Kitabı oku: «The Windmill Girls», sayfa 5

‘Way I see it, I could’ve been blown to smithereens in the East End on the weekend I went missing.’ Midge crossed his arms over his chest, looking quite smug. ‘Bad raids fer days as I recall …’

‘So how you gonna square it when you eventually turn up bright as a lark?’ Having rolled himself a smoke Grimes generously held out his tin.

Midge started separating strands of tobacco, watching his stained fingers. ‘War ain’t over yet … I still could come a cropper,’ he replied philosophically. ‘Anyhow, cross them bridges when I come to ’em, won’t I.’

Sticking the limp cigarette in a corner of his mouth he glanced about at their murky surroundings. They were huddled in a corner of an air-raid shelter, each man seated on an upturned box with another positioned between them and employed as a rough table. On its wonky top were scattered a pack of dog-eared playing cards, a depleted bottle of whisky and Rufus’s tin of Old Holborn.

During the daytime, when bombing raids weren’t expected, and ordinary folk went about their business, the shelters were mostly empty, but for rolls of bedding and makeshift bunks lining the walls. Midge saw the opportunity to be had, as did others. Tramps and deserters, looking for a hidey-hole, thought the vacant shelters a godsend. Petty thieves also passed through hoping to find abandoned possessions they could make a bob out of before the owners returned at night to find their stuff missing.

Midge wrinkled his nose against the odour of latrines pervading the air. Idly he began playing solitaire. ‘’Course there’s those two women who got a look at us when we did the outfitter’s,’ he said, the roll-up wagging in his mouth. ‘But I ain’t too concerned over that ’cos doubt we’ll run into them again.’ He chuckled gruffly. ‘Nice-looking pair of girls … wouldn’t have minded getting down to business with either of ’em under different circumstances.’ Midge carried on laying down cards on the box top. ‘Funny thing is, Roof, I thought the older gel seemed familiar; ain’t sure why though …’

Grimes shifted on his seat. He’d not owned up to any of the other members of the gang that he’d bumped into Dawn Nightingale, and worse than that she was his wife’s friend and workmate. And he knew, even if Midge didn’t, why the little man thought he knew Dawn: Midge had been to the shows at the theatre and had probably clocked her on stage.

Rufus had no interest in sophisticated entertainment, or classy women, so had never seen a revue himself. He’d no time for striptease; a good drink, a rough shag then home to bed was all he was after, when his wife made herself unavailable. In his own way he loved Gertie very much. It was just the constant itch in his balls that made him unfaithful.

Midge held out the bottle of whisky, swaying it by its neck. ‘Want a swig?’

‘Nah … better get back, me shift ain’t finished yet.’ Grimes got to his feet. Half an hour ago he’d been road sweeping and had taken an unofficial break, thinking he might find Midge sneaking about in the shelter. He’d fancied a game of cards, feeling his luck was in, but he’d lost five bob and that wouldn’t go down well with Gertie if she found out.

He’d fancied a tot too, but he knew if his boss smelled booze on his breath he’d be for the high jump. Not that he liked shovelling up shit for a living … but Gertie would kill him if he lost his regular pay packet. Tonight he was too skint for a prossie, so he hurried up towards the exit, hoping to keep in his wife’s good books at least till bedtime.

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘Come on, you’ll enjoy an outing, Mum.’

‘Oh, I don’t know, Dawn … the sky’s overcast. It’s bound to rain and the damp affects me knees.’ Eliza Nightingale continued sitting obstinately at the parlour table, frowning at her clasped hands.

‘We’ll take an umbrella then, just in case,’ Dawn persisted.

Dawn had a free afternoon and had got complimentary tickets for the variety matinee at the Windmill Theatre as they’d not sold out. Her mother had got herself ready, dressing in her best frock, but as usual Eliza was attempting to cry off at the last moment so she could stay at home close to the gin bottle.

‘I’m not wasting these tickets!’ Dawn forced her mother to her feet and into her coat. ‘Come on, let’s go. We don’t want to miss the start of the show when the clown and juggler do a double act.’

Dawn began ushering her mother and brother towards the front door before one of them tried to duck out of the trip. Walking towards the bus stop she wondered why she went to the trouble of trying to arrange outings for her family when they acted as though they were doing her a favour in accepting a treat.

‘Can’t we go to the pictures instead?’ George moaned as they joined the back of the bus queue. ‘Captain Blood’s back on at the Gaumont. Errol Flynn’s me favourite.’

