Sunlight on the Mersey Read online

  ‘As long as you rest, Rose, you’ll be fine and hopefully suffer no lasting effects,’ the doctor assured his patient firmly. ‘Take the medicine I’ve prescribed, drink plenty of fluids and stay in bed. I’ll call in and see you in a day or two.’

  Kate nodded, relieved at his words as she ushered him towards the door of the small, neat but rather sparsely furnished bedroom. ‘Thank you, doctor. You know she’s always been a worry to me so I’ll take good care to see she does as she’s told. And I can tell you this, too: she’s not going back to that hotel to work. I swear that’s where she picked it up. You get all kinds of people in those hotels and you never know where they’ve come from or who they’ve been mixing with,’ she remarked darkly.

  Dr Mackenzie smiled at her kindly. He’d known the whole family for years but he doubted she’d understand it was an inflammatory disease that often was the result of a severe throat infection and Rose could have contracted that anywhere. Rheumatic fever was seldom fatal in adults but the young were often left with serious heart, joint and eye conditions. In this area of Liverpool children were weakened by malnutrition and dire poverty, the privations of the war years hadn’t helped. The Mundys were far better off than many of their neighbours for they ran two businesses, he mused. Kate had a greengrocer’s shop and her husband Bill was a pawnbroker, both very necessary establishments in this dockland community. ‘I think it will be a while before she’s fit for work of any kind, Mrs Mundy, but if you are worried about her before my next visit, don’t hesitate to send for me.’

  Kate thanked him and showed him downstairs and out through the shop, which she had closed for half an hour as business had been slow that morning. They lived above it but she certainly wasn’t going to let him out the back way through the yard with the privy, the tin bath tub hanging on the wall, the small wash house and the stack of empty wooden fruit crates which would go back tomorrow, not a man of his position.

  She’d been up very early as usual, but it had been Bill who had gone to the market this morning. She glanced around the shop and frowned. He’d got everything she’d put on the list but she preferred to choose the produce herself. Most of the blokes at the market were decent and honest but there were a couple who would try to palm you off with stuff that was past its best. She had wiped and polished up the fruit and stacked it in neat piles in the window, the potatoes were in sacks on the floor but resting against the front of the counter and the vegetables were arranged by variety and size on the wide deep shelves on the opposite wall. Bunches of fresh and dried herbs were suspended from a rack behind the counter. It all looked neat and tidy. Things now were slowly improving, she thought. At the end of the Great War there had been serious shortages of food and real hardship. She shook her head sadly as she remembered the terrible loss of life those four years had resulted in. Tragedy and hardship indeed for so many of her friends and neighbours but at least Charlie had come through with nothing more than a flesh wound in his arm and a fairly mild case of trench foot, which had quickly cleared up. It had taken Charlie a while to adjust to life at home and during the first months he’d had nightmares and bouts of moodiness, although lately he seemed more settled and at ease, especially with his sisters. Now she was worrying about whether this fever would leave Rose with a weak heart, despite Dr Mackenzie’s reassurances. At least Iris enjoyed good health.

  She had a bottle of Robinson’s Barley Water in the pantry, she remembered; she’d get it out and make up a jug and take it up to Rose. Drink plenty of fluids, he’d said.

  Bill came into the shop and smiled affectionately at his wife. Despite the fact that her hair was no longer the burnished copper colour it had been when he’d met her and there were now fine lines at the corners of her grey eyes, to him she remained a very attractive woman. She was still small and slim and he often wondered where she found her boundless energy; time certainly hadn’t slowed his Kate down much. ‘I saw him leave, luv. What did he say is wrong with her?’

  ‘Rheumatic fever, Bill, but he says we’re not to worry, that with medicine, rest and plenty of fluids she should recover and have no after-effects. But you know as well as I do that it can do lasting damage. Have you closed up or have you left someone reliable in charge?’ she asked as an afterthought.

  ‘I just put a note on the door: “Back in ten minutes”,’ he replied. ‘I’m sure she’ll be fine, luv, try not to worry too much.’

