Coming Home to the Four Streets Nadine Dorries (book recommendations for young adults TXT) 📖

them out, when I’ve got time,’ she said, trying to remember when exactly it was she had had her last period. ‘But I’ve no bleeding to speak of; the tablets they gave me worked a treat so there’s no need for an internal.’

Reassured, Dr Cole smiled. ‘Sit yourself down next to Kathleen,’ he said in a voice that was loaded with the sympathy he felt for all the women who lived around the docks and were married to underpaid stevedores.

‘I have a lot on my plate, doctor,’ said Peggy, as she flopped onto the chair, which creaked loudly in protest, ‘haven’t I, Kathleen?’

‘She has, you’ve no idea, Brendan – sorry, doctor,’ said Kathleen taking hold of Peggy’s trembling hand, and holding it tight.

Kathleen had been rolling pastry when Alice ran into the kitchen. ‘Oh, Holy Mother of God, what is it?’ Kathleen had asked as she flaked the pastry from her fingers and rubbed her hands on her apron.

‘Peggy must have been paying the rent and fainted in the dock administration offices. She’s outside in Mr Keeble’s car and he’ll take us to the doctor’s.’

Katheen slipped her arms into the coat Alice held out for her. ‘Paying her rent, today? She must have missed Mr Keeble when he called on Friday night. I’ve never said a word to anyone about the number of times we feed those kids, Alice, and Maggie Trott hasn’t either, because we know that if we’re feeding the kids, then Peggy is paying the rent to keep a roof over their heads which is what matters. Even Peggy isn’t stupid enough not to pay the rent. Right, I’ll go with her and you go and check on the kids. They’ll be up on the wasteland, so make sure Malachi isn’t beating the living daylights out of any of them.’

‘Kathleen, I’m supposed to be having my hair done…’

But Kathleen wasn’t listening. ‘I’ve kept all the fatty bits from the meat and the rind from the rashers for Scamp.’ They were already alongside the car. ‘Hello, Mr Keeble, thank you so much for this and for waiting, it’s very kind of you.’

Kathleen let herself into the car, slamming the back door. Alice saw Mr Keeble wince as she did so and sighed. She would miss her appointment with Cindy. ‘And my hair’s a mess,’ she wailed, but no one was listening as she made her way to rescue Peggy’s kids.

Alice had almost reached the wasteland when she bumped into Mary, who was hurrying down the entry and Alice could see she’d been crying. ‘Mary, are you all right? What’s up, love? Is it Malcolm, I know he’s a stickler for the rules.’

Alice’s voice tailed off as Mary shook her head. ‘Malcolm is a dote,’ she said, fishing in her pocket for a handkerchief. ‘It’s not Malcolm.’

Alice linked her arm through Mary’s. ‘I’ve got to check on Peggy’s kids and I was supposed to be having my hair done, so honest to God, I really do have something to cry about, look at the state of me?’

Mary looked up at Alice’s hair and smiled. ‘You look lovely,’ she said.

Alice smiled back at the young waif next to her. She had watched Mary grow up and had always felt as though they had something in common; and if Alice had been raised in a house and a community where people cared, she often wondered, who would she be? In recent months it had occurred to her that she would have been like the diligent, deep and thoughtful Mary. She had travelled a very hard road to get to where she was and never a day went by when she wasn’t grateful to be accepted by everyone around her.

‘Come on,’ she said, ‘you walk with me and if our Nellie is watching the kids, let’s go to the café and have us a cup of tea and a custard slice; do you fancy that?’

Mary couldn’t speak; she was so touched by Alice’s kindness, she was sure she would erupt into a fresh bout of tears if she tried to. Alice squeezed her arm. ‘Come on, over that cake you can tell me all your troubles. I’m sure you know I’ve had enough of my own over the years – and one thing I’ve learned is that nothing is ever as bad as it seems, especially when you’ve talked it out over a custard slice.’

*

Peggy shuffled forward on the chair and a wooden leg beneath her groaned. ‘Doctor, the Wrights are moving in next door to us – you know, Frank the Skank, the policeman even the other policemen don’t like – can you imagine?’ She almost shrieked the words. As she said it out loud, she could barely believe the nightmare she was living. She had told no one she couldn’t pay the rent and had no idea how she had got into this mess, had gone weak with relief when Kathleen had said to her, ‘Fancy missing the rent man last night, Peggy. If you had paid it then, you wouldn’t have had to go down those steps.’

Peggy could not have been more grateful for Kathleen’s mistake; all she had left was her dignity and to that she would cling like a drowning woman.

Now she said, ‘I was wondering, doctor, if you could write a letter to the dock board and get it stopped, them moving in, on account of my nerves? They might listen to you. You could write that them moving in will make me very sick, that I might die, or something.’

She knew she should tell him they were being evicted in a week’s time and if that happened, nothing mattered anyway. But if she said it out loud, it would make it real and it would definitely happen; if she just kept it quiet, maybe she could sort something out in the time remaining. Maybe Maura would send her a postal order. Maybe she could pawn enough to hold them off… Her voice had trailed