Home Is A Strange Country Chapter 6

SIX

March 1904

Florence was seated in the armchair to the left of the range in the kitchen, normally her fathers' seat, but he was absent. Outside the rain was lashing down against the windows and it was difficult to know if it was daytime or night time, it was so dark and cloudy. Notwithstanding the foul and stormy weather, Flo was seated peacefully in the chair, staring blankly into the flames of the fire. The heat from the fire burned her eyeballs, causing them to water, but she failed to notice the pain, slight as it was. She was silently mesmerised, turning over yet again in her mind the day Tommy had come for tea to their home. Her brothers had been unceremoniously moved from the house to her aunt's place, but not without loud complaints from them, and uncontrollable curiosity from the aunt. The world, it seemed, wished to know all there was to know about Flo's feller.

'How come we have to move out just ‘cos Flo has some strange feller comin' round? It’s not as though she's anythin' special is she?' her eldest brother had complained. This was a mistake on his part as Florence was within hearing and striking distance of him. She was standing by the sink drying dishes and the tea towel she carried in her hand was damp. She flicked it expertly at his rump, connecting with a satisfying stinging slap. He yelped and made to swing his hand at her, but Florence had pre-emptied  his retaliation and had already moved out of his range.

'Just you make sure you are well out of the way before he comes round,' Harriet had warned shaking her index finger at him angrily, 'Or I won’t be responsible for my actions my lad. You got that?' she had snapped at him.

'Don’t worry Ma, I’ll be gone long before he gets here. Don’t think I really want to see what sort of a bumbling half wit she has managed to trap. Won't be nice to see anyway.'

'That’s enough young man.' his father snapped sharply from the chair at the side of the range, looking sideways around the Bolton Evening News he was reading. 'A joke’s a joke, but that's taking it a bit too far. Get off with you before you get yourself deeper in it.' Her elder brother by four years, Willie, made as though to lunge at Florence, but it was a half hearted attempt and he simply turned away from her and left the room to join three of his other brothers Walter, Harry and Albert who were waiting in the hallway for him to accompany them to Harriet’s sister for the afternoon. He stood in the doorway to the hall and picked his coat from one of the line of hooks on the wall. Pushing his arms into the sleeves he turned for one last volley at his sister.

'If he doesn’t turn up, can you save me his tea Ma?' he asked. William Henry turned in his chair, flapping the newspaper down onto his lap angrily.

'If I have to tell you one more time young man, you’ll wish I hadn’t' he snapped. 'Get off with you.'

'Going Pa. See you later Ma.' He called out as he walked down the narrow hallway pushing the three other brothers in front of him to the front door.

Final preparations for the meal were almost completed, though preparations for the day had started on Friday afternoon when Florence had arrived home from the mill. Almost as soon as she had taken off her shawl and hung it in the hallway, her mother listed the tasks she had for her to complete before Tommy would be allowed across the threshold on Sunday. The front parlour was scrubbed and polished from top to bottom. Cobwebs on the gas light fittings which adorned the wall above the fireplace and above the pelmet over the window were dusted off. The fire was blacked and the grate cleaned with fresh kindling laid for the fire to be lit. The bucket by the side of the hearth was filled with coal from the cellar where it had been delivered only last week. Florence shook the bucket to ensure that the dust from the lumps of coal were knocked off the coal and down into the bottom of the bucket, so that whoever came to replenish the fire on the day would not get the dust on their hands. It was, so her mother had always said, attention to detail which was important, no matter what she was doing. Florence’s mother looked into the room as she was finishing her tasks for the afternoon.

'You can have a bath now,' she said. Florence turned to her mother, a look of dismay on her face.

'Oh Ma!' she said. 'It’s not Sunday ‘til tomorrow. Why do I have to have a bath today? Anyway, our Willie will be home soon. I’m not havin’ him accidentally stickin’ his head round the door when I’m in my nothins.' Though the house was always crowded with children and adults, personal privacy was regarded jealously, and it was distracting for Florence to have to keep talking in a loud voice or singing to herself to warn her curious brothers to stay well out of the kitchen when she was bathing in the tin bath before the range. Her mother insisted.

'You’ll do better to get yourself a bath now whilst most of them are out rather than tomorrow. You want to look your best for Thomas don’t you?' Silently Florence nodded her head in agreement.

'You’re right Ma,' she said, 'I’ll get on with it when I’ve finished here.'

