Christmas Wishes (40 page)

Edward made it clear that he enjoyed being part of the Lawrences’ extended family, helping Joy unobtrusively when she needed a hand, teasing her, laughing both at and with her, and proving himself to be, as always, her best and closest friend. And Irene and Chalky had clearly come to an understanding and only stopped holding hands, Gillian whispered to her twin, when they were putting food into their mouths.

Gillian herself and Keith stayed in the hall so long when playing postman’s knock that Chalky made ribald suggestions, and all Keith’s fears and uncertainties must surely have dissipated, for he emerged from the hallway, Edward told Joy, with an arm slung round Gillian’s shoulders, a big grin on his face and lipstick on his chin. In fact a grand time was had by all and both Alex and Auntie Clarke were pleased that their efforts had been appreciated.

When Gillian and Joy went to bed that night Joy was eager to talk over their day and to remind Gillian how much she had enjoyed herself. ‘I say, what do you think of this sledging expedition the boys are planning?’ she said, pulling her nightie over her head. ‘It’ll have to be this coming weekend, and they say if we can get ten or a dozen people, then we can catch a bus to the nearest village and hike to Chalky’s uncle’s place, which is pretty remote. Chalky says the snow is deep and pretty well undisturbed there and it’s quite hilly, so if we can find some sledges, or trays even, we should have a great time. Edward says on a good run a sledge can get up speed until it’s going faster than a horse can gallop. Imagine that!’

Gillian gave a little squeak. ‘I’d love it, if only it comes off,’ she said enthusiastically. ‘Keith’s got a real sledge, big enough for two, and your Edward has a little wooden one that his dad made years ago. Several of Blue Watch want to come … if only it stays cold until the weekend!’

‘I’m sure it will,’ Joy said. ‘I reckon sledging will be almost as much fun as ice skating, when you’ve got a first-rate partner of course. And Chalky’s uncle says we can use his hill pasture not just for sledging, but for a sort of party. He says when they were kids they’d build a bonfire and bake spuds and apples in the embers. He says we can have flasks of tea – Chalky’s Aunt Beth will provide them – and go back to the farmhouse afterwards for hot mince pies and punch. Oh, how I pray the snow lasts!’

And obligingly, the snow remained on the ground all the rest of the week, whilst the twins and their friends laid their plans for the trip.

‘Though it will be later than we thought, since the chaps in Blue Watch say they can’t get away much before three, and it’ll be coming on dark by then,’ Gillian said. The girls were in their room, sorting out their warmest clothing for the trip next day. ‘Not that it matters, though, because there’s a full moon, and we’ve all got torches.’

‘True,’ Joy said; she forbore to point out that moon or sun, she would be in her usual perpetual darkness, since her twin was well aware of the fact. ‘Oh damn, my mittens have sprung a hole; how irritating! Have you seen the size of the basket of Welsh cakes Auntie Clarke has baked for us? Bags I not carry them.’

‘Nor me,’ Gillian said at once. ‘The fellers can do the carrying; it’s what men were made for!’

Joy laughed but protested. ‘That’s unfair! Keith and Edward have done no end of work in setting this up – so has Chalky for that matter. And they’ll be carrying their sledges, so perhaps you and I should cart the grub between us. I don’t want to spoil the boys’ evening by giving them a double load.’

‘And you don’t mind spoiling mine,’ Gillian said sharply. ‘Just because we’re twins, everyone, including you, will think it my duty to dance attendance on you, see you aren’t left out or ignored … not that you will be, because you’re always the centre of attention and I’m—’

Joy blinked. Her twin had been chattering away happily and all of a sudden she was snapping and snarling! ‘Hold on, Gillian,’ she said, feeling her own annoyance begin to boil up. ‘I’m sure someone will give me a hand with the basket. And if I’m such a nuisance then you’d better steer clear of me, because I
won’t
be a burden, I bloody well won’t!’

Chapter Fifteen

The sledging party met as arranged soon after three and stood on the icy pavement, rubbing their hands and stamping their feet until they were able to board the bus. Chalky seemed very excited over something, but simply said mysteriously that this was not just a new year but a new decade, and wasn’t that a good enough reason to start a whole new chapter in one’s life? He had been talking to Keith, but Joy, overhearing, said she agreed. ‘I mean to startle you all in the course of 1950,’ she announced. ‘I think I’ll leave Wittard’s and join a circus as a trapeze artist or – or a lion tamer. A switchboard can get boring after a while.’

