When the Bough Breaks (13 page)

‘Well, as you can see, I'm not in a fit state for visitors.'

‘A far cry from the austere lady who confronted me yesterday.'

She dumped the offering from her shovel into the huge bucket she used for the purpose. Her work attire was very different from her ‘outfit', but she meant to show him that yesterday's ‘austere lady' was still there below the surface.

‘You'll think me very unwelcoming, but I honestly can't spare the time.'

‘You have a large market garden. Is recruitment making any difference to your workforce?'

She felt he asked her for a purpose, although what business it was of his she couldn't imagine

‘Dennis, my husband, used to do most of the outside work with just two full-time helpers from the village; but September saw the end of all that. They were all in the Terriers so as soon as war was declared Westways had to fall back on me. I've been lucky and have two local girls to help.' Working with a steady rhythm she shovelled as she talked. ‘They only left school in the summer, so they haven't a lot of brawn, but they make up for that with enthusiasm. They work like slaves no matter what the sky chucks at us. I think they're just hoping the war goes on long enough for them to be able to join the services. But I fear they will be tempted away long before that. You may have seen the large advert in the
Deremouth News
: workers wanted at the expanded nuts and bolts factory in town. The money will be better than I pay and they will be in the dry. I wouldn't blame them.'

She was conscious that he was giving her a hundred percent of his attention.

‘If – and I repeat
if –
I were able to interest any of my sixth formers in volunteering to help at the weekends, could you use them?'

‘Seventeen- and eighteen-year-old lads! You ask if I could use them! They would be a gift from heaven. But with important exams coming up, I can't imagine they'd be interested. Wages don't amount to enough to tempt boys coming from homes where parents can afford boarding school fees.' She knew she was being ungracious – just as she knew the reason for it was her clown-like garb suitable to nothing better than the job she was doing

‘I hadn't envisaged a wage. Of course I agree with you about their forthcoming examinations, but a few hours of outdoor labour could do them nothing but good.' Then, with that sudden and unexpected smile she had seen the previous day, he continued, ‘This would be something they could do for the war effort. If they're worth their salt, boys of that age have high ideals; add to that their wish to be seen as men already. I can promise you nothing, but leave it with me, Mrs Hawthorne. When I take assembly tomorrow morning I shall endeavour to stir their enthusiasm. I doubt if any of them know much about growing vegetables, but I take it you would expect to give them clear instructions?' Despite the smile there was something old fashioned, even prim, in his manner. So his next remark surprised her even more than what he had suggested. ‘I fear I am not conversant with the ways of you country folk but there are some jobs that I hate to see a woman doing.' He accompanied his words with a nod in the direction of the pigsty and the overloaded bucket.

She laughed outright, her mood suddenly and inexplicably lifted. ‘I'm a hardened case. But just look at me! All I'm fit for at the end of this job is plunging into the bath. I'm almost at the end of the road with Horatio here; another fortnight he'll have departed this life and be what Jess refers to as bacon and chops. I'm not replacing him. Pig rearing is one job too many with Den away.'

‘At least let me carry that heavy pail to where you dispose of the contents.'

‘Truly I can manage. As long as we've kept a pig it has been my job to look after it.'

‘I insist. Bring it out of the sty – it may be a sign of cowardice but I draw the line at trespassing uninvited into friend Horatio's domain – then let me carry it.'

What a strange man he was, A townsman indeed, for even on a Sunday morning he was dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and sober grey and blue tie. His shoes were polished to such a shine that Kathie believed any mud would slide straight off them. Looking down at her own attire and pig-stained boots, she felt even more of a mess than usual. However, she obeyed his instructions. Walking empty-handed ahead of him she found herself enjoying the unfamiliar feeling of feminine frailty. Even so, she resented what she suspected was a criticism of Dennis in this stranger's inference. She and Dennis were partners. Her mouth softened into a smile as she thought of him.

