The Chainmakers (20 page)

~

The Brooklyn bridge, despite its huge size, was crowded with walkers taking the air on what was likely to be one of the last really fine days of the year. The central walkway, elevated so that the carriages, carts and cable trains did not obscure the view, was peopled with a diverse variety of New Yorkers, from the elegant and sophisticated to the poorest new immigrant. Anna had wanted to walk across the bridge ever since her first view of it on the day they arrived in New York, and now she clung happily to Clancy's arm, revelling in the ever expanding scene as they neared the centre of the bridge. She stopped to take in more fully the view up river to Long Island Sound, and Clancy looked at her anxiously.

'Are you tired? Is the walk too much for you?'

'No, of course not. I want to spend a few minutes just looking, that's all.'

Clancy smiled. 'Yes, it feels good up here in the fresh air. I wouldn't fancy it in a gale though.' He pointed up river. 'One day Anna, when we have made our fortune, I shall take you up there, on one of the Fall River steamboats, a really grand one, and we shall have a stateroom.'

'Oh, shall we?' said Anna, laughing. 'Like the one we had crossing the Atlantic you mean?'

Clancy made a face. 'Not the slightest bit like that I should hope. I still feel that life on board can be good if you have the money to do it properly.'

'And if you aren't sick all the time,' Anna murmured.

'Oh you won't be sick, I promise. By the time we can afford it our children will be grown up and off our hands...'

'How many?' Anna interrupted.

'Four, I think. No, five.' Clancy said seriously. 'The last one was a surprise,' he explained, watching the dimple in Anna's cheek as she suppressed a smile. 'Anyway,' he continued, 'We shall travel overnight, as all the best people do, leaving the pier on the Hudson at about five in the afternoon, which gives us a few hours to watch the Sound pass by, and then we shall take a good dinner in the saloon. A turn around the deck, and then down to our stateroom to sleep. We wake up in the Fall River, and board the train to Boston to see all the sights. Staying at the best hotel of course,' he added quickly.

Anna sighed. 'It sounds wonderful Clancy, but I fear it's a pipe dream.' She laughed. 'At least I'm glad you have the plans ready.'

'One of the fellows at the site was telling me about it.' Clancy explained. 'Apparently rich folks do the trip all the time. His sister works as a nursemaid and was taken along with the family. She said it was wonderful.'

'That's the sort of job to have,' Anna agreed. She took Clancy's arm again and they crossed to look over the bay towards the Narrows, Coney Island and the wide waters of the Atlantic.

'Look', she said, pointing. 'That's where we came in.'

'Will I ever forget it?' said Clancy. 'Sure, 'twas a wonderful sight...'

'Oh, yes,' Anna breathed, remembering.

Wretched and ill, she would have been happy to make land anywhere, as long as she could get off the ship. But after a week of the stone grey colours of the crossing, the soft hues of the New Jersey Hills were a feast for the eyes, and the lovely islets and wooded slopes of New York Harbour had gladdened her heart. As the ship slowly made its way along the Narrows, amid the crowded shipping and past the Statue of Liberty, Anna had gathered impressions so fast she had felt breathless. The main impact was of great vigour and industry, with views of enormous buildings and ferry boats crossing in every direction, and a sense of amazement at the span of the great bridge where they now stood.

Anna squeezed Clancy's arm. 'I still can hardly believe it,' she said. 'That we're really here and have settled in so fast, that... that we're married...'

Clancy laughed. 'Well we're married right enough so you'd better make the most of it. But let's have a little less talk of us being "settled". We are certainly not settled in that dump we are living in, and the sooner we move out the better.'

'It's as good as we had in Sandley Heath,' Anna pointed out.

'There may be more space than Mam and I had,' Clancy admitted, but I can't agree it's as good. There's no privacy.'

'That's true.'

The mention of Sandley Heath brought memories of the family, and after a moment Anna said 'It was so good to have Will's letter.' She laughed. 'I never knew Will to write so much, he made a real effort with all the news. He knew I would be interested to hear about Mrs. Pankhurst and Annie Kenney being arrested in Manchester.'

'The Women's movement certainly are in earnest,' Clancy agreed. 'To choose prison instead of a fine shows real courage, but it won't have any effect.'

'You think not? You think women will not get the vote?'

'Some day perhaps, but I doubt in Mrs. Pankhurst's lifetime. Parliament will never agree. Just after you went to France there was a Bill put forward, but it was talked out. Much as I admire your suffragette friends, I have to admit I would rather see every working man get a decent wage to keep his family, than votes for women.'

Anna considered, and then said 'I don't see why we can't have both.'

Clancy laughed. 'There you go, reaching for the moon again. I agree with you, but it's not up to us is it?'

They turned and continued their walk across the bridge, both wanting the afternoon to last, to delay as long as possible the inevitable return to the two rooms with sink and gas ring they had taken on the third floor of a brownstone house downtown. Only Sylvie's picture, in pride of place on the dingy wall, lifted the depressing atmosphere.

After a moment Anna said.

