Honour Thy Father Read online

  ‘My dad told me all about it,’ Rosaleen said. ‘He said it was as if me and our David married you and Gerry.’ The two little girls rolled about on the grass, giggling at the idea, but later Laura thought wistfully that Uncle Joe was very different to her father. Uncle Joe was always ready to answer any question, even if he was busy with schoolwork to mark, but her father always seemed to be rushing about, getting ready to go out or talking to people on the telephone. He brushed questions aside, saying impatiently, ‘Ask me later’ or ‘I’ll tell you when I’ve got more time’, but that time never came.

  When John came home he was pleased to find Grandma sitting beside the sick child and he bent over Julie, anxiously smoothing back her hair from her forehead. ‘What do you think, Gran?’ he asked. ‘She doesn’t seem so hot, does she?’

  ‘No, and Anne says she’s not coughing as much,’ Sally said. ‘I think she’s over the worst but I’ll still stay the night. She needs watching and Anne must get some rest.’

  John looked relieved and went to help Gerry with his homework before they sat down to eat. When the meal was over John began to fidget about the room. ‘There’s an important meeting tonight about the protest against the atom bomb,’ he said finally. ‘As long as you’re here with Anne and the kids, Grandma, I may as well go.’

  The old lady just looked at him over her glasses but Anne said quickly, ‘Yes, go, John. They’ll be making plans for the demonstration. We’ll be all right here.’

  He smiled at her gratefully and within minutes he was away. Laura scowled at his retreating back. He was going to go anyway, she thought, but he’s afraid of Grandma. Mummy lets him do what he likes.

  Julie was awake and Grandma sat with her while Laura helped her mother to wash and dry the dishes. ‘Will Julie get better now Grandma’s here?’ she asked.

  ‘I hope so,’ Anne said with a sigh. ‘Grandma’s very clever. She helped a lot of sick people to get better in the days when they couldn’t afford to call a doctor but you mustn’t worry about Julie, love.’

  ‘I worry about you, Mummy,’ Laura said, putting her arms round her mother’s waist, but Anne laughed cheerfully.

  ‘No need to worry about me either, love. I’m as right as rain and anyway you’re too young to be worrying about anything.’ She gave Laura a quick hug and went out of the scullery.

  Laura was carefully hanging up the tea towel when Grandma came in to wash her hands at the sink. ‘Have you been helping your mam?’ she asked. ‘That’s a good girl.’

  Laura beamed at the approval in the old lady’s voice and took her hand as they went into the back parlour where Julie’s bed was drawn close to the fire. She had fallen asleep again and Grandma said comfortably, ‘Never mind. Sleep heals. You can talk to her when she wakes up.’

  They stood looking at the sleeping child. The high temperature had flushed her cheeks and made her lips unnaturally red and her dark hair clung in damp curls round her face. Her eyelashes lay like dark fans on her cheeks and Laura said wistfully, ‘Julie’s very pretty, isn’t she, Grandma?’

  ‘Aye, she’s the model of your mummy’s mother, Lord rest her,’ Sally said. ‘She has her quiet ways too.’

  ‘Were you pretty, Grandma?’ Laura asked innocently, looking up at the old lady. Her skin reminded Laura of the tissue paper in which her mother wrapped her treasures but her blue eyes were still bright although surrounded by wrinkles.

  ‘I never thought so,’ Sally Ward said with a smile, ‘but Lawrie, your great-grandad – he said I was. I remember one time in a tearoom at Eastham, when we went for a day out. I was that nervous because it wasn’t like it is now with Jack as good as his master. Those days you had to know your place and keep to it but that never bothered Lawrie. He took me to this tearoom and they were all so posh I felt real nervous and out of place but Lawrie said, “You’re the prettiest girl in the room and I’m as proud as Punch.” After that I felt as good as any of them.’

  ‘I was named after him, wasn’t I?’ Laura said proudly. ‘What was he like, Grandma?’

  ‘Oh, he was a lovely lad. He had black curly hair and brown eyes and he was as happy as the day is long. But he had a feeling heart too and he grieved about the poor people round us, especially the children.’ She was silent for a moment, absently stroking Laura’s hand with her own, dry and brown-spotted with age, then she smiled.

