1

Dad said one night to Mrs Palmer when they were alone in the kitchen and Don was helping in the bar, ‘I can’t say I’m very happy about Paul and Flora, Lil.’

‘Oh, Dad! Why?’

‘Well! He talks too bolshy. You should hear him in the bar with Jimmy Cairns and Ben Nicholson. Jock McEwan was in tonight too, and the four of them gassing their heads off about socialism and Gawd knows what.’

Mrs Palmer looked wise and superior. ‘Don’t you worry about that, Dad. He’ll soon get that nonsense knocked out of him.’

‘I thought he’d have had it knocked out of him already. The army should at least have done that much for him.’

‘What I reckon is when a young chap gets married he’s got a damn sight more to think about than all that rot. He’ll have to face realities then. He’ll have to pay off a house, grow a garden, look after a wife and family. Oh, no, Dad; there’s nothing like marriage to bring a young chap to his senses.’

‘What’s your hurry? We don’t want to lose Flora yet, Lil. I didn’t know she was all that keen on him.’

‘Oh yes, Dad. I know the signs. That girl’s in love. I can see her, when she’s ironing or washing up. She’s got her mind on him.’

‘Well, I’d like to put a stop to it.’

‘It’s no use going against nature, Dad. She might—well, she might even get all the more set on marrying Paul if you went against it. And there’s not many young chaps in this town that are any good. If you put a stop to this, it’s only natural Dad, she’d start looking at one of the local lads. One miner in the family is enough.’

‘Well, I’ve got no objection to a working man, so long as I knew he could provide for her properly.’

‘He wouldn’t. They’ve got the money, the miners, but you can see yourself how they throw it away in the bar every night. They page 104 spend it as fast as they earn. They don’t try to improve their homes, they don’t think of their wives and families.’

‘I can’t see what’s so special about Paul, anyway.’

‘He’s a fine young chap, Dad. He’s got a good job and he’ll go a long way that one, once he knuckles down and forgets all that political stuff. It doesn’t pay to have opinions like that in a government job. I’ve seen it all before. Not even with Labour running the country. No, he’s as good as Flora will get in this town and I reckon he’ll be a good steady husband and a kind father too.’

‘Well, he’ll have to bloody well give up all that nonsense before I’ll allow it.’

‘You leave it to me, Dad. Let them get married and you’ll see how he’s forgotten it all in a couple of weeks.’

‘There’s no guarantee he will forget it all. And the more he talks to Ben and Jock and that lot the harder it’ll be for him to give it up.’

‘Don’s back now, Dad. You wait and see, they’ll cobber up in no time. It’s natural for a young chap to cobber up with chaps his own age. Ben and Jock and Jimmy are a lot older than Paul. All the other young chaps of this town are a bit on the rough-and-ready side for Paul—I know, Don’s more his type.’

Dad shrugged and went back to the bar.