Kay Brellend - Rosie’s War

‘So what’s the nipper’s name? Rosie call her after her mum, did she? Prudence, God rest her, would have liked that, wouldn’t she, John?’

‘Me granddaughter’s name’s Hope,’ John ejected through his teeth. ‘She’s a lovely little darlin’ and I don’t want her coming back home and having you scare the bleedin’ life out of her with yer ugly mug.’ John grimaced at Popeye’s dirty clothes and the greying stubble on his face.

Frank ran a hand around his chin, understanding John’s look of disgust. ‘My Shirley’s always telling me to smarten up. Perhaps I should.’

‘Sling yer hook before they all come in!’ John had almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of next door’s dustbin lid clattering home.

‘Right, here’s the deal.’ Suddenly Popeye was deadly serious, mean eyes narrowed to slits. ‘I know this outfit what’s deep in with anything you like: dog tracks, bootlegging; pimps ’n’ spivs, they are. Based over the docks—’

‘I get the picture,’ John interrupted, having heard enough. ‘You’re out of your league and you’ve promised ’em stuff you can’t deliver. Ain’t nuthin’ to do with me, Popeye. I’ve paid you up. That’s us quits.’

‘It ain’t me who’s got to deliver on this occasion, it’s you, mate. I’ve run ’em off a nice line of girly mags in the past and I’ve been doing their booze labels. Trouble is they’ve got no bottles of Scotch to stick ’em on. Their distiller got his still broken up by the revenue men a while back.’

‘Well, let yer big mates buy him another one.’ John hobbled to the door and held it open.

Popeye ignored the invitation to leave and sat back comfortably in his chair. ‘’Spect they would do that, but trouble is the fellow what knows how to use it’s doing a five stretch. So I told ’em I knew how to help them out.’

‘Right … thanks for the offer of the work. But I ain’t interested. Ain’t even got me still now.’

‘Now, I know you ain’t destroyed it, John.’ Popeye pulled an old-fashioned face, crooning, ‘Don’t you tell me no lies, now. Might not be down in the cellar … where is it?’ He jerked his head back, gazing at the ceiling. ‘Attic? I reckon since you moved here you’ve stashed it away all neat and tidy, ain’t yer?’

‘I got rid of it when we was bombed out of the other place.’

‘Don’t believe you for one minute. It’s here all right … somewhere …’ Popeye glanced around thoughtfully as though he might set off in search of it.

‘Get going; we’re done here.’ John yanked at Popeye’s sleeve to shift him.

‘Don’t think so, mate.’ Frank ripped his arm out of John’s grasp. ‘If you don’t sing along they’re gonna want their cash back, ain’t they?’

‘What?’ John tottered back a step, apprehension stabbing at his guts. ‘What fucking cash?’

‘The cash they give me, to give to you.’ Popeye shrugged. ‘I told them you’d need an advance to buy stuff to get going so they give us a monkey up front.’

John licked his lips. Five hundred! That was a serious sum of money. ‘Well, you’ll just have to give it back, won’t yer?’

‘Can’t … do … that …’ Popeye warbled. ‘Make me look like a right prat. Anyhow, I ain’t got it.’ He sniffed. ‘Needed some readies meself so I had to use it to keep someone sweet. You know the old saying: rob Peter to pay Paul, but John’s getting it in the end.’ He gave a wink. ‘You know I’m always good for my word. Never once not paid you up, have I?’

John swallowed noisily. ‘Sounds like you’ve got some explaining to do then when they come looking for you.’

‘Not me … you.’ Popeye nodded slowly. ‘This is where they’ll head. You don’t cross people like that, John. You should know that.’

‘They come here looking fer me I’ll call the Old Bill and tell ’em everything, especially that you’ve just tried to blackmail me to get involved in counterfeiting.’

Popeye came to his feet in quite a sprightly fashion considering he was over sixty and overweight. ‘Now, that ain’t wise, talking like that, John. I’ll pretend I never heard it.’ Popeye walked up to the smaller man and eyeballed him as best he could, before strolling out into the hallway. ‘Right … be seeing you then. You come to me next time; only fair … my turn to make the tea. Say, end of the week and we can make arrangements to put the still up in my basement if it’s likely to cause ructions with your Doris. Give the missus my regards now, won’t you?’

‘Fuck off.’ John slammed the door after Popeye and ground his teeth when he heard the faint laughter coming from the other side of the panels. He paced to and fro then went upstairs as quickly as his limp allowed. He found the steps in the airing cupboard and positioned them beneath the loft hatch. A few minutes later he poked his head into the cool, dark roof void, his heart thumping so hard he thought it might burst from his chest.

He’d promised Rosie on his life that he’d never make another drop of moonshine. Doris had no idea that he ever had run an illegal still. Nobody had known, other than his daughter and his business associates. Now Popeye had blabbed his business about, God only knew how many people were aware he’d once risked a spot of hard labour.

John hauled himself into the loft, wincing from the effort, and approached the dismantled still covered in tarpaulin. He crouched down and peered at the tubes and funnels and receptacles. Suddenly he smiled wryly. The contraption had survived the bombing, having been wedged in the corner of the cellar with a cover over it. Now he was wishing that the bloody thing had been in the loft of his old house, and been smashed to smithereens with the roof. But the hundred pounds in his Post Office book had come courtesy of this little beauty. And that money was being saved up for another little beauty, and one day she’d thank her granddad for buying her presents. John felt his eyes fill with tears as he put the hatch back in place. He’d do anything for his little Hope, and protect her with his life, if need be.

‘Insult my Irene again, you bitch, and I’ll wipe the floor with yer.’

Rosie spun about to see that Peg Price had sprinted down her front path to yell and jab a finger at her. The woman must have been loitering behind the curtains, waiting for her to return, Rosie realised. On the walk home her surprise meeting with Gertie, and everything they’d talked about, had been occupying her mind and she’d not given her run-in with her rotten neighbours another thought.

Rosie contemptuously flicked two fingers at the woman’s pinched expression before pushing the pram over the threshold and closing the door behind her.

A savoury aroma was wafting down the hall from the kitchen, making Rosie’s stomach grumble.

‘That you, Rosie?’

‘Yeah. Sorry I’m late.’ Rosie carried on unfastening Hope’s reins, thinking her father had sounded odd. But she gave his mood little thought; she was too wrapped up in counting her blessings. And she was determined to work for the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service. If she got turned down, as Gertie had, she’d try again and again until she was accepted.

Rosie cast her mind back to the time when the female ambulance auxiliary had entered their bombed-out house and with a simple joke made her laugh, then tended to her father with brisk professionalism. Rosie had been impressed by the service, and the people in it. But her baby daughter had taken up all her time and energy then. Now Hope was older, toddling and talking, and Rosie had the time to be useful. She wanted her daughter to grow up in peacetime with plentiful food to eat and a bright future in front of her. Wishing for victory wasn’t enough; she needed to pitch in and help bring it about, as other mothers had throughout the long years of the conflict.