Kitty Neale - Lost & Found

‘What about your mother? Does she know?’

‘Look, I don’t know what all this is about, but you’d better come in.’

Lily followed Alec Pugh to the large, spacious kitchen at the back of the house to see his mother sitting in a fireside chair. ‘Mavis hasn’t come home yet. What time did she leave here?’ she asked abruptly.

‘Oh, she left a long time ago, at around ten to six.’

‘Did she say where she was going?’

‘No, but I presumed home. What is it, Mrs Jackson? Is Mavis in some sort of trouble?’

Lily wasn’t about to wash her dirty laundry in front of this stuck-up, uppity woman, or her son who was looking at her as if she was something that the cat had dragged in. She floundered for a lie. ‘No, of course she isn’t in trouble. It’s just that it’s not like Mavis to stay out this late. I know she’s worried about my mother so I’ll try there.’

‘I must say she seemed upset about something when she arrived. Is your mother unwell?’

‘She ain’t been herself lately. Anyway, sorry to trouble you,’ Lily said.

‘It’s no problem, Mrs Jackson. Oh, and I must tell you that I’m pleased with Mavis. She worked really well today.’

Lily had to fight to hold back a scowl. Edith Pugh might be pleased with Mavis, but she certainly wasn’t. As she was shown out, another thought struck Lily, her anger returning in force. If Edith Pugh found out what Mavis had been up to, she’d get rid of the girl like a shot. Mavis would lose the job, any earnings, and worse, she doubted anyone locally would ever employ her. Wait till I get my hands on her, Lily thought, so incensed that she hardly noticed Alec Pugh’s curt goodbye before he closed the door firmly behind her.

‘Mavis, you’ll have to go home. Your mum will be worried sick.’

‘I can’t, Gran. I just can’t.’

‘Don’t be silly. It can’t be that bad. Come on, tell me why you’re too frightened to face your mother.’

‘No, no, I can’t.’

Doris sighed. Since Mavis had turned up she’d tried and tried to get to the bottom of things, but had failed. The poor girl looked so desolate, so unhappy that she’d even refused to eat the stew that Lily had brought round earlier. There must be something seriously wrong for Mavis to turn down food, but Doris was at a loss to know what to do. If she forced Mavis to leave, there was no guarantee that she’d go home, and, now that it was dark outside, the last thing she wanted was for Mavis to be walking the streets. ‘Mavis, please, talk to me. If you’re in some kind of trouble maybe I can help.’

‘You’ll be disgusted. You’ll hate me too.’

Doris felt a jolt of horror, her heart beginning to race. Oh, no! No! Surely the girl wasn’t in that kind of trouble? She fought to hide her feelings, to ask as gently as she could, ‘Mavis, love, have you, well, been with a boy? Is that it?’

Mavis jumped to her feet, eyes wild, but just as she was about to dash from the room there was the sound of the front door opening. The only other person who had a key was Lily, and Mavis knew that. The girl froze, rooted to the spot as her mother walked in.

‘So, there you are, you little slut!’ Lily spat. She stormed up to Mavis, swung her arm and slapped the girl hard around the face.

It didn’t stop there. Her face livid with anger, Lily slapped Mavis again and again while Doris struggled to her feet. Oh, the pain was awful, but she had to stop this. ‘Lily, Lily, calm down,’ she begged, trying to grab her daughter’s arm.

‘Calm down!’ Lily screamed. ‘Do you know what she’s been up to?’

‘I can guess, but this isn’t going to change anything. We need to sort something out.’

Lily’s head shot round. ‘Sort something out! Oh, I’ll sort something out all right. I’ll have her put away, that’s what I’ll do!’

‘Put away? What are you talking about? If she’s pregnant I’m sure it isn’t her fault. Someone must have taken advantage of her, and it’s him who needs putting away.’

Lily seemed to deflate before Doris’s eyes as she staggered to a chair, her voice a wail now. ‘Pregnant? Oh, no … no … I can’t stand it.’

Lost, unable to understand what was going on, Doris knew she had to sit down before she fell down. At least Lily had stopped laying into Mavis, but the poor girl looked dreadful: her cheeks scarlet from the continual slaps and tears streaming down her cheeks. Doris wanted to hug her, to comfort her, but that might make Lily flare up again. Instead she could only smile encouragingly at Mavis before sitting down and saying, ‘Lily, I thought that was why you’re doing your nut. Please, love, perhaps I’ve got the wrong end of the stick. I only said that Mavis might be pregnant, and I only mentioned that’ cos I can’t make sense of what’s going on.’

‘Gawd, Mum, you scared the life out of me. No, Mavis isn’t pregnant, but after what I’ve been hearing, it’s just a matter of time. The girl’s nothing but a tart!’

‘Oh, Lily, don’t say that.’

‘Why not? It’s true,’ Lily spat, going on to recount what had happened.

Doris struggled to hide her pain, but she was due for a dose of painkillers and it wasn’t easy. Thankfully the story didn’t take long and, as her daughter stopped speaking, Doris quickly said, ‘I don’t believe it. Not for a minute. Mavis is a good girl, an innocent girl—it’s those boys who are telling lies. Have you asked Mavis what happened?’

‘No, I haven’t had the chance, but they both gave the same story.’

‘What does that prove? Nothing. Only that they knew they might be in trouble and worked out their stories between them. My God, Lily, you know what lads are like.’ Doris turned to Mavis. ‘Come here, love. Let’s hear what you’ve got to say about this.’

Mavis looked terrified, but at least she did as Doris urged, moving to stand beside her. Doris took her hand and, after giving it a gentle squeeze, she said, ‘Don’t be frightened. Just tell us the truth.’

‘It … it wasn’t like that,’ Mavis said, hesitant at first, but her voice slowly growing in strength.

As she listened, Doris knew that she was hearing the truth and, from the look on Lily’s face, she could tell that she was seeing the light too. She just couldn’t believe that Lily had been so quick to believe the boys over her own daughter—but then again, she was always hard on the girl. ‘See, Lily, you should have spoken to Mavis first.’

‘Yeah, maybe, but she was still on the common with boys.’

‘All right, I’ll give you that, but have you spoken to her about the dangers?’ Doris asked while gently squeezing Mavis’s hand again.

‘Don’t you start. I had enough from her next door this morning. Mavis ain’t a kid now and she must know,’ Lily snapped.

‘Unless you’ve warned her, I don’t see how.’

‘Don’t go all high and mighty, Mum. You didn’t tell me anything.’

‘You’ve got a short memory, my girl. I may not have told you what to expect when you got married, but I told you enough to warn you about men,’ Doris protested, but then, unable to hold it back, she groaned in pain.

‘Gran, what’s wrong?’ Mavis asked worriedly.

‘It … it’s nothing, just a bit of indigestion. It must be those jellied eels I ate earlier.’

‘Mum, you look awful,’ Lily said. ‘Oh, Gawd, you don’t think they were off?’

‘They tasted all right. No, it’s just that I stuffed them down too quickly and it serves me right that I’m suffering for it now.’ Doris rose slowly to her feet. ‘I’ll take a couple of Beecham’s pills, that’ll do the trick.’

‘I’ll get them, Gran.’

‘No, it’s all right. You stay here. Your mum’s gonna talk to you, tell you a few facts.’