The Bells of Bow Read Free

much, Evie. In fact, as always, you both look a picture.’
    ‘Ta,’ the twins said in happy unison.
    ‘Have a nice time, girls, must get on.’ Maudie Peters returned her attention to her window ledge and her wiping down.
    ‘She ain’t bad when she smiles,’ said Babs under her breath as she and her twin walked towards the open end of Darnfield Street where it joined Grove Road, the main thoroughfare that stretched from Victoria Park to Mile End.
    ‘Yeah, she’s a funny one though,’ Evie said, glancing back over her shoulder at Maudie. ‘Never seemed like she fitted in round here somehow.’ She shook her head in puzzlement. ‘Bit of a frump really but still knows when someone looks good. I reckon she could be a bit of a looker herself if she made an effort. Nice though, in her way.’
    ‘Yeah, I like her. How old d’yer reckon she is?’
    ‘Dunno,’ said Evie, screwing up her face as she tried to work it out. ‘Late thirties? Forty maybe?’
    ‘Don’t,’ protested the seventeen-year-old Babs, a look of dread in her eyes. ‘I hate the thought of getting as old as that.’
    ‘I’m never gonna get old,’ Evie said firmly.
    ‘Dozy mare.’
    ‘No, I mean it. I’ll always be young at heart, me, no matter how old I am in years. You just wait and see.’
    ‘Prove it then,’ Babs dared her, and dragged her sister over to a group of chanting girls who were playing skipping games in the middle of the street with a length of old washing line.
    ‘Give us a go, kids,’ said Babs, rubbing her hands eagerly together.
    ‘Here y’are then,’ chirped one of the youngsters, pushing a smaller girl out of the way to make room for the twins.
    Without another word, Evie and Babs dropped their handbags onto the kerbside and ran and jumped straight into the path of the turning rope. Holding their skirts down with one hand and their hats on with the other, they both skipped while the kids sang out at the tops of their voices:
    Underneath the spreading Chestnut Tree
Neville Chamberlain said to me
If yer want to get your gas mask free
Then join the bleeding ARP!
    Across the road from the Bells’ house, Minnie Watts and Clara Thomas, two fine, large late-middle-aged women who lived in the upstairs rooms of number five, stood on their street doorstep enjoying the warmth of the late evening sun, laughing with pleasure at the sight of the twins skipping so enthusiastically.
    ‘Wish we was still young enough,’ one of the women called to the twins, tucking her meat-plate sized hands under the front of her enormous cross-over apron.
    ‘And who said yer wasn’t, Min?’ Evie called back to her as she bounced up and down on the spot in time to the twirling rope. ‘Come on. Come over and have a go.’
    Minnie and Clara looked at each other. Clara shrugged then nodded. With a chuckle, the two big women waddled over to the laughing youngsters.
    Babs and Evie ducked neatly out from the path of the turning rope, making room for Minnie and Clara.
    ‘Yer’ll have to slow down while we get in,’ instructed Minnie, positioning herself at the ready, her fat, pink tongue stuck between her lips. ‘We ain’t as young as we used to be.’
    Then, laughing and puffing, she and Clara threw themselves into the game.
    Babs and Evie clapped and cheered as the two women, huge bosoms bouncing, heaved themselves over the slowly turning rope while the kids recited ‘Salt, mustard, vinegar, pepper’.
    ‘We’ve gotta go now, see yer,’ Babs yelled over the shrill children’s voices. ‘Enjoy yerselves.’
    ‘Yeah, see yer, gels,’ gasped Minnie, staggering away from the rope. ‘Have a good time.’
    Clara, whose tightly waved steel-grey hair hadn’t shifted an inch, raised her hand to wave goodbye to the twins. ‘Come on, kids,’ she wheezed as she joined her friend. ‘Me and Min’ll turn the rope for you young’uns while you have a go. We’ve done all the jumping about we can manage for one day.’
    Evie and Babs waved back