In the end Florence’s fears were groundless. Her brother Willie, and the rest of the family, were not at home when she took the tin bath from its’ hook on the wall in the back yard, and placed it before the warming flames of the range in the kitchen. With her mothers' help she filled the bath with water from the cistern on the range which provided the family with almost constant hot water, then added pans of cold water from the kitchen tap to get it to a manageable temperature. Looking carefully through the window and down the back yard to ensure nobody was around, she stripped off her clothes and stepped into the bath, a block of rough soap in her hand. As she started her normal bath time sing song her mother called to her from the parlour.

'It’s alright Flo, you can shut up, there’s nobody at home.' Florence stopped her singing alarm and finished her weekly bath in peace.

During the forty eight hours before Tommy arrived Florence had been in a state of complete agitation and nervousness. No matter what her mother said to calm her down she continued to re-examine everything in the room to make sure it was ‘just right’. In the end, on the Saturday night, her father had poured his favourite, and only daughter, a small glass of brandy before she took herself off to bed. As he watched her back disappear through the door to go upstairs to her bed he turned to his wife and smiling said,

'He’d better be good enough, this young feller, ‘cos if he isn’t, she’s going to kill him.' He paused and smiled at his wife, 'And if she doesn’t I will,' he continued. Harriet smiled back at him and continued sewing the last of three new buttons onto the dress Florence would wear on Sunday. When she finished she herself went up the stairs to go to bed. As she passed by the armchair where her husband sat her hand trailed gently across the back of his neck and ruffled the greying hair on the back of his head.

'Don’t be too long love,' she said gently. William grunted in reply and continued to read the Evening News’s account of how 'The Stiffs', as the Bolton Wanderers Football team were known, had fared in their latest match. They had lost. Not much new there, he thought to himself. Folding the newspaper he pushed it down the side of the cushion he was seated on, and went to join Harriet in bed.

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As it turned out, the worries which had plagued each of their minds prior to the visit were almost without foundation. Within fifteen minutes of Thomas Alfred Fletcher Lowe arriving at the Hadfield household he had William Henry eating out of his hand, though not by any deliberate thought or underhand machinations. Florence’s mother took a little longer to fall under his spell, about one hour. Very quickly they both came to regard him as a man suitable for their one and only daughter.

When his knock on the front door had been heard, Florence had risen hurriedly from her chair by the table in the kitchen and, taking a deep breath, had quietly opened the door to the hallway and walked to the front door. Thomas was stood on the pavement and had been examining the brickwork around the door frame, noting that it required pointing urgently. The door opened and Florence was standing there smiling at him.

'Come in then,' she said to him softly. 'Don’t be standing out there in the cold.' He smiled back at her shyly from beneath the black bowler hat he was wearing and stepped across the threshold into the hall. Florence stretched up on tiptoe to offer her face to him. Before kissing her Tommy glanced over her shoulder along the hallway to check her parents were not looking, then seeing that they were not in sight, he gave her a soft kiss on her lips.

'Alright love?' he asked.

'Yes love, I’m fine,' she replied, taking his hand in hers and guiding him along the narrow hallway to where a line of coats were hung on hooks close to the kitchen door, hiding the dull pale green faded wallpaper which lay behind them. She held out her arms to receive the black woollen overcoat and bowler hat he was taking off, and then hung them on top of the coat which was hers, on the hook closest to the front door.

They stood for a moment in the doorway to the kitchen and looked into each other's eyes and smiled, then taking a deep breath Florence opened the door and they walked into the kitchen. William Henry and Harriet were both stood, shoulder to shoulder, with their backs to the range awaiting their entrance. The fire had been lit early that morning and allowed to blaze away to thoroughly heat the whole of the house. Now that the room was comfortably warm, as was most of the rest of the small house, the fire had been permitted to die down. Florence had turned down the fire damper so that the pie cooking in the oven could be allowed to cook slowly without any further attention.

Florence let go of Tommy’s hand and stepped forward towards her father. She half turned back to Tommy and holding out the hand which she had just released said,

'Pa, Ma, this is Tommy.' Tommy took a step forward with his right hand extended towards William Henry.

'Pleased to meet you Mr Hadfield.' he said. William Henry took his hand and the two men shook.

'Aye, likewise.' He said. Tommy let the hand go and turned towards Harriet.

'Mrs Hadfield.' he said and extended his hand once more. She hurriedly wiped her hands on her apron and shook the hand he offered, then glanced down in horror at the sight of the apron which was still wrapped around her waist. Blushing furiously her hands went round her back and she quickly untied the apron strings and bundling it into a small heap tossed it onto one of the kitchen chairs.

'Sorry,' she stammered, 'Not quite finished cooking tea' she said.