On that first of Oliver's regular visits he had permission to stay until teatime, but Bruce insisted that in future he must return to school for his midday meal. Already this new war was making its mark and it was recognized that hospitality had to be more measured than pre-September. So autumn progressed: Beth became ever more one of the family and the magic of Westways rubbed off on Oliver just as Kathie had hoped.

‘You know what, Mum?' Jess said as the two girls were jostling for place at the kitchen sink to wash their hands before coming to the table at lunchtime one Sunday in November. ‘Well, two things. I'll tell you. Jack Dench from the next class up at school was on the common this morning with two squidgy little puppies and their mother – the dogs' mother I mean, not Jack's. And do you know, it's awful what's going to happen. One of the puppies has been found a home but the other one is going to be drowned when his dad – Jack's dad I mean – when he has his next day off from the factory where he works. Jack says they do it when the cat has kittens too; his dad ties them up in a sack with a brick in it then throws them in the river. Mum, listen Mum, please,
please,
say yes Mum. Can we have him? He's a little boy puppy and he is like a beautiful cuddly bundle of fur just the colour of fudge. We could call him Fudge, Mum. Please. Beth and me've both got birthdays soon. We could share him. Just think of him all by himself with a brick in the sack . . .
please
Mum.'

It would have taken a hard heart to turn the request down without even considering it, and a hard heart had never been part of Kathie's nature. Even so, hadn't she enough to do without adding an unhouse-trained dog to her burden?

‘We've got such a lot to do, Jess. He'd have to be taught to be clean in the house; then he'd have to be taken for walks.'

‘We'd do all that, Mum. Beth and me. Wouldn't we, Beth?'

‘Honest we would, Auntie Kathie,' Beth said solemnly.

‘I'll have a word with your father when he next phones.' And that was as far as Kathie would promise. But fate played into the hands of the children when, on his way back to Westways that afternoon, Oliver met Jack taking the two mongrel puppies for a walk. That's how it was that when the girls heard the click of the garden gate they ran to the small front garden to find not only Oliver there but also Jack and the puppies.

‘Look Mum. Do come out and just look.' Did Jess really think that Kathie would be able to ‘just look' – two tiny dogs, one with a home to go to and the other with the prospect of sharing a sack with a brick. Fudge endeared himself to her just as he had to the girls.

‘Dad called at the pet shop in Deremouth, but the man there said that they couldn't sell the dogs they already had – because of the war, he said. People aren't spending and anyway they were frightened about having to feed them. In the shop they were charging five shillings for theirs. Dad's off tomorrow, so I expect this will be this one's last walk. Bonzo, he's the one with the white on his face, he's not going to his new home for another week or two but Dad says if they have to be drowned you want to get on with it when they're young.'

Kathie picked up the furry bundle that was Fudge and was rewarded by having her face licked.

‘We could save him, Mum. I promise Beth and I would look after him, we'd see he had water and take him to the common.'

‘We could brush him too,' Beth put in for good measure.

‘Do you think Dad will phone this evening? You said you'd ask him. You can't let Fudge be killed, Mum.' She didn't actually know the expression ‘below the belt'.

‘If I give you five shillings, Jack, will you give it to your father? And will you throw in his lead?'

So the deal was done. Probably Jessie's reminder that if she didn't say ‘yes' she would be as good as signing Fudge's death warrant had something to do with her decision; or was it that she expected a call from Dennis that evening and, when she kept her promise and asked him, she knew what his answer would be. It was wiser to present Fudge as a fait accompli
.

When Jack and Bonzo had gone, Jess, Beth, Oliver and Fudge walked the entire length of the lane twice, taking turns in holding Fudge's lead. Kathie told herself she must be crazy; yet when the little party returned and the puppy strained at his lead to get to her, his tail trembling with excitement, she scooped him up into her arms. He seemed to know she was his saviour.

Just as she had anticipated, Den was not pleased.

‘Kathie, I don't understand you. When I was home that land took the chaps and me all our time to keep as it should be kept. Now there's just you and those two chits of girls you were foolhardy enough to waste good money employing, yet you seem intent on spending your time caring for other people's kids and animals.'

