With a smile on her face, she entered the front door of number thirteen – then froze on the spot as she heard the hullabaloo coming from her kitchen.
‘Drunk at this time of the day. You should be ashamed of yourself!’
‘Shut up, old woman! I’m head of this household and I can drink whenever I wish,’ Eddie bawled back, as suddenly furniture went crashing to the ground. Her husband swore loudly.
‘Mummy?’ George cried softly from the top of the staircase, which was situated between the front room and living room. ‘Make them stop,’ he cried, holding his hands to his ears.
Ruby held her arms out, and he ran down the steep stairs and into her embrace. ‘Sshh, my love; I’m sure this is nothing to worry about,’ she said, although she knew that wasn’t true. When Eddie and her mum started to row like this, nine times out of ten it would end in tears. ‘I tell you what,’ she said, delving into her shopping bag, which had been dropped on the floor when she spotted George so distressed. ‘Why don’t you take these pies over the road to Stella? Tell her Mummy brought them home from work, and would she warm one for your tea?’ She wiped his eyes with the hem of the apron she still wore under her unbuttoned coat, and kissed his cheek. ‘You are not to worry, do you hear me?’
‘Can I tell Aunty Stella why I’ve been crying?’ he hiccupped.
‘If she asks, but try to put a happy smile on your face and enjoy your tea,’ she said, hoping that Stella and her boys didn’t come rushing over the road to get involved. If there had been time she’d have penned a few words on a scrap of paper, but she wanted George out of the house before the row started up again. She trusted Stella would cotton on to what had happened, as she was aware from chatting to Ruby that both Eddie and Milly had volatile tempers. She watched as George crossed the road and was let into her friend’s house.
Closing the front door, Ruby took a deep breath before turning and marching through into the living room. Placing her hands on her hips, she glared at her husband, who was slumped in a wooden chair, and her mum, who she could see through the open door into the kitchen. Milly was banging about as she wiped a large pan and slammed it onto the wooden draining board. She seemed to be brewing for another argument, and had just opened her mouth to call out when she saw Ruby standing there. ‘Oh, you’re home then? You might want to sort out this useless lump of lard you call your husband,’ she glared at Eddie, who pointed an angry finger in her direction.
‘Tell her to mind her own business! If she don’t like what I do, she can sling her bloody hook,’ he said, reaching to the floor and picking up a small bottle of beer, then throwing it back down when he noticed it was empty.
Ruby glared at Eddie. ‘Pray tell me what you’ve done that has caused this row? I’ve had to send your son over the road as he was so upset. You should think about him once in a while, Eddie.’
‘Yes, he should,’ Milly butted in. ‘I’ve told him as much . . .’
‘And you’re just as bad, so please don’t give us your views,’ Ruby spat back. ‘Neither of you gave him a thought when you started fighting like cat and dog. Now, are you going to tell me what this is all about?’ She turned again to a belligerent Eddie.
‘He’s lost his job, that’s what he’s done,’ Milly said, giving Eddie a smirk that said “I told you I’d tell on you”.
‘Oh, Eddie.’ Ruby all but fell into another of the old wooden seats, set around a scrubbed wooden table they used to prepare and eat their meals. ‘Whatever have you done now?’ she asked, placing her head into her hands. ‘I thought for once we were set up, with us all bringing a bit of money into the house. With you doing shifts down the coalyard, and being promised more as winter came in, I thought we’d be all right this time,’ she said, her words catching in her throat as she did her best not to cry. Nothing ever came of tears, and she needed to keep her wits about her.
‘It wasn’t my fault,’ he shrugged. ‘I was defending myself.’
‘He was caught thieving,’ Milly gloated.
‘They can’t prove it. I was set up.’ He sneered at Milly. ‘You can’t accuse me of something you were told in the Prince of Wales.’
Milly shrugged her shoulders. ‘I wasn’t told about it. I overheard two foremen going on. Seems you’ve been caught out pinching coal and flogging it off cheap. There was also something about you fiddling the tally book you carried with you when they sent you off on a delivery round.’
‘That’s a lie,’ Eddie slurred, raising his fist at Milly as he started to get up out of his seat.
‘Did you see that?’ Milly shrieked as she backed away.
‘For heaven’s sake, will the pair of you calm down?’ Ruby demanded, grabbing Eddie’s sleeve and pulling him back into his seat. ‘You’re not going anywhere until I’ve heard everything there is to know,’ she scolded him. ‘And if you are going to stand there like that, Mum, you can at least put the kettle on. Some of us have been working today and have mouths as dry as the bottom of a budgie’s cage. So, this happened today, did it?’
Eddie stayed quiet.
‘Last Saturday,’ Milly called, from where she was carefully measuring tea leaves into the pot. ‘I only found out today, otherwise I’d have tackled him sooner, the lazy so and so.’
‘Mum,’ Ruby warned, before all hell kicked off again. ‘Have you found another job yet, Eddie?’
‘Not unless it’s in the bottom of a pint pot,’ Milly
