Past Remembering by Catrin Collier Page B

shells that will kill the men who murdered Eddie. It was murder, you know. William was there and he told us about it. Eddie’s whole unit was shot by German soldiers after they surrendered their weapons.’
    ‘I didn’t know.’ He shuddered, not at her story but at the venom in her voice. He’d long since discovered that it wasn’t only those who were killed who had been destroyed by the war.
    ‘You must come around one evening. I could make supper for us. It would be nice to talk to someone who understands what I’m going through.’ She gave him a sad little smile as the shop door rattled. ‘I’d better go and open up, before whoever that is breaks something.’
    He stripped off down to Tony’s underpants, changed into the shirt and one of the suits, and looked around for a mirror. There was a full-length cheval in Jenny’s bedroom. Turning his back on the feminine clutter of hairpins, cold cream, scent bottles and brushes on the dressing table that reminded him too acutely of his wife, he studied his image in the glass. The suit hung loosely on his skeletal frame, and the trousers would have fallen down without the braces, but Jenny was right about his and Eddie’s height. The length of the trousers and sleeves was perfect. Bundling Tony’s clothes under his arm, he limped down the stairs into the shop and straight into Mrs Richards, Evan Powell’s neighbour and the Graig gossip.
    She raised her eyebrows as he closed the door that led to Jenny’s private quarters. ‘Well, I see you’ve wasted no time in visiting old friends, Ronnie?’
    ‘Ronnie’s been helping me with something upstairs,’ Jenny intervened.
    ‘It’s handy for a widow to have a man to call on,’ Mrs Richards smirked knowingly. ‘And good to see someone home in one piece,’ she added in an acidic tone that implied she would much rather have seen her own son, Glan, home from the POW camp he’d been consigned to for the duration.
    ‘Not quite one piece, Mrs Richards.’ Ronnie lifted his crutch.
    ‘You’re alive, aren’t you, and you’ll mend. Sorry to hear about Maud, but then she always was sickly.’
    He nodded, not trusting himself to reply.
    ‘You two have a lot in common now, both married to Powells who’ve passed on. Nice to see you consoling one another like this.’
    Ronnie took half a crown from his pocket and pushed it across the counter. ‘Twenty Players please, Jenny.’
    ‘She was serving me,’ Mrs Richards snapped.
    ‘Ronnie only wants cigarettes and he is in a hurry.’ Jenny turned to the tobacco shelves above the till. Handing Ronnie his change and cigarettes, she said, ‘I won’t forget to give those things to Bethan, and your rations. Gina dropped your coupons in this morning.’
    He knew perfectly well Gina had done no such thing, because his food coupons were snarled up in the same bureaucratic web as his clothing coupons. ‘Thank you for everything, Jenny. See you soon.’ Nodding to Mrs Richards he opened the door and left.
    ‘Well, it’s easy to see what’s on his mind,’ Mrs Richards declared in a loud voice before he managed to pull his crutch out behind him.
    ‘Do you have a list, Mrs Richards?’
    ‘Here it is. I’m putting a food parcel together for my Glan in the prison camp. They have it rough, you know. According to his letters they have nothing to eat except potatoes, swedes and black bread. All I can say is, I hope it’s not black from mould. Disgraceful the way those Jerries are treating our boys.’
    ‘At least your Glan is still alive to be treated disgracefully, Mrs Richards.’ Jenny bit down hard on her bottom lip as she watched the back of Eddie’s suit disappear across the road and down the hill towards Laura’s house.
    ‘Constable Davies, how nice to see you,’ Myrtle greeted him as she opened the door to his tentative knock.
    ‘Just thought I’d call in and see how Megan’s doing.’
    ‘I’m sorry, you’ve missed her. Mrs Lane called in to let us know that