Ruby's War (14 page)

‘I played in high school.'

‘It's up to us to show them there's no difference, black or white,' Bo said.

‘Let's hope we get the chance, soldier. What we really want is to change the way things are back home. After this war, we need to make sure that the black man should be respected in his own country.'

On Wednesday the long spell of sharp autumn days came to an end, and for the rest of the week the kitchen, scullery and living room were full of damp clothes. Mrs Grey had a chill and she'd cancelled the afternoon fundraising tea. None of the GIs called, and the evenings were filled with Jenny and Granddad snoring and the clatter of the sewing machine in Sadie's room.

On Friday some of the washing was still too damp to iron, and by late morning it was clear that the rain had set in for the day. Ruby built up the fire, hanging the still-wet shirts over the fireguard, and then began cutting up the potatoes for the hotpot. It was when she was looking for the ointment, after cutting her finger on the knife, that she found an old eyepatch and remembered Mrs Prendergast's lecture about remodelling hats. In it, she'd used an old eyepatch of her husband's to show how – with the help of stiffened buckram, velvet and reused feathers – it was possible to make a very stylish hat.

The eyepatch Ruby had found was pink, but she was determined not to let that put her off. In Sadie's room, she rescued scraps of parachute silk, bits of the lilac fabric left over from Lou's costume and a remnant of old net curtain, donated by a neighbour, that had been used to recover a hat for Lou to wear. Ruby got to work, cutting, stitching and sticking. Getting the veil to hang just right, tucking and easing the fabric in place, fixing the tiny bows of silk to cover the joins between the net and the eyepatch, were the hardest parts, and by the time she had finished Sadie and Jenny were almost due home.

‘You're looking pleased with yourself,' Jenny said, eyeing the washing that Ruby had hastily moved into the kitchen. ‘That fire's a bit low. You'd best put that hotpot in the oven, if them potatoes are ever going to brown.'

After tea, Ruby went to her room, pinned up her hair and slipped the thin elastic into place.

‘Close your eyes,' she shouted. ‘You too, Granddad.'

‘Whose is it?' Sadie asked, as Ruby paraded in front of them. ‘Was it your …?'

‘I made it,' she said. ‘It was Mrs Prendergast's talk that gave me the idea. It's an eyepatch. I found it in the drawer.'

‘Blimey,' Jenny said and got up to admire the confection. ‘It just might work.'

‘If I have my hair pinned up,' Sadie said, taking the hat from her and perching it on her own head. ‘It's almost too nice. I don't want to outdo the bride, do I? Lou's going to be really pleased. She's right clever, isn't she, Ma?'

‘She is, unless we need an eyepatch.'

Sadie giggled, turned her head and lifted up her hair to admire the effect. ‘Oh go on, Ma,' she said. ‘That thing must have been in there for ages.'

On the day before the wedding a thick fog clogged the streets. It clung to Ruby's clothes and made the curls she'd carefully teased in place around her face droop and turn into a damp frizz. In the silent lane, the air tasted of smoke and coal dust. Even at midday, women were bumping into each other's baskets, and as she walked through the village to Lou's house, Ruby could see torches waving in the gloom.

She spent most of the day at Lou's, helping her mother to cook and to clean the neat, little house. By early afternoon the kitchen table and the pantry were full of small sponge cakes, sitting in golden rows on wire trays, waiting for a topping of mock cream or a dab of precious icing. Mrs Halliwell, an anxious red-faced widow, took in the contents of the table and pantry shelves, including the dark fruit cake and the trifle.

‘It looks a poor show,' she said. ‘My neighbour's coming to help with the sandwiches in the morning, but I'll have
to be up by five to get it all finished before the wedding. We'll all need to be up, if everybody is to be ready on time. Then, I suppose we'll all be taking Communion, so there's no need to make breakfast. I was thinking we could have fish and chips for tea tonight. Our Lou said to eat them out of the papers to save washing-up. Though I don't like to, really, but I need the plates for some of the food tomorrow, but then I'm worried what Frank's people will think. Then they might be late with this fog, and you can't keep chips and fish warm.'

Ruby was just about to offer to stretch out the rabbit meat she was planning to use for tea, when Granddad hurried down the Halliwells' backyard and knocked at the kitchen door.

