Lights Out Liverpool Read Online Free Page A

None! Paddy O’Hara gave ’em his eyes. What did they give you back, Paddy?’
    ‘A few measly bob a week in pension, Jack, and an empty belly most of the time,’ Paddy shouted.
    ‘That’s right!’ Jack Doyle’s lip curled. ‘But this war’s different , lads,’ he went on. ‘This time it ain’t a way of getting rid of the unemployed – though don’t forget there’s a million and a half of them. If I were a younger man, I’d volunteer. They wouldn’t need to call me up. In fact, I’d have joined the Territorials like my son-in-law, Francis.’
    He beamed down at the younger man and laid an affectionate hand on his shoulder. There was a smattering of applause and Francis gave his charming, devil-may-care smile which Annie always said made him look even more like Clark Gable than ever. Eileen wondered for the hundredth time what on earth had come over her husband to make him join the Royal Tank Regiment. He had a good, well paid job and at thirty-six wouldn’t be called up for a while yet, but as a Territorial he would be involved straight away. She suspected it might have something to do with his political aspirations. Francis was an elected member of Bootle Corporation and had Parliament in his sights. He didn’t expect the war to last more than a few months, and a spell in the army would look good on his record.
    ‘This time,’ her dad was saying, ‘you’ll be fighting to preserve summat worthwhile, to keep the world free from fascism.’ He nodded towards Mr Singerman. The old man nodded back, dark eyes full of pain. ‘Jacob can tell you more about it than I can. He’s heard nowt from his Ruth in Austria for more’n a year now. Yes, this time,’ he continued, his voice rising as he gradually began to be possessed with the rage against inequality and injustice that Eileen knew so well, ‘it’s different, but it’s still only a case of defending the bad against the worse.’ He smiled sardonically. ‘’Course, while you’re fighting, you’ll be told how brave you are, how much you’re needed, but once it’s over, you’ll have no more than you had before. In other words, nowt!’
    He paused dramatically with the air of an accomplished orator, yet he’d never addressed more than a few hundred dockers in his entire life. The yellow street lamp sizzled on the corner, but apart from that, the silence was total. He held his audience in the palm of his hand. Word had gone round the pub that Jack Doyle was on his feet and everyone, including Mack, the landlord, had come out to listen. Eileen thought her father would have made a far better politician than Francis, who had to learn every word of a speech by heart.
    ‘Have you seen that poster?’ He looked at them quizzically and several people shook their heads. ‘It’s all over town. “Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution, will bring us victory.” Not
our
courage,
our
cheerfulness,
our
resolution … No, it’s up to us, the workers, like usual, to fight the toffs’ battles for them. Some from Pearl Street have already gone to do their bit, like Annie’s lads, only nineteen and called up last May, and little Rosie Gregson here, wed just six weeks ago and already said tara to her Charlie.’
    Annie Poulson reached across the table and took Rosie’s hand. The two women stared at each other for several seconds, the younger one making a determined and obvious effort not to cry.
    ‘There’s one thing I haven’t touched on,’ Jack Doyle continued, ‘but I reckon I should, an’ that’s this Non-Aggression Pact Russia’s signed with Germany. It stinks, friends. It stinks bad. I’ve never actually
been
a Communist, I’ve allus stuck with Labour, but I never thought our Soviet comrades would betray us like that. After all …’
    Suddenly, the night air was rent with a shrill scream. Jack Doyle paused and looked up at the open window of Number 21 where the sound had come from. ‘That’s our Sheila!’
    Eileen jumped to her