that’s it,’ Linda said, and added, ‘tell me about your dad. I’ve told you all about mine.’
Jenny only hesitated briefly. Somehow they had to fill the hours until they were rescued, and she didn’t want Linda to start to fret over her family again and so she told her of the young boy who’d worked on the estate of his English master, Fotherington. First he worked on the land and then as a ghillie or a boat boy and later as a groom in the stables.
Linda was fascinated, as this was all new and different to her life.
‘When did he marry your mom?’ Linda asked.
‘Not long after he got a cottage of his own,’ Jenny told her. ‘But my mother had a totally different upbringing, in a large house with servants and so on. But my mother’s father died when she was in her late teens, and they found they weren’t rich any more. Her father had run up huge debts and everything, including the house which had to be sold.’
Linda thought that was sad and Jenny supposed it was. Her mother must have felt desperate, especially when her own mother, Eileen Gillespie, had a nervous breakdown through it all and was taken into a hospital in Derry, leaving her all alone.
‘Good job your dad was there then,’ Linda said.
‘Yes,’ Jenny said, remembering how her father had adored Norah Gillespie for years, though he’d never expected anything to come of it. Suddenly there she was, educated to the hilt, but fit for nothing, and destitute into the bargain.
‘So they got married?’ Linda said.
‘Yes; in time her mother, Eileen, recovered and moved in with them. My three brothers and sister were born and things were very difficult for my mother, for she’d not been raised to cook and clean, you see.’
‘Who did it then?’
‘My father’s mother, Gran O’Leary,’ Jenny said. ‘She taught my mother basic housework and cookery and showed her how to cope with the babies when they came, and Daddy did his fair share too.’
Linda screwed her eyes up, glad Jenny couldn’t see her, for she thought Jenny’s mother sounded like a silly cow. Everyone knew that housework and babbies were women’s work. ‘Why did they come to live in Birmingham?’ she asked as the silence between them lengthened, but Jenny’s reply was stopped, for suddenly there was a shout above them. ‘Are you all right down there?’
Jenny gave a sigh of relief. ‘We’re fine.’
Cor blimey, thought the man who’d broken through close enough to communicate with the girls. They’re alive!
That cheered him, for as the icy night had drawn its freezing cloak about everyone, hope had died among the rescuers. It was hard to keep working in the dark and intense cold, when all you expected to recover from your efforts were two corpses. God, when he took the news back, it would make everything seem worthwhile.
But none of his thoughts did he portray in his voice. He forced himself to speak calmly, in order that neither of them was alarmed as he shouted down, ‘We’ll start moving the heavy stuff now. Don’t be alarmed at the noise. We might disturb some dust and that. Wanted you to be prepared. Take some time, I’d say, because we might have to shore it up as we go.’
‘That’s all right,’ Jenny said. She knew they’d need to take extreme care, but however nerve-racking it would be, it was the first step to their release. She felt lightheaded as she thought that in a few hours they might be free and out in fresh air again. The air around them had got extremely muggy and she wondered how much air there was left but she definitely didn’t want Linda worrying about it, so she said brightly, ‘This calls for a celebration! What about another biscuit and a drink of water?’
Linda laughed. ‘You’re a proper daft bugger, you are,’ she said. ‘But you’re dead nice with it.’
For a while all that could be heard was the sound of crunching. Linda finished her biscuit and said, ‘I feel as if I’ve known you all my life. I reckon our mom will be really grateful to you, coming back like you said you would. She’ll want to thank you, I know she will. You’ll like my mom; she’s nice.’ There was a pause and Linda said, ‘You ain’t that keen on your mom, are you?’
Jenny hesitated a moment or two and then decided to tell the truth. ‘I don’t like her that much,’ she said. ‘I don’t think she’s that keen on me either.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jenny said wearily. ‘I don’t really think she wanted any more children for one thing. She already had four. Then I don’t look like the others either. I take after my dad’s side of the family. I look just like my Gran O’Leary did when she was young, and I’m glad because I think the world of her.’
‘Well, I think you’ve got a lovely face,’ Linda said firmly. ‘I can’t see much of it, but you look really friendly. Tell you the truth, I ain’t been so pleased to see anyone in my life as I was to see you. I thought I was going to die all by myself.’
‘Oh but that’s different,’ Jenny said. ‘I mean in your position I’d have been pleased to see Dracula.’
‘Hmm, I suppose so,’ Linda agreed and then with a spark of humour added, ‘You’re nicer looking than Dracula though, not much mind, but a bit.’
Jenny marvelled at the young girl’s spirit.
They lay in silence for some time, then Linda said, ‘Talk to me some more, Jenny.’
‘What about?’
‘Tell me about your gran and what she did when she first came to Birmingham.’
‘Well, she went to work in the Jewellery Quarter,’ Jenny said.
‘Oh I’d love it there,’ Linda cried. ‘I’ve only been once in my life. What did she do?’
‘She made watch chains, bracelets and necklaces,’ Jenny said. ‘At first she operated a press to cut out the rough for the men to work on, but then she learnt how to do it herself. She knew how to enamel brooches and badges too.’
‘I’d love to do that,’ Linda said again.
‘Well you can if you’d want to, I’d say.’
‘If the war ain’t over, I’ll probably have to work in munitions,’ Linda said glumly. ‘Mom likes it, but I don’t think I will.’
‘Sometimes we have to do things we don’t like,’ Jenny said. ‘But the war won’t last for ever, will it?’ Eventually all the workshops and factories will make other things just like they did before the war. We’re lucky in Birmingham.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s the workshop of the world. Don’t you know that?’
‘I never heard that before.’
Jenny gave a little laugh. ‘I didn’t understand it when Daddy told me either,’ she said. ‘It means Birmingham makes so many things, small things like safety pins and nuts and bolts, up to bicycles, motor bikes and cars, while related firms like Dunlop
