have.’
‘I’m coming to work here, in the shop.’
Taken aback, Cecily blustered, ‘Well, I’d rather you began building a career for yourself, not bury yourself here in the little shop with Auntie Ada and me.’ She looked at Ada to see if there were signs of protest at the suggestion of a job for Van when no place had been found for Phil.
‘Auntie Dorothy tried to persuade me to stay on in the fashion business,’ Van told her. ‘She said I was brilliant and, besides, she didn’t wantme to come home and work with you. She seems to think this shop will belong to her Owen one day and I should find myself a place where I can keep myself in the manner to which I’m accustomed. Whatever that means!’
‘Dorothy is twpsin ,’ Ada snorted. ‘It’s our shop, mine and your mother’s, and we’ve no intention of leaving it to anyone but you. In fact I’d rather leave it to Horse!’ She glanced at Phil, who was concentrating on putting a black three on a red four and seemed oblivious to them all. ‘I doubt if Phil and I will have a child, but if we do, then half the business will still be yours and there’s a good enough living for two, isn’t there, Cecily?’
‘Not if Owen runs it! He doesn’t even know the cuts of bacon yet – he has to ask every time. And after all this time working with Waldo.’
To Cecily’s relief, Ada agreed that Van should start working with them but it was an uneasy few weeks as Van learnt the ways of the sisters. They had worked together efficiently for so long, there was no space for another to intervene. Van would go to do something and find it already done, and would complain when one of them corrected her and told her to do something their way. She was far more difficult with Cecily, who found it more and more exhausting to work beside her and try to ignore the constant carping.
For her part, Van was enjoying herself. The opportunity to criticize her mother – and in front of others – was a joy. She used her half day to go into Cardiff and report her progress to Gran, a secret which gave her an added pleasure. She worked beside the sisters day after day and they had no idea she was in regular touch with their mother. The visits were even better now. Kitty’s stepson, Paul Gregory, was home.
On the first day at the shop she had slouched aimlessly around, unwilling to be more help than she needed to be. Her growing resentment, fuelled by Dorothy, was clear, and the sisters wearied themselves coping with it and trying to ignore the disappointment and stifle their anger at her behaviour.
Van had once learned to dress the shop window and they decided that might be a good place for her to start, but she took all day on the simple task, ignoring their request to display more prominently the items with which they were overstocked and needed shifting. The final result was a mess. Cecily agreed that it was deliberately done, but slowly Van began to change. People commented on her dismal displays and this brought out a pride in her work and her interest grew.
She filled shallow boxes with straw and arranged apples and pears and oranges in polished rows which she decorated with a few leaves. She enjoyed the work and added some tins of fruit, which they wanted to sell quickly to make room for other things, some ribbons and even a few fluffy chicks on the baskets of farm eggs. She was soon entering into the work with greater enthusiasm, getting to know the customers and giving the sisters a little more free time.
In May the beaches were throwing off the mantle of winter and preparing for the influx of visitors in the next few months, but amid the gaiety and cheerfulness of newly painted signs urging people to eat, drink and spend their hard-earned holiday money in a hundred different ways, the undercurrent of trouble looming on the Continent was ever-present.
It was during that month, amid preparations for the first of the summer entertainments, that the first delivery of gas
‘I’m coming to work here, in the shop.’
Taken aback, Cecily blustered, ‘Well, I’d rather you began building a career for yourself, not bury yourself here in the little shop with Auntie Ada and me.’ She looked at Ada to see if there were signs of protest at the suggestion of a job for Van when no place had been found for Phil.
‘Auntie Dorothy tried to persuade me to stay on in the fashion business,’ Van told her. ‘She said I was brilliant and, besides, she didn’t wantme to come home and work with you. She seems to think this shop will belong to her Owen one day and I should find myself a place where I can keep myself in the manner to which I’m accustomed. Whatever that means!’
‘Dorothy is twpsin ,’ Ada snorted. ‘It’s our shop, mine and your mother’s, and we’ve no intention of leaving it to anyone but you. In fact I’d rather leave it to Horse!’ She glanced at Phil, who was concentrating on putting a black three on a red four and seemed oblivious to them all. ‘I doubt if Phil and I will have a child, but if we do, then half the business will still be yours and there’s a good enough living for two, isn’t there, Cecily?’
‘Not if Owen runs it! He doesn’t even know the cuts of bacon yet – he has to ask every time. And after all this time working with Waldo.’
To Cecily’s relief, Ada agreed that Van should start working with them but it was an uneasy few weeks as Van learnt the ways of the sisters. They had worked together efficiently for so long, there was no space for another to intervene. Van would go to do something and find it already done, and would complain when one of them corrected her and told her to do something their way. She was far more difficult with Cecily, who found it more and more exhausting to work beside her and try to ignore the constant carping.
For her part, Van was enjoying herself. The opportunity to criticize her mother – and in front of others – was a joy. She used her half day to go into Cardiff and report her progress to Gran, a secret which gave her an added pleasure. She worked beside the sisters day after day and they had no idea she was in regular touch with their mother. The visits were even better now. Kitty’s stepson, Paul Gregory, was home.
On the first day at the shop she had slouched aimlessly around, unwilling to be more help than she needed to be. Her growing resentment, fuelled by Dorothy, was clear, and the sisters wearied themselves coping with it and trying to ignore the disappointment and stifle their anger at her behaviour.
Van had once learned to dress the shop window and they decided that might be a good place for her to start, but she took all day on the simple task, ignoring their request to display more prominently the items with which they were overstocked and needed shifting. The final result was a mess. Cecily agreed that it was deliberately done, but slowly Van began to change. People commented on her dismal displays and this brought out a pride in her work and her interest grew.
She filled shallow boxes with straw and arranged apples and pears and oranges in polished rows which she decorated with a few leaves. She enjoyed the work and added some tins of fruit, which they wanted to sell quickly to make room for other things, some ribbons and even a few fluffy chicks on the baskets of farm eggs. She was soon entering into the work with greater enthusiasm, getting to know the customers and giving the sisters a little more free time.
In May the beaches were throwing off the mantle of winter and preparing for the influx of visitors in the next few months, but amid the gaiety and cheerfulness of newly painted signs urging people to eat, drink and spend their hard-earned holiday money in a hundred different ways, the undercurrent of trouble looming on the Continent was ever-present.
It was during that month, amid preparations for the first of the summer entertainments, that the first delivery of gas
Similar Books