‘No, we can’t,’ Dawn said on a sigh. ‘You’ll like the show; it’s rather comical … and the mermaid costumes are nice …’

‘Any nude girls in it?’ George asked cheekily.

Eliza glanced, horrified, at her son. ‘That’s quite enough of that talk, young man,’ she whispered, glancing about to see if anybody in the queue had heard his cheeky remark.

‘Do you stand about with no clothes on?’ George deliberately taunted his sister, and got an immediate clip round the ear from his pursed-lipped mother.

Eliza dragged her son to one side as a woman turned around to glare at them. ‘Now you listen to me, young man. Any more of that and you’ll go straight home.’

‘Good,’ George mumbled, although he knew he’d overstepped the mark. He’d been bored all morning and had been looking forward to getting out of the house on a Saturday afternoon. But he was reluctant to let on to his mother and sister how excited he was to be going to the theatre with them.

‘No, I don’t stand about with no clothes on. I’m a chorus dancer, as you know,’ Dawn finally answered her brother in a steely tone.

‘How do you know about nudes and so on at the Windmill Theatre?’ Eliza muttered, glaring at Dawn as though it was all her fault George was talking dirty.

‘One of the boys at school told me about it. He had a picture of the girls doing their gas-mask practice. They only had on their vests and drawers.’

‘Well they weren’t in the nude then,’ Dawn retorted. ‘And everybody does gas-mask training, even you kids at school.’ She dragged her brother forward by an elbow as a bus wheezed to a halt at the kerb. ‘Now behave yourself, George, or you’ll ruin our trip out.’ Dawn cast her eyes heavenwards. It wasn’t an auspicious start to what she’d hoped would be a relaxing afternoon.

‘Stop fidgeting, George.’

‘Seats are itchy …’ George shifted again on the brown velour seat but he soon forgot about his discomfort. He howled with laughter as the clown’s red nose fell off for the second time and the juggler trod on it, causing him to lose concentration and drop his skittles. ‘Need some glue for that conk?’ George called, and earned himself a slap on the arm from his mother.

But Eliza was laughing too, and dabbed her streaming eyes with a hanky. The clown and juggler had reappeared to bring the show to a close with apparently farcical consequences. Probably nobody in the audience, apart from Dawn, knew that the performers’ calamity was a well-rehearsed trick that always had the customers rolling in the aisles.

‘Did you enjoy the show?’ Dawn asked as the heavy curtain descended, although she already knew the answer to that. She had been gladdened to see her mother and brother hooting and clapping as the cast took a bow. The light-heartedness between them reminded her of days long ago, when George had been small and their mother drank in moderation. Standing up, Dawn waited patiently for the crowd of people in front of her to file towards the exit. She was pleased to see that Olive had sold more tickets during the afternoon. It was by no means a packed house but more than half-full. It was a good sign that many opening nights were still to come for Dawn and her colleagues at the Windmill, despite the opposition from rivals.

The Windmill might have been the trailblazer where nudes on stage were concerned, but many other venues had since jumped on the bandwagon, taking custom away from the original show. The management insisted the Windmill remain better than its imitators; all the cast and crew knew they must do their best to keep the queue of punters snaking along Great Windmill Street.

Once out in the foyer, Dawn told her mum she was just off to say a quick hello to the girls in the dressing room. Eliza, seeing Olive Roberts in the kiosk, diverted to speak to her.

‘You’re Olive, I remember you from last time I came over to a matinee with Dawn.’ Eliza struck up a conversation while George read the colourful billboards advertising current and future shows.

‘How are you keeping, Mrs Nightingale?’

‘Oh, I’m bearing up, thanks, love. How’re your kids doing?’ she asked. ‘You’ve got two boys, haven’t you?’

‘They’re nice and settled down in Brighton … sea air and veg straight from the farm; so they’re doing alright.’

‘’Spect they miss you though.’ Eliza gave the woman a sympathetic smile. ‘You off on a visit soon, are you?’

Olive gave a customer his change. ‘I’m busy with my WVS duties so can’t fit in too many trips away. But I do the journey from time to time to check up on things.’

‘I went to a WVS meeting once,’ Eliza said. ‘A girl younger than me daughter was trying to tell us how to make jam. I said, listen here, love, I’ve been making jam since before you was a glint in yer father’s eye.’

