, but his nerves had got in the way and he still didn’t really know what he was letting himself in for.

‘It’s okay, I guess.’ Leaning forward across her desk, she crossed her arms, and gazed up at him, as though waiting for his next question.

‘What’s “okay” supposed to mean exactly?’ Harry was amazed that from the very first,
he had fallen so naturally into conversation with this bright, curious little creature.

Amy briefly pondered, then she sat up straight and explained, ‘Well, it means that some days you can go from house to house with never a problem. The sun is shining. You knock on the door, they open it, hand you the money with a smile; you sign their little tally-book, and away you go, job done – unless, of
course, you’re offered a piece of cake that you can’t refuse.’

Harry got all that. ‘Right, so that’s some days. What about the others?’

Twisting her mouth into a wide wavy shape, she pondered again. ‘Well, on other days, it might be chucking it down with rain and you’re soaked to the skin. Then you knock on the door, and get no answer. You knock again; still no answer, but you know the customer
is in, because she’s done it before. So you peer through the window, and you can see her legs sticking out from behind the sofa, and you know she’s hiding from you.’

Harry got the picture. ‘So then what?’

‘Then you call through the letterbox and you say that you’ll be sending somebody round to collect the furniture if she doesn’t come to the door right this very minute.’

‘And will she come
to the door?’

‘You never know your luck. It all depends on how much in arrears she might be.’

‘So if I’ve persuaded her to come to the door, what do I do then?’

‘Well, you ask her for payment. Usually, she’ll plead that she’s a bit short on her housekeeping this week, and that you’ll have to wait. Besides, her little Joey needs a new pair of shoes, but don’t worry because she’ll be sure to
catch up with you next week.’

‘I see. And if she’s got no money, I just write it down in my tally-ledger, and that’s a black mark against her, is that it?’

‘Something like that, yes.’

‘And if she
won’t
come to the door, I just go away and she still gets a black mark, yes?’

Amy nodded. ‘That’s about the size of it.’

‘So, if she doesn’t catch up with the arrears next week, what happens then?’

‘Then you report it to Mr Jacobs and he deals with it, in his own way.’

‘I see!’

When he frowned, she quickly put his mind at rest. ‘Jakey won’t send round a gang of thugs to sort her out, if that’s what worries you,’ she told him with a grin. ‘He’s a good man and does his best to help the customers out. But at the end of the day, he’s also a businessman. This store provides us
all
with a living,
including himself.’

‘I understand that.’

‘Okay. So you will also understand that he needs a regular supply of money to buy the stock, or he might as well shut up shop. So, if he gets a bad payer, he’ll make arrangements for her to pay a smaller amount until the debt is cleared. Meantime, she won’t be allowed in the shop. Once the debt is paid, she can buy whatever
she likes from the store, cash
in hand, but she won’t be allowed to buy anything else on tick.’

‘And that happens often, does it?’

‘Thankfully, not too often.’ She took a sip of her lukewarm tea. ‘Are you sure you don’t want a cup?’

Harry was about to reply, when Len emerged from sorting out his round; a larger-than-life character, with bags of charm and a high opinion of himself, he was all smiles and teeth and loud with
it. But there was something about him which Harry could not put his finger on, but which put him instantly on his guard.

‘Well, Harry, my lad!’ The other man addressed Harry with a wide, flamboyant grin. ‘Good to see you.’ Grabbing his hand, he shook it vigorously. ‘So! You’re ready to face the big wide world, are you?’

Harry had taken an instant dislike to him, but he knew better than to show
his feelings, especially as he was to work with this man until he knew the ropes well enough to go out on his own. ‘Ready when you are.’ Harry looked him squarely in the eye. ‘In fact, I’m looking forward to it.’

Len took stock of Harry; the broad shoulders and confident stance, and those deep, dark eyes which seemed to see right through him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he would
have to be on his guard with this one. ‘Right!’ He made a sweeping gesture towards the doors. ‘Let’s be off then, shall we?’

‘Have fun,’ Amy’s voice called after them. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’

‘Hah!’ Len waved a hand to her. ‘The world’s our oyster then, is it?’

‘Bloomin’ cheek!’ And as Amy saw the car drive away, she murmured, ‘you’ll need to watch that one, Harry my love. People
are not always what you might think.’

Going about her work, she began singing, softly at first, then with gusto, until a customer complained that he couldn’t hear himself think. Jacob, called down to her, ‘AMY! Will you stop that damned caterwauling! I can’t hear myself think!’

Muttering under her breath she grumbled, ‘Miserable devil. It won’t be long before I get discovered and then you’ll
see! People will pay to hear me sing.’

Not too far away, two men were loading a sofa onto the van. ‘Thank God she’s stopped that bloody racket!’ one said to the other. ‘It does my ’ead in.’

‘So, Harry, meladdo, d’you think you’re suited to it, or have you had enough already?’ Planning to baptise Harry into the roughest areas first, Len had cunningly switched the order of route. ‘It’s not easy,
is it?’ he said slyly. ‘Trying to get money out of these people is like pulling teeth without anaesthetic.’

‘They’re probably good people, just fallen on hard times.’ Harry had seen enough to know that Len had no respect for the customers. The poorer they were, the more contemptuous he was; though if the woman of the house was pretty or friendly, he turned on the charm like he’d been born to
it.

‘Huh! You’re too easily fooled,’ Len retorted curtly. ‘It’s one thing when they come into the shop, and it’s an altogether different story when you visit their homes. Many of these people are liars and thieves, straight out o’ jail, some of ’em. Man, woman or child, they’ll take what they want and lie through their teeth to get it.’

Harry found that hard to believe. ‘They can’t all be that
bad, surely?’