Chance encounters, p.8
Chance Encounters, page 8
Shortly before Christmas they had heard that the British had bombed Eindhoven in the Netherlands and the Americans had bombed Naples, and the Allies had clashed with the Japanese. It seemed to Megan as she read the headlines that the whole world was at war and casualties mounting daily. It all seemed so senseless.
As the year came to an end, however, things looked brighter for the Allies: Rommel was trapped in Tunisia and the Germans were encircled at Stalingrad.
Early in 1943 two other girls moved in. Hilda Heath who was a big strapping twenty-year-old with red hair and a broad freckled face and Sally Ainsworth who was small and childlike and who laughed nervously or giggled at everything that was said to her.
They both came from Birmingham and when Megan asked them what they were doing in Liverpool they were very evasive. Hilda muttered something about being given a lift by a lorry driver bringing stuff down to the Liverpool docks. Sally merely giggled. She appeared to be dominated by Hilda and looked at her for guidance before answering any questions or speaking at all.
Neither of them had any luggage and neither of them had their ration books or clothing coupons; nothing, in fact, but the clothes they stood up in and no money at all.
It was going to be an extra drain on their already meagre rations and as Megan had feared there was a great deal of grumbling from Nelly when it came to planning their meals for the coming week.
Nevertheless, Megan felt she couldn’t turn them away. From their appearance, Megan judged that their babies were due within a few weeks but they both still seemed fit and well and assured her that they were willing to help in whatever way they could.
When Megan warned Nelly not to allow them to do any really heavy work, Nelly merely laughed at her.
‘Them two,’ she scoffed. ‘They could lift a three-ton lorry and think nothing of it. Still, if that’s your orders, then I’ll try and remember.’
Their arrival meant that the house was now so packed that Betsy would need to be in Nelly’s room permanently, so that the two newcomers could each have a room of their own.
‘Are you sure you’ll both be happy about that?’ Megan asked Betsy.
‘Oh, Nelly won’t mind. We’re both from the same part of Ireland, sure we are, and we’ll get on like a house on fire.’
When Megan tentatively spoke to Nelly about it she found that Nelly was in complete agreement.
‘There’s just one thing; a bit of a change I’d like to make if it’s all right with you. I would sooner have the room next door to the kitchen as my bedroom.’
Megan frowned. ‘You mean the utility room that we use as a storeroom or lumber room?’
‘That’s right,’ Nelly said forcefully. ‘It’s bigger and it would be far more convenient. I’m that tired when I finish at night that having to drag myself up the stairs puts years on me. Now if I could just walk the few yards and be in me own quarters then that sure would be fine. It would free up another room for the girls, too, sure it would. Put those two Brumbies up on the top floor; they’ll be less trouble up there and it’s my opinion that they could be a rowdy pair and cause disruption amongst the other girls.’
‘Well, Nelly, if you’re quite sure,’ Megan said hesitantly.
‘Of course I’m sure; I’ve said so, haven’t I! There’ll be more room, too, for Betsy especially when she has the baby and that’s in with us as well.’
It sounded almost too good to be true to have solved their problem so easily and, as it turned out, it was. Two days later a hatchet-faced, middle-aged man from Liverpool Council called to ask if he could inspect the place because it had been reported to them that they were living in an overcrowded situation.
Megan felt angry. She was doing her bit to help the war effort and she didn’t want interference from any officials.
When she demurred about letting him in, he glowered at her and threatened to get a court order.
‘Then I’ll be back with a policeman and you’ll have to let me in so you may as do it quietly now,’ he told her.
Reluctantly she let him in and took him through the house, apologizing to each of the girls when she was forced to tap on their door and ask if they minded if he looked into their room.
When the inspection was over the official said he was sorry for disturbing them all.
‘From information we received concerning all the girls who come and go here at all hours of the day someone had the impression that it was a brothel,’ he explained. ‘As it hadn’t been registered as such, we were forced to check what was going on and assure ourselves that it wasn’t overcrowded.’