  ‘He could never keep a penny in his pocket. Many and many a time he walked home from the other end of the city after a hard day’s work because he’d given away his fare and clothes! No matter how often I made him scarves or mittens or turned a coat from the market for him, he’d come home without them. “There was this poor little child, Sal,” he’d say or “There was this poor starving feller in rags” and the pence’d be out of his pocket and the clothes off his back on to theirs.’

  ‘He must have been very kind.’ Laura hesitated then said doubtfully, ‘Uncle Joe said Daddy was like him.’

  ‘Never,’ Sally Ward exclaimed. ‘Lawrie never said a hurtful word in his life. It’s into his head and out of his mouth with John without stopping to think.’ She seemed suddenly to notice Laura’s startled face and recollect where she was and she said more quietly, ‘I see what your Uncle Joe means though. Your daddy tries to carry on what Lawrie tried all his life to do, to make life better for ordinary people just as Lawrie wanted him to do. I suppose all this union work and protesting about the bomb and that is what’s needed now.’

  ‘Daddy’s always out doing that.’

  ‘Aye, your daddy’s a good man, child, but he hasn’t been blessed with Lawrie’s nature. Our old neighbour Mrs Malloy used to say that God broke the mould after he’d made Lawrie and she spoke true.’ She fell silent, smiling reminiscently, and Laura sat quietly beside her, thinking of all that her great-grandmother had said, particularly her exclamation about her father.

  Julie stirred and woke; Sally raised the child’s head and gave her a drink from a feeding cup. ‘You’ve had a nice sleep, love,’ she said. ‘Here’s Laura come to keep you company.’ Julie smiled at her sister and Laura began to tell her about a ladybird that she had seen in the garden.

  Presently Sally went out and later Anne came to sit with Julie and sent Laura to bed. The talk beside Julie’s bed was the start of a new closeness between Laura and her great-grandmother. The old lady loved to talk about the family and Laura heard a great deal about Sally’s father, Matthew Palin, and more about Lawrie Ward.

  Laura never tired of listening to these tales even when they were repeated and she was amazed that such an old lady could remember things so clearly. She said this to her great-grandmother but Sally only smiled and told her that these events were more real to her than what had happened last week.

  There was another reason why Sally talked so often to Laura. Her sharp eyes missed little of what happened in the various families and she saw that Laura felt that she was less important to her parents than her brother and sister. John made no secret of his love and pride in his son and Julie’s delicate health meant that Anne lavished attention on her. Sally could see that Laura felt left out. Anne and John were unaware of this so she tried to redress the balance.

  She could also see that easygoing Gerry and sweet-natured Julie would have an easy path through life but Laura’s temperament would make life hard for her. In the course of her long life Sally had known other people like Laura. Unable to compromise or to take the easy way, honest to a fault, they spoke the truth as they saw it and their bluntness often cost them friends although their honesty was rarely appreciated. Circumstances and childhood influences might soften such natures but the personality that they were born with could never really change.

  Sally could see that this had been the case with John. Surrounded by adoring parents and grandparents as a baby, his nature had seemed sunny while he was given his own way in everything but as he grew this changed. His true temperament showed itself in clashes with his father and with employers and in his determination to do what he b
elieved in, no matter what the consequences for himself and others.

  Although Sally loved her grandson she knew his character well and she recognised those traits in Laura even now. She could see trouble ahead between the headstrong child and her father and she used these talks to build a special relationship with Laura. Anything she could do, she reasoned, no matter how little, to make Laura feel loved and wanted might give the child confidence to face the trials her nature would inevitably bring.

  Chapter Two

  In April 1955 Winston Churchill had resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Anthony Eden, causing a general election to be called in May.

  John was a dedicated member of the Labour Party and, in addition to his union work and protest meetings about the atomic bomb, he was fully involved with the election campaign. He undertook to address meetings and deliver leaflets on behalf of the Labour candidate which meant that he was out every night, usually until quite late.

