had made, posing under an umbrella. Next to this was one of Ada and Hector. It had been taken long ago, just after they were married.
Hector’s walrus moustache and sleeked-back hair made him look very distinguished. Ada stood beside him in a long frock that hung down to her ankles. She looked young and innocent. They were
such a handsome couple!
Suddenly Vesta appeared, followed by Ada. ‘How do I look?’ she asked, her blue eyes wide and sparkling.
‘Perfect,’ Marie told her, admiring the way Vesta had clipped up her hair to show off her long neck in the black dress. Her slim figure, an inch shorter than Marie’s, looked
dainty, but the black beads, Marie thought, were a bit gaudy for a young girl, though she smiled appreciatively nevertheless. She knew Vesta only wanted approval.
‘I remember the time neither of you would go out wearing different dresses,’ said Ada, sliding her small bag over her arm. ‘Now look at you both.’ She frowned.
‘Vesta, that neck is rather low.’
‘It’s fashionable, Mum. I won’t get cold.’
‘It wasn’t the cold I was thinking of,’ remarked Ada, raising her eyebrows.
Vesta threw a dark glance at Marie, who quickly smiled.
‘Elsie will be waiting,’ Marie said hurriedly, and was relieved when Ada nodded.
‘Come along then,’ she smiled. ‘We mustn’t be late.’
When they walked into the hall, Elsie was already there. She was staring up at the first-floor half-landing and to the heavy oak banister where a little brown monkey with owl-like eyes and a
white chin was perched. Between his sharp teeth was a cigarette.
‘That bloody Kaiser,’ Elsie swore loudly. ‘He’s pinched me fags again. And this time he’s flamin’ lit one. The smoke is coming out of his ears.
Look!’
Everyone stared upwards. To Marie’s amusement, the monkey chattered loudly and swung from one banister to the other. His long spidery legs and tail latched onto whatever hold he could
find.
‘Don’t you drop that fag on me carpet, you little devil,’ cried Elsie, ‘or I’ll skin you alive. And that’s a promise!’
By now, everyone had begun to laugh, even Elsie, who was familiar with Kaiser’s tricks. After a small accident when a lighted cigarette he’d dropped on the carpet had almost caused
catastrophe, she kept a vigilant eye on his antics.
‘Where are you, Wippet?’ Elsie shouted up the stairs to the top-floor resident. ‘Come and get your sodding animal and lock him away!’
There was a light shuffling sound and a small man appeared, no taller than a child, with a round smiling face. He was accompanied by a pretty blonde girl, another lodger, Nina Brass. Marie
smiled at Wippet and Nina. She liked both of Elsie’s top-floor residents and Kaiser was a favourite with everyone, despite inciting the landlady to bad language.
‘Sorry, Mrs G,’ apologized the little man, climbing on the banister and sliding down it to the last stair. ‘Come here at once, Kaiser!’
The monkey, who was hanging from the cobweb-covered chandelier, made a defiant screeching. Everyone laughed again. Wippet and Kaiser had formerly been a sideshow at a fair and never failed to
amuse. Marie knew Wippet was very brave. His acts at the fairground had included being tied with chains underwater and being shot from a cannon. His dark hair was short at the back and sides and
had little patches in it, where for some reason the hair wouldn’t grow.
Nina, who had come downstairs the conventional way, held out her arms and the monkey jumped into them. ‘Naughty boy, Kaiser,’ she whispered affectionately.
‘Sorry, Mrs G,’ apologized Wippet once more.
‘He’s dropped a fag end somewhere,’ said Elsie sharply. ‘We’re going out so you’d better find it, Wippet, before I come home to find me place on
fire.’
‘Don’t worry. It’s here.’ Wippet picked the cigarette butt from the stair and crunched the lit end with his stubby fingers. ‘This won’t happen again.’