Rosie James - Lexi’s War - A heart-warming wartime saga to bring hope and happiness in 2018

Now, Lexi took off her coat and scarf and tied her neat green shop apron around her waist. Then she glanced around her, noting that as usual, Miss Lewis had left everything in place for the day’s trading.

It was quite a dark little shop, but brought to sparkling life by the rows and rows of fat glass jars all up there on the shelves … full of boiled sweets, toffees, bulls’ eyes, aniseed balls, hundreds and thousands, chocolate drops, and sticks of liquorice to dip into sherbet. The cigarettes and tobacco were always kept high up on a shelf.

Turning, Lexi unlocked the small safe under the counter and took out the bags containing all the coins, emptying the money into each little compartment ready to receive the day’s takings. Any pound or ten shilling notes were tucked in safely at the back.

Handling money had never been a problem for Lexi and she didn’t need to count on her fingers to work out the right change. And weighing up 1 oz or 2 oz or a quarter pound of things, was part of the fun of the job. Instinctively, Lexi moved the heavy weights of the scales to form a neat pile on the counter, then took a cloth to give the shallow brass pans a quick wipe-over. The little dustpan and brush kept for clearing up any spillage of sugar or sherbet was there on the side. Miss Lewis liked everything kept nice and tidy which was something else that came easily to Lexi. She did plenty of that at home

Any early customers were the children spending their farthing or half penny pocket money on their way to the nearby school – the school which Lexi had only recently left and which Phoebe now went to and Joe would, too, next year – but not many children had money for sweets. It was largely men coming in for their cigarettes or tobacco.

But this little shop held far greater significance for Lexi than finding her first real job, because it was here that she’d made her very first purchase with her own money – money earned singing carols outside public houses a couple of Christmases ago. Somehow, she’d found the courage to do this entirely by herself and hadn’t told a soul, not even Johnny who was her best friend. She and Johnny didn’t usually have secrets from each other, but Lexi had wanted to do this alone, had thought it important to stand on her own two feet. The pubs and beer houses had been full of men on that cold morning, all spilling out on to the pavements as they’d toasted the festive season, and nearly all of them had put something, a copper or two, into the enamel mug which Lexi had held out hopefully.

Lexi loved music, loved to sing, knew every carol by heart as well as all the popular songs which her Dada had taught her as he accompanied her on his harmonica or banjo when he was home. And she’d always been the one chosen to sing solo at school, her clear treble voice reaching the top notes like a bell.

But the sole purpose for her carol singing that day had been so that she could buy her mother a beautiful present.

Lexi had seen the little beaded purse here, in the sweet shop window for several weeks and had made up her mind that, somehow, she would find the money to pay for it. As well as the confectionery always on display, Miss Lewis did sometimes buy small gifts to put in the window, especially at Christmas time - jewelled trinket boxes, pretty handkerchief sachets, ladies’ dainty ivory fans – but it was the beaded purse which had caught Lexi’s eye. And as the money had clinked into her mug while she’d gone on singing, it had made her realize that if she was determined, and worked hard, she could get whatever she wanted. And the moment there’d been enough money to buy the present, and even some left over to buy sweets for her sister and brother, had been the moment when Lexi had made her big decision.

One day, she was going to be rich – perhaps even as rich as Mr McCann.

Mr McCann was Johnny’s dad, and he not only owned property all over Bath – including their ancient cottage in the run-down rank of dwellings on the edge of town – he was also a money lender, charging high interest. Most people were afraid of him, calling him “Foxy McCann” behind his back. But Cecilia said that was very disrespectful and that he must have worked extremely hard for his money. He was certainly never called Foxy in their house.

Lexi knew that she loved Johnny almost as much as she loved her brother and sister. Johnny used to go the same school as Lexi, and on her very first week, after she’d fallen down in the playground, there’d suddenly been this boy helping her up and dabbing her grazed knee with his clean white handkerchief. And as she’d gazed up into those kind dark eyes her tears had stopped almost at once. And that had been the start of a friendship which had grown stronger with every year that passed.

Now at almost sixteen years old, Johnny was nearly as tall as his brother Alfred who was two years older. But Alfred was not nearly as nice as Johnny. In fact, Alfred could be quite horrible at times. Johnny was never horrible and had the sort of face you wanted to keep looking at, a smiley, kind face, surrounded by soft black curls. All the girls loved Johnny but he was Lexi’s best friend so no one else got a look in. Lexi hated the thought that he would soon be going away to college, like Alfred, because that would mean they’d only see each other during the holidays.

Johnny and Alfred lived with their dad in the big house at the far end of the street called Grey Gables. Everyone knew that their mama had died a long time ago and Lexi was really sorry about that, because she and Phoebe and Joe had a mother and a father – even if he didn’t come home very often. It must be awful not to have a mama to look after you.

One of the worst things about Johnny’s dad was that he had a very loud voice, which sometimes made Lexi shake inside. And he never smiled, probably because his twirly moustache got in the way, or perhaps it was because he always walked with a limp and so his legs hurt. He was also very tall so that Lexi had to bend her head right back to look up at his face – which wasn’t often because she tried to make sure he was out when she visited Johnny at their house.

Despite being a bit afraid of him, Lexi couldn’t help admiring Mr McCann and was determined that she, too, would work hard and be successful like him, and she wouldn’t care if people called her names because one day she was going to earn her way to the very top of the world. She wasn’t too sure how she was going to make that happen, she only knew that one day she would.

And Lexi Martin certainly had plans.

First of all she was going to buy them a house of their own so that they would never have to pay rent ever again. Thanks to her mother’s tireless working hours they were never late paying their rent – but many people weren’t so lucky and were sometimes evicted when they couldn’t find the money in time. Lexi knew all about this because quite often she would go with Johnny on the rounds when he collected the rents for his father, taking her turn in carrying the strong leather bag which held all the money. Johnny always gave her a penny from the tiny wage he received for the Friday evening task. And later, whenever Mr McCann was safely out of the way, the two of them would go upstairs to the study at Grey Gables to lock away the rents and they’d sometimes take it in turns to sit in the huge leather chair by the desk and swing each other round and round until they were dizzy. Once or twice they’d even played shove ha’penny because the desk was just the right size. But Lexi only ever went upstairs at the big house when Mr McCann was away.

It was getting on for ten o’clock when Miss Lewis came through from her living quarters to take over. Lexi glanced at her quickly, thinking how pretty the owner must have been when she was young. She was a small, dainty woman, her thick hair, which would once have been dark brown, was now almost all grey and held on top in a neat bun. She had a ready smile and shrewd grey eyes which always lit up when she was speaking to anyone – especially to children.