Josephine Cox - Live the Dream

‘Oh, stop moaning, you miserable sod!’ Giving him a withering glance, Daisy flicked down her seat and almost fell on the floor when it sprang back up. ‘Damned thing!’ By now, Daisy was ready to take on the world.

Amy held the seat down while Daisy plonked her backside on it. ‘Sit down and behave,’ she chuckled, ‘unless you want us to get thrown out.’

Then all was quiet. For the moment.

As always the picture house was full. There were little old folk at the front, families in the middle and sweethearts at the back.

Once or twice Daisy glanced at the sweethearts kissing and canoodling, and twining themselves round each other. ‘Look at them! It’s disgusting!’ she said. But Amy knew how much Daisy would have loved to be seated at the back with a sweetheart wrapped round her.

‘Ssh!’ The woman behind wagged a finger at Daisy. ‘Be quiet!’

Daisy fell silent and for a moment she seemed to be deep in thought; though Amy suspected she was thinking about her parents and the way it was at home.

Luckily, the organ music soon swelled in a crescendo and the film started.

To Amy’s relief, Daisy was soon tapping her feet along with the master of dance, Charles King, and as the film progressed, her whole mood changed. Her eyes shone and her whole body twitched to the music, and for a time she was content and happy in a different world.

Amy too enjoyed the film. It was fast and furious, and all too soon it was the interval.

‘What d’you want, lass?’ Standing up ready to queue for refreshments, Daisy waited for Amy’s answer.

‘Nothing for me, thanks,’ Amy told her. She was still full to bursting.

Daisy shrugged, ‘Suit yourself,’ and off she went, leaving another trail of broken toes and complaining voices as she made her way through.

Having stood in the queue for what seemed an age, Daisy was next to be served. ‘A bag of popcorn please, gal,’ she told the usherette.

‘No popcorn, sorry.’ Grim-faced and fed up, the young woman had no interest in her work. As it happened that very morning, she had been turned down for a job as train-driver. Consequently, she was not in the best of moods.

Brought down by her own problems, Daisy was ready for anything the other woman had to throw at her. ‘So what have yer got then?’ she demanded impatiently.

Adjusting the strap round her neck so as to relieve the weight of her tray, the usherette ran both hands through the array of goodies, muttering as she searched, ‘No popcorn … and I’ve just sold the last of the chocolate bars.’ Wiping her nose with the back end of her cuff, she said wearily, ‘There’s only ice cream left now.’

‘Haven’t yer got no nuts?’ Hopeful, Daisy peered into the tray. ‘I don’t fancy ice cream.’

Angrily making another quick search of the tray, the usherette shook her head. ‘Ice cream. Take it or leave it.’

‘Are you sure there are no nuts in the back-room?’

Laughing aloud at Daisy’s suggestion, the usherette told her, ‘The only “nuts” in there are the manager and his fancy-bit.’

She leaned forward. ‘I don’t think they’d thank me for barging in … if you know what I mean?’ Her sly little wink left nothing to the imagination.

‘Lucky them!’ Daisy laughed.

‘HEY!’ The angry voice sailed up the queue. ‘The damned picture will be started soon! Cut the chatter and get on with it, will you?’

Fearing for her job, the usherette demanded of Daisy, ‘So do you want an ice cream or not?’

Daisy held out her loose change. ‘Go on then, gal. If that’s all there is, I’ve got no choice, have I?’

Clutching a tub of ice cream, Daisy fought her way back, amused to see how, in the ten minutes since she’d joined it, the queue was now snaking along the aisle.

‘So, it’s you who’s been holding up the queue, is it?’ Lolling on the back of a seat, the brash young man turned Daisy’s heart over with his winning smile. ‘Can’t make up your mind what you want, eh?’ Fair-haired and of small build, he had a wiriness that made her think of a terrier.

Returning his cheeky smile, Daisy held up the ice-cream tub. ‘I wanted popcorn,’ she said, ‘but this was all she had left.’

‘Got a hankering for popcorn, have you?’ He moved an inch or two closer, but not so far that he might lose his place in the queue.

‘I might have.’ Touching the tip of her nose with her finger she gave him a haughty glance. ‘Though it’s none o’ your business.’

Undeterred, he shifted back into the queue. ‘With your boyfriend, are you?’

Daisy smiled. ‘I’ve not got no boyfriend at the minute.’

The young man licked his lips. ‘All alone then, eh?’

‘No.’

‘Oh?’ Disappointment coloured his voice. ‘Who’ve you got with you then?’ He glanced about, but quickly returned his attention to her. ‘Not your mam and dad, is it?’ he asked warily.

Daisy bristled. ‘I wouldn’t even cross the street with them two!’

‘Is that so?’ As the queue shifted, he went with it. ‘Like that, is it?’

‘Like what ?’ On the defensive now, Daisy didn’t care for the way the conversation was going.

‘Looks to me like you don’t get on with your parents.’ Taking hold of her arm, he held her there, a gleam of mischief in his small, bright eyes. ‘Been a naughty girl, have you?’

Daisy shook him off. ‘Like I said, it’s none of your damned business!’

When she hurried away, he tried to follow her, but the picture was starting and the dispersing queue blocked his path. ‘Wait for me at the main doors,’ he called after her, and, secretly thrilled, Daisy pretended not to hear.

She returned to her seat, irritated by the medley of voices threatening to have her chucked out. ‘You’ve mangled my toes once too often!’ cried one irate woman.

‘If you shifted your bloody great feet out the way,’ Daisy snapped back, ‘I wouldn’t be able to “mangle” ’em, would I?’

Throwing herself into the seat, she was horrified when the randy old codger in the next seat stroked her knee suggestively. ‘Take no notice of them,’ he urged.

When she glared at him, he leered at her. ‘You’re a pretty young thing,’ he whispered, curling his fingers tighter about her thigh. ‘What say you and me leave for a while, eh?’

Daisy smiled her best, at the same time spilling her tub of ice cream all over his trousers. ‘Whoops!’ Digging Amy in the ribs, she said, feigning innocence, ‘Oh dear, look what I’ve just done to this poor old man!’

Unaware of what had gone before, Amy was astonished to see the man leap out of his seat, his trousers dripping ice cream, and a wet patch forming round his flies.

‘YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!’

He caused such a fuss that the usherette came running. ‘What the devil’s going on here?’

‘Ask him !’ Grabbing Amy’s arm, Daisy forced her way past. ‘You should be careful who you let in here,’ she informed the usherette. ‘The dirty old git needed cooling off. A dollop of ice cream round his old what-not seems to have done the trick, though.’

Outside, the two girls collapsed laughing.

‘Did you see the look on his face?’ Amy chuckled.

‘Serves him right!’ Daisy replied. ‘Filthy old sod.’

‘I hope you’re not talking about me ?’ It was the young man who had tried chatting up Daisy earlier. He was leaning against the wall, another man, of about the same age, with him.

‘No, I didn’t mean you.’ Her ready smile told how she was pleased to see him. ‘Some randy old bugger and his wandering hands. I had to teach him a lesson!’

‘So it was you causing all that fuss?’