had been conscripted into the army, and by the time he came home at the end of the war, he was a stranger to his sons. Jeremy had been sixteen then; almost the man of the house and he’d resented being usurped. He and his father had locked horns, and within two years Jeremy had left home.
Celia had no idea where Jeremy got his adventurous streak from, but he’d gone off with a friend saying they were going to travel, to see a bit of the world and it was rare that she heard from him. His last letter had arrived from Greece a year ago, and though she’d replied with all their news, he hadn’t responded.
Now it seemed that George was ready to lock horns with their younger son, but Celia wasn’t going to stand for that. She still had Thomas, and there was no way she’d allow George to drive him away too.
Phyllis Miller thought her seventeen-year-old daughter, Amy, looked upset when she arrived home. Amy had gone to find out how Tommy, her boyfriend was, but she was soon back.
There was no hall in their home, with the front door leading straight into the living room, and a blast of cold air came in with Amy which made the flames in the hearth flicker. It wasn’t a large room, crammed with an old horsehair sofa and two mismatched fireside chairs. A wooden table was pushed against one wall where they sat to eat their meals. On the other side of the room there was an old sideboard, and then a gap, curtained off, where a staircase led up to two bedrooms.
‘How is he, love?’ Phyllis asked.
‘Mrs Frost said he had a bad night. I asked to see him, but as he’s in bed she got on her high horse and wouldn’t allow it.’
‘Frost by name, and frosty knickers would be a good way to describe her,’ Stan Miller commented.
Phyllis was amused, but tried to keep a straight face as she looked at her husband. Amy had inherited his blonde, curly hair and blue eyes, but Stan was five foot eight, a lot taller than both of them. ‘That’s no way to talk about Tommy’s mother,’ she told him.
‘I got told off again for calling him Tommy,’ said Amy. ‘Mrs Frost insists on Thomas, but when I first met him he said he was Tommy and I’ve got used to it.’
‘If you ask me, girl, you should think hard about finding yourself another chap,’ Stan said. ‘If you don’t, you could end up with that stuck-up cow for a mother-in-law and that’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.’
‘Dad, I’ve only been seeing him for a few months. It’s too soon to think about marriage.’
‘Good, I’m glad to hear it. Tommy’s a nice boy, I won’t deny that, but he’s a bit of a weakling, always sick and I don’t see how he’ll ever be able to support a wife, let alone a family.’
‘I think your dad’s right,’ Phyllis said. She too thought that Tommy was a nice boy, but his mother, well, she couldn’t stand her. There were five houses at the top of the hill, cut off from the rest by an alley that led to the adjacent Rook Rise. These five houses were different, bay-fronted with three bedrooms, and as Celia lived in one of them, she felt herself superior.
‘Tommy works for his father,’ Amy said, ‘and gets paid when he’s off sick, but as I said, it’s too soon to think about marriage.’
‘George Frost is a good bloke,’ Stan said, standing up. ‘I’m off for a pint and I might see him in the pub.’
‘Dinner will be ready at two,’ Phyllis told him.
‘Yeah, I know, love, and I won’t be late,’ Stan said, limping as he went to get his overcoat.
Stan had been wounded during the war, taking a bullet in his thigh, but after so many husbands and sons had been killed, Phyllis was forever thankful that he made it home. He’d been a milkman before the war, but now, unable to walk far, he sat at a bench as an assembler in a local engineering factory.
Phyllis knew that Stan felt diminished by his low earnings, yet he hid his feelings behind joviality. He threw her a smile now as he wrapped a scarf around his neck, called goodbye, and let in another blast of cold air as he hurried out.
‘Do you want a hand with the dinner, Mum?’ Amy asked as she ran to pull the draught curtain across the front door again.
‘Thanks, pet. You can peel the potatoes while I prepare the carrots and sprouts.’
They walked through to the scullery where Amy stood at the sink, while Phyllis found a space, hoping as she began to top the sprouts that there would be enough meat to go round. It was only a cheap bit of brisket, and she had to cook it very slowly or it would be tough, yet it was bound to shrink. As long as there was enough for Amy, Stan, and Winnie, the old lady who lived next door, Phyllis would be happy. As she had done many times before she would go without meat herself if necessary and worried about Winnie’s weight loss since she’d been widowed, Phyllis was determined to feed her up.
Next door, on the other side, her neighbour Mabel Povis was known as the local gossip, but despite this, they were good friends. Mabel was always popping in and out with the latest bit of news, but with it being Sunday and her husband at home, there’d be no sign of her today. Mabel’s husband, Jack Povis wasn’t a drinker. He had a good job as a railway guard, but was a rather stern and taciturn man who rarely smiled. He wasn’t Phyllis’s cup of tea, but then she berated herself for these uncharitable thoughts. After all, with what he and Mabel had been through, it was no wonder that Jack had lost his sense of humour.
Stan had his scarf pulled up over his mouth and nose to prevent breathing in the smoky fog, but yanked it down as he limped into the pub. It wasn’t a lot better inside, the air thick with cigarette and pipe smoke, his eyes stinging as he joined George Frost at the bar. ‘Watcha, George. Amy tells me that Tommy’s still rough.’
‘Yes, he is, but hopefully he’s on the mend.’
‘That’s good. What are you drinking?’ Stan asked.
‘I’ll have another pint of bitter,’ he replied, gulping down the small amount left in his glass.
‘Hello, Stan,’ the barmaid, Rose Bridges, said brightly. ‘How’s Phyllis? I haven’t seen her for ages.’
Rose was Phyllis’s cousin and they were around the same age, but Stan knew that his wife didn’t approve of her. It was the way Rose carried on, along with the way she dressed, in tight, low-cut tops. Her make-up was always thick, and her lipstick a slash of scarlet. ‘Phyllis is fine, but as busy as always.’
‘Give her my best,’ Rose said. ‘Now then, what can I get you?’
Stan gave the order and as Rose pulled on the pump he glanced around the pub. Despite the fog and the difficulty in getting there it was busy, with a good few of his neighbours sitting at tables, some playing cribbage and a team of four were at the dart board. The Park Tavern had been his local for as long as he could remember, and as a pint was put down in front of him, he said, ‘Thanks, Rose.’
‘And one for you, darling,’ Rose said to George as she put another pint on the bar, her manner flirtatious.
Rose’s dark roots were showing in her stringy, peroxide blonde hair, yet she wasn’t bad looking. She had lost her husband during the war and was always on the hunt to replace him, so much so that she had lost her reputation along the way. ‘George, I think you’re in there,’ Stan said jokingly
