East End Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

person could eat of potatoes. The Dig for Victory campaign had interested Jim, but time prevented him from keeping an allotment like her dad. Number twenty-seven A, Pride Place didn’t have a garden to grow vegetables in. No space either for chickens or rabbits. At the back there was just the lav and a sheet of corrugated iron to put over the coal. Their back window overlooked the flat roof of the Hemsleys’ storeroom and the exterior stairs leading up to their rooms. The iron railings had been taken as all the metals had gone into the war effort. Every street had suffered its losses. Jim was good with his hands and had made the staircase a rail as Fitz wasn’t as good at woodwork. When they’d first seen the rooms, they were in a very poor state. But the rent was only twelve and six a week. Jim had suggested they search for a better place, but Pearl said she liked it. She was afraid Jim’s mother would persuade her son they should live with her at Villa Road.
    ‘What about some more veg?’ suggested Gwen. ‘The Spam can be hidden by a few spuds.’
    ‘Yes, s’pose that will have to do.’
    ‘You two must be living on love,’ chuckled Gwen, rolling her eyes. ‘Oh, I’d trade all me own coupons for a good cuddle once in a while. But Fitz is too dog tired of an evening to do anything more than fall asleep in his chair.’
    Again the colour filled Pearl’s cheeks. She was getting plenty of cuddles, all right. She and Jim were tired too, but that didn’t stop them having fun. They couldn’t leave each other alone.
    Pearl lowered her eyes to the counter. Three weeks after returning from Margate, she was well and truly back to reality as far as the housekeeping went. She tried to make Jim’s meals interesting but they weren’t like their breakfasts at Margate. How the hotel had managed to produce them she didn’t know. They had given them a real egg each morning, said to come from the chickens kept next door. The bread had tasted as though it had been fried in real fat. The bacon had been delicious.
    Cooking had never been of interest to Pearl; she liked being with people more. Before the war she had taken under her wing one or two of the older neighbours in Roper’s Way, especially the Sampsons, next door. She liked to run errands for them and do a bit of housework if they weren’t feeling up to the mark. There was a true community spirit on the island and Pearl liked to be part of it.
    ‘You’ll be able to knock up something,’ said Gwen, pulling her crossover pinafore across her flat chest.
    Pearl didn’t want to admit just how useless she was with food. Gwen and Fitz Hemsley were a hard-working middle-aged couple who’d lived all their lives at Pride Place. Fitz’s parents had lived in the four rooms above the shop. After they had died the rooms had been left empty. But now there was a war on, every penny was needed.
    ‘Now don’t go overdoing it,’ said Gwen with an affectionate pat on the back of Pearl’s hand. ‘I saw you and Jim coming in late again last night. I was just closing the blackout curtains and there you were walking up Pride Place in the dark. Fire-watching, was it?’
    ‘No, Jim had a big job on and worked late. So I met him over his mum’s. I thought I might be able to do a bit of tidying-up for her.’
    ‘Oh dear, no wonder you both looked all in!’
    Pearl grinned. Gwen had met Mrs Nesbitt during the first week they’d moved in. Jim’s mother had given the little corner shop the once-over immediately. Wasting no time, she had demanded if any smells were likely to drift up from the storeroom. The enquiry had not been well received. The Hemsleys were scrupulously clean. Jim had apologized afterwards for his mother’s lack of tact but it was still a sore point.
    ‘Downright rude,’ was Gwen’s observation. ‘My Fitz nearly showed her the door. In fact, he would have if she wasn’t Jim’s old girl.’
    Pearl had to explain that Mrs Nesbitt had wanted them to live at