‘I drive the mobile tea wagon and know first aid so turn up to help the poor souls after a raid. The servicemen are always grateful to have someone to talk to.’ Olive pulled from her pocket a WVS badge. ‘This goes on all the time after I’ve finished work here.’

‘I’ve been fire-fighting with me neighbour,’ Eliza said, feeling a bit left out.

‘Victory’s not far off, I know it,’ Olive said serenely. ‘My work then will be done and I can go home and put my feet up.’

‘Home? Thought you were a Londoner, Olive.’

‘I was born in Crouch End, but I’ve attachments elsewhere.’

‘Where’s that then?’

‘Your lad back on a visit, is he?’ It was a sly enquiry; Olive knew very well that Dawn’s brother had never been evacuated and regularly sought shelter from the Blitz with his mother out the back of their house, in an Anderson shelter.

‘George is home with me ’cos he’s out to work soon.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Twelve … going on thirteen …’ Eliza added defensively.

‘He’s not old enough yet to get a job. I could help you get him placed somewhere safe, you know, Eliza. I wouldn’t like to see him hurt. The WVS has played a big part in the evacuation programme …’

‘Very good of them. But no thanks,’ Eliza abruptly interrupted.

‘It’s a shame England involved itself in this war.’

‘It’s a shame I can’t get a thing I need from the shops,’ Eliza countered.

‘We need to have peace.’

‘We’ll have to win the bloody war first to get peace.’ Eliza grimaced.

‘The Nazis are a powerful force to reckon with. Perhaps too powerful for this small nation.’

‘Not sure I agree with you on that,’ Eliza retorted.

Olive sniffed and slammed shut the till drawer as Eliza stalked off to stand with her son and wait for Dawn to return.

‘She might be young but she’s got a dirty mouth on her.’ Lorna Danvers smeared rouge off her cheek then lobbed the dirty cotton wool onto the dressing table. Picking up the cigarette that had been smouldering on a tea-stained saucer, she took a long drag. ‘If she won’t stop flirting with every man she claps eyes on she’ll be getting herself and the Windmill a very bad reputation.’

‘She’s a mite too friendly with Gordon as well, if you ask me.’ Sal Fiske added her two penn’orth to La-di-da Lorna’s criticism. ‘And he’s old enough to be her father.’

‘Nobody did ask you, so button it.’ Dawn had come into the dressing room on the tail end of the bitching, but she knew who they were talking about. She’d only popped in to say hello on her day off; now she wished she’d not bothered. She’d grown tired of listening to her colleagues ripping Rosie Gardiner to bits; it had been going on all week.

‘What’s up with you?’ Lorna demanded, stubbing out her cigarette. ‘Are you bosom pals with Rosie?’

‘Just don’t see that there’s a need to talk behind her back.’ Dawn shrugged. ‘If you think she’s doing what she shouldn’t, tell her to her face.’

‘Ain’t saying a word to her!’ Sal stated bluntly. ‘Not my task, is it, to teach her her manners. That’s her mother’s job.’

‘Me mum’s dead.’ Rosie had just turned up to get ready for the evening show but had stopped outside the door, listening, before bursting in. She gave Dawn an exaggerated smile as thanks for championing her, but Rosie’s bravado didn’t disguise the fact that the gossip had upset her.

After an awkward silence Lorna took up the cudgels again. ‘Well, sorry to hear about your mother, Rosie. But perhaps it explains a lot about the way you behave if you’ve not had her to guide you. The trouble is,’ she warned with a finger wag, ‘if you keep on acting like a trollop you’ll get us all tarred with the same brush, and I for one am not having that.’ Lorna surged out of her chair at the dressing table. ‘We chorus girls might wear skimpy costumes but we go on stage with our modesty covered. You go out flashing your tits … and more.’ Lorna’s posh accent seemed more pronounced the angrier she got. ‘I know it’s your job to stand about starkers, but there’s a right and a wrong way, just as there’s a right and a wrong way for a girl to behave.’

‘I’ll wait for Phyllis to tell me I’m getting it all wrong, thanks all the same,’ Rosie spat sarcastically. ‘But I don’t reckon she ever will, seeing as I’m the one all the fellows come to see.’

‘You conceited little madam!’ Sal spluttered indignantly.

‘Now you listen to me, Rosie Gardiner,’ Lorna said bossily. ‘This is a theatre, not a knocking shop.’ Having said her piece Lorna sashayed regally out of the dressing room, slamming the door behind her.