  ‘She’s not going back to that hotel, Bill. I swear that’s where she picked this up, mixing with all and sundry. I never thought she was really strong enough to cope with the work of a chambermaid anyway. Changing beds, cleaning and carting bundles of linen around is heavy work and she’s always been a bit on the delicate side.’

  He said nothing; jobs were hard to find these days, especially for young, unskilled, untrained girls like Rose and Iris. Iris had worked in munitions in the last year of the war but Rose had been too young to join her sister. The lads who had survived were back and so many of them were now without work. Unemployment was rife and getting steadily worse. He was seeing more and more items being brought in to be pledged and the number of them remaining unredeemed was rising. ‘Well, we’ll talk about that when she’s feeling better, luv. Is there any chance of a quick cuppa?’

  Kate nodded. ‘I’ll put the kettle on. You take this barley water up to her and tell her she’s to drink a full glass of it whether she feels like it or not,’ she instructed as she bustled about with the kettle, teapot and tea caddy. She wouldn’t mind a quick cup of tea herself before she opened up as there would be no closing for lunch today. She couldn’t afford to turn any business away even if it did only amount to a few pounds of potatoes or carrots for a pan of ‘blind’ scouse – most of her customers couldn’t afford any meat to go in it. She thanked God daily on her knees for her good fortune. They all had work, even if her children weren’t exactly enthusiastic about their various occupations and Bill had always worked hard to provide for them. Unlike quite a few in the same occupation, he was a kind and compassionate man, always treating the women who came in with their bundles on a Monday morning with respect. His ‘ladies’, he called them, although most of them had never owned a decent coat and hat in their lives, but wore shawls instead. He made sure they kept their dignity.

  Kate and Bill had been married for twenty-five years and she could count on the fingers of one hand the times he’d lost his temper with anyone. She smiled to herself as she spooned the tea into the pot. She would never forget the evening the tall, well-built, handsome young man with the dark hair and eyes had asked if he could escort her home from the social evening she had attended with friends at a nearby church hall. She’d found out that he was the son of Arthur Mundy, a respected pawnbroker, that he helped his father and hoped to take over the business when the old man retired. Also that he was teetotal, which had pleased her mother no end for her own father had been overly fond of the drink, often to the detriment of the household budget. Yes, she had a great deal to be thankful for and if she could live long enough to see all her children married and settled she’d be a happy woman.

  Rose had been dozing fitfully, the pains in her joints making restful sleep impossible. She’d had a very sore throat a couple of weeks ago and had been off work for a day, but it had gone and she’d thought nothing more of it until two days ago when she’d begun to feel really awful. Her head ached, she felt sick, she’d had no energy and then the fever had overtaken her. At least she now knew what it was and that she would get well again. And she’d overheard what her mam had said to the doctor about her not going back to Black’s Commercial Hotel. For that she was really thankful. She hated the place, but it had been the only job she could get. She hated having to clean rooms, change beds, empty chamber pots and she knew it would be years before she would be promoted to something better, such as head chambermaid or housekeeper. She had enquired if she could be trained to wait on in the dining room – she wouldn’t have minded that – but she’d been told very firmly
that there were no vacancies and that should one occur then they would employ someone already trained in silver service. There was another reason why she had no wish to return there. Jimmy Harper. She’d been foolish enough to believe that he had really cared for her. He was the first lad who had ever asked her out. He’d started working at the hotel a few months ago as the boy who cleaned the guests’ boots, brought them their morning papers and sometimes ran errands for them. He was the same age as her and they’d quickly become friends. She’d really, really liked him and had believed him when he’d said she was the only girl for him. They’d been courting for almost two months when one afternoon she’d caught him kissing Mavis Smythe, who had only been working there as a chambermaid for two weeks. He’d tried to laugh it off, saying Mavis had led him on, but she’d never felt so hurt and let down in her life before and having to see him every day and studiously ignore him made working at Black’s intolerable.

  ‘How are you feeling now, Rose?’ Bill asked gently as he set the jug and tumbler on the beside table. She certainly still looked feverish. ‘Has the medicine helped at all?’

