The Bells of Bow Read Free Page B

fifteen-year-old grandson, turned into the street at a fast trot. But at the sight of Evie, he pulled up dead and let out a long low whistle.
    ‘Cor!’ he said with an enthusiasm as unwisely undisguised as his grandad’s had been. ‘What a sight for sore eyes.’
    Evie winked at him and blew him a kiss. ‘Like it?’ she asked, flicking her thick bobbed hair back over her shoulder.
    With his mouth wide open and his eyes fixed on Evie, Micky stumbled forward, tripped down the pavement and went careering into his nan’s arms. ‘Blimey, twin,’ he breathed, ‘you ain’t kidding I like it. I thought it was Veronica Lake standing there.’
    Evie glowed while Babs sighed, ‘We ain’t never gonna get to see no film at this rate.’
    ‘Right bloody smashing,’ said Micky, still transfixed by the glorious sight of Evie posing before him. ‘Bloody smashing.’
    ‘And that’s enough of that talk, thank you very much,’ Alice snarled and cuffed her grandson round the back of his head even more soundly than she’d walloped her husband.
    ‘Oi, Nan,’ Micky complained, rubbing the sting away, ‘that bloody hurt, that did.’
    ‘Good, it was meant to. And I mean it, any more of that talk and I’ll wash yer mouth out with soap and water, you just see if I don’t. And I’ll tell yer mother of yer, just for luck.’
    ‘Nan,’ whinged Micky, his cheeks flaming from the embarrassment of knowing that the twins were standing there watching the whole shameful pantomime. ‘Leave off, Nan. Let go of us.’
    With a little lift of his chin, Nobby smiled grimly at the twins. ‘Kids, eh?’ he sighed for want of something better to say.
    ‘D’yer want a bit of tea?’ Alice growled at her grandson.
    ‘No thanks, Nan, not till I’ve seen Terry,’ Micky answered quietly, still squirming as he tried to release himself from his grandmother’s humiliating clutches. But his efforts were in vain; little and old she might have been, but Alice Clarke’s grip wouldn’t have disgraced an eighteen-stone stevedore.
    ‘And yer can keep away from that sister of his and all,’ she snapped.
    ‘Blimey, Nan, what’s wrong with Mary Simpkins all of a sudden?’
    ‘Never you mind, me lad. And what did I just tell yer about that mouth o’ your’n?’
    ‘Sorry, Nan.’ Knowing he was unlikely to get the better of his grandmother, Micky gave in without another word.
    ‘I don’t know,’ Alice tutted and, shaking her head, pushed Micky away from her in the direction of number four, the Simpkins’s house which was across the street next to the baker’s. ‘Honestly, the way the world is nowadays. It wasn’t like this when I was a girl, I’m telling yer. We had a bit of respect for our elders and betters.
And
, when I was thirteen, ‘I didn’t have a chest on me like that Mary Simpkins has got on her. Disgusting, I call it, bosoms all over the place.’
    Micky tried to muster a little dignity as he crossed the street, but he couldn’t resist looking back over his shoulder at his grandad. Micky and Nobby bravely chanced rolling their eyes at one another, and then Micky really took his life in his hands by flashing a crafty wink and a wave at the twins as they turned out of Darnfield Street and into Grove Road.
    ‘I can see yer, Micky,’ the twins heard Alice bark at her grandson. ‘I won’t let this drop, yer know. I’ll be telling yer mother on yer, you just see if I don’t.’
    ‘Poor kid,’ Evie said with a chuckle as they headed towards the Mile End Road. ‘Fancy having yer nan showing you up like that.’
    ‘It’s your fault, Evie. Yer should know better. Yer shouldn’t encourage him.’
    ‘What, me encourage young Micky?’ Evie grinned to herself.
    ‘Yes,’ replied Babs flatly. ‘You. You should leave him alone. He’s a good little kid, despite his nan.’
    ‘Yeah, he’s all right. So might as well let him dream, eh? Dreaming never hurt no one.’
    ‘No? Well, how about young Mary? It might hurt her all