‘I wouldn’t have thought you’d be so particular about overcrowding when half the homes in this city have been bombed and families made homeless so that they have to move in with relatives for shelter,’ Megan said frostily.
‘It’s nothing to do with me, miss, I’m just the man they send out to check on these things.’
‘Well, I hope you’re satisfied and that they accept your report.’
‘They will, there’s nothing amiss here.’ He smiled awkwardly. ‘I am a bit confused however by all the very pregnant young ladies all living under one roof. Is it some sort of commune you’ve set up here?’
Briefly Megan explained what she was doing.
He gave her a look of respect. ‘That’s wonderful work, miss. Dreadful the way these Yanks came here, made so many of our girls pregnant and have now vanished completely.’
‘You don’t think that they will return as soon as they can and claim the girls they have promised to marry and be delighted to meet their children?’
‘Not them Yanks! They’re like the sailors; a fresh girl in every port, and if the girl gets pregnant then it is up to her to sort things out,’ he said.
‘You sound very bitter,’ Megan murmured.
‘My own daughter was trapped like that and now me and my wife have to help our girl to bring up the child. Lovely little lad but we are far too old for that sort of lark, I can tell you.’
‘Well, I’m glad you didn’t disown her or throw her out into the street to fend for herself,’ Megan murmured.
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘I was tempted to do so when she first told us about it but she’s our own flesh and blood and we should have protected her more.’ He sighed lugubriously, ‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You do what you think is best at the time.’
ELEVEN
Megan was roused the next morning by a loud banging on the front door. She peered at her bedside clock and saw that it was only twenty past six. As the knocking was repeated, she pulled on her dressing gown and went downstairs to see what was going on.
As she reached the hall Nelly came stumbling out of the room she had taken over as her bedroom. She was wearing an old coat over her nightdress and her grey hair hung around her shoulders like a dingy grey curtain.
‘What on God’s earth is going on? Who’s hammering on the door at this time of the morning?’
‘I don’t know,’ Megan told her. ‘Wait here and I’ll see who it is.’
As she undid the locks and opened the door a few inches, a stout middle-aged man hastily put his foot over the threshold so that she couldn’t close it again.
‘Is she here?’ he demanded hoarsely, trying to push past Megan. ‘My daughter, is she here?’
‘I don’t know, what is your daughter’s name?’ Megan said, trying to block his way even though she knew it was impossible because he was far more heavily built than she was.
‘She’s only a child,’ he said accusingly as he pushed his way into the hall. ‘I’ll have the law on you,’ he went on, ignoring Megan’s question.
‘Tell me her name,’ Megan persisted.
‘Sally. Sally Ainsworth and she’s only a child, I’m telling you, and she doesn’t know what she’s doing.’
‘And she’s pregnant,’ Megan said dryly.
‘So she is here. You have her. You’re planning to sell her baby when it’s born.’
Megan drew herself up and clutched tightly at her dressing gown. ‘I must warn you to watch what you are saying, Mr Ainsworth, or I will be the one having the law on you,’ she said angrily.
‘Your daughter is here,’ Megan went on more calmly. ‘She arrived a few days ago accompanied by an older girl called Hilda Heath. You probably know her as well.’
‘Know her, I’ll say I know her! She’s the one who led my little Sally astray and got her into trouble. She’s been a bad influence on Sally ever since the first day they met. Time and again I’ve told my missus to do something about it and stop our Sally seeing that Hilda Heath. I even told young Sally that I’d throw her out if she didn’t stop going round with Hilda.’
‘Well now, it seems she has taken you at your word and left home,’ Megan told him.
Suddenly all the fight seemed to go out of Sally’s father. He mopped at his brow and his shoulders sagged. He looked so beaten that Megan felt sorry for him and suggested he had better come and sit down so that they could discuss the matter in a more civil manner.
