The Liverpool Rose (31 page)

It was a hot August day and Geoff was pretending to look in the window of the shop next door to Sharpe’s Ironmongery. He was heartily sick of pursuing Flossie and was beginning to think he would never catch her alone. He and Lizzie had met several times to discuss their progress but neither of them had anything to report. However, he had managed to ascertain that when the shop was quiet, Flossie occasionally left her husband in charge while she visited a friend on Mere Lane and, because of the heat and the bright sunshine, there were fewer shoppers than usual crowding the pavements, so Geoff thought today might be his lucky day.

By half-past three he was beginning to contemplate giving up and going to the nearest tea-room for a drink, when the shop door swung open and Flossie emerged. She had shed the dark brown overall which she wore in the shop and was clad in a light floral print and open-toed sandals, with a wide-brimmed straw hat perched on her Marcel-waved hair. She looked cool and comfortable and set off at a good pace in the direction of Mere Lane, making Geoff think, wistfully, that there were advantages to being a woman; his grey flannel trousers and jacket seemed horribly hot, but he dared not shed the jacket since he
wanted Flossie to think him a person to be reckoned with.

Geoff knew that her friend lived a good way down the lane but he had missed catching Flossie alone too many times to risk it happening again, so he speeded up, got in front of her and then turned, as though he thought he had just recognised someone he knew. ‘Afternoon, Mrs Sharpe,’ he said breezily, though with banging heart. ‘Can I have a word?’

Flossie Sharpe did not looked pleased, neither did she stop walking, though she did slow her pace. ‘Are you a customer?’ she said baldly. ‘Because if so, me husband’s mindin’ the shop. If you want somethin’ he’ll be there till six, later if business is brisk – which it ain’t, or I wouldn’t be off to see me pal.’

Geoff looked round desperately but there was no tea-room, or garden where he and Flossie might talk; it would have to be here and now, on the pavement, with people passing by. Fishing a handkerchief out of his pocket, he mopped his damp forehead and spoke the words he had been secretly rehearsing for weeks: ‘Mrs Sharpe, I know you’ve been seeing Mr Percy Grey of an evening, and I know Mr Sharpe wouldn’t like it if he knew. I daresay you’ll say you and Percy are only friends, but I’ve followed you more than once and I know different. I want . . .’

He had been about to say that he wanted the relationship to stop before Percy Grey’s wife heard of it, but he was not given the opportunity. Flossie Sharpe stopped dead in her tracks and swung back her right arm as far as it would go. Before Geoff had realised her intention, she had brought her arm round and clouted his head with her open palm and with sufficient force to knock him off balance, so that for a moment he saw stars and was fully occupied in
keeping his feet. ‘You dirty, blackmailing little tyke,’ Flossie Sharpe hissed as Geoff, with tears in his eyes, righted himself and stared indignantly at her. ‘If you think you’ll gerra penny out of me, you’re very much mistaken. As for seein’ some feller in the pub of an evenin’, what makes you think Mr Sharpe don’t know – and approve – of wharr I do?’

For a moment Geoff was so astonished that he could only gape, then he realised that Flossie assumed he wanted money in return for his silence on the subject, and took fresh heart. ‘No, no, you’ve gorrit wrong, I just don’t want you to go on seein’ him,’ he said breathlessly, for his face and head still stung from the violence of her blow. ‘I’m a friend and neighbour of Annie Grey, Perce’s wife, and – and she’s – she’s mortal fond of him. It would break her heart to know he’s carryin’ on wi’ you, an’ I – I guess Mr Sharpe would feel the same, so I thought if I saw you, asked you to stop seein’ Mr Grey . . .’

‘Don’t waste your time, sonny, because I ain’t admittin’ nothin’, nor I shan’t stop seein’ me pals at your say so,’ Flossie said decisively. She stared hard at Geoff, her bright little eyes taking in his every feature. ‘And I knows you now, young feller. If I ever sets eyes on you when I’m wi’ Perce, I’ll see he gives you the hidin’ of your life. Now gerrout of me way. And don’t you think I’ve not noticed you hangin’ round the shop, either! I’ve already telled Mr Sharpe I reckoned you was waitin’ the chance to thieve from us, and if you keep it up I’ll tell the scuffers that an’ all. Now clear orf!’

That evening Geoff and Lizzie met to exchange news. She was distressed to learn that Flossie had been, to say the least, indifferent to Geoff’s threats of revealing
all, but accepted that he had done all he possibly could.

