Lou and Eustace by Pat Backley

Author:Pat Backley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pat Backley
Published: 2023-02-02T20:44:36+00:00

FEELING BETTER

“Eustace?”

“Yes, love?”

“I was thinking about getting a job.”

“Why on earth do you want a job, love? I thought you were happy here all day, keeping the place nice and chatting away with your mum and grannies and all your mates.”

“Well, our Ben is at school all day. Ann isn’t here either now, as she’s just started at the biscuit factory. Plus, I get a bit fed up just hanging ‘round the square gossiping all day. Sometimes I wish I was back at the glove factory. I really loved it there, you know that. I don’t reckon it’s fair that we women have to give up our jobs just ‘cos we get married. Those suffragettes were fighting for us to have equal rights, to be as good as any man.”

Eustace knew it must be serious if Lou was bringing up the suffragettes. She and Astrid always brought them into the conversation when they were trying to make an important point.

“Ann says they’re looking for more workers at the biscuit factory. They lost so many blokes during the war that now they’re taking on more women - and not just for the boring, simple jobs either. And she says they’re happy to take on married women, as long as their kids are over five and at school all day. They won’t consider anyone with little ‘uns; they reckon they take too much time off when their babies get sick.”

She paused, letting the information sink in.

“Now, I know you provide for us really well. Ben and I never want for nothing, but if I got a little job it would help a bit. Give us a few extra shillings for luxuries.”

“Oh Lou, do you really think it’s a good idea? Won’t you be too tired to look after us properly if you go out to work?”

As soon as the words left his lips, he realised his mistake.

She stood up, put her hands on her hips and glared across at him.

“Oh, so now you’re going to act like the Victorian husband, are you? Don’t you realise those stuffy old values died out after the war? Women go to work everywhere now. Modern husbands don’t make a fuss; they just encourage their wives.”

Two weeks later, Lou set off for her first shift at the Peek, Frean, and Co., a biscuit factory in Bermondsey. She was so excited as she walked along the cobbled streets, arm in arm with her sister.

“Blimey Ann, I never thought I’d be doing this again after all these years, turning up to a factory whistle going off. I loved being at home with the boys, but they don’t need me there all day anymore. This will fill that gap very nicely.”

She still referred to her “boys” in conversation. Anyone who didn’t know her story always assumed she was a mother to at least two sons, and she never corrected them. In her head, her Dennis still lived. She couldn’t bear to think of his little body rotting away in the

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