Chapter Five

“Your brother’s a dirty bugger, that’s what he is.”

Willie was angered by the remark as he glared solemnly at Ackie.

“What do ye mean by that?”

Ackie shifted where he stood, moving away from Willie’s stare.

“You must know what I mean, surely?”

“No, I don’t and I’m sure you’re gonna tell me, whether I do or not, aren’t you?” he barked and his friend wet his lips and swallowed hard before he furthered his accusations.

“You know Cathie Coutts, don’t you?” he said, looking under his eyelids at Willie.

“Yes, I think so. That’s that wee lassie that lives in Carlton Street. Yes, I know her. Why? What has she got to do with oor Charlie?”

Ackie looked apprehensive as he went on.

“Well ... You know she does it with everybody, don’t you?” he said reluctantly and Willie didn’t have to enquire what it was that she administered so readily and so liberally. “Your Charlie gives her chips. Do you know that?”

“Gives her chips?” Willie repeated, “What the hell has that got to do with her .doin’ it?”

Ackie sniffed complacently.

“Well ...he doesn’t give her chips for nothing Does he?”

Willie had heard enough and he hit out at Ackie, knocking him to the ground and before long a large crowd of boys had gathered around, screaming and shouting, not knowing what the fight was about, but enjoying every minute of it, nevertheless.

***

“That’s a nice young couple of bairns who are staying with Mrs. Harris.” Mary remarked as she shook the lettuce she was preparing for tea, free of water. Willie waited a few moments before he answered.

“Yes Mammy. I think they’re very nice, from what I’ve seen of them.”

“Especially the wee lassie, Willie don’t you think?”

Willie coughed and his face went crimson ...

“I don’t know. I haven’t really taken that much notice,” he said and Mary went on, shaking her lettuce with a mischievous smile on her face.

Willie was worried about his conversation that morning with Ackie and he wondered if Ackie’s nose was still bleeding. Any suggestions of female company or association with his brother would worry him until he had the chance to talk to Charlie, but he spoke to Mary again, almost apologetically, on the subject of their new neighbours from London.

“They’re Jews anyway,” he said abruptly. They’re Old Tin Cans, he thought, but he knew that Mary would be annoyed with that. if she wasn’t already by his off hand remark. It was Sadie who drew him up.

“What was that you said, Willie Blair? I can’t be hearin’ right. You speak as though a Jew was a dirty word and no’ to be used. God was a Jew, wasn’t He, Mammy?”

Mary Blair was aware of her very limited knowledge on any matter of religion, but she never wanted to feel inadequate in front of her children.

“Well now, Hen... I’m no’ sure about God, but Jesus was a Jew, that’s for certain. Maybe you would be best to ask Fr. O’Halloran. He would know.”

Sadie pushed her hair away from her face and turned her back on her brother, but Willie wasn’t thinking about religion at that moment. His thoughts were full of Rachael’s beauty and he forgot for the moment about Cathie Coutts and her passion for chips. Besides, Coutts had spots. She was fat and she had greasy hair and a squint in her right eye, he added mentally . . . or was it the left? To hell with it... What did it matter? Rachael was beautiful, he concluded with a lovesick sigh and that Coutts lassie wasn’t worth a bag o’ chips, in his estimation.

He would have to talk to Charlie and get this woman problem resolved in his mind once and for all. That’s exactly what he’d do . .

He went to bed earlier than usual that night and lay awake for a long time before Charlie came in from his night out with the lads.

“I’m knackered,” he groaned as he started to undress. “Hand me that towel there, will you, Willie?”

Willie obliged and Charlie went out to the bathroom for a few moments, coming back to the bedroom again, drying his head and blowing like a war horse. Willie lay silently until his brother had settled beside him.

“Charlie...” he called softly, but Charlie was already half way into the land of nod. He called again. A little louder this time, but there was still no reply.

“Charlie,” he shouted a third time and dug his brother in the ribs. Charlie jumped.

“What the hell was that for?”

Willie settled himself, with his arms above his head on the pillow. It was easier to ask embarrassing questions when you didn’t see who you were talking to.

“I need to know something, Charlie. I need to ask you a question.”

Charlie rolled away from him.

“Och! I’m dead tired, Willie. I’ve been hard at it all day and I need my sleep. Can’t it wait till the morning?”

Willie shuffled and pulled the clothes closely around him, leaving his brother half naked.

“You’ve been ‘hard at it’ in more ways than one . . . haven’t you?” he probed and by this time Charlie was wide awake. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes.

“What do you mean by that?”

Willie waited a while before he spoke again. He was embarrassed and he didn’t want Charlie to look at him, but he just had to know.

“Do you do dirty things to lassies, Charlie?” he asked and Charlie looked at him in amazement.

“What’s brought all this on?”

Willie stared defiantly at the ceiling. His lips were tight as he waited for an answer, but Charlie wasn’t going to oblige.

“Do you talk to Cathie Coutts?” he asked and his voice shook with emotion.

“Yes I have done. Why?”

“Do ye buy her chips?”

Charlie laughed and scratched his left nipple

“Sometimes ... yes, I have done ... why?”

Willie could stand the evasion no longer.

“And what does she give you, Charlie,” he demanded to know as Charlie rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand as he turned to face his brother.

“Who have you been talking to, Willie?”

“Never mind that ...What does she give you?” Willie made his demand in his best English.

