THE BONDAGE OF LOVE (8 page)

come on to your ken? I was escaping from women. And what did I run into?

Your mother, who was there, ready, with open arms. There's all kinds of seduction, you know. You don't have to strip off. "

"Oh! Bill!"

Oh! Fiona! "

They rocked together with laughter. But some time later, when he was asleep, she lay wide-eyed, thinking. As he had said, indeed he had been a

middle-of-the-road man: he knew all about women. Yet, now all he wanted was her, and had threatened seriously what he would do if she ever attempted to leave him. This being so, her life should be full to the brim. Yet, there recurred, and more often during the past weeks, that odd feeling of want.

But of what? Yes, of what? One thing she knew she didn't want, was to spend what spare time they had dining and dancing, or going to meet people like the Ferndales. And lately more of them seemed to have been popping up on their horizon. So, what did she want? Yes, what did she want? Mamie's behaviour was erratic, as usual. For weeks on end she would behave herself, no

tantrums: no, she wanted this and she wasn't going to do that. And when there was an upset with her, it was mostly to do with her friend Nancy

Polgar. She would want Nancy to come to tea, not tea up in what was the old schoolroom and now was a play room, but with the others, with the family in the sitting-room. Or she wanted her to come and stay for the weekend.

Should Fiona say it wasn't convenient sparks would fly: she would threaten to write to her grandfather. She would, she would. The whole family were tired of listening to this threat which was never carried out.

On the occasion when she came home and said Mrs. Polgar had invited her for the weekend. Bill thought that Fiona would visit this Mrs. Polgar's house.

Of course, he had met her once at the parents' meeting and found her, as he had said, all right, a very talkative woman but otherwise all right. But little was known of her except that her husband was a commercial traveller and that she, herself, was an expert at making stuffed toys, animals and such. So Fiona had visited the house and found it very ordinarily furnished; comfortable, what she had seen of it although this was only the sitting-room.

She had been given a cup of tea, and Mrs. Polgar had talked at great length of the pleasure she felt with regard to the friendship between Mamie and her daughter, because, as she pointed out, her daughter, a year or more older than Mamie, was still very shy.

The visit resulted in Fiona finding no fault about allowing Mamie to stay for the weekend with her friend, even though she herself would not have termed the girl shy. In fact, if she were feeling critical, she would have said, somewhat sly, because the girl's eyes always seemed to find difficulty in looking you straight in the face: she had noticed they were very sharp and had taken everything in, but when the girl was spoken to, they would always be directed downwards.

An incident occurred that caused her to be somewhat suspicious of Mamie, too, so much so that after she found she was in the wrong, she had made herself be very lenient and loving towards the child for some time afterwards. The incident concerned money missing from Willie's bank. Willie had always been a saver and when he wanted something he would not ask for it, but save for it, if possible out of his pocket money; and the box, an antique inlaid Victorian lady's sewing box, given him by Fiona some years previously because he had always admired it, became known as Willie's bank. And when Willie came to her one day and said, Tm

. I'm worried about something. I thought last week that I had made a

mistake in the counting, but when, just now, I put another river in, and counted it, I found there was one missing. "

Bill had been informed, as had Katie and Sammy, and Mamie came under

suspicion from each of them. That was until Sammy, lifting Angela's plastic box down from the shelf, saw something sticking onto a piece of the clay. It was a five-pence piece, and there at the bottom of the box was some more loose money, ranging from a penny to a fifty-pence piece.

This discovery seemed to speak for itself. Angela was used to trotting in and out of all the rooms; she had likely lifted up the box lid and seen the money and had taken some coins and a piece of paper. They could find out, but nevertheless Sammy's discovery seemed to have solved the matter. But when they searched further they did not find the five-pound note.