‘It's really bad down the line,' he said, wiping his feet and taking off his cap. ‘The trains are going to be delayed. Don't know what time Frank and his folk will arrive. Is Lou here?'

‘No,' Mrs Halliwell said, her pale eyes filling with tears. ‘Her and Sadie were on early shifts, and then they were going to pick up the cardboard cake we've hired from the shop. I don't know what's keeping them.'

‘Don't worry. Frank's not going to miss his own wedding. If he can dodge the U-boats, he can find his way here in the fog. Ruby, on your way back, go and tell Nellie that Frank's best man's going to be late.'

‘I don't know why she couldn't have married a local boy,' Nellie Lathom said, when Ruby knocked on her front door. ‘He's a very nice-looking lad, but we don't know the family.'

Ruby was about to ask if she could take Bess home with her for the rest of the afternoon, but Nellie, who was
a reluctant host to Charlie, Frank's best man, closed the front door. There was no sign of the hens in the garden at the cottage, and when she opened the back door, the kitchen felt cold and damp. As she was taking off her coat, she heard voices coming from above her head. Her heart began to thump. Ruby crept to the bottom of the stairs. She heard someone crying and a floorboard creaked. Silently, she began to climb up, hesitating on each step, her heart drumming.

‘Don't worry, love,' she heard Sadie whisper. ‘We'll sort it out. Let's look in that suitcase. Drag it from under the bed. There's got to be something in there we can use.'

Lou's voice sounded thick with tears. ‘We've no time to do it,' she said. ‘It won't dry in time.'

Ruby edged up on to the next step. Above her, she heard the floorboards creak again and then a scraping as something was pulled across the floor. The door to Sadie's room was closed, but when she got to the landing, she could see that her own room was open. Lou and Sadie were kneeling in front of her mother's suitcase. Pearl's dresses spilt out around them, and Sadie had a pair of scissors in her hand.

‘There's plenty of things in here we can use,' she said.

‘No!' Ruby shouted, pushing the two women aside and snatching up a beaded dress. ‘No, there aren't,' she said, holding the dress close.

‘We're looking for something to cover the marks,' Sadie said, pointing to the mock wedding cake on Ruby's bed and the greasy brown stains across the side of the bottom tier.

‘They're not spare. No.'

‘We've had a go at painting it with Henry's whitewash.'

Lou sat back on her heels and rubbed her tear-stained face. ‘It won't dry in time,' she said.

‘No.'

Sadie picked up a white cocktail dress edged with a border of sequins. ‘We thought we could use these.'

‘No.'

‘We can stick—'

‘No. Paint it. It will dry.'

Sadie got up, holding the dress in one hand and the scissors in the other. ‘It won't, love,' she said. ‘We can't paint it all. It won't dry.'

‘It will. Get off,' Ruby said, snatching at the dress.

‘Ruby, love.'

‘I won't let you,' she shouted, wrapping her arms around Pearl's precious clothes. ‘Leave them alone.'

Banging the door shut behind them, they left her sitting on the floor hugging Pearl's precious dresses. Later, Ruby got up and stood in the centre of the room, looking out at the grey afternoon, with nowhere to run, nowhere to go, and when she heard unfamiliar footsteps on the stairs, her stomach twitched like a trapped fish.

‘Ruby, you in there?' Con had to bend his head to get through the doorway.

‘We've come for the cake,' he said, nodding towards the bed.

The bottom of the cake was square. Under the greasy brown stain the cardboard had become wavy. Lou was right: the paint hadn't dried.

‘They're all at Lou's. You okay?'

‘They wanted the beads …'

‘That's a real pretty dress,' Wes said, following Con into the room.

‘It was my mum's. It was one of the dresses she wore when she sang … The night she died … she wore her black one. If she'd worn this …'

‘You're shivering,' Con said, taking off his battledress tunic. ‘Here, put this on.'

Ruby allowed him to put her thin arms inside the jacket and stood silently in the centre of the tiny room, the gorgeous dresses glittering around her. Con looked helplessly at Wes, hoping he would know what to do; after all, Wes had a sister.

‘I'm going downstairs to make us a fire,' Wes said. ‘It's pretty cold in here.'

Con sat on the bed and picked up the cake. The discoloured white paper was lifting away from the cardboard.