  Laura was pleased because her father’s absence meant that she had her mother to herself more often but the rest of the family felt that too much responsibility was left with Anne.

  Anne’s eldest brother Tony Fitzgerald lived nearby with his wife Helen and two daughters and he complained bitterly to his brother Joe. ‘I think Anne’s getting a raw deal,’ he said. ‘John’s never in and she’s got all the worry about Julie and this business of Gerry’s arm. She’s left on her own to get on with it while John’s out saving the world. It’s just not good enough.’

  ‘I agree,’ Joe said, ‘but Anne won’t hear a word about it. Sarah tried to talk to her about it but Anne just said that she agreed with what John was doing and she wished she could do more in that line herself.’

  ‘She’s very loyal,’ said Tony. ‘I feel like tackling John myself. Telling him he’s not being fair to Anne.’

  ‘Wouldn’t do any good,’ said Joe. ‘Sarah had a go at him too. Being his sister she could say more than we could and she really laid into him but she got nowhere. He’s always so sure he’s right.’

  Although the adults were careful not to mention their disapproval before the children Laura gradually became aware of it. Abnormally sensitive where her mother was concerned, she was quick to notice a raised eyebrow or a meaningful glance when Anne’s worries or John’s activities were mentioned.

  One day she overheard a snatch of conversation between her Aunt Sarah and Tony’s wife Helen. They had spoken about Julie’s health and Sarah said angrily, ‘It’s all such a worry for Anne and our John is never here with her. Always out campaigning for this, that and the other. Charity begins at home, I say.’

  ‘But he’s not out enjoying himself, Sarah,’ Helen protested in her quiet voice. ‘He truly believes in what he’s doing and so does Anne, doesn’t she?’

  ‘Yes, but it’s still wrong that she should be bearing the worry on her own,’ Sarah said stubbornly.

  They moved away without noticing Laura but she brooded on their words and redoubled her efforts to help her mother. Often she refused to play with Rosaleen so that she could stay with her mother until one day Anne said in exasperation, ‘Oh Laura, for heaven’s sake go and play. Don’t be for ever under my feet.’ Seeing Laura’s stricken face she hugged her impulsively. ‘I’m sorry, love,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have snapped at you when you’re trying to help.’ She took a favourite chocolate biscuit from a tin and gave it to Laura but the child was not consoled and went away to cry in private.

  Later, in bed, Laura decided that she would forgive her mother. It was her father’s fault really because he was always out and her mother’s lonely worries made her snap at her children, she told herself.

  Unknown to the rest of the family, John had already been taken to task by his grandmother, Sally Ward. He had been addressing a meeting near to his parents’ home and had called in to see them. He found that they were out but Grandma Ward, who lived with them, was at home.

  ‘They’ve gone to the pictures,’ she explained. ‘I’d already seen the film so I didn’t go. I’m glad you’ve called in, lad. I wanted a word with you.’

  ‘That sounds serious, Gran,’ John said, smiling. ‘What have I done?’

  ‘It’s more what you haven’t done,’ Sally said. ‘Anne’s got too much on her plate with all the worry of a sick child and back and forth to the hospital with Gerry. She could do with you at home but you’re never there, are you? It’s too much worry for her on her own.’

  ‘But I do worry about them too, Gran,’ John protested. ‘It’s just that everything’s happening at once. The general election and they’ve just announced plans to build twelve atomic power stations in the next ten years and Britain is going ahead with the hydrogen bomb. We’ve got to protest right now, Gran, and try to stop it. Anne feels the same way as I do about it.’

  ‘But first things first, lad. You’ve got to think of your family,’ Sally said.

  ‘But I am thinking of them, Gran,’ said John. ‘What sort of a world will they grow up in if we don’t fight these things? It’d be worse than anything Hitler could have done to us.’

  ‘But things are getting better for ordinary people, John. No one’s starving and you never see a barefoot child. Your grandad would be made up, I wish he’d lived to see it.’