It was some months later, on a Saturday afternoon, and Sammy, Willie, Katie and Daisy had, with other members of the club, been in the Centre since ten o'clock that morning, showing off their prowess with a TV unit for a

publicity advert that was to promote the Centre still further by the addition of hard tennis courts on a piece of adjacent land. The committee's idea was to interest the public into subscribing towards the cost of the proposed venture. And now, the four of them were standing near the park gates engaged in an argument which

had started as a discussion. And Willie was saying, "Can you give me one good reason why you won't come?"

"Yes," replied Daisy, 'because I don't want to. "

"You're frightened?"

"What would I be frightened about?"

"You're frightened to leave this ghetto."

Sammy pushed Willie, none too gently now, saying as he did so, "Enough of that." Then it was Katie who spoke: looking fully at Daisy, she said, "I asked you to come to my birthday party because you're one of the team. All the others have accepted, so there must be a reason for your refusal, and all Willie is saying, is he would like to know what it is. And so would I. But Sammy there, he'll put on his Indian guru's monastery act and say, " You have your reason and your reason is yours alone, and therefore no-one should attempt to. "

"If you don't shut up! I'll attempt to lay you out, Miss Bailey, and in the street."

Katie laughed at this, as did Sammy, but Willie's face was as straight as Daisy's, and he continued to look at her now, saying, "You go to discos. You go out with Jimmy. And we don't care how often you dye your hair, or that you wear trainers, or ..."

"Of all the thick-heads on this planet, Willie, you beat them all."

Sammy appeared angry now. And to this Willie answered, "Thank you!

Thank you very much. And you, I suppose, consider yourself a bloody oracle.

"

The result of this exclamation was to make Daisy laugh out loud, and for Katie to join her. And as

Katie looked at the two sheepish faces now, saying, "Oh, I wish Dad had been here," Daisy stopped laughing, and turning to Katie, she said, "Would he have laughed an' all?"

"Oh yes. Yes. Just to hear the way Willie said bloody."

"Would your mother have laughed?"

"Well, she would have been amused. But she likely would have said, " Willie!

" She used to do years ago whenever he would come out with some nicety that the oracle was in the habit of expressing."

They all turned to Daisy now, as she said, "Yes, I thought your mother would look at things differently from your dad. And that's one of my reasons for refusing. I know oil doesn't mix with water, except in places like over there." She thumbed back towards the large building they had just left.

"And even there it can look streaky at times. And if I had accepted your invitation," she looked at Katie again, "What would have happened? You would have expected me to invite you back to our place, wouldn't you?"

"No! No!" This came from both Willie and Katie. Then Katie added, "Not necessarily, although I don't see why you shouldn't invite us to meet your people."

They were all staring at Daisy again: her head was back and her eyes were cast heavenwards, a pose she maintained for some seconds before, lowering her gaze on to Sammy, she said, "They don't know what they're talking about, do they?

They're really more foreign than foreigners. "

"Why don't you try them?"

"What!" Daisy stared at Sammy, and he repeated, "Yes, why don't you try them? It's Saturday afternoon. You said yourself your place is as packed as a football stadium on a Saturday afternoon when there's no money kicking around."

"D'you know where we live?" Daisy's question was quiet. And Sammy's reply was equally quiet as he said, "Yes, you live in Forty-five, Brompton Grove West. It's a three-bed roomed house with sitting-room, big

kitchen-living-room, scullery and bathroom, and a strip of garden at the back. Me granny used to live in a similar one, not a kick in the backside from Brompton Grove West. I know that part well because I had to stay with her. And I liked living there as much as I liked her, and that wasn't much, I can tell you. When we moved to the High Flats, that wasn't a move upwards, but it seemed like heaven to me because me granny wasn't there."

He looked towards Katie now, and with a grin on his face, he added, "I used to say a Hail Mary every night for her and pick some disease she could die of, and it was never a painless one."

They were all laughing now, and Katie was thinking he sounded just like his father; and it wasn't often he did these days.

When the laughter quietened, Sammy took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the tears from the bottom of his nose. Then, still rubbing the

handkerchief round his face, he looked at Daisy,

saying, "What about it? Why don't you accept the challenge?"