Turning to where Nelly was lurking in the shadows and listening to all that was going on, Megan said, ‘Why don’t you make us a pot of tea, Nelly, while I have a chat with Mr Ainsworth.’
Megan wished she could go and get dressed because she felt at a disadvantage in her dressing gown but, deciding that was impossible, she tried to behave in as dignified a manner as she could.
Instead of inviting him into the sitting room to sit down in one of the comfortable armchairs she took him into the dining room. ‘We’ll both sit here at the dining table, Mr Ainsworth,’ she said in an authoritative manner.
He complied without question and as Megan took a seat facing him Nelly appeared with their tea.
‘Milk and sugar?’ Megan asked as she picked up the teapot.
‘Yes please. Three sugars if you can spare them, I’ve a very sweet tooth.’
Megan gave a tight smile and said nothing as she complied with his request. Mentally she was thinking how this would deplete their meagre rations, especially since Sally hadn’t brought her ration book with her.
As they sipped their tea Mr Ainsworth told Megan a harrowing story of how Sally had been led astray by Hilda Heath from the very first day she had gone to work and the two girls had met.
‘Hilda Heath was a charge hand at the factory and she dominated our Sally from day one,’ he said bitterly. ‘I’d heard her name mentioned long before Sally met her because she’d dabbled in the black market and drugs from the day the war started.’
He took a gulp of tea and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Led our Sally on to do the same. Then the pair of them started going out with the soldiers who were billeted nearby. Traded themselves for what they could get; nylon stockings, chocolate and, in Hilda’s case, for cigarettes. Sally doesn’t smoke, but that Hilda has smoked like a trooper ever since she was about ten years old or so I understand.’
‘You tried to stop Sally seeing the soldiers, of course,’ Megan murmured.
‘Aye! We did everything we could. We even locked her in her room but she climbed out through the window, helped, of course, by that Hilda Heath,’ he said bitterly.
‘The wife and me were at our wits’ end and then when she fell pregnant …’ He paused and mopped at his brow with a red handkerchief that he pulled out of the top pocket of his jacket. ‘I thought it would be the death of my wife. Took to her bed for three days crying non-stop, said it was all her fault for not watching over the girl more than she did.’
He took another mouthful of tea. ‘Seeing as how she did everything any mortal person could do to protect our Sally it was ridiculous for her to take on like that. In the end I had strong words with her and told her that she needed to pull herself together, we needed all our strength to deal with the situation. I reminded her that Sally had no husband, nor was likely to have one now, so it would be up to us to bring the child up.’
‘Your wife accepted this?’
‘Aye, she’s a sensible woman, I’ll say that much for her. She knew what I was saying was true.’
‘So why did Sally run away? Why did she come here to Liverpool?’
‘She was persuaded to do so by that Hilda, I suppose. She was pregnant too only she knew that her family wouldn’t do anything to help her when the baby arrived and it was probably her idea to get away from Birmingham. What with one thing and another the place was getting too hot for her and she wanted to go somewhere where she weren’t known.’
‘Why involve Sally? Why persuade your daughter to go with her, Mr Ainsworth?’ Megan asked frowning.
‘Probably hadn’t the guts to do it on her own,’ he said angrily.
‘You think they intended to start a new life after they’d had their babies?’
‘That’s right. She’d have our Sally look after the kids and she’d be off doing her own thing. You can bet your boots it would be somewhere where there were plenty of soldiers,’ he said bitterly. ‘Hilda was always telling Sally that the Yanks were the ones to go for because they were well paid and generous and furthermore they supplied things like nylon stockings and cigarettes.’
‘So why did they come to Liverpool and to our house here in Chapel Gardens?’ Megan asked with a frown.
‘Can’t say, don’t know why they did that. Are there any Yanks stationed nearby?’
‘There were but as far as I know they’ve all gone overseas which is one of the reasons why Sandra Peterson and I have set up this house as a refuge for unmarried girls expecting babies.’