She had been thinking of her sight and her hope that it would soon return, but she did not mean to say anything to anyone of that particular secret hope. Instead, she turned to Chalky. ‘What do you think? Would I suit spangled tights? Pink ones, with a little bolero top to show off my magnificent bosom?’

Due to the fact that Joy was slightly built, this remark caused much hilarity and Gillian reminded her twin how she had once thought being a fireman was the career she would enjoy most, and then others joined in, shouting and joking, suggesting a number of strange occupations whilst staring hopefully up the road in the direction from which the bus would come.

The group assembling on the pavement was now sixteen strong, since the younger members of Blue Watch had brought girlfriends along, and a good deal of teasing and flirting went on as the bus arrived and they began to take their seats. When the conductor saw the sledges and trays the boys were carrying he added to the fun by telling them that he wasn’t a Pickford’s van and didn’t mean to go in for furniture removals, but since the bus was almost empty save for the sledging party, he allowed himself to be persuaded to pile most of the ‘luggage’ under the stairs whilst the rest was wedged around the seats.

‘I just hope no perishin’ inspector jumps aboard and asks me wharr I charge for such things,’ he said, grinning to himself at the mere thought. Irene, clutching a bag of potatoes, offered him a piece of treacle toffee from another bag which Auntie Clarke had given her, and he took it and thanked her, commenting that if an inspector did appear he would say the lump in his cheek was a tooth abscess. ‘I’ll say the bleedin’ agony caused me to overlook the extry luggage,’ he said thickly. ‘Oh, go on wi’ you! Gerraboard and don’t forget the last bus back to the city leaves Cutten’s Corner at ten o’clock on the flamin’ dot.’

‘We won’t forget,’ Gillian said, jumping on to the platform and holding out a hand to Joy, only her twin was already being steered to a seat by the ever-faithful Edward. Gillian sometimes thought that her sister did not fully appreciate Edward, but in a way it was his own fault. He was always there when he was needed but should someone else come forward he would, so to speak, step back. Perhaps Gillian was the only person to notice his rueful look as someone else caught Joy’s attention and Edward became unnecessary, a part of the background. Sometimes she tried to make Joy realise what a grand person her old friend was, but usually decided to let well alone. Perhaps Edward was not the strong character Joy would need when she left the nest, as all young things must; perhaps they both realised it, though neither ever said so. And I’ve got my own life to lead, Gillian reminded herself; I shouldn’t try to manoeuvre Joy in any direction. The choice of a life partner must be her twin’s and hers alone.

Thinking the matter over now, as she settled in her seat beside Keith, Gillian realised that she had no idea whether Edward really had any feeling for her twin stronger than that of friendship. Whenever Gillian had tried to get Joy to consider him, Joy always replied laughingly that she loved Edward like a brother.

Now Gillian, staring at the backs of their heads, so close together, had to admit to herself that she did not know whether Edward and Joy had exchanged even the lightest of kisses. They held hands in the street, linked arms in a crowd, but Gillian knew that this meant nothing; anyone accompanying Joy anywhere would pretty well have to take her hand or her arm.

She remembered that she had seen them dancing together at a Christmas party and had felt tears come to her eyes as she watched her twin and Edward slowly circling the floor. Joy had seemed to nestle into Edward’s embrace and he had held her with such tenderness that for a moment Gillian had felt a pang of envy and had honestly thought the couple must love one another, even if neither had as yet realised it. But then Edward had said something which had made her twin gasp, laugh and give him a push in the chest. As the music ended and they had moved off the dance floor, Joy had said loudly enough for Gillian to hear: ‘You cheeky beggar! Don’t you go getting ideas just because we dance well together!’

As soon as she had been able to do so, which was when they were queuing for their coats, Gillian had asked her sister just what Edward had said or done which had made her laugh and push him away. But Joy had only giggled again. ‘He’s daft, Edward, but he can always make me laugh,’ was all she would vouchsafe.

Chalky’s voice broke into Gillian’s thoughts. He was standing at the front of the bus, his fair hair hidden beneath a blue woollen bobble hat, his duffel coat unfastened and his cheeks flushed. He had one hand on Irene’s shoulder and had to raise his voice to be heard above the roaring of the bus’s engine. ‘Ladies and gents, although you’re mainly gents being as how there’s no such thing as a female firefighter,’ he shouted. ‘Next stop is ours, so you’d best get your things together. And while I’m on me feet, I’ll tell you a bit of news what’ll knock you for six. I’ve popped the question to young Irene here and she’s agreed to give it a go, so next week we’ll buy the ring and make it official like.’

