A Daughter's Disgrace by Kitty Neale Page B

Winnie didn’t look like her usual chipper self. Cora didn’t have to wait long to find out why. ‘I’m flippin’ well worn out, I am.’
    â€˜Why, Winnie, whatever’s the matter?’ Cora was keen to know the reason. The entertainment from all the local gossip was one of the main reasons she enjoyed her job. ‘Would you like me to make you a nice cup of tea as it’s quiet?’
    â€˜Would you, Cora?’ Winnie brightened a little. ‘I won’t say no. I’m glad to be out of the house.’
    Cora kept a kettle, some mugs and milk in a cooler in a corner behind the counter and she soon had a hot drink ready. ‘You take your time, Winnie, and tell me all about it.’
    â€˜It’s my poor sister.’ Winnie blew on her tea. ‘You know she’s having a dreadful time with the neighbours. It’s got much worse. This weekend they were all fighting and she could hear everything through the wall. The old man was drunk and swearing something dreadful, and our Beryl has young kids. Well, they could hear the lot. They’ve started using some of those words and they got in trouble at school for it. Beryl’s at the end of her tether. Also, she thinks they’ve damaged the wall throwing things at it. Sounded as if the father was trying to kill one of the boys. All over a racehorse. I don’t know what to advise.’
    â€˜All you can do is listen, Winnie.’ Cora hoped there would be more. This was payback time for Winnie’s snobby remarks about her bloody Vera working at Arding and Hobbs.
    â€˜Beryl would like to stay at my house, but I just haven’t got the room. All we can hope for is that her neighbours will quieten down. If they don’t, she’ll just have to report them to the landlord.’
    â€˜That’s what I’d do,’ said Cora. Thank God her neighbours weren’t anything like as bad. She knew young Richie over the road played his music very loud but it never went on late. She could always go over and have a word with Jill about it if she needed to. She wouldn’t get sworn at if she did, either – she’d never heard Neville or any of his family be rude or coarse.
    â€˜They were at our place until the kids’ bedtime on Sunday night,’ Winnie went on. ‘I fed them and everything – Beryl’s not happy using her kitchen what with the worry about the rats. It’s enough to shred your nerves. I don’t know what Vera’s colleagues will say if they get to hear about it.’
    â€˜I’m sure they won’t, Winnie. Anyway, it’s not your kitchen that’s got rats. If you ask me, it’s good of you to do so much for your sister.’
    â€˜You’ve got to look after your family, that’s what I always say,’ Winnie said as she drained the last of her tea and asked to buy ten Woodbines. ‘That was a lovely cuppa and it was good of you to make it for me, Cora. You must be bored to tears with hearing about my sister’s problems with the Lanning family.’
    â€˜Think nothing of it, Winnie,’ said Cora, smiling as she completed the sale, at the thought of this nice bit of gossip that she could pass on.
    Alison tried to time her arrival at work to coincide with Paul putting up the awning but she was disappointed. As she drew closer to the row of shops she could see the old man, Paul’s boss, arranging the last of the boxes outside. He nodded briefly but didn’t look as if he was in the mood for conversation.
    â€˜What’s up with him?’ she asked Fred as she hung up her coat. ‘Looks as if he got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.’
    Fred was weighing out some mince. ‘He said his assistant is off sick today so he’ll have to do all the lifting himself, and he’s not really up to it any more. Takes its toll after a while when you’re his age.’ He didn’t sound very