Annie Groves - The District Nurses of Victory Walk

‘Must be why I’m so good at it now,’ said Mattie cheekily, rolling her eyes. She’d heard it all before.

Kathleen sat down in the rocking chair with a sigh. She was tired out by the worries of the day and because Brian had kept her awake for much of the night, but it was comforting to hear Mattie and her mother gently bickering. After a few moments she felt herself nodding off and, although she fought to stop it, the warmth of the room soon had her falling into a light doze. That came to an abrupt end when the front door banged and loud voices filled the air. Mattie’s brothers were home.

Kathleen jolted upright, shaking her head to clear it, as Joe and Harry strode into the kitchen. Neither was surprised to see her there. Harry flung his jacket at a stool beside the back door, but his mother caught him.

‘You just put that back in the hallway where it belongs, Harry Banham,’ she scolded. ‘A place for everything and everything in its place – how else are we going to manage, can you tell me that? If Joe can remember then I don’t see why you can’t as well.’

Harry rolled his eyes but went to do as he was asked. ‘Won’t do any harm, it’s only a jacket,’ he protested, his voice echoing back down the hall.

‘It’s cluttering up my kitchen, that’s what it’s doing. If we all did that there’d be no room to cook.’ His mother wasn’t going to let him get away with anything. Harry was always trying his luck, trying to wind her around his little finger, but she’d had years of practice at resisting his easy charm.

Joe snorted, settling himself down at the well-scrubbed old wooden table, fishing the evening paper out of his back pocket. ‘Hello, Kathleen. Brought little Brian round to see Gillian, have you?’

‘Yes, they’re both in the cot,’ Kathleen began, before Harry burst back in and made his way over to that corner, making eager noises.

‘How are my two best playmates?’ he said in a singsong voice, and Kathleen looked up in alarm.

Mattie saw and intercepted her brother. ‘Leave them to sleep, Harry,’ she said firmly. ‘Brian’s been up half the night and given Kath the runaround – all because he caught your cold. Poor little mite can’t fight it off like you can. He needs his sleep.’

Harry slunk away, chastened but not for long. ‘I’ll teach him to fight once he’s big enough though. I’ll take him down the ring when he can walk, Kath, see if he likes it. It’d be the making of him.’

Kathleen shook her head. ‘I don’t know if I hold with all that boxing, Harry. I know you’re good at it but it always looks awful rough.’

Harry strutted across his mother’s rag rug. ‘It’ll turn him into a real man, Kath. Go on, say you’ll let him try.’

‘Plenty of time yet,’ said Flo, wiping her hands on her faded apron. ‘Give the little fellow a chance to make up his own mind, and don’t be bothering Kathleen about it all the time.’

‘And look what it’s done to you,’ Mattie added. ‘Knocked what little sense you ever had clean out of your head.’

Harry folded his arms. ‘You won’t say that when I bring home the shield. I’ll have all the big promoters after me once I start winning big time. It won’t be long now, then you’ll have to fight your way to your own front door, the crowds’ll be out there shouting for me to sign their autograph books.’

Mattie shook her head. ‘Says you. That’ll be the day. More likely someone’ll bust your nose, then you’ll be all upset that your beauty’s ruined.’

Harry couldn’t help but turn to the mirror over the mantelpiece to check his face. He was good-looking and he knew it, with oak-brown hair that was thick enough to be the envy of all the girls he knew – and he knew a lot. So far, despite having been a keen amateur boxer for several years, his looks hadn’t been ruined and he’d kept his unmarked profile. ‘You’re just jealous,’ he said, ruffling Mattie’s hair because he knew it annoyed her.

‘Gerroff,’ she protested, swiping at him.

Joe cleared his throat, well used to breaking up arguments between his two younger siblings. ‘Give it a rest, you two. Let me read the paper in peace.’ He turned his attention back to the headlines, even though they didn’t make for cheerful reading.

‘Kath had the nurse round to see Brian today, you’d made him so poorly,’ Mattie said, goading her brother once more.

Harry’s face fell. ‘Really, Kath? Was he that bad? I’m sorry, I didn’t realise. You know I’d never do that deliberately.’

Kath nodded. ‘I know. He’s just got a bit of a cold, that’s probably all it is, but he was so hot and I couldn’t get him to settle. Anyway, the nurse was very kind. I think she’s new, I haven’t seen her before.’

‘There, see, Mattie, if you’d stayed on at school like your teacher wanted you to, you could have been a nurse too,’ said Harry.

Mattie tossed her head, and the remaining hair in her bun fell out and tumbled to her shoulders. ‘Leave it out, Harry. You know what it’s like as well as I do. They don’t let you do nothing in those nurses’ homes, it’s worse than being in school. I’d never have been able to marry my Lennie and then we wouldn’t have Gillian, and then you’d be sorry.’

Harry shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. I reckon they’re all hoity-toity anyway.’

Kathleen felt obliged to defend Alice. ‘This one wasn’t. She didn’t speak all posh like some of them. She wasn’t that much older than me neither. She was lovely and kind to Brian and she made me a cup of tea. I felt better for seeing her and that’s the truth.’

Flo put a gentle hand on the young woman’s shoulder. ‘Don’t you let that Harry wind you up. I’m glad the nurse could help. That’s what we pay into the provident scheme for, after all.’

Kathleen’s face flushed red in embarrassment, knowing she couldn’t afford to be part of the scheme, but Mattie came to her rescue. ‘Kath’s right, this one wasn’t hoity-toity. She spoke normal – she’s not from round here though. Anyway, that didn’t matter. If Gillian gets taken poorly I’m going to ask for her specially.’

‘I don’t think they let you do that,’ warned Joe from behind his paper with its picture of Neville Chamberlain on the front.

‘Well, they might. If they do I’m going to tell them I want Alice Lake,’ said Mattie firmly. ‘You can say what you like, Joe. I’m going to try, but touch wood I don’t have to.’

Harry immediately touched his sister’s head, and was swiped away once more.

Joe sighed and folded the paper in half, laying it on the table. ‘I don’t like the sound of this,’ he said quietly, tapping one of the articles. ‘They’re gearing up for something big, that’s what it feels like.’

‘Oh, don’t be like that, Joe,’ said Mattie. ‘It’s all a big fuss over nothing, I bet.’

Joe shook his head, and his mother caught his expression. Normally she’d be the first to encourage everyone to look on the bright side, but her eldest’s face gave her pause. She was increasingly coming to respect his views. Joe was the one who’d buckled down to his lessons and got a scholarship to the technical college, a rare achievement for a boy from Jeeves Street. He knew what he was talking about. Mattie could have done well at school if she hadn’t had boys on the brain, and Harry had only ever shown interest in boxing. But her Joe – she was quietly extremely proud of her firstborn. He was going to make something of his life – if this threat of war didn’t get in the way.

Now she busied herself stacking plates beside the stove. Worrying about the future wouldn’t change it. What mattered to her were the people in this room right now – her children and the friend who was almost a member of the family, along with the precious babies. Only one person was missing, and footsteps outside the back door heralded his arrival.