“Och! Go to sleep, ya wee bugger . . . I’m tired.”

Charlie pulled the sheets back over him and they lay still in bed together. Nothing more was said for a few moments, but Willie was restless and he knew he would never sleep until he got his answer.

“Charlie . . . Charlie.”

Charlie threw back the sheets and glared at Willie

“What now?”

There was another long pause before Willie could speak again . . . and he forgot his best English.

“Ye would’na really dae dirty things tae lassies, wid ye Charlie?”

Charlie turned towards Willie with a tired and exasperated look in his eye.

“Naw Naw, you know I widna dae things like that Willie, surely.”

Willie sighed contentedly as he touched Charlie’s hand under the bedclothes, but he wasn’t prepared for the answer that followed. “This week, I’m doin’ it tae wee boys . . . NOW GET TO SLEEP.”

Willie scowled and then he laughed. They both laughed and rolled over for a good night’s sleep, but the smell of chips wouldn’t leave Willie’s nostrils.

***

The following day was Charlie’s day off from the building site and he had intended to make the best of it. His sisters made a great fuss of the working man in the house and he had tea and toast in bed. Willie shared the toast before he went to school.

“Come in.” Aggie answered in response to the doorbell, to see Rachel Harris standing on the door step. She looked very shy.

“I don’t want to disturb anyone, but could I possibly speak to Willie for a moment, please?” she asked as Willie stood stunned and with his mouth wide open. Aggie invited Rachael into the house and asked her to sit down whilst she went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, she said leaving Willie alone in the room with Rachael.

“Would you like a cup, Rachael? It is Rachael, isn’t it?” Aggie enquired, popping her head back into the room for a moment from the kitchen.

“Oh! No thank you ...Please don’t go to any trouble. I just wanted to see Willie for a moment, that’s all.” She sat down and crossed her legs and Willie stared at her wide-eyed. “I would like to thank you for helping my brother the way you did, Willie,” she said as she smiled and took her hair back from her forehead where it had fallen.

Willie was speechless. He hadn’t expected anything like this, but Charlie appeared at that moment at the living room door, stripped to the waist and with his bronzed body accentuating his blonde hair and blue eyes as he stood before the visitor. He had seen her before. He knew she was the girl he had seen carrying the suitcase and who had looked up at him as he stood on the scaffold that morning when he had first started work on the site.

Willie was embarrassed as he looked from Rachael to Charlie and back again.

“This is my brother, Charlie He works on the building site in Tradeston Street and there is no need to say anything more about your brother . . . Nathan, isn’t it? It was just something that happened, but it wasn’t of any importance. It was nothing . . . Nothing at all I have to get to school now Bye.”

Willie left the house with his heart in his boots and started his wishing session again.

“Wish I was blonde and good lookin’ just like Charlie. Wish I had a job on a building site so that I could get a tan like that .Wish I didn’t have to go to bloody school. Wish Charlie hadn’t come into the room when he did. Wish he had put his bloody shirt on at least . . . “

Willie walked on moodily, sniffing back his tears and he was strongly tempted to buy some chips for Charlie to take to Cathie Coutts.

***

“I think I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?” Charlie asked Rachael as she sipped the tea that Aggie had insisted she have. Aggie was getting used to scenes like this one before, with the men folk in the house, who were always arguing about girls and she made herself scarce . . . besides, she was due at the factory in ten minutes.

“Will you excuse me Rachael,” she pleaded gently as she slipped out of the door. Sadie and Meggie had left earlier to attend Mass with Mary and Charlie was left alone in the house ...well alone, but with Rachael who wouldn’t admit that she had seen him before on the building site. They looked at each other for a long time without speaking and Charlie’s chest heaved as he stared.

“Oh! I’m sorry “he spluttered, “I’ll just go and put some clothes on .Will you wait for a few minutes and then perhaps, I could walk you home? I don’t have to be at the site this morning. It’s my day off.”

Rachael put her cup down on the table.

“I really must be going now I have some things I promised to do for my grandmother,” she spluttered as Charlie stood still, making no attempt to find his clothes, as he had suggested.

“Can I see you again?” he gasped, surprised at his own alacrity but Rachael did not answer. He went to the door to open it for her. “Please,” he said gently, “Come back again soon.” She smiled and left the house.

When Rachael had gone, Charlie jumped in the air and shrieked before he fell, stunned across the settee where he had banged his head on the low ceiling in his joy-jump. He ran into the bedroom and sprayed his face with aftershave, splashing it liberally over his chest and under his arms and spelling RACHAEL with every aromatic squirt. His nostrils quivered with the intoxicating excitement that he had just found as he closed his eyes and smiled broadly, before biffing the air once more with his fist.

***

The girls went their separate ways, to look for work and Mary returned home after Mass. She could not believe her eyes to see Charlie looking so smart in a white shirt and grey flannels. He had on the new pair of brown and white shoes that he had bought from his first wage, she remembered and she smiled at the latest fashion, thinking he looked every inch the ‘Diego’ that he imagined himself to be.

“Did you see her, Mammy,” he exclaimed as Mary was taking her hat off. “That girl who lives with old Mrs. Harris ... did you see her? I think the old lady is her grandmother Oh! She’s lovely really, really lovely Mammy. The girl I mean ...not the grandmother ...”

Mary stood back and gasped.

“The grandmother?” she asked, but Charlie heard nothing for the bells that were ringing in his ears.