There was a startled pause before the rest of the company began to shout congratulations. Gillian giggled and leaned closer to Keith to whisper in his ear. ‘Trust Chalky to pick the worst possible moment for making an announcement,’ she hissed. ‘But I suppose he’s so thrilled she’s given in at last that he couldn’t wait to tell everyone, just in case she changed her mind.’

Keith grinned at her. ‘I reckon you’re right,’ he said. ‘Chalky’s been trying to get next to Irene ever since I met you. He’s a really nice chap; I never could make out why Irene didn’t grab him, but you women have your reasons, I suppose.’

‘Oh, Keith, you must have noticed that Irene was always tagging round after our dad,’ Gillian said. ‘Of course Dad simply wasn’t interested, and when he took Auntie Clarke to the Isle of Man the iron entered Irene’s soul. She stopped thinking the sun shone out of Dad and began to appreciate Chalky.’

‘Well, I’m glad for both of them, because I think they’re well suited …’ Keith began, just as some enterprising soul began to sing ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’ and the bus drew to a shuddering halt.

As Chalky and Irene passed him the conductor seized their hands, adding his own congratulations to those of the sledging party. ‘But mind you arrive at this ’ere stop on time ’cos I dursen’t wait more than five or ten minutes at the most,’ he warned them. ‘An’ it’s a helluva long walk from here to the city centre.’

Chalky, grinning from ear to ear and clutching Irene so possessively that she squeaked a protest, said that the conductor was not to worry; he would round up his party and have them down the lane and gathering at the bus stop well before ten o’clock. Then he stood on the platform, making sure that they left nothing behind.

As soon as everyone was ready he and Irene shepherded the party up the narrow lane that led to Ravensbrook Farm. The lane was steep and the bare branches of the trees which grew on top of the enclosing banks met overhead, but because of the snow’s capacity to reflect the moonlight no one strayed from the straight and narrow, or landed in the ditch. They reached the farm, where Chalky’s uncle Ned and aunt Beth greeted them, and whilst Mrs White returned to her kitchen Mr White took them to the field which he had selected for their use. ‘I’ve been piling up dead branches torn off by the last gale for a month or two, meaning to have a good big bonfire when the weather eased,’ he said. ‘But you’m welcome to set alight to it right away so’s your spuds’ll be baked by the time you’ve had enough of the sledging. Ronnie will bring you all up to the farm before you leave for the bus. The missus has baked mince pies and I’ll be brewing up a bowl of punch … but there, I dare say Ronnie has told you all this, so I’ll leave you to your sport.’

‘Keith and me will start the fire going, so Joy and Edward can have first go on Keith’s sledge because it’s a proper one, big enough for them to share,’ Gillian said quickly. She was uncomfortably aware that she had been poor company for her twin over the last couple of weeks, but she meant to make up for it by being truly sweet to Joy today and would start by letting her sister and Edward have first go on the big sledge. She looked around her and there was Joy, a smile lighting her countenance, one hand held loosely in Edward’s. Gillian’s heart missed a beat. Joy looked so happy and she, Gillian, was going to take that look off her sister’s face … oh, dammit, she must not think like that, she must tell herself that Joy would be better off for some space about her … as she would herself …

‘Right you are, Gillian.’ It was Chalky speaking, and Gillian turned to smile at him. ‘I’ve got a can of paraffin if the wood’s too damp to light without help, but have a go first. Here’s a box of matches and some spills which Uncle uses to light his pipe.’

Resolutely, Gillian approached the enormous pile of dead wood, old newspapers and dry hay. ‘Here we go,’ she said cheerfully as she struck the first match. ‘Baked potatoes, here we come!’

By the time the potatoes were cooked in the dying embers of the great bonfire, Joy was telling Edward that sledging was even more fun than ice skating. Keith, overhearing, said that in that case he claimed the credit, since Edward and Joy had had a good few goes on the big sledge, sitting together and screaming in unison. Edward, however, denied this, saying that when he and Joy had commandeered the round tin tray one of the chaps had provided, they had beaten all the speed records set by everyone else …