  Rose tried to sit up but the effort made her grimace. Bill took her hand in his. ‘You just lie there, I’ll get you another pillow and help make you more comfortable. Your mam said you were to drink a full glass of this.’

  He found another pillow and placed it behind her and then filled the glass and held it for her as if she were seven years old instead of seventeen.

  Rose managed a smile; she loved her father dearly and knew he was worried about her. ‘I feel a bit better knowing exactly what’s wrong with me but it will be a while before I get back to normal.’

  He nodded his agreement. ‘Take things easy and you’ll be fine. Perhaps when you feel better you could read, that would help to pass the time. I’ll ask Iris if she’ll go to the library and get you some books. I’d go myself but I think she will have a better idea of what you enjoy than me. With everyone at work and your mam in the shop you’ll need something to occupy you, once you’re on the mend.’

  Rose leaned back against the pillows and nodded. If she hadn’t been feeling so ill the idea of lying here reading all day would have been heaven. She loved reading, especially romances whose heroines lived far more interesting and pampered lives than she did and always married a handsome, adoring and often wealthy man. It also helped to take her mind off Jimmy Harper. She dozed off, comforted by the doctor’s assurances, her father’s presence and the knowledge that her days at Black’s Commercial Hotel were in the past.

  ‘Did the doctor come, Mam? What did he say? How is she?’ Iris fired the questions at her mother as she came into the kitchen at the back of the shop, put her bag on the dresser and took off her jacket and hat. She ran her hands through her thick auburn hair, which she’d recently had cut in the new short style, something of which her mother had strongly disapproved. They’d had words over it. She had dark eyes like her father but she also had his height and build, something she frequently complained about, bemoaning the fact that she wasn’t slender and petite like Rose.

  ‘Don’t just leave your hat and bag on the dresser, Iris; I’ll be needing those dishes off it soon. She’s a bit better. It’s rheumatic fever but she’ll get over it,’ Kate informed her, handing Iris the offending cloche hat and clutch bag and shaking her head at the sight of her daughter’s shorn locks. Iris was far too self-willed and independent in her opinion and working in that munitions factory appeared only to have increased those traits. It seemed as if all the changes in society could be blamed on the war.

  ‘That’s a relief! Shall I go up and see if there’s anything she needs or wants, Mam?’ Iris was genuinely relieved. Rose had been really ill these last twenty-four hours. Although they were very different in temperament and sometimes bickered, she was closer to her sister than she was to her brother Charlie; for the past few years she had found him somewhat difficult to live with, although she did sympathise with him after what he had been through.

  ‘Don’t be too long up there, Iris. I need you to help me with supper,’ Kate instructed. ‘Your da will be in a bit later tonight, he’s trying to sort out his stock, and when our Charlie comes in I want him to give your da a hand or we’ll be having our meal when it’s time to go to bed.’

  Iris smiled fondly at the sight of her sister propped up by pillows and looking far better than she had done that morning. ‘You’ll go to any lengths not to have to go to work, Rose, although I have to say this is a bit drastic!’

  Rose grimaced. ‘Don’t torment me, Iris. I still feel awful.’

  Iris sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Poor you, but you will get better, Mam said so. Is there anything you want? I’ve not to stay up here gossiping. Da’s staying on late and when our Charlie gets in he’s going to get roped in to help.’

  Rose managed a smile. ‘He won’t be very happy about that, knowing our Charlie.’

  ‘He’s never really happy about anything these days, unless of course it’s counting his money,’ Iris replied scathingly. ‘Mam is always saying she doesn’t know where he gets his miserly streak from.’

  Rose nodded. ‘Mam says I’m not going back to Black’s and that’s a huge relief, and for more than one reason.’

  Iris nodded sympathetically; she knew how hurt Rose had been by Jimmy Harper’s betrayal.

  ‘I think it’s going to be ages before I can even get out of bed. When I’m feeling better, would you go to the library for me, Iris?’