‘Fudge isn't other people's anything; he's ours. You'll love him, Den. You won't be able to stop yourself.'

‘Can't stand little yappers. If you must have a dog why couldn't you have got a Labrador – something big and sensible? But we didn't want a dog. In fact it's a liability in an establishment where we grow crops for sale.'

That thought had already occurred to her so she was ready with her answer.

‘I'm putting fencing so that he won't be able to get onto the growing area.'

‘And I suppose that won't cost money we can't afford.' She heard the sarcasm in his voice.

‘Oh Den, don't be a grouch. If you'd been here and heard the way Jess pleaded you would have done just the same. And what sort of an example would it have been if I'd said “no” when the alternative was that he was going to be put in the river tomorrow. You wouldn't have let that happen; you're a bigger softie than I am.'

‘Humph.' And she knew from the tone of his grunt that his mood was softening. ‘It's just that I worry about the gardens. It's not women's work. I ought to be there.'

‘What rubbish the man talks. Den—'

‘Not something else you have to confess?'

‘Nothing wicked – nothing you don't know, I expect – just, Den, I miss you.'

‘Me too, Kathie. I miss you more than I thought possible. Bloody war.'

So Fudge was forgotten. Den liked to think of Westways just as he had left it and had no wish to let either an unknown child or an untrained puppy spoil the image.

December meant birthdays for both the girls, Beth on the 7th and Jess three days later on the 10th. So a few days beforehand Kathie left Sarah and Sally picking sprouts and set off to Deremouth to buy their surprise presents. With no male assistance she and the girls – with the help of Jess and Beth – had erected the netting fence so, with the front gate firmly closed, Fudge had been left with the run of the garden where the children usually played.

Kathie meant to catch the five past two bus from opposite the post office. That would get her to Deremouth at about half past and give her time to go to do her shopping before catching the three fifteen bus home.

Five minutes past two, six minutes past two, seven . . . it was coming up to ten minutes past the hour when a car drew up by the bus stop.

‘Mrs Hawthorne, I'm on my way to Deremouth. May I give you a lift?' Bruce Meredith offered, leaning to open the passenger door.

‘I really am grateful. The buses are usually so punctual, but I was here long before time so I know I didn't miss it.' Kathie got in and slammed the door shut. ‘I daren't take the van or the petrol won't last out for deliveries.'

‘And this will be my last trip for a while. I get a very limited ration, simply for school use. So let's enjoy the luxury of our own transport. Have you a lot to do in town? I have an appointment at the bank, but I shan't be there many minutes. Can I wait and bring you home?'

‘That would be wonderful. You see, Jessie and Beth don't know about the trip and I want to be home and get my shopping hidden away before they get in from school. It's all a big secret. They're both of them coming up to six.'

‘So I understand. You are working wonders on young Oliver. I had a long chat with him on Sunday when he came back from you; the difference in the child is quite remarkable. He tells me you have a puppy. You don't believe in making life easy for yourself, do you,' he added with a laugh.

Memories crowded back to Kathie; she seemed to hear Dennis's voice. ‘I had a dog when I was a child,' she said. ‘I know just what it means.'

‘I do agree with you. And perhaps because Jess and the other one know you have taken on so much more with your husband away, they will want to be responsible for the pup. I don't imagine that will let you off the hook, but it will be good for them. Oliver tells me the other child, the little fair one, is an evacuee. They get on well?'

And so the ride to Deremouth passed with amiable even if superficial chat. When he drew up outside the toyshop he came around the front of the car to open her door.

‘I'll be no more than five minutes in the bank. How would it be if whichever of us is first goes to the tea shop across the road and orders – well, I leave it to you to decide if you get there before I do. A pot of tea, scones, cakes, whatever you fancy – or should I say, whatever they can offer. If we're a little later than you anticipated I could always take your shopping home with me and bring it down to Westways when they're at school tomorrow.'