Daisy sucked so hard on her bottom lip that she left it clean of its red coating. Then she muttered, "OK, but I'd better warn me mother."

"Oh, no. No." Sammy shook his head.

"No warnings They take us as we are, and vice versa."

"But what if me da's had a drop?" She was addressing Sammy.

"One thing sure, he won't have had a skinful, because things are tight. But when he goes in for a pint, some of his mates who are still in jobs stand him a round or two. He comes in in his talking mood, and then it can be

anything." She now nodded from Willie to Katie, and exclaimed, "Anything from blasphemy to black eyes, and of course the Browns next door. And what he says about them at times would make a blue comedian blush. So, there you have it."

"Well," - Willie was grinning now 'let's take it. What d'you say, Katie? "

"I... I would like to meet your people very much, Daisy. I mean that.

I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't have said that when we first met, but after all this time, I can now. " The two girls stared at each other. Then Daisy, shrugging her now blonde hair back from her shoulders, said, " What's keeping us? Let's get it over with. " ... Forty-five, Brompton Grove West, had a green painted door. It had a letter-box at the bottom and its knocker at the top. There was no bell. If there had been, Daisy wouldn't have used it, or the knocker to give those inside warning of the visitors.

And it seemed, at this moment, as the chorus of raised voices came to them, that some warning was indeed needed. But Daisy, as if she were alone

entering her home, pushed open the door, walked straight into the crowded room, turned and held the door open and said, "Well, come on then!" And so she ushered the three strangers into the family circle. Which of them showed the more surprise was hard to say.

A man in his shirt-sleeves was sitting at the far end of a table, and a smallish woman with a thick mass of auburn hair stood gripping the near end, her body bent towards him, as if she were in the midst of expressing herself with emphasis. At each side of the table sat a young man, the two of them apparently engrossed in a game of cards.

That the game was serious was evident to the onlookers, because on the table was a small glass dish holding a number of coins, the largest being a

ten-pence piece.

On a long and worn Chesterfield couch set against the far wall and running at right angles to the fireplace, were sprawled two youths who had been reading magazines but were now sitting bolt upright, staring at the visitors.

The door closed with a slam behind Willie, making him jump slightly.

Then Daisy pushed past him saying, "These are my friends from the Centre.

They wanted to come and say ... say, hello."

"Oh!" The exclamation had come from the man;

and he repeated, "Oh! Well, it would have been nice. Miss Gallagher, if you had given us notice,

wouldn't it? And I could have, at least, put on a clean shirt or a jacket.

And my offspring there," he thumbed down the table 'could have hidden their gambling. And those two layabouts on the couch could have wiped their snotty noses and got to their feet. As for me wife there," -he pointed 'as the song says, if she had known you were coming she'd have baked a cake. Wouldn't you, Annie? "

"Come off it. Da," said Daisy.

"You've got your dry tongue on the day.

Anyway--' She turned now to those she had called her friends and was about to say something when Katie forestalled her. Having taken in the whole

situation, and having asked herself what Miss Armitage, the headmistress and lady of ladies would have done in a similar situation, she took a step past Daisy and, looking towards the man still seated in the chair, she said, "It's unforgivable of us, Mr. Gallagher, and I apologise. We should have given Mrs. Gallagher," - she now turned to the round-faced, staring woman 'we should have given you, at least we should have asked you if it would be convenient for us to visit you. One doesn't think, you know. So, we'll go now. "

"You'll do nothing of the sort. You've just come, so come in and take a seat, if you can find one." It was as if the little woman had just come to life.

She now turned towards the couch, saying, "You two, get off your backsides there, and go into the front room and bring out a couple of chairs. And me man, here, is right, for if I had known you were coming I would have baked you a cake. And you would have had it in the front room with the fire on.

But it's dead out it is in there, so it'll be warmer here. So, come across here, you two young men, and plant yourselves on the couch. And you, Frank,"

- she addressed one of the card players 'move your ar--, yourself out of the only decent chair in the kitchen and let the young lady sit down. "