  ‘Aren’t you the fortunate one?’ Iris joked. ‘Lying up here with your head in one of those terrible romances you love so much while I’m stuck behind the counter at Frisby Dyke’s measuring out knicker elastic and other such bits of finery. Of course I’ll go and get you your books but only when Mam thinks you’re up to reading. Now, I’d better go back down before she starts yelling up to me. I’m still not in her good books for having my hair cut! Mind you, if I’d asked her before I had it done she’d have forbidden it.’ She grinned, taking in her sister’s long, dark locks, which were now very tangled. ‘You should have yours cut, Rose. This style would suit you and it’s so easy to manage.’

  ‘I might think about it,’ Rose replied. At that precise moment she didn’t really care how she looked. She just wished all the aches and pains would disappear and she could sleep.

  It was nearly half past eight when they finally sat down at the table, much to Kate’s annoyance for it had been a very long and trying day and she was worn out.

  ‘You should get rid of half the stuff you have in the loft over the shop, Da. It’s never going to be redeemed now and it’s just old clothes and rubbish,’ Charlie stated, helping himself to more boiled potatoes to accompany the large slice of meat and vegetable pie already on his plate. He was now twenty-one and strongly resembled his father in looks and build if not in nature.

  ‘I don’t think it’s very charitable to call people’s belongings “rubbish”. They paid good money for that stuff and it’s unfortunate that they haven’t been able to redeem it. Besides, what am I supposed to do with it?’ Bill asked.

  ‘Give it to a rag-and-bone merchant, at least you’d get a few bob for it. Better than having to burn it,’ Charlie answered with his mouth full.

  Kate glared at him ‘Where are your manners, Charlie Mundy?’

  Charlie shrugged but refrained from replying until he’d swallowed his food. God, but Mam was so picky sometimes, he thought irritably. Didn’t she understand that after you’d spent a year in the stinking trenches, standing knee deep in filthy muddy water, deafened by the incessant pounding of the heavy guns, your guts turning to water with sheer terror and the horror of seeing your mates being blown to bits around you, things like ‘manners’ seemed pretty unimportant? ‘I just thought it would be easier to get rid of as much stuff as you can. Make life easier. You’d be better able to keep track of things and turn that rubbish into hard cash. There’s no point in working if you don’t make a decent profit.’

  ‘None of
us earns what you would exactly call a fortune,’ Iris stated succinctly, knowing her brother didn’t earn much more than either herself or Rose. ‘Hardly anyone makes what you call a “decent profit”.’

  Charlie glared at her. In his opinion Iris had far too much to say and mainly on matters that did not concern her. He decided to ignore her remark. ‘If you’d let me work with you, Da, I’m sure with your experience and my organisation we could really make a difference.’

  ‘We’ve been through this time and again, Charlie,’ Kate said firmly. ‘You have a steady, decent job with the Blue Funnel Line. Granted as a clerk it’s not well paid yet, but in time if you work hard you’ll get promoted and then your pay will improve. You are very fortunate they took you back after the war. How many lads of your age have a good job – or any job for that matter? There isn’t enough to be made from that business to employ you as well, especially as times are so desperately hard.’

  ‘Your mam’s right, lad. The way things are going folk will have nothing left to pawn and I’ll be seriously out of pocket. We are more fortunate than so many around here, thank God, but we still need all of you to be earning a wage,’ Bill added quietly.

  ‘What’s our Rose going to do when she’s better, Mam? She said you won’t let her go back to Black’s,’ Iris asked.

  ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,’ Bill stated firmly.

  ‘I hope you’re not thinking of letting her stay at home doing nothing? You’ve just said we all need to work,’ Charlie said quietly. That certainly wouldn’t be fair on either him or Iris but then Rose had always been the spoilt one.

  ‘Like your da said, we’ll wait until she’s over this and then see what she’s capable of doing. I never thought that job was suitable for her constitution,’ Kate said firmly. In fact an idea had already formed in her mind; she had been thinking about it all afternoon and intended to discuss it with Bill later, when they got a moment to themselves.