Dawn rolled her eyes. She’d worked in the theatre for over a year now and colleagues had come and gone; she’d been on stage with cockney girls, northern lasses and performers from overseas. But wherever the women hailed from there’d always been tension and rivalry between the nudes and the chorus. As far as Dawn was concerned she didn’t give a monkey’s if a girl removed her clothes to earn a living. What was the point in being jealous or spiteful when every day corpses of men, women and children were being dug out of their wrecked homes?

Dawn couldn’t deny though that Rosie was overstepping the mark, and if the girl thought the management would overlook serious indiscretions, she had a rude awakening in front of her. The senior stagehand was a widower and though Gordon had an unrequited yen for Lorna he seemed flattered by Rosie’s winks and pouts. And of course Rosie wasn’t really interested in him; she was being a silly little tease, and that was unkind. Apart from that Dawn knew that Rosie would run a mile from a fellow who demanded more than a kiss and cuddle.

‘Lorna’s right, you know.’ Sal tapped a Sobranie from its packet and lit it, then eyed Rosie over tobacco smoke. ‘I saw you outside the stage door last night with half a dozen army fellows. You was flirting with all of them and it looked like things might turn nasty ’cos you were playing ’em off one against the other.’

Rosie’s cheeks flooded with guilty colour at that reminder. In fact a scuffle had broken out between a private and a sergeant when she’d said she’d meet the senior of the two for a drink later in the week. She pursed her lips, sitting in the chair vacated by Lorna. ‘You’re all just jealous because I get more attention from the men than the rest of you put together.’

‘That’s what you reckon, is it?’ Sal had had enough of the younger woman’s boasting. She shot to her feet, sticking her hands on her hips. Her loose silk wrap fell open, displaying her naked belly beneath.

‘Yeah, it is what I think.’ Rosie jumped up too, barging to confront her. ‘I’m young and pretty and I’ve got a gorgeous figure, that’s why I got taken on as a nude. You’re getting fat and couldn’t get a job with no clothes on even if you wanted to. Who’d want to look at your saggy tits?’ she scoffed. ‘And you’re the wrong side of thirty, if you’re a day …’

Sal leapt forward to slap Rosie’s cheek. ‘Wrong side of thirty?’ she yelled, outraged. ‘I’m twenty-six, you cheeky bitch. And I get more flowers sent in than you do.’

‘Flowers? Who wants fuckin’ flowers?’ Rosie had stumbled from the unexpected blow but quickly got her balance. Swinging a fist in retaliation she caught Dawn on the side of the head as she moved to separate her warring colleagues.

‘Sorry … sorry, Dawn … didn’t mean to hit you.’ Rosie wailed, mortified.

‘For God’s sake shut up, both of you,’ Dawn thundered, rubbing her scalp. She’d thought her mother and brother might get on her nerves this afternoon; she’d not counted on her workmates being the problem instead.

‘What’s all the shouting about?’ Marlene Brown had just arrived for the evening shows to find the three women glaring at one another. The atmosphere was icy despite the electric heater being fully on.

‘You watch out!’ Sal pointed a threatening finger at Rosie. ‘Or I’m gonna rat on you to Phyllis, you trouble-making cow.’ Grabbing her clothes off the chair Sal stormed towards the door.

‘Didn’t mean to get you, Dawn, it was an accident.’ Rosie put an arm around Dawn in an attempt to apologise for whacking her. ‘You’re much prettier than me … it’s just those two are always bitching, so I had to say something to shut them up.’

Dawn impatiently shrugged the younger woman off. She hadn’t liked to hear her fellow dancers running Rosie down, but the truth was that Rosie was flirting too much and if she carried on she was likely to cause aggravation all round. Brawls in the theatre didn’t happen that often, but when they did the management went mad, especially if one of their girls had sparked it.

‘Anyone going to tell me what the commotion was all about?’ Marlene shook the teapot that was on the table, grimacing in disappointment on finding it almost empty.

‘Those two old hags are jealous of me.’ Rosie scrubbed at her face. ‘They was saying I act like a tart but Dawn stuck up for me, didn’t you, Dawn?’

‘I told them to stop talking about you behind your back. I didn’t say they were telling lies,’ Dawn retorted. Her blunt answer brought a forlorn look to Rosie’s face. ‘You know, don’t you, what they mean?’ she said with a significant nod. ‘So think what you’re doing, Rosie.’ Rather than rub it in Dawn knew that it would be best to leave the younger woman to stew in her own juice. She said a brief goodbye, glad to be going back to her mum and brother.

