Page 36

Chapter 36

End of April 1931

‘I saw Keith today.’ Isobel was standing at the scullery sink and washing the dishes.

She always claimed to be better at it than Ann.

‘Oh really? You didn’t say you’d gone out.

’

‘I wasn’t out.’ Isobel finished washing a sherry glass and set it down carefully on the drainer.

‘He came here.’

Ann lifted the glass by the stem, and rolled it between thumb and forefinger, holding it up to the evening sunlight to check for smears.

‘Oh?’

‘I saw him outside in the street, looking up at the windows when I was scrubbing the front step. He was just as you described.’

‘And you asked him in?’

‘I did.’ She glanced at Ann.

‘He was collecting the census form, so I handed it over. And I asked him if he wanted a sandwich.’

‘I’m surprised.

’

‘But you invited him in yourself, more than once, you told me so. And I thought that a man with so little money in his pocket would appreciate a kindness.’

‘I suppose I did.’ This was one of those moments, Ann thought, where there was a changing of the guard, where the old rules didn’t apply any longer and must be abandoned.

‘But of course, this is your home too, Isobel, so why shouldn’t you have a guest for lunch?

’

‘Wait a minute .?.?. Ann Black, you are not jealous?’

‘Jealous? Me? Why on earth would I be jealous of you having a visitor?’

‘And now, miss, you are blushing.’

‘I am not.’

‘You are.’ Isobel scrubbed at the dried-up egg on the plate.

‘He’s certainly easy on the eye, I’ll give you that much.

’

‘Oh, stop that. Stop it right now.’

‘I speak as I find, that’s all.

’

Ann shrugged. ‘And what was your visitor saying?’

‘He still has no work, apart from the census, and that’s nearly finished now because the stragglers are almost mopped up.

No one is having any painting or wallpapering done and the really big houses, up in the Braids and in the Grange, all have their preferred tradesmen who have worked for them for years so there’s no room for anyone new.

And those people aren’t really affected by what’s going on anyway, not in the same way as ordinary folk.

’

Ann took the wet soapy plate from Isobel.

‘I’m sorry to hear that.

’

‘He’s having trouble paying his rent.

I don’t think he would have told you that, but he felt able to tell me.

’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Same reason everyone is. No work, and landlords who demand their shilling whether a tenant has got it or not. They’ve got the power to charge what they want.

’

‘No, not that! I mean why wouldn’t he tell me?

’

‘Because he wants to impress you, of course.’

‘So I will give him some work?’

‘Ann, you can be so dense sometimes. He wouldn’t tell you because he wants you to see him as a person you might want as a friend, not because he wants you to employ him.

’

‘I don’t see why he would want to impress me.

And anyway, he really does want me to employ him, that’s why he came to the door in the first place, isn’t it?

’

Isobel could barely keep her face straight.

‘I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, sometimes you are not the brightest girl in the class, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.

’

Ann shook her head.

‘There are no matters of the heart or any other place going on.’

Isobel gave the water in the bowl a last swirl to check for rogue teaspoons, and then tipped it up to sluice the dirty liquid down the plug hole.

‘You may think that now, but we’ll see what comes out in the wash.

’

Ann shook the damp tea towel and inspected it before deciding it would do for another day.

‘I’m sorry he’s having such trouble.

’ She folded the cloth, ready to put it on the pulley.

Isobel winked at Ann.

‘He said he would come back next week, to say hello. And I’m not going to tell you which day so you can’t go out to avoid him.

’

‘Honestly, Isobel. You should be called Mrs Matchmaker. He’s a painter and decorator so he is hardly likely to fit in here.

’

Isobel turned to face Ann.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I just meant that he probably doesn’t like the things I like.

It isn’t as though he’s a professional person.

’

Isobel shook her head.

‘I honestly never thought I would hear you say such a horrible thing.’

‘It’s true.

’

‘Is it now? And what about you and me, then? I’m not a professional person.

I left school at twelve and I don’t have a qualification to my name.

’

Ann shook her head.

‘It’s different. You are clever, and you read, and you listen to the wireless and you are .

.?. well, you are interested in all sorts of things.

I could never consider being friends with someone who isn’t curious.

Man or woman. It would be so boring.

The same conversations all the time.

’

‘I really am surprised at you.’

‘Well, it’s just the way it is.

’ Ann was angry now.

‘And I’m going to be out all next week anyway, every single day.

I have things I need to do.

Things that are not here . ’