Liverpool Taffy by Katie Flynn Read Free Book Online

though I’m angry with him, I want my Da to be happy. He won’t be happy with me disapproving of his woman and his woman searching her mind for ways to discredit me with my Da. So what better than a berth on a ship heading for anywhere but here? What better than a complete break?’
    ‘But … but the Sweetbriar , your place on the lifeboat … even the old bike, damn it! Dai, you can’t go, this is our place, where we belong! You can’t let her push you out!’
    ‘She’s not pushing me out, I’m going before she starts,’ Dai said crossly. ‘She’d try, I don’t deny it, but she won’t have the trouble. As for the Sweetbriar , she’s yours until I come back, or decide not to, or whatever. And yes, miss the lifeboat I will, but if I sign on aboard a coaster in Amlwch then no time would I have for the lifeboat, anyway.’
    ‘Where’ll you live when you come ashore?’ Meirion asked plaintively. He brightened. ‘Or will you come home, then? Back here, to us?’
    ‘I don’t know, I’ve not made up my mind yet,’ Dai said guardedly. ‘I’d like to, but … well, there’s no gettin’ away from it, mun, Menna hates me right well.’
    ‘She won’t mind you in small doses,’ Meirion said with surprising shrewdness. ‘It’s only twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, that she finds difficult, I guess. Right. I’ll come over to the port with you. What time are you leaving?’
    Biddy gradually settled down in the Kettle household. She was startled and a little upset to find that Maisie had been sacked, but as Ma quickly pointed out, with two of them at it the work of keeping the flat clean and the boys neat shouldn’t be too difficult. And Ma Kettle could have been worse, for all she was tightfisted and dishonest. She had at first ordered and then tried to wheedle Biddy into giving short weight but in this Biddy proved adamant. ‘I’d burn in hell if they didn’t catch me and spend me life in prison if they did,’ was her stoutly repeated excuse, and when Ma Kettle explained that it was not so much dishonest as good business practice, that in fact her sweets were worth a great deal more than she charged for ’em, only folk were so mean they wouldn’t give her a decent price, Biddy just sniffed and began to clean down.
    ‘Then you’d best not serve customers; you’ll cost me too much,’ Ma grumbled but Biddy, who believed in speaking her mind, pointed out that at least an assistant who was too honest to cheat the customers was also too honest to cheat her employer, which meant that the little wooden till with its tiny compartments for farthings, ha’pennies, pennies and so on was safe from the threat of thieving fingers.
    This caused Ma Kettle to look thoughtful and afterwards Kenny told Biddy that she had taken exactly the right stand. ‘’Cos we ’ad a gel afore you, Trix ’er name was, an’ she took from the till, nicked sweets, gave ’er mates special prices, walked off ’ome one night wi’ a bag o’ sugar in ’er bloomers … Ma prizes honesty after that.’
    Oddly enough, Kenny, who looked such unlikely friendship material, was becoming a good friend to Biddy. His appearance was against him, of course, the hard little eyes behind the spectacles seeming to look accusingly out on the world, but that was just short-sightedness. Kenny was bright at his books and enjoyed being tested on his recently acquiredknowledge and Biddy liked to help, and he saw his parent rather more clearly than she saw herself.
    ‘Stand up to ’er,’ he continually advised Biddy. ‘She’ll like you for it in the end. ‘Sides, you works ’arder than most, it wouldn’t do to let ’er keep you short o’ grub. Think what she saves on Maisie’s wages, let alone on yours. You want to see her wi’ Aunt Olliphant; Aunt won’t stand none o’ Ma’s bossin’ – she’s the younger sister – but Ma respecks her for it. So if you want seconds of puddin’, say so.’
    ‘I don’t see why she