‘They talk about coming over here to help us and all they do is give us a load of trouble,’ Mr Ainsworth said angrily.
‘Yes, the Yanks are responsible for a great many of the girls who now find themselves in trouble and deserted, not knowing which way to turn. Many of them are hoping that when the war is over the men they knew will come back and marry them as they have promised to do and accept their ready-made family. In a great many instances, however, we know that the girls will never see or hear from them again. Some of the girls we help are planning to keep their babies; others are offering them for adoption.
‘I suppose it shows how caring and responsible Hilda and Sally are if they are planning to find lodgings together and bring up their babies,’ Megan added thoughtfully.
Mr Ainsworth ran a hand through his thinning grey hair, pushing it back from his furrowed brow in a gesture of frustration and despair.
‘No,’ he said in an angry voice, ‘from what a neighbour told my wife, Hilda had said that they intended to abandon them; leave them on a doorstep or something.’
‘That’s scandalous,’ Megan gasped. ‘Have you told the police?’
Mr Ainsworth shook his head. ‘No! There’s enough nasty business without getting involved with the law over it. It doesn’t matter one way or the other anyway,’ he stated. ‘I’m here to take Sally back home. There’s no need for her to abandon her baby, it will have a good home with us and so will she once she sees the error of her ways. Now, can I see her?’ he asked forcefully.
‘Of course. I’ll ask Nelly to call her.’
‘Don’t tell her that I’m here,’ Mr Ainsworth cautioned.
‘Very well, I won’t say why I need her,’ Megan agreed.
As they waited for Sally to join them Megan wondered what would happen. She hoped there would not be any unpleasant scene. She understood Mr Ainsworth’s concern for his young daughter. She could well see that Hilda could be a dominating influence and obviously not one for the best.
Sally’s gasp of surprise when she came into the room and saw her father sitting there was followed by a burst of joy as she flung herself into his arms, wrapping her own arms around his neck as she hugged and kissed him.
The warmth in her voice as she asked anxiously, ‘How is Mum?’ confirmed Megan’s suspicions that Sally was homesick.
‘Missing you very much,’ her father told her. ‘I’ve come to take you home.’
Sally pulled away from him. ‘I can’t come home,’ she said in a whisper. ‘It would make Mum so unhappy when the neighbours and her friends find out I’m having a baby.’
‘What utter rubbish,’ her father said dismissively. ‘Most of them know anyway and wonder where you are. We told them you were gone on a little holiday and most of them said we shouldn’t have let you go gallivanting off in your condition. Come on now, don’t waste time, get your things together and we’ll be on the next train back to Birmingham.’
Sally hesitated, looking at Megan for support. ‘Will that be all right, Miss Lloyd?’ she asked.
‘Of course it will, Sally. I am more than pleased to know that you will be back with your family and that they will be taking care of you.’
‘Go and get your things then,’ her father urged.
‘I haven’t anything to collect. I only have what I stand up in,’ Sally said shamefacedly, tears filling her large blue eyes.
‘Then we’ll be off,’ her father stated, standing up and holding out his hand to Megan. ‘Thank you for taking care of my daughter.’
Sally still seemed to be reluctant. ‘What about Hilda?’ she blurted out. ‘I ought to tell her I’m going home.’
‘You’ll do nothing of the sort,’ her father told her in a severe voice. ‘One word with her and she’ll be trying to get you to stay here and go ahead with her madcap plan for a so-called new life.’
‘No,’ Sally said with a sweet smile. ‘I’ve had enough of trying to have a new life. I really do want to come home again, Dad.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ he said, putting an arm around her shoulder and squeezing it affectionately.
‘Don’t worry about Hilda, I’ll tell her what you have decided to do,’ Megan promised with a smile.
‘Right then, now we really will be off,’ Mr Ainsworth said. He pulled out his wallet and extracted a five-pound note. ‘It’s all I can spare at the moment but I’ll send another when I get back home,’ he said in a rather embarrassed voice.
