Another Life Altogether: A Novel - By Elaine Beale Page 0,135
that paper factory down by Hull docks. Maybe you should go down there, get yourself an application, Ted?”
“Yes, Uncle Ted,” I said, giving him an encouraging smile. “Why don’t you apply?”
Ted twisted his lips into a skeptical frown and slouched down farther into his chair. “Oh, I don’t know about that—I’m not sure I could adapt to the night shift. I mean, I need my sleep.”
“You can say that again,” Mabel said, snorting.
“You get used to it,” my mother offered. “Sometimes I think I should get a night job myself. Sometimes I can go without sleep for days and days.”
“Yes, well, Evelyn,” Mabel said, patting my mother’s leg the way someone might indulgently pat an uncomprehending child. “I’m not sure that’s good for anybody. Not even you. Everybody needs some sleep.”
My mother shrugged, apparently unconvinced.
“Beggars can’t be choosers, Ted,” my father said. “And in your position you might have to take something less than ideal.” There was an irritated edge to his voice. It made me wonder if he was starting to regret inviting Ted to stay almost as much as Frank and Mabel were regretting letting my mother run their wedding. After being at the office, my father came home every day to continue his repairs on the house. When he did the living room, he had to work around Ted. While my father diligently scraped old wallpaper off the walls, Ted sat on the settee watching television and offering occasional decorating tips. The only help he provided was to assist my father when he needed to move the television, taking it up to his bedroom for several days while my father painted the ceiling and installed the carpet.
“Aye, but the night shift—that’s tough work, is that,” Frank said. “And I don’t mean to imply you’re over the hill, Ted, but you’re not exactly a spring chicken anymore. Working nights is all right when you’re a youngster, but a man in his forties—well, it’s a damn sight harder. I think Ted would be better off with something during the day.”
As I listened, I couldn’t help wondering why Frank was so determined to defend Ted’s blatant idleness. From the moment he’d met him, he seemed eager to get in Ted’s good graces, though why this was so important to him I couldn’t understand. It wasn’t as if Ted was a famous outlaw or a renowned bank robber. He was nothing more than a petty criminal, and he wasn’t even very good at that.
“The way things are these days,” Frank continued, “factories closing, the country going down the bloody drain, it’s hard for anybody to get a job. Even those of us that have a job are barely scraping by. Bloody difficult to make an honest living these days, it is.”
“Been difficult for Ted to make an honest living all his life,” Mabel said, giving a sad, slow shake of her head.
“Well, at least he doesn’t have women spending all his money left, right, and bloody center,” Frank sneered, looking at my mother.
“Oh, come on, Frank, love, don’t be like that,” Mabel said, reaching over to rub his arm. He shrugged her away.
“Maybe you’d be better off staying single and moving back to your bedsit, Frank,” I said. “Maybe you should just do your own washing and learn how to cook. Then you wouldn’t have to put up with women at all.”
“Quite the little joker, isn’t she?” He let out a hollow laugh as he looked around the room.
“It’s not a joke,” I said, pushing myself to my feet.
“Jesse, it isn’t like you to be so bad-tempered, darling,” Mabel said, frowning over at me. “Frank was only having a laugh, love. There’s no need to be so rude.”
I was filled with rage, not at Frank but at Mabel. I saw how Frank treated her, and how Mabel had transformed herself into someone who would tolerate that treatment. Instead of being grateful when I spoke up to defend her from his sour comments, she defended him. For a second, I wanted to tell her to pull herself together, to stand up for herself. I swallowed my words and turned toward the door. “I’m off to bed,” I said as I headed into the hall.
ABOUT HALF AN HOUR after I’d stomped upstairs, I got up to go to the bathroom. As I opened my door, I heard the low growl of male voices in the hallway below. I paused to listen and realized it was Frank and Ted, their voices animated rumblings that