with disabilities.
Thinking about her own brood, Queenie iced her grandson’s birthday cake in total silence. Vinny and Roy had sold their snooker club just over a year ago now and had bought a bigger club along the Commercial Road. They held jazz nights and all sorts in there. They even had a proper licence for their roulette table. Queenie felt like Her Majesty the Queen whenever she had an evening out there. Her boys were treated like royalty and so was she. To say she was proud of how well her sons had done in life was an understatement. She was absolutely fucking ecstatic about it.
Queenie had never seen Albie again since that day she had found out about his affair. She’d had one or two drunken phonecalls from him a few years back, but Vinny had her number changed and she’d heard nothing since. Bits of gossip popped up through the grapevine from time to time, and the last Queenie had heard was Albie was living in Becontree Heath with some drunken old trout called Pauline. Queenie was quite pleased that Albie had moved in with a woman roughly his own age, as it meant she wouldn’t be able to bear his kids. Queenie did often wonder what had happened to Judy Preston though. Vinny had tried his hardest to track her down over the years to see if she had kept Albie’s baby, but Judy and her family had disappeared off the face of the earth.
‘I’m off out now, Mum,’ Brenda said, snapping Queenie out of her trance.
‘Where you off to dressed like that? Look like a bloody hussy in that outfit you do, don’t she, Viv?’
Vivian poked her head around the kitchen door. ‘It’s a bit revealing, Bren.’
‘You got your boobies and your bum hanging out,’ Lenny added, joining in with the fun.
Brenda tutted, pulled her flowery vest-top up to cover her breasts and wiggled her hotpants down a bit. ‘You are such an old fogey, Mum. And you, Auntie Viv. All the girls are wearing clothes like these. It’s the fashion.’
‘You won’t be saying that if you fall arse over tit in those monstrosities on your cloppers,’ Vivian chuckled, pointing at Brenda’s bright red plastic platform-heeled boots.
‘See you later,’ Brenda scowled, running her fingers through her short brown hair. Unlike all her friends who had long hair, Brenda had recently had hers chopped off. She liked to stand out in a crowd, not be a clone, and the short feathered cut she had opted for suited her elfin-like face perfectly. She was also incredibly slim and the only thing that Brenda wished she could change about herself was her flat chest. Her boobies looked more like two fried eggs than actual formed breasts.
‘You ain’t going nowhere until you tell me where you’re going dressed like that, young lady,’ Queenie shouted, chasing her daughter up the path.
‘I’m going to the fair, OK?’ Brenda replied.
‘You can’t go there dressed like that! Vinny has taken Little Vinny over there and I’m sure Michael said him and Kevin were going to the fair too. Put something more respectable on. You don’t want your brothers to think you are over there hawking your mutton, do you now?’
Brenda turned around in fury. She was sick of being told what she should wear and what she should do. Her brothers had always been allowed to run riot. ‘Balls to what my brothers think, Mum, and balls to you and Auntie Viv too.’
When Brenda slammed the gate and tottered off down the road, Queenie and Vivian looked at one another in unadulterated shock. Neither woman was used to being sworn at by their own flesh and blood.
Roy’s mouth was as dry as a bone as he strolled along Roman Road market holding his girlfriend Colleen’s hand. It had been at this very market where Roy had first met her. He had been shopping for a new overcoat, and had decided to grab a bit of lunch in Kelly’s pie and mash shop. Colleen had walked in just as Roy had started to eat, and his appetite had disappeared in a flash. In her wedge-heeled sandals, tight-fitting denim shorts, and red chiffon top, her beauty left Roy gobsmacked. She wore her blonde hair straight and long and had the most fully-formed luscious lips that he had ever seen. Unable to take his eyes off her, it wasn’t long before Colleen caught him staring and treated him to a dazzling smile. Roy had noticed she had no ring on her finger, and he knew he would never forgive himself if he let her walk out of his life without even finding out her name, or where she was from.
Colleen had told him she was eighteen, a trainee nurse, and had recently moved to Bow from Cork in Ireland. Her gentle Irish lilt made her even more attractive to Roy and he had been elated when he had asked Colleen out and she had agreed. Their first date had taken place in a West End restaurant. They had got on like a house on fire and their relationship quickly became serious. Roy had had quite a few girlfriends in the past, but apart from one whom he had courted for six months, none was particularly important, but today, Roy had brought Colleen back to Roman Road market for a very special reason.
‘Do we have to have pie and mash? I’m not that hungry. I’d rather just have a sandwich, I think,’ Colleen said.
‘I’m starving, Col. Let me have me pie and mash, eh? You haven’t got to have none. I’ll get you a sandwich after I’ve eaten, if you like?’
‘Oh, go on then. You might as well just get me pie and mash too. Don’t put that horrible liquor on mine though.’
When Roy entered the shop, he was disappointed to see the table Colleen was sitting at the day he had first met her was taken.
‘Aren’t you going to order, then?’ Colleen asked, as Roy hovered near the table.
‘These people are nearly finished,’ Roy said, noting that the old couple sitting there had already eaten their meals and were now drinking their mugs of tea.
‘But there’s two empty tables over there,’ Colleen said.
‘They’re going now. We’ll sit here,’ Roy insisted, even though the old couple still hadn’t moved.
‘I’m not standing here like a wally, Roy. Give me the money and I’ll order our food. I take it you want double pie and mash?’
Roy nodded and was relieved when seconds later the old couple stood up to leave. He waited for the waitress to wipe the table, then flopped nervously onto a chair.
‘There we are,’ Colleen said, placing the tray on the table.
Roy took a mouthful of pie and immediately felt sick. He had been lying to her, he felt far too anxious to eat and knew the quicker he got this over with the better.
‘Bejesus. Whatever are you doing, Roy Butler?’ Colleen asked, when her boyfriend dropped to one knee.
‘It’s virtually a year to the day that I first met you at this very table in this pie and mash shop. I love you so much, Colleen O’Connell, and I know you are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have already spoken to your father and asked for his blessing, so will you marry me?’
Colleen burst into tears as she stared at the diamond ring Roy held in a black box in his shaking hands. ‘Of course I will marry you, you daft bugger.’
When Roy placed the ring on her finger, everybody in the shop, including the staff, gave a loud cheer.
Vinny Butler helped his son onto the ride then, deep in thought, watched him go round and round on the metal horse. Since the Krays had been banged-up in 1969 for the murders of Jack McVitie and George Cornell, Vinny had really made his mark on the East End. The Mitchells were