‘They've got some white powder Lou's mom takes for her stomach. They're gonna make it into a white paste … You want help folding this stuff?'

Ruby ran her finger over the sequins, lifting them up, separating them with her fingernail. They were as delicate as fish scales.

‘When my grandma died, my mom wouldn't let anyone touch her things. I got her book with me. It was her favourite, and I'd punch any guy who touched it. It's Shakespeare,
Twelfth Night,
so I guess there's not much danger of that. I don't think old Bo's gonna fight me for it.'

Ruby smiled. ‘They're mine … You see … They were just taking them, cutting them off.'

‘Can they go back on?'

‘I'll want them back. If they put them on the cake, I'll …'

‘You do what you want. You decide.'

‘They should have asked.'

‘I know.'

‘The fire's going good,' Wes said from the door. ‘You want somethin' to eat?'

‘Jenny,' Ruby said. ‘I've not made her any tea.'

‘We'll get fish 'n' chips for us all. Come on, it's real cold up here. Come and get warm.'

When they followed Wes down the stairs, Nellie was waiting in the kitchen.

‘I've come to see if there's any news,' she said. ‘That young man's not arrived. The pie I've made is dried up. I've had to give it to the dog.'

‘They're due on the next train, Henry says. I'm going for some fish 'n' chips. We'll get enough for him and you, ma'am,' Wes said. ‘Did I tell you, Ruby? We've got some tinned apricots for the party. Lou's mom was real pleased.'

‘Well, in that case, I'll not disturb you,' Nellie said. ‘Your granddad's still at work, I suppose, Ruby?'

When Wes left, they worked steadily. As Ruby snipped the sequins, Con used a pinhead to put the tiniest spot of Granddad's glue on each one. Ruby watched him. She liked the way he carefully pressed each silver disc on to the wobbly surface of the damp cardboard.

By the time Sadie got back to the cottage, Ruby was in bed and the cake, sparkling with its new frosting of sequins, was standing in the middle of the table.

‘Tell you what,' Sadie said, as she climbed into bed next to Ruby. ‘Frank's brother is a funny little kid. Well, not little. In fact, he's big for fourteen.'

Ruby felt Sadie's weight next to her and the warmth of her breath on her neck in the darkness.

‘Lou says thanks,' she whispered. ‘She's … Well, thanks.'

On the morning of Lou's wedding, the weather was damp and sulky. There was barely enough grey daylight in the church to allow the congregation to appreciate Lou's lilac suit or Sadie's jaunty new hat. Ruby shivered. The cold was making her feel hungry. At Everdeane they didn't go to church, and on Mondays, when the teacher asked the class to put up their hands if they'd attended Mass, she'd always crossed her fingers and put up her hand along with the rest of the children.

Once Lou had reached the altar, Ruby couldn't see her. She was sitting in the second bench next to Arthur, Frank's younger brother, who was wearing his navy school mac and school scarf. He was dark like Frank, but not so handsome. The rest of his family was in the front row. His mother, Grace, who was small and thin, had started crying as soon as the service began. His father, Jacky, looked like Frank and wore the same uniform, but he was fatter and his face was red. Next to them was his sister, Lydia, with her husband and two little girls.

Lou's mother had decided that they must have a nuptial Mass, and now the smell of incense was beginning to make Ruby feel sick. She was wearing Sadie's red coat and felt
in the pocket for a hankie; it smelt of Sadie's perfume. She hadn't wanted to wear the coat, because the colour clashed with her hair. She'd planned to wear a scarf over her auburn curls, but earlier that morning when everyone was getting ready, Jenny had brought her own red hat downstairs and insisted that she put it on. Then Sadie said she could wear Jenny's black funeral hat instead, with a blue hair ribbon tacked over the black silk. She'd worked quickly to fix the light-blue ribbon in place, and by the time everyone else was ready to leave the hat was finished, but Jenny was still cross.

When they'd arrived at the church, together with Nellie and Charlie, Bo and some other soldiers were waiting outside. During the service, the whole choir had sung ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd' and everyone joined in. Now Frank and Lou were in the sacristy signing the register, and Bo and the other soldiers were singing ‘Deep River'. It was hard to tell which voice was Bo's, but on the high notes the rich sound rippled, lifting, soaring over their heads, and Frank's mother started crying again.