'Not to worry,' Tommy replied smiling at her. 'My Ma is never out of her pinny. She’s even been known to do her shopping wearing one.' He laughed easily and without any malice looking towards William Henry, and Florence joined in nervously. William Henry smiled at the young man in front of him, and liked what he saw.

Tommy was wearing his best suit, a dark grey single breasted smooth fabric, which William Henry recognised as woollen worsted. Beneath it he had on a spotless white shirt with a celluloid collar and a dark blue tie. Glancing down William Henry was pleased to see that the boots Tommy wore were highly polished, not something you saw every day, he had thought. As he lifted his head to look again at the young clean shaven man before him he was surprised to see that Tommy was holding out a small package to him in his hand.

'I hope you don’t mind Mr Hadfield, it’s just some tobacco, to say thank you for inviting me to tea today.' William Henry took the package in his hand and saw it was a tin containing an ounce of his favourite pipe tobacco.

'Well,' he said, stumbling a little in surprise over his words. 'That’s very kind of you young man,' he said, a broad smile beaming across his face. 'Very kind. Not at all expected. Thank you again.' Tommy turned to Harriet.

'Mrs Hadfield, this is for you. Thank you too for inviting me for tea.' He handed over another small package wrapped in fancy paper. Harriet looked and felt the package in her hand, and squeezed it gently to try and get some idea of what it could contain.

'Oh' she said, 'Well, thank you Tommy. You shouldn’t have. Can I open it now?' Tommy nodded his head and replied,

'’Course you can Mrs Hadfield. Wouldn’t have brought it if I didn’t want you to open it.' He laughed lightly once more and glanced at Florence, who returned his laughter and slowly eased closer to him. The three of them watched as Harriet gently prized and peeled the wrapping paper from what was obviously a flat box of some sort. Finally taking the paper off and placing it carefully on the kitchen table she held up a box of chocolates for the others to see. Her smile went from one ear to the other, as Florence related to Hettie the following day. The gift was well received by all of them, a rare gift.

'I’ll put these in a safe place' Harriet said to William Henry. 'I don’t want those three vultures of mine getting their eyes or hands on them when they come home!' She grinned at her husband and moved to place the box in a cupboard by the side of the range, then gathered up the wrapping paper from the table and carefully folded it into a neat square before placing it with the box of chocolates in the cupboard.

The meal went well, as Harriet had hoped it would. Her cooking was as good as anyone else’s, with the limited range of foodstuffs she had at her disposal. As they sat eating their pudding, a freshly made fruitcake, and drinking their cups of tea, William turned to Tommy and finally started to talk about what had been on his mind since first Florence had told them of the young man she was ‘seeing.’

 'Our Flo tells us that you’re bound for signing on with the Royal Navy then.' Tommy turned to his right at the table set in the middle of the parlour floor. The fire at his back, though banked up and therefore not showing any flames, was still warm on his back.

'Aye, I am Mr Hadfield.' He paused to sip from his tea, picking the last crumbs of cake from the small plate in front of him. He turned to glance to his left at Harriet. 'That were lovely cake Mrs Hadfield. As good as my Ma makes, if not better. But don't go telling her.' His smile and comments were received with a warm glow from Harriet who nodded her head in acknowledgement of the compliment. Tommy turned back to face William. 'I went to one of the recruitment ships late last year when they were visiting Fleetwood. I saw them coming up the coast when I were at Blackpool and caught a tram along the prom to Fleetwood to see them at the docks there. They weren’t very big ones, not like the Dreadnaughts or Battleships, but big enough, so I managed to get on board one of them and talked to one of the senior ratings and had a good look round.' He paused to drink more of his tea. William Henry nodded his head for the young man to continue. 'Anyway, I had a good talk to them about prospects and pay and suchlike, and it seemed like this was a good time to join up for a few years. The pay for an Artificer is two to three times what an ordinary seaman would get, and the bloke I spoke to said they were looking to enlist a lot of men with my background in engineering.'

'Why is that then Tommy?' William asked. 'How come they are needing a lot of such like Artificers, an’ anyway what is an Artificer?' Thomas smiled and started to talk to the older man enthusiastically.

'Well, an Artificer is an engineer, and they could be looking after the engines, or the electrics on a ship, or the guns and even more now, the torpedoes. I’m going to be an electrical Artificer, so I will be working on guns and torpedoes and the like. And as to why they need so many, well, I'm sure you've read in the papers about the Royal Navy building a lot of ships these days.' He nodded his head to indicate the evening paper stuffed down the side of the chair William had been sitting in. 'Well the new ones with all the latest guns and torpedoes need specialists to man them, so they are recruiting men with experience like mine, so that even though they will have to train me to be a sailor, I come with a lot of experience they don’t have to train me for.' He paused to let this sink in, then continued. 'I think that’s what's in their minds anyway.'

