When Wishes Come True (22 page)

‘And the day’s not over yet, sweetheart.’ Bessie winked knowingly at her two mates who were listening with interest. ‘After the table’s been cleared and the dishes washed and out of the way, we’re going to have a few party games.’

Amelia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head and she clapped her hands with glee. ‘Ooh, what sort of games, Auntie Bessie?’

‘You’ll soon find out, sweetheart, after yer’ve helped me clear the table.’

‘I’ll help yer with the dishes, Bessie,’ Rita said, pushing her chair back. ‘Amelia can keep Aggie company.’

It was while the two women were at the sink washing and drying the plates, that they heard Aggie say, ‘How come yer always get yer full title, queen?’

Bessie took her hands out of the soapy suds and cocked an ear. ‘Oh, God, I hope she doesn’t say something she shouldn’t. I wouldn’t like anything to get back to the queer one in case she stops the girl from coming here.’

‘Aggie’s not soft, sunshine, she wouldn’t do that. Just listen.’

‘What do you mean by my full title, Auntie Aggie?’

‘Well, queen, I know a lot of women what were christened Amelia, but they always get Milly ’cos it’s easier and more friendly. And that’s whether they like it or not. It’s a case of like it or lump it.’

The girl pulled on a lock of her black hair while giving the matter some thought. ‘There’s two girls in my class at school called Amelia, and they get Milly. But my mother has told me I must never answer to anything but my proper name, which is Amelia.’

In the kitchen, Bessie tugged on Rita’s arm. ‘Oh, my God, I hope Aggie doesn’t put her foot in it, yer know how outspoken she can be.’

Rita put a finger to her lips. ‘Don’t look for trouble before it hits yer in the face, sunshine. So far Aggie has been on her best behaviour, only one swear word all afternoon and that’s a record for her. But she’s taken a fancy to the girl, and I’m positive she’ll not say anything that would upset her.’

Bessie’s fears were unfounded, for it wasn’t Aggie who spoke next but Amelia. ‘You know, Auntie Aggie, I would really like to be called Milly, I think it’s a nice name. It’s just that I don’t want to upset Mother, she’s very strict. But I could be Milly in Auntie Bessie’s house couldn’t I, and Amelia everywhere else?’

‘That’s good thinking, that is, queen, it could be our little secret. And me and me mates wouldn’t snitch on yer and get yer into trouble.’ Then Aggie said something that sent Bessie and Rita into fits of laughter. ‘We’ll be the soul of discretion, queen, you’ll see.’

Rita poked her head around the door. ‘Ye’re going up in the world, aren’t yer, Aggie? Soul of discretion, where did yer dig that one up from?’

Aggie’s laughter was so loud her whole body shook. Her bosom bounced up and down, her tummy pushed the table back, and her chins parted company to go in opposite directions. ‘The bloke in the pawnshop said it to me one day when I took Sam’s suit in. I was short of a few bob and told him I’d be taking it out again on Saturday before my feller knew it was missing. And ’cos he knows Sam by sight to say hello to, I warned him if he breathed a word to my feller I’d break his bleeding neck. And that’s when he said that in his business it paid to be the soul of discretion.’ The chair creaked and the table was lifted from the floor as the memory of that day came back to her. ‘I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use it, and this is the first time it fitted in.’ She winked at Amelia. ‘I’m sorry about the swear word, queen, but it slipped out, like, before I had a chance to stop it. I don’t suppose yer hear swear words in your house, do yer?’

The girl’s eyes were alive with devilment. ‘No, Auntie Aggie, my mother doesn’t swear, she says it’s very unladylike. But some of the girls in school do, they get it off their mothers, so I know some bad words.’

The dishes put away now, Bessie and Rita came into the room. ‘It doesn’t mean because some of yer school friends swear that it’s all right, sweetheart,’ Bessie said. ‘Because while it’s bad for older people to use swear words, it’s even worse for children. So we’ll have to make sure Mrs Gordon doesn’t lead yer astray, or yer’ll get into trouble with yer mother.’

‘I’ll not lead her astray, no fear of that!’ Aggie was on her high horse now. ‘But the girl needs to know a bit more about what life is really like, otherwise when it comes to her leaving school and finding herself a job, she won’t have a clue how to mix with other people. And she’s bound to hear plenty of very ripe swear words ’cos not everyone she meets will speak as though they’ve got a ruddy mouthful of plums.’

Amelia’s face was glowing and her childish laughter, so seldom heard, was loud. ‘Oh, you are funny, Auntie Aggie.’

But Bessie wasn’t so sure. ‘It’s up to her mother to say how she’s brought up, not us,’ she said, taking a seat on the couch. ‘We all have different ideas and think we know what’s best for other people, but when it comes down to it, it isn’t really any of our business and we have no right to interfere.’

