The Woolworths Girls Read Online Free Page A

as though you’ve got the cares of the world on your shoulders.’
    ‘I have a problem with this bit that asks for references. You see, I don’t have any.’ Freda rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand as tears started to form. ‘I really need this job. I don’t know what to do,’ she sniffed.
    Sarah squeezed the young girl’s arm. She was skin and bones under her thin cardigan. ‘I’m sure we can think of something. Where did you work before you came to Erith?’
    Freda shuddered. The last thing she wanted to do was tell these nice girls about her life. It was best she kept her secret. She needed a job to pay for her lodgings even if it wasn’t for too long; besides, she liked this town, with its grand-looking High Street full of shops and the streets of Victorian houses. While getting on the train at London, she’d spotted a poster advertising trips to the seaside. Freda had never seen the sea, so if she was still here come the summer, she’d make sure she treated herself to a day out.
    ‘I’d rather not say. I lived in the Midlands and wanted to come here for a fresh start. If I put my parents’ address on the form, my stepfather will more than likely come and drag me back home. Even if I put that I sometimes helped out in the market, it might get back to them, as the stallholders see them most days.’
    ‘Why did you come to Erith? Do you have family here?’ Sarah enquired. Surely no one came to Erith out of choice? It wasn’t as if it was anyplace special. She loved Erith, as it was where Nan grew up and her roots were here, but would a stranger love it as much?
    ‘No, I’m quite alone. I decided it was as good a place as any.’ Freda twisted the pencil between her fingers, knowing she’d have to get used to such questions if she was to make a life for herself in Erith. She’d never let on that she was here for a reason.
    Maisie raised her eyebrows. She could tell the kid was not telling the truth. Her gut reaction was usually right. This girl was running from something or other. ‘Look, ducks, it’s not fer me to say, but I doubt whether old fussy knickers will follow up our references. Didn’t she say she’s run off her feet? Chances are that by the time she gets round to checking up on us, we’ll have worked a month’s trial. If she doesn’t like us, we’ll get the boot. If she’s happy with our work, then she won’t bother following up whatever we write here. Blimey, my references are just a couple of pubs up the East End of London. That’ll impress her no end. Just make up a couple of addresses. You can always say you made a mistake if she asks.’
    Freda looked shocked. ‘A pub? I thought you were posh, what with those lovely clothes and all.’
    Maisie snorted with laughter. ‘What, me, posh? Gawd love you – I’m just ’andy with a needle and thread, that’s all. I admit I like to look good, but posh? Dearie me.’ She wiped her eyes as she continued to laugh.
    Sarah looked at Maisie in amazement. ‘Why aren’t you working as a dressmaker? There are plenty of factories taking girls on, from what I’ve heard.’ She liked both the girls, but from the little they’d said, their lives were certainly different from her own. Sarah thought she was brave moving to Erith from her comfortable home in Devon and using Nan as the excuse, when in truth she just couldn’t live with her mum’s high expectations for a day longer. Thank goodness her dad had understood.
    Maisie shook her head. ‘That’s not fer me. I tried it a couple of times, but it’s too much like working in a sweatshop and being bossed around all the time. I like to make what I fancy. Then if it goes wrong, I only ’ave meself to blame.’
    She stuck her pencil behind her ear and leant back in her chair. ‘Now, I could make you two some outfits if you want me to? I brought me Singer with me when we moved in with the in-laws. I’d be only too glad to escape from the old bat and do some sewing. She fair