visiting with each other all lined up along the rooftops or when they huddled together in their nests along the rock wall by the promenade or hobnobbing down on the shoreline.
The beach was the best when it was windy. Marjorie could sit all day in the shelter of the rocks or up on the lower promenade by the paddling pool if the tide was high and watch the huge waves as they came crashing in on the beach. She liked to watch the gulls while they hung around on the protected bits. Sometimes she would run and break up their little party. They would all fly up, but not very high and then they would settle down again a few feet away, screaming at her. She watched the way the young gulls followed their mothers squawking for food. It amused her that these big birds still expected their mothers to look after them.
“When I get bigger,” she yelled up to them, “I will always be a helper. I will not cry after my mum to feed me all the time!”
The sky was darkening as she headed up Edwards Road. There was a chill in the air. When she arrived at her flat, she hesitated on the stoop for a bit. She had no desire to go upstairs. She wished her father sent her mum more money, but he never did, so she knew they would have very little for their tea today. She was hungry but there was no reason to hurry inside.
As she sat down, she grimaced. Her boots were already getting too small and she would have to pass them down to one of the younger ones very soon. She would probably have blisters after running from those rotten girls. Pulling her boot off, sure enough, the skin had rubbed off her left heel. She would not complain though, because it was too cold to go barefoot now. Dropping her boots beside her, she groaned and realized that in her hurry to get away from those girls, she forgot her schoolbook. She stood up to go back, but changed her mind and sat down again.
People hurried past her on the sidewalk. A tram rumbled by. She leaned against the door and watched. Her father popped into her mind. She tried to picture his face, but she could not remember what he looked like at all. She wished he would come home. Maybe they would not have to move so much if he stopped at home. She wished for the hundredth time that her big brothers, Norman and Fred, hadn’t been sent away. She felt safer when they were at home. They were the family’s protection. When their mother couldn’t put food on the table, they could. They never let them down. And her mum was happier when Norman and Fred were at home. Her brothers were really good at finding ways of making money. Norman and Fred would sometimes sell firewood to people and also gather mushrooms and sell them at the local grocers. Norman also helped a farmer down at Dalton Fields. The farmer had several donkeys and, during the summer months, he would hire Norman to give donkey rides to the tourists down on the north end of the Whitley Bay sands. Even her sister Joyce helped with the donkeys.
Her brothers had been doing other things too. Marjorie had secretly followed them a few times and she saw them pinch beer bottles behind the local pubs, and then walk boldly through the front door of another pub and dump the bottles down on the floor as if they had carried them all the way from home. She wanted to help too, but they told her, “Nah, girls can’t help with this.” Sometimes she got so frustrated about that. She wanted to make her mum happy too.
Norman and Fred spent a lot of time at the Spanish City fun grounds near the north end of town. Marjorie often looked for them before she went to the beach to play, but her brothers usually headed straight for the gaming machines. Marjorie wondered how they found the money to play. Once, when she and Kenny were on their way down to the beach to pick winkles for their supper, she saw Norman standing nervously by the gaming section. She sent Kenny on ahead and told him to get started. She promised that she would catch up with him in a minute as she handed him her pail and told him to scoot.
Marjorie snuck up on Norman. “Boo!” She hollered as she grabbed onto his back. He did not even flinch. He calmly asked her to get lost. He refused to talk to her, so she threatened to tell her mum about how he nips the bottles.
Norman turned to his sister and warned her that if she told, she was really going to get it. He made her cross her heart and spit and told her that he was serious. He warned her that if she told anyone that he would lock her under the cupboard again and Jack the Ripper would get her this time for sure. The memory made Marjorie wince. Fred and Norman were minding her and Kenny one day when they suggested playing hide and seek. The kitchen cupboard was the best hiding place. Marjorie and Kenny both got to the cupboard at the same moment and scampered inside, closing the door behind them. When the latch slipped across, they knew they had been tricked. Kenny started to kick at the door, but Norman’s threat of Jack the Ripper stopped him, and they both remained still until their mother returned and let them out. Marjorie shuddered at the memory and agreed not to say anything. She crossed her heart and spit.
Norman shook his head and called his little sister a pest. He looked around, and lowered his voice. He told her that there was a little hut in the centre of the gaming section. He stopped, his eyes darting around.
“I know that,” Marjorie said, thinking he was going to try to get out of telling her.
“Gor blimey. Will you quit yer yammering and just listen!” He said that a man sits in the hut and if people want a shilling’s worth of coins to play the machines that is where they have to go. The man changes your money for tokens and they work in the slot machines. He told her that he has seen rich people take a pound worth of tokens at one time. Norman paused, anxiously looking behind him. He told her that Fred saw that this man heads out for lunch at the same time every day and he comes back at the same time. Fred found out how to get in there and he fills his pockets with tokens.
Marjorie’s eyes grew wide and she sucked in her breath. “Really? For true?”
“Don’t look so gobsmacked, Marjorie. We’re only doing what we can.” Norman gave her a little push.
Marjorie’s stunned face suddenly beamed with the pride that she felt for her two big brothers. They were so brave and clever. Norman told her that he was the lookout for Fred and that he makes a whistling sound if he sees any trouble. He told her that they only use the tokens and never bet with any of their winnings. That was the way they could sometimes bring home as much as five shillings or maybe even more.
Marjorie asked if they kept any for themselves and Norman looked crossly at her and told her that wouldn’t be right. He assured her that they bring it all to their mum. He told her she could stay and watch, but she better not get in the way, or let Fred know she was here. She stood in the shadows watching her brothers go round to the machines and play with the nipped tokens. She jumped and had to cover her mouth to stop her excitement from coming out when they won and the money clanked down. They both carefully slid the coins into their pockets. Those were the best nights. They would all head to the store and pick out some fresh bread, and sometimes they would even buy some meat and have money left over for treats and sweets.
Fred and Norman were leaving the gaming area, so she scampered off towards the beach. She noticed that Fred was wearing her favourite Sunbeam[4] tunic as a shirt again. She had told him a hundred times not to wear her tunic. But it was hard to stay mad at Fred. She looked up to both her big brothers and would do anything for them.
She thought about her Sunbeam meetings. They always sang the Sunbeam song together. Sometimes she could remember all of it. As she skipped along she tried:
See the Sunbeams march along
Listen to our Rally Song.
Every girl of eight or nine
Come with us and learn to shine
Marjorie tried to remember the rest of the song but gave up when she noticed Kenny playing in the shallows, totally engrossed in making a large sand castle. His pail was filled with sand, and her pail was empty, lying on its side. She yelled at him and told him that it was getting late and they’d better hurry and fill their pails with winkles or they were going to get into trouble and have nothing for their tea.
Kenny reluctantly dumped the sand out of his pail and slowly walked to the water’s edge to give it a wash so the winkles wouldn’t be sandy. Marjorie called him to follow as she ran down the beach towards the rockier parts where she knew the winkles liked to hang on. As she picked, she noticed a small corner of something sticking out of the sand just below the surface