Amelia ran to sit beside Bessie and slipped an arm through hers. ‘It doesn’t matter how I speak, Auntie Bessie, or what sort of a job I get. Even when I’m grown up, and a young lady, I will always come and see you ’cos you’re my very best friend.’

Rita thought it was a sad scene and turned her head away, silently cursing the woman whose child only asked for the one thing that didn’t cost anything, and was so easy to give. And that was someone to love her.

‘I hope you do, sweetheart.’ Bessie squeezed the girl’s shoulder. ‘I’d be really sad if I ever lost touch with yer. I’m hoping yer live here long enough to grow into a lovely young lady and find the man of your dreams. That would make me very happy.’

Aggie banged a closed fist on the table. ‘Before the front of me bleeding dress becomes sodden wet with tears, can we start on these games yer were talking about, queen?’

Bessie shook herself. She knew she shouldn’t become too attached to her neighbour’s daughter for she could be letting herself in for a lot of hurt and heartache. But she couldn’t help herself, no matter what her head told her. For what had started off as liking had turned to fondness and now to love. There wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Love wasn’t something you could turn off as easily as a tap. ‘Right, what about a game of “I spy with my little eye”? Only we’ll have to stick to easy words for them what can’t spell.’

Aggie took umbrage at that. ‘Are you hinsinuating that I can’t spell, Bessie Maudsley? I’ll have yer know that when I went to school I was always top of the class for spelling.’

Rita chuckled. ‘Oh, aye, Aggie, yer’ve never mentioned that before, yer’ve been hiding yer light under a bushel. Go on, tell us what the longest word is that yer can spell?’

Without a hesitation, she answered, ‘Bleeding,’ and she was laughing so much her next words was just about audible. ‘And bugger.’

Although Bessie didn’t approve, Aggie’s laughter was so contagious she couldn’t keep a smile at bay. ‘Neither of those words will be acceptable in our game, Aggie Gordon, so stick to words with three letters.’

Aggie spread out one of her chubby hands and started ticking the fingers off. ‘That’s all right then. So I’ll be the first one to go, and yer can try and guess my first word which starts with the letter S.’

‘It’s got to be something in this room, Aggie,’ Rita said. ‘And it’s got to be something we can all see.’

‘I know what I’m doing, queen, I’m not thick.’ Aggie leaned her chubby elbows on the table. ‘Go on, get yer brains working.’

Ten minutes later, and flummoxed, Bessie said, ‘We’ll have to give in. We’ve said everything beginning with S in the room, but I’m blowed if there’s anything with only three letters in. So shall we give in, Rita and Amelia? Otherwise none of us will get a turn.’

‘I give in, Auntie Bessie, ’cos all I can see is the shovel and the sideboard,’ Amelia said. ‘But they’ve got more letters in.’

Bessie looked to Rita. ‘Do you give in, sweetheart?’

Rita nodded. ‘I give in, but there’s something fishy here, I can tell by the smirk on Aggie’s face. She’s having us on, I know.’

‘No, I’m not! It’s you what’s stupid and can’t see something what’s right in front of yer.’

‘Okay, Aggie,’ Bessie said, ‘we all give in, so what’s the word?’

Aggie was gloating. ‘S-o-d, sod.’

Rita and Bessie spoke as one. ‘Sod! Yer can’t use that, it’s got to be something in this room!’

Her head wagging nonchalantly from side to side, Aggie asked her next-door neighbour, ‘What did yer call me yesterday afternoon, queen, when I spilled a cup of tea on yer?’

Rita looked perplexed for a second, a frown creasing her forehead. Then she slapped a hand on her cheek and said, ‘You silly sod!’

Aggie looked as though she’d been cleared of committing a crime. ‘That’s it, queen, that’s what yer called me. A three-letter word, beginning with S, and right in front of yer eyes.’

The first one to laugh was Amelia, and it was as much at the expressions on the faces of Bessie and Rita as the craftiness of Aggie. ‘Does that count as a word, Auntie Bessie?’

‘No, it flaming well doesn’t!’ Bessie was red in the face. ‘A sod is a piece of earth, it can’t be a person or a piece of furniture.’

‘Now don’t be getting yerself all worked up, queen,’ Aggie said, her chins nodding to show they agreed with her, ‘or yer’ll be having a heart attack. And it would be real thoughtless of yer to have a heart attack and spoil Milly’s birthday party.’

While Aggie’s two mates roared with laughter, Amelia didn’t think it was a bit funny. Her chin jutted out as she said, ‘Auntie Bessie isn’t going to have a heart attack, so there!’

