moment, having it go on being that time, capture it somehow so that she didn’t have to go on or back but just be almost home, almost warm, almost full of custard tart and strawberry jam and peaches. In the almost-dark the birds were silenced and Blake was walking more slowly than he usually did but she wanted to prolong the moment and he didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t say anything either. He didn’t ask any more questions. He wasn’t irritating like Tommy would have been or a nuisance like Madge or Elsie, he was just there and the moment of happiness was captured for ever.
Five
By the time Madge left school they needed her to go out and work too and she went to Frank’s house to help with the general housework. Annie knew that her mother could have done with at least one of them at home but they needed the money. Times were hard.
Her grandmother and aunt lived in a small house in the village and her father had to keep them. Her aunt was continually ill and sometimes her father grumbled about the doctor’s bills. Her mother worried about how much it cost to keep his mother and sister and Annie knew that her grandma didn’t like her mother because she was not backward in coming forward about it.
Sometimes Annie had to go and see her grandmother. Her mother did not encourage her to go but her father asked her and although she didn’t like the old woman or her dark little house or her Aunt Myra who did nothing but sit around the fire knitting or reading Annie felt obliged to go. She usually took Elsie with her because her grandma seemed to like Elsie (which was unusual because she liked nobody else) and only then because she said that Elsie looked like her and was a true Lowe. She claimed that the rest of the family looked like their mother except for Tommy of course because he was the only boy. Tommy could do nothing wrong.
‘I don’t know why your father married your mother,’ her grandmother said on one such occasion, a rainy autumn afternoon when the turning leaves dripped wetly in the small garden and the hills were blotted out with mist.
‘There were plenty of nice girls around here who would have married him. He was always very popular, was your father. Nice chapel girls they were too.’
Another reason that her grandma didn’t like her mother was because she was a Roman Catholic. Annie remembered her mother saying that her other grandma, Mary Ann, had come from Seaton Town to see them and said, ‘Never mind, Rose, there not being a Catholic church. You can send them to the parish church. It’s the next best thing.’
And to the parish church they went in spite of how Jack’s mother had objected. Annie thought that secretly her mother was pleased to send them there just to spite her, her grandmother being what folk called ‘chepel’. In her worst time her grandmother had called her mother ‘that common little nowt’ because Rose’s father had been a pitman over on the coast. The local people thought that pitmen were another breed, not quite human somehow. Rose’s father had died when she was a very little girl and her mother, Mary Ann, had married again and sometimes Ralph and Mary Ann came to the farm. They stayed overnight on these occasions. Annie liked Mary Ann. She had had six children, most of whom were scattered and whom Annie had never seen.
Ralph was kind and funny and would play silly games. He was big and dark. He was a pitman as well. Annie thought if pitmen were like Ralph there wouldn’t be much wrong with them but her grandmother had never come to the farm to meet Ralph so she didn’t know.
Ralph and Mary Ann used to hold hands when they went for a walk up the road to the village. Annie thought if her grandmother had known such a thing she would have been spluttering with jealousy since her husband had died long since and according to Jack they had never got on. Annie secretly thought that one of the reasons her father had married her mother was because his mother
Five
By the time Madge left school they needed her to go out and work too and she went to Frank’s house to help with the general housework. Annie knew that her mother could have done with at least one of them at home but they needed the money. Times were hard.
Her grandmother and aunt lived in a small house in the village and her father had to keep them. Her aunt was continually ill and sometimes her father grumbled about the doctor’s bills. Her mother worried about how much it cost to keep his mother and sister and Annie knew that her grandma didn’t like her mother because she was not backward in coming forward about it.
Sometimes Annie had to go and see her grandmother. Her mother did not encourage her to go but her father asked her and although she didn’t like the old woman or her dark little house or her Aunt Myra who did nothing but sit around the fire knitting or reading Annie felt obliged to go. She usually took Elsie with her because her grandma seemed to like Elsie (which was unusual because she liked nobody else) and only then because she said that Elsie looked like her and was a true Lowe. She claimed that the rest of the family looked like their mother except for Tommy of course because he was the only boy. Tommy could do nothing wrong.
‘I don’t know why your father married your mother,’ her grandmother said on one such occasion, a rainy autumn afternoon when the turning leaves dripped wetly in the small garden and the hills were blotted out with mist.
‘There were plenty of nice girls around here who would have married him. He was always very popular, was your father. Nice chapel girls they were too.’
Another reason that her grandma didn’t like her mother was because she was a Roman Catholic. Annie remembered her mother saying that her other grandma, Mary Ann, had come from Seaton Town to see them and said, ‘Never mind, Rose, there not being a Catholic church. You can send them to the parish church. It’s the next best thing.’
And to the parish church they went in spite of how Jack’s mother had objected. Annie thought that secretly her mother was pleased to send them there just to spite her, her grandmother being what folk called ‘chepel’. In her worst time her grandmother had called her mother ‘that common little nowt’ because Rose’s father had been a pitman over on the coast. The local people thought that pitmen were another breed, not quite human somehow. Rose’s father had died when she was a very little girl and her mother, Mary Ann, had married again and sometimes Ralph and Mary Ann came to the farm. They stayed overnight on these occasions. Annie liked Mary Ann. She had had six children, most of whom were scattered and whom Annie had never seen.
Ralph was kind and funny and would play silly games. He was big and dark. He was a pitman as well. Annie thought if pitmen were like Ralph there wouldn’t be much wrong with them but her grandmother had never come to the farm to meet Ralph so she didn’t know.
Ralph and Mary Ann used to hold hands when they went for a walk up the road to the village. Annie thought if her grandmother had known such a thing she would have been spluttering with jealousy since her husband had died long since and according to Jack they had never got on. Annie secretly thought that one of the reasons her father had married her mother was because his mother
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