Because of the heat, the pair of them were sitting on the edge of the canal, dangling their bare feet in the cool water. Now Lizzie kicked an arc of dazzling spray into the air, aiming at a couple of ducks who were passing by. ‘Damn and damn and damn!’ she said explosively. ‘This summer weather makes Aunt Annie more likely to come out of the house of an evening, ’cos it’s wickedly hot in the courts. Suppose she walks down to the Travellers’ Rest on the corner of Burlington Street and the Scottie and sees them coming out – or going in for that matter? She’d be bound to guess there was something up, and it would break her heart.’

Geoff, however, was more sanguine. ‘I know I didn’t do a very good job of scaring Flossie off, but she’s no fool. I think she’ll tell Perce she wants to go to some other pub and they’ll probably keep clear of Houghton Bridge as well,’ he assured Lizzie. ‘After all, no one wants to court trouble and since she seemed to think I intended to blackmail her, she won’t deliberately stick her head into a trap. No, I reckon your Uncle Perce will keep his fancy woman well clear of our area, for a while at any rate.’

‘And what else can I do about finding Evie?’ Lizzie said rather desperately. She had picked up no clues at all since the other girl seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. ‘I’m beginning to think Sid Ryder isn’t the only one who’s left Liverpool. In fact the only thing which has kept me searching is the fear that something bad might have happened to her, and if it has, I don’t know that there’s much we could do about it. I think it’s time we both put Evie out of our minds. If she turns up, we’ll certainly find out about it
but there’s no point in continuing to search when we’ve already covered just about every avenue.’

‘I know you’re right,’ Geoff sighed. In his turn, he began to kick spray at the ducks. ‘Have you seen Clem lately? I bet it’s lovely and cool on the canal, walking along the towpath, leading Hal in the daytime and sleeping aboard the butty boat of a night. Better than boiling in that beastly bank.’

‘Better than the bottling plant, I can tell you,’ Lizzie said. ‘When it’s hot like this it really gets you down. I haven’t seen Clem for months and months in fact not since Sausage and Mash were quite young, but I often think of him. I’d love a week or two travelling up the canal and seeing all the beautiful countryside spread out around me. I wonder what he’s doing at this very moment? Something nice, I bet.’

‘Do you wish you were with him?’ Geoff asked idly. He rolled up a trouser leg which had begun to descend dangerously near the water, and kicked more spray.

Lizzie thought this over, then shook her head. ‘No, because he’d have that bleedin’ great dog in tow and I’m scared stiff of it.’ Across the water came a faint tinkling and she raised her head. ‘That sounds like the “stop me and buy one” crossing the Houghton Bridge. Do you fancy an ice cream?’

‘Phew! I reckon we need a break,’ Jake remarked as
The Liverpool Rose
emerged at the top of Bingley Five Rise Locks. ‘That’s eight locks we’ve come through in the last couple o’ miles and locks is hard work when you’ve two boats to take through.’ He grinned at Clem, who was at Hal’s head, encouraging the big horse to lean his full weight into the collar, for although the horse got a rest when the boat was
coming slowly up the five rise, it was a hard job to get it moving again from the ‘at rest’ position.

Clem enjoyed going through the locks, though it meant a good deal of hard work for him. He had to take the horse ahead, tether him to a convenient post and then run back to help with the gates and paddles of the locks, for with two boats it needed the full crew – Jake, Priddy and himself – to get through them as quickly as possible and without fouling
The Liverpool Rose
on either the sides or gates of the locks.

Not that he minded any of this running about. Indeed, in cooler weather it was good simply to be on the towpath without having Hal breathing down his neck, and this had not been a particularly fine summer. Rain had fallen most days and it was only as August edged into September that the sun had begun to shine, allowing Clem to appreciate the breathless beauty of the Pennines as the canal wound its way amongst the hills.

But right now they had made their way carefully through the locks, both the Bingley five rise and the earlier three, and Jake was steering
The Liverpool Rose
into one of the wider sections where she could be safely moored without obstructing other craft. The boat bumped gently against the bank, its rope fenders already out and protecting its sides from the contact. And Priddy’s face, rosy from the heat, emerged from the cabin. ‘What’s up?’ she said in a slightly aggrieved tone. ‘It ain’t dinnertime yet, is it? I’ve got a mutton stew simmerin’ over the fire which makes it mortal hot down here, so if we want to keep movin’ I’m in favour.’

‘Well, I thought we’d have a sandwich for us midday meal and save the stew for this evenin’, when it’s cool,’ Jake said, half apologetically. ‘Hal gets his
nosebag on for a feed and has a snooze while the water’s goin’ up or down in the locks but it’s perishin’ hard work for the rest of us.’