‘No, I’m not, sweetheart, Aggie was only joking. And I think we’ll change the game and have another one, so we don’t have some silly beggar wasting our time.’

‘Oh, no, don’t do that, please!’ Amelia begged. ‘I wanted it to be my turn and I’ve got a word all ready for you to guess.’

‘Of course yer can have a turn, sunshine,’ Rita told her, ‘after all it is your birthday. Without you we wouldn’t be having no party, so go on, what’s the first letter? Oh, and before we start, it is something we can see, isn’t it?’

Amelia pursed her lips and nodded. ‘Yes, and it begins with the letter A.’

Bessie got in first. ‘I’ve got it, it’s me aspidistra plant.’

The girl shook her head, looking very serious. ‘No, it’s not, Auntie Bessie, and you are not even warm.’

Rita’s face lit up when she thought she’d guessed the word. ‘Armchair! It’s the ruddy armchair!’

Again the girl shook her head. ‘Wrong, Auntie Rita! And there’s not just one of it, either, in case yer say I’m cheating.’

‘Got it, got it, got it!’ Aggie was over the moon. ‘Don’t any of yer ever say again that I’m as thick as two short planks. It’s the ashes in the grate! I got it as soon as she said there was more than one.’

‘Uh-uh,’ Amelia said, her face aglow as she swayed back and forth on the couch, her hands clasped between her knees. ‘That’s not right, either.’

A quarter of an hour later the three women had gone over every item in the room with a fine tooth comb. ‘There’s nothing else here beginning with A,’ Rita said. ‘Are yer sure yer’ve got the spelling right, sunshine?’

‘Oh, yes, Auntie Rita, I’m top of the class for English and spelling.’

‘What d’yer say then, girls?’ Bessie looked from one of her mates to the other. ‘Shall we throw in the towel?’

They both nodded. ‘May as well,’ Aggie said, ‘or we’ll be here all night.’

‘Okay, sweetheart, yer’ve got us beat, we’ll give in.’ Bessie raised her brows. ‘What’s the word that beat us?’

Amelia sat up straight, her hands on her knees. ‘It’s Aunties! There’s more than one of you and you can all be seen. So I haven’t cheated, have I?’

Even if she had cheated, there wasn’t one woman in the room who was going to tell her and take that radiant smile off her face. ‘I think yer’ve been very clever, sweetheart, I would never have thought of that.’

‘Me neither,’ Rita told her. ‘It took one young girl like yerself to beat three grown-up women. It just goes to show how clever yer are.’

‘Aye, and how thick we are.’ Aggie was being gracious in defeat. ‘D’yer know why I think we didn’t get it? Well, it’s new to us, isn’t it? We’re not used to being Aunties. And if anyone in this room contradicts me, I’ll clock them one.’

Amelia glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and saw it was half-past eight. It was past her usual bedtime. But she didn’t want the best day of her life to end, not yet. ‘Auntie Bessie, I don’t have to go to bed yet, do I? I’m not a bit tired, and you said we had another game to play.’ Then a picture of her mother flashed through her mind. ‘I’ll go if you think I should, though, I promised to do as I was told.’

‘Of course ye’re not going to bed yet, it’s yer birthday and that makes it a very special day. A day when ye’re allowed a few treats.’ Bessie wouldn’t have let her go to bed now even if the girl had begged to for there was still a treat in store for her. ‘When yer eyes begin to close, then yer can go to bed. But right now we’re going to have a game of Pass the Parcel. Which means we’ll all have to sit around the table.’

Amelia’s hands came together and she held them to her chest. What an exciting day it had been for her. ‘How do you play the game, Auntie Bessie?’

‘It’s easy, sweetheart, yer just pass the parcel on to the one next to yer as quick as yer can, so ye’re not caught with it. Anyone caught with it has to pay a forfeit. They either sing or say a piece of poetry.’ Bessie pulled a face. ‘The only trouble is, there’s usually someone who stands with their back to the players and gives a shout when to stop. If one of us does it, there’ll only be three playing and it’s not worth it.’

‘I’ll go and get one of the lads if yer like, Bessie?’ Rita volunteered. ‘They won’t be in bed yet, and it’ll only be for fifteen minutes at the most.’

So ten-year-old Billy, much to his disgust at having to be at a girl’s birthday party, was roped in to stand in front of the window and shout out every few seconds to catch whoever was holding the parcel. There was so much laughing and screaming, he began to enjoy himself, and was surprised to find that the girl who lived opposite with her stuck-up mother wasn’t as quiet as he thought, she was really very funny. He for one wouldn’t be shouting names after her when she was coming home from school. He couldn’t stop himself from cheating by taking sly glances at her when he thought no one was looking, ’cos he wanted each one to have to pay a forfeit.