Closer than Blood: Friendship Helps You Survive. Julie Shaw

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СКАЧАТЬ was mad. ‘Sings like a nightingale, our Tucker does, doesn’t he? That’s how it works, love. Bit for him, bit for Bobby – bit for me an’ all; he’ll always stand me a drink or two.’

      Shirley found this ‘Tucker’ thing as bemusing as she ever had. She recalled John Arnold telling her about it when they’d first got together; how all the Hudson boys, from Charlie down, had always been known as Tucker, and that it wasn’t complicated, because there was only one ‘top’ Tucker on the streets at any time, and if there was another, they were simply ‘young Tucker’.

      But why ‘Tucker’ anyway? She made a mental note to ask Keith sometime. He had so many brothers and sisters she was already all at sea without them all being called the same thing as well.

      ‘Don’t you worry,’ Titch continued, patting Shirley’s arm with a clammy hand. ‘He’ll treat you as well. Course he will. His little posh bird.’

      This brought Shirley up short. If there was one thing she hated more than her father telling her she didn’t know her own mind, it was anyone – anyone – referring to her as that. It had irritated her almost all her life. She had even been teased about it at school in Clayton, and it was simply because she was an only child and had that bit more than her friends with lots of siblings. ‘I’m not a bloody posh bird!’ she snapped. ‘I’m just the same as the rest of you.’

      Titch laughed out loud. ‘Yeah, course you are, love. And if me auntie had balls, she’d be me uncle.’

      ‘I am not posh!’ she persisted. Who was he to tell her what she was or wasn’t?

      ‘Where d’you live, then?’ he said.

      What did that have to do with it? ‘Clayton,’ she huffed.

      Titch swept his arm down and across his body and bowed his head for good measure. ‘Then I rest my case, Your Majesty. Anyway, there’s nowt wrong with posh. You want to have some pride in where you’ve come from, lass, you do.’

      Shirley didn’t know about that – it wasn’t as if she wasn’t proud of where she came from, exactly. She just didn’t want people making assumptions about her all the time, thinking she was stuck up and unapproachable when she wasn’t.

      And tonight, in her new role as Keith ‘Tucker’ Hudson’s ‘bird’, she suddenly felt like flavour of the month. She didn’t really know why, but she felt as if she’d suddenly been granted membership of an exclusive club. Once Keith had brought soft drinks for her and all his friends, and been congratulated by one and all – especially the girls – it began to feel like she’d known everyone for ever; girls and lads she’d never met before being so welcoming and friendly as, one by one, Keith introduced her to everyone. And it really felt as if he knew everyone, as well.

      The atmosphere was great, the music was great and, by the time the band broke again, she found she didn’t even mind when he said he’d be nipping over to the Red Lion for a bit.

      ‘I won’t be long,’ he promised. ‘An’ it’ll give you a chance to get to know some of the girls. I’ll just have a quick pint and I’ll be back before you know it.’

      Shirley wasn’t a nervous girl, in fact she loved nothing more than meeting new people and joining in, despite being an only child. Or perhaps because of it. She’d had a lifetime of practice in having to make friends. Even so, she didn’t want him running away with the idea that she’d be standing for any nonsense. She was never going to be like her mam, treating her dad like some sort of criminal for so much as speaking to another female, but she wasn’t having him thinking she was a pushover, either. ‘Okay,’ she said, nodding, ‘but don’t leave me too long. Don’t forget I have to be home for ten and my dad’ll be waiting for me.’

      ‘Ten minutes,’ he promised, planting a kiss on each of her cheeks in turn. Would tonight be the night when he properly kissed her? She hoped so. And as he headed off out of the front doors with Titch Williams and Bobby Moran, she caught another lingering whiff of his aftershave.

      Was this how it was for her mam? This jittery feeling? Was that why she gave her dad hell all the time? For a moment, though she knew she’d never be jealous like her mam, ever, she thought she understood how she felt.

Chapter 4

      Shirley wasn’t on her own for very long. Before Keith had even left the dance-hall, two girls around her own age came straight over to say hello to her, introducing themselves as Doreen and Joan. ‘Your fella gone to the Red Lion?’ Doreen asked. ‘Ours as well. So you can stand here with us if you like. Help us fend off the chancers,’ she added, nodding towards the lads who hadn’t gone to the pub, and were apparently hoping to take advantage of the mass exodus by trying to impress all the now unchaperoned girls.

      The other girl, Joan, who had hair bleached almost as white as Shirley’s ankle socks, rolled her eyes as the last of the lads going to the pub had filed out. ‘If my Paddy comes back in and catches those idiots checking us out, he’ll go mad,’ she said, pointing to a group of cocky-looking lads who were now staring at the three of them, bold as brass.

      ‘You should be flattered, Joan,’ Doreen said. ‘My bloody Kenny wouldn’t notice someone trying it on with me if we were having it off in the middle of the bloody dance-floor!’

      Shirley was shocked at her being so graphic, but it was certainly an ice-breaker, and within minutes she felt she’d made two lovely friends; there was something so appealing about being with the sort of girls who said it like it was, rather than being all stuffy and buttoned up. And, between them, they fended off two or three hopeful advances – well, bar one lad with an enormous quiff, who seemed determined to keep chatting Shirley up, much to the amusement of the others.

      ‘Leave the lass alone,’ Joan kept telling him. ‘She’s taken!’

      ‘A new face,’ Doreen whispered. ‘And I’ll bet he’s been clocking you since you got here.’

      ‘I’m hardly that,’ Shirley said. ‘I’ve been coming here for ages!’

      ‘No, him,’ she corrected. ‘Which he must be, to be so stupid.’ She raised her voice then, and looked pointedly at the lad. ‘If he wasn’t, he’d know better than to make a pass at Tucker Hudson’s girl.’

      Shirley grinned, but the lad’s face suddenly fell. He might not have known who Keith was – he’d been away in the army, after all – but he obviously knew the name Hudson. And would doubtless have left her in peace at that moment, except he wasn’t going to be allowed to.

      ‘Here’s your Keith,’ Doreen observed, looking beyond Shirley.

      ‘And here comes trouble,’ Joan added. Shirley spun around. He was striding across the dance-floor, taking in the scene – she could almost see his mind working – and looking rather more animated – or rather, tanked up – than he had when he’d left.

      It had been more like twenty minutes rather than ten, but he’d come back alone, his mates having obviously decided to linger in the pub. Shirley thought fleetingly that she was pleased he’d taken his leave of them to rejoin her, but any pleasure in that was soon taken away by the realisation that he’d veered off from his route to where the girls stood and was walking towards the lad, who was now heading back to his mates.

      The girls СКАЧАТЬ