Kay Brellend - The Street

‘Will you come and tell her that? She’s waiting for half a crown.’

Tilly transferred baby Lucy from one hip to the other and sipped from a cup of lukewarm tea. She was drinking it in the hope it might take the whiff of whiskey from her breath before Jack got home. ‘I got things to do,’ she answered irritably. ‘Besides, I got enough o’ me own wars to sort out without gettin’ involved in the Whittons’ dingdongs.’ Inwardly Tilly was still brooding on her sister’s monstrous stupidity in letting Jimmy come back.

Since marrying Jimmy Wild it seemed that the pretty, confident young woman Fran had once been had all but disappeared. It infuriated Tilly to know the pig had such power over her sister that he’d started to alter her character. Yet she blamed Fran too for allowing him to return again and again to crush her more firmly beneath his boot.

‘Can I have half a crown then to get Louisa off Sarah’s back?’ Alice pleaded. ‘It ain’t fair. She ain’t done nuthin’.’

Tilly choked on her tea. ‘Get out of here before I land you one, you little tyke!’ she shrieked. ‘Give yer half a crown, indeed. If I had half a bleedin’ crown I’d be down the shop with it and get something fer yer teas tonight.’

Alice knew she was wasting her time. She’d thought straight off that her mum had been drinking from the way she was a bit unsteady on her feet. Now she knew for sure. She was obviously in a bad mood; if she’d had half a crown she’d be down the Duke with it, not down the shop buying bread and jam.

‘Louisa said us Keivers ought to mind our own,’ was Alice’s final tactic in trying to rouse her mum’s temper into action.

But Tilly was sunk in her own thoughts. One day she’d have that bastard Jimmy, she promised herself. She’d have him locked up so he’d never hurt Fran or her kids again.

Alice slipped out of the door and met her mother’s nemesis on the lower landing.

‘Alright, Al?’ Jimmy greeted her with his soppy, wonky smile.

Alice nodded but her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

Jimmy blocked her way. ‘Woss up, little ’un?’ he crooned.

‘Need half a crown urgent,’ Alice blurted. ‘Mum won’t give it me.’

‘Half a crown, eh?’ Jimmy fished in a pocket and produced a silver coin. ‘There yer go,’ he said, handing it over with a flourish.

Alice raised a wondrous, grateful smile to her uncle’s face. Half a crown was not easily come by. It had taken her two months to save that from her doorsteps and now she regretted spending it on going to the flicks and chips on the way home just last week. She’d treated Sarah too as she never had more than a few coppers to call her own despite doing odd jobs most evenings. She’d heard her dad say it was bloody astonishing that Ginny Whitton could recover well enough to wrestle away her daughters’ wages before she suffered a relapse.

‘I’ll give it you back, promise,’ Alice gasped at her uncle then fled with the coin clutched tightly in her hand.

Jimmy watched her go with a crafty smile on his face. He then raised his eyes to the landing above. He was just biding his time with that mouthy bitch . . . just biding his time . . .

Having hared back along the road as fast as she could, Alice soon saw that she might be too late. A fight was still going on but now it was between Louisa Whitton and her sister Sophy. Louisa had hold of Sophy’s hair and was dragging her along by it. Sophy was screeching and trotting to keep up as Louisa sadistically speeded up her pace. Their sister Bethany was standing on her own, grizzling, her chin on her chest. From the sidelines came various raucous suggestions as to how Sophy ought to retaliate.

‘I told you to keep your nose out of me business. If yer sister don’t get back here with me money you get the hidin’ instead.’

Alice launched herself at Louisa, punching ineffectually at the rolls of fat in her back. Suddenly she was whipped away by an arm girdling her waist. She landed on her feet and turned about to swipe out but the younger Lovat boy dodged aside so her fist smacked air rather than him.

‘You’d better let her go, fatso.’

Alice gasped in a breath and simply gaped at the two Lovat boys. Danny had spoken; he was standing looking quite nonchalant, his eyes fixed on Louisa. But there was something menacing about him that quietened the crowd. Danny Lovat’s face might betray him as about fourteen but he was a strapping lad, easily five feet eight inches tall. And that was quite lofty for a man, let alone a youth, around these parts where stunted runts abounded.

‘What’re you going to do about it, little boy?’ Louisa jeered but she didn’t sound so confident now and her grip on Sophy’s hair loosened a bit.

‘Well, I don’t usually hit girls, but you’re so big ‘n’ ugly I’m gonna make an exception.’ Danny didn’t respond by as much as a blink to the laughter his comment produced. ‘Let her go, fatso, ‘n’ piss off home. Or I’ll have to make you.’

Louisa considered herself to be a bit of a rough handful. She wasn’t going to let a kid who might still be at school make a monkey out of her. Shoving a flat palm against Sophy’s skull, she sent her tottering backwards to crash to the ground. She then turned to swing a left at Danny that barely connected with his shoulder as he swayed like a pro. Quite gracefully he then stepped back in and floored her with a single punch on the chin. It was obvious he’d put little weight behind it and, after a stunned moment, the crowd showed its appreciation with a smattering of applause before dispersing.

Alice rushed to Sophy to try and get her up off the ground. She noticed that a clump of her sister’s hair was straggling on her shoulder where Louisa had yanked it out. Before Sophy could see it Alice brushed it off and stamped her foot on top of it. ‘Where’s Sarah gone?’ Alice asked.

‘She scarpered after you went and left me with that maniac,’ Sophy sobbed. ‘She’s nutty, that Louisa. She needs lockin’ up.’

‘You alright?’ Danny asked gruffly and stuck out a hand to help Sophy.

‘Yeah . . . thanks,’ Sophy mumbled. She ignored his hand and sprang up in an ungainly jumble of limbs.

He shrugged and he and his brother were soon heading down the road.

‘Oi . . . you two . . . you can’t just go off like that,’ Alice shouted spontaneously after them.

The boys sauntered back and looked questioningly at them. ‘What d’you want, then?’

Alice flushed. Now they’d come back she didn’t know what answer to give. ‘What’s his name?’ She pointed at Danny’s brother, who was unconcernedly chewing as though he’d never hoisted her to safety from Louisa’s fat back.

‘Geoff,’ Danny said while Geoff gave Alice a long look.

‘And how d’you come to fight like that?’

‘I’ll have yer next time, yer bastards.’

Danny stuck two fingers up at Louisa without bothering to even glance her way. ‘Done boxin’ in Essex,’ he told Alice whilst looking at Sophy.

Sophy continued fiddling with her hair to try and tidy it, blushing furiously. She grabbed at Bethany’s hand and shushed her to stop her crying.

‘You get going home now, Beth. Sophy’s alright, see.’ Alice wiped her younger sister’s face clear of tearstains with her thumbs. Then she turned her about and gave her shoulder a little push to start her off home.

‘You got blood on your lip,’ Danny neutrally told Sophy.

‘Did you do boxing ‘n’ get paid?’ Alice asked interestedly, cuffing away her sister’s blood on her sleeve when she saw Sophy searching in vain for a handkerchief.

‘Yeah . . . sometimes,’ Danny replied. ‘Never saw no money though. The old man soon had any purses.’