William looked down the table towards his wife and they exchanged an unspoken look of approval for the young man who sat between them, then looked sideways towards his daughter and smiled at her.

'What do you think our Flo?' he asked. 'Fancy being seen out with a man in a blue suit and a flat cap do you?' he grinned. Florence blushed and glanced down at the empty plate before her and fumbled over her words.

'Not sure Pa. I suppose the blue uniform will go with what clothes I have, but I might have to get some new ones.' She grinned impishly across to her father who pulled a face of mock disapproval before bursting into loud laughter.

'You’ll be the death of me yet young lady,' he said and gave her arm a light tap. William sat back in his chair and patted his hands across his stomach.

'That was a right good tea Ma' he said, smiling at his wife at the far end of the table.

'Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.' She replied. Tommy and Florence both looked to her and said their thanks as well. William pushed his chair back away from the table and got to his feet.

'Well' he announced, 'I think I’ll just pay a short visit to the back yard and try some of this tobacco you’ve bought for me Tommy,' smiling broadly at Tommy, who was rising from his chair himself.

'I hope you enjoy it Mr Hadfield' he said, 'Flo told me what brand you liked, so I couldn’t go wrong really.' He grinned at Florence who was rising as well. 'I think it’s time I was making my way home then if you don’t mind Mr Hadfield.'

'Alright then Tommy. I think our Florence would like to see you to the tram stop if you would like.' William smiled at him and held out his hand across the corner of the table. 'It’s been good to meet you young man, and I hope you’ll not be a stranger here in the future.' The two men shook hands.

'I hope so as well Mr Hadfield.' Tommy replied. 'Thank you again for inviting me.' He turned to Harriet and held out his hand to her and shook the small hand she proffered. 'Thank you too Mrs Hadfield. That was a lovely tea, I’m a bit stuffed to tell the truth.' She smiled at him and said,

'Like Mr Hadfield said Tommy, I hope you won’t be a stranger here in the future. You’re more than welcome lad.' She released his hand and Tommy eased his way past the table and out into the hallway. Florence followed him to help him on with his overcoat and hat.

'You coming to the tram stop with me then Flo?' he asked her quietly.

'I think I might,' she said, 'Even if it’s just to make sure you get on the right one.' Grinning he dug his fingers in the soft flesh above her waist, she squirmed away from him struggling to put on her own coat from the hook on the wall.

'I think you’ll find it’s raining out,' called William from the parlour. 'Why don’t you take our Willie’s umbrella?'

'Right Pa, we will' Florence called back. Her brother Willie had ‘acquired’ the black umbrella one night after a long session at the Tramways pub on Blackburn Road. He had staggered home with it, using it as a crutch to steady his steps on the walk back. It had hung in the hallway since then, no one having had the nerve to use it. It’s owner had never complained to Willie, so it was assumed he did not know he had lost it.

Tommy opened the front door and stepped outside onto the wet pavement and expertly opened the ‘brolly’ before turning to offer it’s shelter to Flo when she stepped off the step onto the pavement herself. She hugged her coat to herself and threaded her arm through Tommy’s elbow, pulling him towards her a little. The couple started to walk along the street towards Blackburn Road, but had scarcely taken three steps before they were startled by a rapping on the window of the house next to Flo’s. She stopped and looked through the window. Her friend Hettie was standing in the parlour of her house, grinning madly and waving her hand furiously at them. Florence smiled and waved gently back, then hugged Tommy to her side and continued on walking.

'Was that the girl who was with you at the fair that time we met?' Tommy asked.

'Yes. It’s my friend Hettie. She must have had her head to the wall listening for us leaving. The nosey little so and so.' Florence grinned in anticipation of the story she would have to tell her friend on the way to work the coming Monday.

The rain was gentle on the umbrella as they walked along the street, though in truth Florence was completely unaware of the weather, or the dull grey sky overhead. The only thing on her mind at that moment was Tommy, the man she loved, and who loved her. Though it was still only late March she felt that there were a lot of things in her life to change before Tommy joined the royal Navy. The one thing neither of them had discussed with her parents was the timescale Tommy had set out to her. He intended to join the navy later that year, and marry her a little later if at all possible. It was enough that he should be accepted by her parents at this time, he had felt. The fact that he was going to take her away from them would come later though; he thought they would not be too upset. He knew that he had created a good impression on both the parents. They would give their blessing to their daughter’s marriage in time. Of that he was certain.