  ‘Yes, and we could lose it all just as quickly,’ John said grimly. ‘Go back to the way it was before the war. Men standing at the dock gates from four in the morning trying to get taken on or running like lunatics from one gate to another for half a day’s work. I remember an old docker saying to me, “It’s a terrible thing, lad, to hear your kids crying with hunger and not be able to do nothing for them. It takes away your manhood.” Now I’ve got kids myself I understand how he felt. I swear I’m not going to let those days come back, Gran.’

  ‘But they won’t, lad, surely to God. People wouldn’t let it happen.’

  ‘They would, Gran. Already fellows are saying they don’t need the union. They’re too thick to see that it’s only the union that keeps them from sliding back. It’s still them and us. You know what they say. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” And it’s even more important to fight the nuclear threat. To ban the bomb.’

  ‘Yes, but don’t neglect your family to do it, John,’ Sally said.

  ‘I don’t neglect them,’ John cried angrily. ‘All that I’m doing is for them. To make a safer world for them and a better world for them to grow up in. And I work hard and provide a good home and all they need in food and clothes. You can’t say I neglect them, Gran.’

  A lock of dark hair had fallen over his thin, flushed face and he shook it back impatiently but Sally only said calmly, ‘Sit down, sit down, lad.’ When he sat down beside her she said gently, ‘I don’t want to fall out with you, lad. I know you mean well but I worry about Anne. You know I love the bones of that girl.’

  ‘I know, Gran. But she’s not on her own. Our Sarah and Helen are always at our house and you and Mum help her too. And you know what the Fitzgeralds are like. They wouldn’t let the wind blow on Anne. Joe and Tony are there for anything she needs doing.’

  ‘But they’ve got their own families to look after,’ Sally pointed out. ‘Your children are your responsibility, John, and you know Anne’s still grieving for her dad.’

  John took her hand. ‘Honestly, Gran, you don’t need to worry,’ he said. ‘If Anne was really on her own I’d stay in but I know she’s not. And she agrees with me about these things. She wants me to go to meetings and on marches and deputations. If it wasn’t for the kids she’d come with me. I’m always there at night with her anyway and we talk about these things and the worries about the children.’

  Sally smiled ruefully. ‘Well, I’ve always said no one should interfere between husband and wife and here I am breaking my own rule. It’s true, John, nobody knows what goes on in a marriage but the people themselves. I should have kept my mouth shut. No offence meant, lad.’

  ‘None taken, Gran. I know you only spoke out of concern
for Anne and for my own good. Our Sarah tried to put her oar in but I soon told her where she got off. It’s different with you.’

  ‘But Sarah only spoke because she’s fond of Anne, John. Your wife’s a very loveable girl, you know.’ She smiled and John grinned back at her.

  ‘That’s something we can agree on,’ he said. ‘Should I put the kettle on?’

  ‘Good God, yes, and I’ll get you something to eat, lad. Your stomach must think your throat’s cut.’

  Sally bustled about preparing supper and as soon as it was eaten John left. ‘If Anne wants to know where I’ve been I’ll say you kept me,’ he said with a grin and she pushed him out of the door.

  Later John told Anne about his conversation with his grandmother. ‘Do you mind me being out so much, love?’ he asked.

  ‘Not a bit,’ Anne assured him, then she looked sideways at him and a dimple appeared in her cheek as she laughed. ‘Would it make any difference if I did?’ she asked.

  John looked up startled, and she flicked her fingers across his head. ‘Idiot,’ she said. ‘Of course I don’t mind. I only wish I could be out with you.’

  ‘Only a week now until the election and things should be easier then. We’ll be able to get out to the pictures or something.’

  Anne nodded. ‘Yes. The weather should be better soon and Julie won’t be taking cold so easily. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave her during the bad weather while her chest was so bad but once she gets over this spell we’ll be able to go out.’

  Sally gave no details of her talk with John but through Sarah she let it be known that there was no need to worry about Anne because she approved of John’s activities and was quite happy. The family had great faith in Grandma’s judgement and was quite satisfied.

  ‘I think we’ve been fussing for nothing,’ Sarah told Joe. ‘Grandma says everything’s all right and Rosaleen was talking the other day about Anne singing about the house.’

  ‘She always did,’ Joe said with a smile. ‘Yet she would never sing at parties.’