Free Martha's Girls by Alrene Hughes

Kathleen’s did the same.
*
‘Listen to this,’ said Irene. She was sitting in the armchair by the window, catching the last of the light to read the Belfast Telegraph before they had to draw the blackout curtains. ‘ Wanted. Entertainers to join a fund-raising troupe. Auditions to be held at the Grand Central Hotel, Royal Avenue. ’ She looked towards Pat and Sheila who sat opposite each other on the settee. Sheila held a hank of pale blue wool taut between her wrists and Pat was unwinding it into a round ball. ‘We could go.’ Irene added.
Sheila’s eyes lit up. ‘Brilliant!’
Pat stopped winding. ‘A troupe?’
Irene could see the possibilities. ‘It’ll be just like the Grosvenor Hall, singing on stage, raising money for the war effort. It’ll be great! What do you think? Should we audition?’
‘We have to go, Mr Goldstein’s expecting us,’ said Peggy without looking up from the book she was reading.
‘What’s Mr Goldstein got to do with this?’ asked Irene.
‘He’s arranged the whole thing.’
‘Did you know about this advert?’
‘Of course I knew about it. I helped write it.’ Peggy raised herself from her prone position on the hearth rug, sat cross-legged in front of them and carefully turned over the corner of the page she was reading. ‘He got the idea when he came to the Grosvenor Hall; a group of entertainers willing to put on concerts to raise money and keep morale high. He’s going to organise everything and I’m going to help him.’
Martha, who had been sitting quietly in the corner chair mending a stocking stretched over a wooden mushroom, looked up. ‘Wait a minute. Don’t you be getting carried away here. What does it involve exactly? I’m not having you girls out late at night in the blackout, gallivanting here, there and everywhere with goodness knows who.’
‘Mammy, we’re old enough to take care of ourselves,’ said Irene. ‘Anyway there’s four of us so we’ll be together. We’ll come to no harm.’
‘A troupe of entertainers,’ said Martha dismissively. ‘Imagine the type of person you’d be mixing with. Remember, if you lie down with dogs, you’ll rise with fleas!’ She was getting more and more agitated. Without a father, she had to keep these girls of hers on a tight rein. ‘I’ll hear no more about it, thank you.’
*
Less than a week later on a drizzly Wednesday evening Pat and Irene hurried along Royal Avenue towards the Grand Central Hotel. They’d plotted the deception the day after reading the notice in the paper and decided to tell their mother they would be going to the cinema straight from work to catch the early house. If she was suspicious of the coincidence that they were going to be in the town on the evening of the audition she didn’t say anything. They’d had to exclude Sheila. They wouldn’t normally take her out with them, especially on a school night.
The outside of the hotel lived up to its name, with revolving doors and a liveried doorman who touched his peaked cap and smiled at the girls as they entered. The outside was impressive, but they had walked past it many times and given it little thought. Inside, however, was a different matter. They had never seen, let alone imagined, such style: thick red carpet; highly polished wood panelling; elegant chairs and sofas; large displays of tastefully arranged flowers. They paused a moment to take it all in, then Peggy came rushing towards them looking elegant in her shop clothes, a slim navy skirt with a crisp white blouse and her hair piled on top of her head to show off a string of pearls and matching earrings.
‘You’re here at last. Come on, I’ll take you upstairs. Lots of people are already there. I’ve been taking names and addresses.’
The room was a good size, with a small stage at one end, a piano to one side and a small dance floor in front of it. People sat around chatting quietly. Suddenly Irene began waving. It was Myrtle and her Templemore Tappers ready in their