Page 12 - The Spirit of Christmas 1940

Chapter 2

Rose giggled. “You know I’d love to come out with you but you
know how busy I am especially with dad the way he is. We’ll see.
Maybe after Christmas , eh?

“Oh alright, I’ll wait, but you got to have a bit of time for
yourself. All you ever do is work here or look after your old man.
You got a big heart Rosie, but you’ll burn yourself out if you ain’t
careful.”

Rose knew Jimmy was right. She loved her dad and would do
absolutely anything to make sure he was ok but being his only
carer and the only source of income in these desperate times meant
that she missed out on the life other young ladies had. Friends,
fun and love were just dreams out of reach. But she was grateful
for Jimmy. He was like a guardian angel. Of course, there was
no doubt he loved her but she knew he would never see her go
without. Still, it wasn’t fair to return any kind of affection at the
moment. They would only both get hurt. Maybe things would
change once this mad war had ended.

Jimmy looked around suspiciously, as if he was a spy about to
pass on a big secret to another agent. He slipped his hand into the
inside of his coat and sneakily pulled out a newspaper wrapped
parcel.

“Ere, stick this under your cart. Somethin’ nice for you and your
dads tea.

“What is it?” Rose asked.

“A full pound of best bacon. Got it special this morning. Don’t
tell anyone though, if word gets out, Brian the Butcher will kick
my arse from here to kingdom come.”

“Jimmy, you’re not going to get in to trouble for this, are you? I
don’t want to be part of anything that lands you in hot water.”

Nah, don’t worry. As long as the coppers still buy from me I’m
ok. I just don’t want that old skinflint getting wind of where I get