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was in fact true, and the last of his good humour left him. ‘You’d better have bought some food, Anne!’
    ‘Oh, calm down, Reg,’ she said, getting up from the couch. ‘I just didn’t have time to get anything for tea. I’ll send Dulcie down for fish and chips.’
    It was the way she was making for her handbag which made Reg suspect she had something more to hide. He leaped up and reached it before she could, snatched out her purse and spilled the contents out on to the table. All there was were two half-crowns, a two-shilling piece, a sixpence and a couple of coppers.
    ‘I gave you eight quid last night,’ he said, his voice trembling. ‘What have you spent it on?’
    When he got in from work he’d gone into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich, and all the kitchen cabinet contained was half a stale loaf, one egg, a tiny piece of cheese, milk and margarine.
    ‘I bought some beef for tomorrow,’ she said defiantly.
    Reg caught hold of her arm and dragged her out to the kitchen to prove this. There was a tiny piece of beef in the meat safe, but Reg knew by its grey appearance it came from the market and would be as tough as old boots. ‘So what are we supposed to have with it?’ he said sarcastically.
    ‘I’ll get vegetables tomorrow,’ she said, trying to get free of his hand. ‘The kids were playing up and I forgot about getting them.’
    ‘Show me what you bought for yourself,’ he commanded, hauling her by the arm along to the bedroom.
    ‘Oh Reg, don’t be like this,’ she pleaded, starting to cry. ‘I just had to have a dress. I’ll pay back the housekeeping out of my wages and I won’t buy anything again, I promise.’
    ‘Show me!’ he said, pushing her towards the wardrobe.
    She brought out a blue dress and even though Reg knew little about fashion he knew it was an expensive one by the embroidery which ran down the bodice and across the front of the skirt.
    It was too much for Reg. He knew the girls both needed new shoes, their underwear was threadbare too, and for the first time ever he slapped Anne hard across the face.
    ‘You vain, selfish bitch,’ he hissed. ‘You’d let your children wear shoes too small for them and go hungry just so you can show off in that pub.’
    She just looked up at him, big blue eyes full of shock that he’d struck her, and it made him feel like a maggot.
    ‘I didn’t mean to hit you,’ he said hurriedly. ‘But my God, you deserve it, Anne! Stay in here. Get yourself tarted up for bloody Tosh, he’s just about your level. I’ll feed the children and take them to the pictures on my own.’
    He turned on his heel and walked out, slamming the bedroom door behind him.
    Anne was severely shaken by the slap Reg had given her, so much so that she lay on the bed with the eiderdown wrapped around her, shaking like a leaf as she listened to him getting the girls’ coats and shoes on to go out. Part of her wanted to get up and go and apologize, say she wouldn’t go to work tonight and promise faithfully she’d never spend the housekeeping money on herself again. But the other part wouldn’t let her.
    It was always like this for her. Part of her was happy enough just to be a wife and mother, grateful she had a sober, hard-working husband, a nice home and the security of being loved. Yet the greater part resented the mundane chores, living on a tight budget, trapped in a life that never changed. This wasn’t what she’d expected when she fell in love with Reg, she thought he’d take her to a world completely different to the one she’d grown up in, and instead all he was doing was trying to make a replica of it.
    Anne’s parents were over forty when she was born. Their only other child had died of meningitis when he was two, and they had all but given up hope of ever having another. Throughout her childhood Anne had been all too aware that she was everything in the world to them, and she felt stifled by their over-protective ways. She never got to