The Most Precious Thing by Rita Bradshaw Page B

landlady’s hands held a pot of tea, a milk jug and sugar bowl, a plate of freshly baked buttered drop scones and a small saucer of jam.
     
    ‘This is so kind of you, Mrs Bedlow,’ Carrie said. ‘Won’t you come in for a minute?’
     
    ‘Just a minute then.’ Their landlady’s voice lowered although Carrie had now shut the door. ‘I thought I’d better say hello an’ God bless you both, ’cos it’s for sure them upstairs won’t pass the time of day. Mind, I’ve no complaints ’cos they pay up every Friday regular as clockwork an’ are as clean an’ quiet as the fairies, but they’re foreigners, see. Polish I think they are, or mebbe it’s Russian, I forget now.’ She nodded to David who had applied a match to the fire and was straightening, brushing his hands against his trousers.
     
    Carrie smiled at Mrs Bedlow, taking the tray as she said, ‘You’ll join us in a cup of tea, I hope?’
     
    ‘No, thanks all the same, lass, but I’m expectin’ a happy event in the next little while. My Emilia is havin’ her first an’ I don’t like to be too far away in case she needs me.’
     
    ‘Emilia? Is that your daughter, Mrs Bedlow?’
     
    ‘My daughter?’ There was a wheezy laugh. ‘God bless you, dear, no, it’s me little tabby. The good Lord never blessed the late Mr Bedlow an’ me with bairns. Mind you, perhaps that was no bad thing. How I’d have managed with bairns and my Charlie, I don’t know. You only had to mention the word work and Charlie’s back would go. But he was a good man at heart, an’ with the lodgers an’ the bit of washin’ an’ ironin’ I take in we was never short of a bob or two. An’ he liked cats.’ She nodded, causing the enormous bun of white hair balanced above the round face to wobble alarmingly. ‘Aye, he liked cats, an’ that’s the main thing, isn’t it?’
     
    ‘Yes, I suppose it is,’ Carrie agreed weakly.
     
    ‘Anyway, I mustn’t stand here jawin’ with Emilia needin’ comfort, must I, but I wanted to say welcome and congratulations to you both.’ She opened the door and turned on the threshold to say, as though bestowing a blessing, ‘May your two shadows ever lengthen in the sun of happiness. Me an’ Charlie had that said to us on the day we wed, nigh on forty years ago now, by me old da. Couldn’t abide Charlie, me da couldn’t, but you couldn’t fault his wedding speech. Grand, it was. ’Bye bye then, an’ if you need owt, tap on me door.’
     
    When the door closed, Carrie turned in a daze to face David who had taken the tray from her and placed it on the seat of the armchair.
     
    ‘He liked cats.’ David’s voice was choked, and then they both began to shake with small helpless tremors which intensified into muffled laughter, their hands tight across their mouths to stifle the sound.
     
    It was some time before they could control themselves, and as David glanced into Carrie’s eyes, bright with laughter, he blessed Mrs Bedlow. The day had ended in laughter. It was a start.
     

Part 2
     
    Not a penny off the pay Not a minute on the day. 1926
     

Chapter Six
     
    ‘So it’s begun then?’
     
    ‘Aye, it’s begun.’
     
    Joan McDarmount stared at her husband who had just walked in the door from attending a union meeting. Sandy’s voice bordered on the euphoric, but try as she might she couldn’t see eye to eye with him over this General Strike business.
     
    Four days ago at the end of April the coal-owners had closed every pit in the country, locking the miners out, just as Sandy and many of the old diehards had predicted. The owners’ terms to the miners amounted to pre-war wages and an extra hour on the working day to boot. Their terms to the government amounted to no state interference in the running of the mines, all strikes to be banned by law and the state to take control of all funds belonging to the trade unions. The owners had declared war on their working force, and every union, regardless of what