‘I think we could all do with a break. This hot weather’s hard on both horse and man alike and I reckon old Brutus wouldn’t say no to a run in the hills, eh? With a bit of luck, he might find his way crossed by a rabbit – or even a nice plump hare.’ Jake smacked his lips reminiscently for the dog had brought a hare in only a month previously and there was nothing Jake enjoyed more than jugged hare. ‘So what do you say to a bit o’ bread and cheese, Priddy, and a mouthful of ale, if there’s any aboard?’

‘I’m agreeable,’ she said at once, emerging thankfully from the cabin and fanning her hot face with a large red handkerchief. She looked round approvingly at the spot Jake had chosen, at the trees and dappled shade beneath which the boat rested. ‘This is a grand place. I’ll get the grub out as soon as I’ve cooled down a bit and we’ll eat it on the bank – have a picnic, like.’

Clem began to take off the tack from Hal’s enormous body. He removed the swingle tree and laid it down on the bank, then took off the heavy collar and hung it over one of the tethering posts. He left the bridle in place since they would not be stopping here for much over an hour and began to rub Hal down with a handful of long hay which he had taken from the kennel where the horse’s food was stored. Then, hooking his fingers into the ring beside the bit, he led Hal to where the grass was at its most lush and left him there to graze. Some horses, he knew, would have needed a tether to stop them straying too far from the boat, but Hal was a placid and obedient animal and would stay within sight of
The Liverpool Rose
while they had their meal.

Presently, the three of them were sitting on the bank with their feet dangling in the water and their clogs on the decking of the boat. Brutus sat beside Clem, his dark and melting eyes fixed hopefully on his young master, for the big dog knew very well that Clem always handed over the last mouthful of whatever he was eating.

Having finished his bread and cheese and a couple of swallows of ale, Clem fed the Alsatian the last bite and got to his feet. ‘I’ll just take Brutus for a run, get the fidgets out of his legs,’ he said. ‘I won’t be gone no more than ten minutes. I know you said we were early and didn’t need to hurry because we had help with loading, but I’d like some time in Liverpool, if that’s possible. I want a word with that girl Lizzie.’

Priddy, who had been lying on her back gazing up at the blue sky, sat up and turned to stare at him. ‘Lizzie? Ain’t she the one you brought on board? Why, it must be a year or two ago. Haven’t you seen her since?’

‘Not to speak to, not for more than a few moments,’ Clem said rather guardedly. ‘The trouble is, she’s scared stiff of Brutus, though heaven knows why. You know how gentle he is, Priddy, but she’s got it into her head that, given half a chance, he’d tear her limb from limb. I’ve tried to talk sense into her but I never see her for long enough to convince her that he’s harmless. Come to that, I’m pretty harmless meself,’ he added with a grin, ‘so I’d like to persuade her she won’t come to any harm seeing me now and then, either.’

Jake, who had not appeared to be listening to this exchange, turned as well then and beckoned Clem to his side. ‘I’ve been meaning to have a word wi’ you for some time, lad,’ he said, removing his short clay
pipe from his mouth and examining the bowl critically. ‘It’s time you was paid a wage and not simply your keep because the truth is Priddy and me couldn’t possibly manage wi’out you.’

‘I manage all right,’ Clem said awkwardly. ‘I often get the odd penny for helping other boats through the locks, you know I do, and Priddy gives me a bit for runnin’ messages and doing odd jobs for her from time to time.’ He had never questioned the economics of running
The Liverpool Rose,
but imagined that, by the time all their expenses had been paid, there was not a lot of money left over. Priddy made sure they were well fed, that the horse was in excellent condition and that their clothing was adequate for any weather. Jake saw to the boat, caulking the planks in dry weather so that when rain followed there were no leaks below decks, and he made new rope fenders when the existing ones were worn. He kept the tarpaulins which protected the cargo in good condition and saw that the cargo itself was protected from wind and weather. Clem knew that there were a great many boats working the canals which were in a lamentable state compared with
The Liverpool Rose
. Some men neglected their horses and used their children as slave labour while others ignored the condition of their boat until it grew so bad that no one would employ them to carry goods. Because of this
The Liverpool Rose
was highly regarded and never short of a cargo. Due to her skill in doctoring, Priddy sold her medicines to most of the careful horse owners, though she seldom charged half as much as the farriers and horse doctors with premises alongside the canal, and she always paid Clem when he gathered herbs for her.