'I know you don't like where we are living Clancy, and neither do I, but I think it would be wrong to move before we can afford it.'

'I don't want us to bring up the baby there.' Clancy said grimly.

'I know, and you're right. That's why I think we should stay as long as we can and try to save a little. We shall need every penny when the baby comes, but that is four months yet. That will be soon enough to move.' She smiled. 'You may have a rise in pay before then.'

Clancy grunted. 'Some hopes. Not on the construction site anyway, there's ten men for every job going.'

Anna felt a small pang of unease. 'Do you wish you were going? With Dennis and Michael?'

Clancy laughed. 'With those two tearaways? Not on your life! Don't get me wrong Anna, I'm grateful for the help my cousins gave me. I'm sure I wouldn't have found work so quickly without them introducing me to the foreman at Hampsons. But they are youngsters, I'm an old married man, so I am.'

Anna looked at Clancy sharply and saw that his eyes were twinkling. Nevertheless she responded, 'That's what I mean. If you weren't lumbered with me you could go with them.'

'With that pair? I've got more sense! They may kid themselves they are going west to seek their fortunes, but what they are really looking for is adventure. They'll probably find it, and if I know them, any money they attract along the way will be spent as quickly as it arrives.' Clancy patted Anna's hand. 'No, my love, there are fortunes to be made just as easily here in New York. I just haven't found out how... as yet.'

They walked on slowly across the bridge, pausing every few minutes to admire the view. When they reached the Brooklyn side they found a small cafe, lingering over their cups of dark rich coffee until the light began to fade and Clancy said they must take the train back. As they settled into their seats Clancy said suddenly, 'I don't really care about making a fortune. I just don't want you to work in that awful place a moment longer than necessary.'

Anna laughed. 'It's not so bad, and when the baby comes I'll have to leave anyway.'

Clancy smiled, and as Anna met the dark Irish eyes she could see the love clearly shining there. 'I can hardly wait,' he admitted softly. 'For next April, when I'll have you and the little one all to myself.'

Often during the wintry days which followed their trip to the Brooklyn bridge Anna was to recall Clancy's words with happy anticipation. Her body felt cumbersome and heavy, and the work at the bar became more difficult every day. She seemed trapped in a habitual regime of work, fretful sleep, and more work. Clancy was attentive and kind, but as the days went by Anna felt that her whole life was concerned with only one aim, how to push her reluctant body through each miserable day.

The necessity to save every penny meant Anna and Clancy had few treats or outings, and over the weeks the narrowness of their existence and the drabness of their surroundings took its toll. They spent a meagre but restful Christmas together, and as they played word games on Christmas afternoon Anna realised she had hardly used her brain for months. She remembered the evenings at La Maison Blanche, where the conversation had been intellectually challenging and full of interest, where she had felt she was growing, learning, becoming more fully alive. She was still growing, she reflected grimly, physically at least. Mentally she was confined even more tightly than she had been at Sandley Heath.

By mid January the preoccupation with her strict routine had left Anna morose and sullen, as if the daily drudgery had become an end in itself, its completion the only aim or reason for each passing day. As she polished the bar one morning she was sunk so deeply into vacant introspection that she hardly heard Ben Brackley's staccato voice, and started suddenly as he repeated 'Wake up!'

'I'm sorry Mr. Brackley, what did you say?'

'Your man.' He looked annoyed. 'Out back.' He indicated the rear door with a sharp jerk of his head.

'Clancy? Here? What does he want?'

Ben Brackley's long suffering sigh was the only answer, and Anna went quickly to the back door to find Clancy in a state of some excitement.

'What's happened?' A chill ran through her. 'You haven't lost your job?'

'No, darlin'. Nothing like that. You must come quickly. Now.'

'But I don't finish till...'

'Never mind, you're leaving here. I've got you another job.'

'Another job? But I can't, I'll have to leave when the baby comes...'

'I'll explain on the way.' He grabbed her arms. 'Trust me Anna.'

Anna, sensing his excitement, nodded. 'I'll tell Mr. Brackley, can I give him notice?'

'No, I'll speak to him.'

Clancy went into the bar and returned after a few moments, grinning. 'He's not very happy. Offered to pay an extra two dollars a week to keep you!'

'Two dollars! Perhaps...'

'Come on, we have to get the tram, quickly.'

Clancy bundled her down the road to the tram stop, explaining that the cook at the Hampsons construction site had been dismissed that morning, and Clancy had immediately offered Anna's services as a replacement.

'A cook? I should like that, what does it pay?'

'More than you are getting now,' Clancy responded grimly, 'But Anna, that isn't the point.'

'Oh? What is the point?' Anna questioned as they boarded the tram.

Once they were seated and had paid their fare, Clancy explained. The cook was not an employee, but had a contract to provide meals at lunch time for four managers and over sixty construction workers for a set fee per head. The contract had only two weeks to run and Hampsons were not renewing it due to complaints about the meals. There had been a big row and the cook had departed in high dudgeon. 'Don't you see Anna?' Clancy enthused 'It's running your own business.'