The Night Following by Morag Joss

chatting, not very considerate of her.

Anyway, the Mary or Rosemary dilemma solved! Not that she minded me not calling her anything, or not talking at all, but it preyed on my mind. So, brainwave!—now I call her Mrs. M, in a light-hearted manner of course.

She noticed the new look too! She agreed apricot was unusual on a man except for golf but she said these slacks were really a kind of
burnt
apricot. She said you had a good eye for a bit of style, in a quiet sort of way. Then her eyes filled with tears.

Mrs. M’s bossy. Says she keeps her front room gas fire on low till May so I should do the same. Oh, and getting huffy with it—she found something or other of hers in our fridge when she was throwing out the milk (gone smelly, she found it at the back) and got all offended. Didn’t I care for
either
her leek and potato soup
or
her sausage casserole? I said, Not really and you can get rid of them along with the milk while you’re at it, thank you very much. Then she peered at me and asked did I have an allergy, my forehead seemed to be breaking out. Psoriasis? Or maybe eczema? I pointed out it wasn’t
yet
against the law for a man to scratch if he had an itch and if my appearance offended that was her problem, not mine. If looks could kill.

Bye for now
Arthur

Ps Suppose I can’t let Carole see this letter either. So it’s just you and me then. Nicer, I suppose.

PPS Am not letting her see any of that story you wrote, either, don’t worry. Private, between you and me.
     
     
     

THE COLD AND
THE BEAUTY AND
THE DARK 1932
     
Chapter 2:
At Mam’s
     
     
       A little before seven o’clock Evelyn let herself into the quiet house on Roper Street. As usual Mam had left her two slices of bread and margarine and put a hot water bottle in her bed. It was kind of her, though also as usual, the bread was curling and the hot water bottle was tepid. Evelyn ate quickly, then in the chilly room she changed into her long flannelette nightdress and bed socks. As she rubbed her toes on the cooling stone bottle and closed her eyes, she thought how funny it was that even a cold hot water bottle was better than nowt. Just the kindness had a bit of warmth to it. It wouldn’t occur to Stan that you came off the night shift with freezing feet. But once she explained, he’d be sure to oblige.
    She got up again at two o’clock in the afternoon. She was grateful, these days, for the house being empty when she woke. For the past few weeks she’d been sick first thing, but today she felt fine. She must be getting past the sickness stage and she was grateful for that, but it meant that before long she’d be showing. She
had
to get a date out of Stan, and soon.
    By the time Mam came in it was getting dark but at last the rain had gone off. Evelyn sat Mam down while she made the tea. Mam called out to her above the wireless with snippets of news and gossip. She always had what she called “the latest”from her work at the Co-op. Everybody went to the Co-op so she didn’t miss a thing.
    “They’re laying off another fifty at Worleyford’s,”she said. “That’ll be it for Meg Throckmorton’s Harry. He’s for it this time.”
    “That’ll not please Meg. He managed to hold on last time.”
    “No, it’ll be hard.”
    “Happen they’ll be teking on again at Marsden’s soon. He might get took on there, her Harry.”
    Mam didn’t seem to notice that Evelyn ate very little. Stan was meant to be coming down after tea, so after she’d washed up, Evelyn went to her room to change. Although she didn’t much feel like going out, she made the effort, rearranging her hair and putting on a fresh blouse and some lipstick. She had just dabbed some “Nuits de Mimosa”on her wrists and was wondering if real mimosa smelled anything like the cloudy, flowery scent from the bottle, when the knocker clacked against the door. She dashed downstairs, pulling on her coat as she went.
    She might have guessed the minute she opened the door