Marlene shrugged off her dressing gown and watched Rosie thoughtfully as the girl preened in front of the mirror. Rosie reminded Marlene of herself at eighteen: eager for compliments and excited to discover that her youth and beauty wielded such power over men. Marlene was now twenty-five but because she had an enviably youthful appearance, she easily got away with giving her age as twenty-one. The younger you claimed to be in the business, the better you got on, Marlene had come to learn. Lying about her age was just one of the tricks in her repertoire, and with her boyfriend’s help, she’d certainly perfected a few.

‘You gave Lorna and Sal what for, I take it?’ Marlene said admiringly.

‘Not going to take any notice of two over-the-hill hoofers, am I?’ Rosie replied, teasing her platinum waves with a hairbrush.

‘That’s the spirit,’ Marlene said approvingly. ‘Us nudes have got to stick together.’ She gave Rosie a lewd wink. ‘Not your fault you’ve got fellows fighting over you, is it?’

‘I never asked that sergeant to start on the other bloke for me.’ Rosie was as eager to convince herself of her innocence as she was Marlene.

‘Sergeant?’ Marlene scoffed at the low rank. ‘You could have a major with your looks, Rosie.’

That compliment prompted Rosie to smile and resume styling her hair. She’d already noticed that a few older officers were regularly coming in to give her the eye. But she didn’t fancy getting involved with somebody’s husband. She didn’t want to cause that sort of trouble when she could enjoy herself with single men of her own age.

Young as she’d been at the time, she remembered her parents’ shouting matches. Her dad had caught her mum with another man and thrown her out. Her mum had been allowed back after what seemed an age but had probably only been a matter of months. In a way Rosie had wished her mother hadn’t returned. The arguments had stopped by then but the long cold silences had been even worse to bear; Rosie sometimes wondered if her mother had been glad she’d got ill and died rather than having to endure the awful atmosphere any longer.

‘So what d’you reckon, then, Rosie? Shall we find you a rich handsome man who’ll take you to posh hotels instead of treating you to a night at the flicks before he jumps on you?’

Rosie frowned at the hint that she slept with her admirers. ‘I’ve not let any of them … you know …’ she said falteringly. ‘I’m not that sort of girl.’

Marlene eyed her mockingly. ‘Honestly? You’re really still pure as the driven?’

‘’Course,’ Rosie said rather bashfully. ‘Aren’t you?’ she asked curiously.

‘’Fraid not … but you are sweet …’ Marlene murmured with a private smile. ‘And all the more reason to get you the man you deserve …’

She turned to the wardrobe cupboard, her expression very thoughtful. She earned decent money working at the Windmill but her real employer was her boyfriend, a Maltese fellow by the name of Nikola. Marlene, in common with others, called him Malt.

Malt was a heavy-set, swarthy fellow who liked to think people respected him because he’d fostered for himself a hard reputation. In fact the men he classed as his rivals saw themselves as his superiors and despised him for trying to muscle in on their territory when he’d neither the brains nor the financial clout to do so. Malt was under his uncle’s thumb and just a hireling.

But Marlene seemed enthralled by her pimp, and when he told her that he needed to run more girls if he was to be a success and earn enough for them to settle down, she’d eagerly offered to do what she could to help. She’d got a job at the Windmill Theatre at Malt’s suggestion because he’d told her he didn’t want any old slags but classy birds: young, shapely and preferably blonde had been the shopping list of requirements he’d given to his girlfriend.

Marlene turned about, holding up a hanger on which was a wispy Grecian toga. When on stage it was artfully draped about the nudes’ hips. She looked past her costume at Rosie; the younger woman had put down her hairbrush and was now outlining her mouth in different colours; first one shade then another was put on and wiped off with tissue. Marlene felt satisfied that Rosie fitted Malt’s bill. All she had to do was get Rosie away from home because the blonde seemed ripe for the picking. She’d already mentioned to Rosie that she had a spare bedroom going begging and wanted very little rent for it. Marlene had seen Rosie’s eyes light up at the thought of her own little place, away from her father’s watchful eye. Rosie was pretty and popular with the servicemen and sooner or later she’d fall for one and want to take him back for the night. So Marlene reckoned she’d need to do very little to lure Rosie into her nest.