One Rainy Day by Joan Jonker

with, and although I didn’t say it at the time, I really wasn’t impressed. He wasn’t the sort I would like for a son-in-law.’
    Poppy went into the hall to hang her coat up, and she was laughing when she came back. ‘Oh dear, Mam, that wasyears ago. I remember the lad now: his nickname was Ginger ’cos he had red hair. Oh, and he had pimples all over his face. But I didn’t go out with him, Mam. I was only sixteen and he walked me home from a dance at the church hall.’ To her mother’s surprise, Poppy took a fit of laughing. Bent over double, she spluttered, ‘He doesn’t have pimples any more. What he does have is the last laugh on me, you, and all the other girls around here. I saw him last week and he was driving his own car! He stopped to ask how I was, but I think it was only to make sure I didn’t miss the car. His dad used to work in a garage, as a mechanic. He told me his dad owns the garage now, and the car was a birthday present.’
    ‘Go ’way!’ Eva looked astonished. ‘Driving a car at his age? I didn’t think it was allowed.’
    ‘Oh, I think you can drive at seventeen or eighteen, as long as you pass a test. Anyway, Ginger looked the picture of health and very prosperous. And I say good luck to him. He deserves it, after all the ribbing he got at school. The lads in his class gave him a terrible time. That’s why I danced with him, ’cos I felt sorry for him. But he’s got the last laugh at all the lads who made fun of him.’
    Eva nodded. ‘You always get paid back if you make fun of anyone worse off than yerself, sweetheart. I hope I’ve drummed that into you and David. And now would you like a cup of tea, and you can tell me what the film was about? And are you seeing this young man again?’
    ‘I won’t have a drink, thanks, Mam. But I am seeing Peter again, so that’s one little bit of news for you. I’m meeting him in the Grafton on Wednesday. Yer know I always go with Julie, and I’m not going to let her down. He wasn’t very happy about it, but he can’t expect me to let a friend down when I’ve only known him a few days.’
    Eva agreed. ‘Never let a friend down, sweetheart, because a good friend will be for ever, while a boyfriend can be here today and gone tomorrow. Unless he’s the man you want to spend the rest of your life with.’
    ‘I’ve never met one yet that sent a shiver down my spine.’ Poppy tilted her head. ‘I remember you saying that the first time my dad looked into your eyes, your feet tingled and your heart beat fifteen to the dozen.’
    ‘I can remember that feeling as though it was yesterday,’ Eva said with a touch of sadness. ‘And the first time he kissed me I thought my legs were going to give out on me ’cos they turned to jelly.’
    ‘I hope I get that feeling one day, Mam, but I’ve got plenty of time.’
    ‘I was only seventeen when I fell in love with your dad,’ Eva said. ‘And I remember my mam and dad telling me I was too young to be courting. They gave yer dad a hard time, I can tell you. I was so embarrassed when they asked him about his family, where he worked, and had he ever courted anyone else before me? It’s a wonder he didn’t wipe his hands of me.’
    ‘He didn’t though, did he, Mam? I was only young, but I still remember that he used to kiss you before he went to work every morning, and when he came home. And when he thought me and David weren’t watching, he used to put his arms round you when you were by the sink washing the dishes. Me and David would giggle when you used to say, “Away with you, the children might come in.”’
    There were tears in Eva’s eyes, but they were tears of thankfulness that her children had never forgotten their father, and talked about him openly. How proud he would be now if he could see how they had grown into kind and caring adults.
    ‘You go to bed, sweetheart,’ she said. ‘I’ll wait up for David. He should be in any minute.’
    ‘No, I’ll wait up for him,