‘I don’t know yet, but I feel like shaking some of those complacent politicians until their teeth rattle.’

‘Go get ’em, girl!’ Ivy slapped her on the back. ‘Pity Ma ain’t younger, ’cos she’d be right there with you.’

Despite the worry about losing their jobs, both girls were laughing as they turned into Forest Road.

Once outside Ma’s house Jenny stopped and hugged Ivy. ‘Try not to worry too much. We’ll see your little ones have enough to eat.’

‘’Course we will.’ Ivy’s nod was confident, then she became serious again. ‘Things are going to get hard around here, Jen. Couldn’t you go home?’

‘I am home!’ Jenny replied in a firm voice.

‘Well, in that case,’ Ivy said, looking at Jenny with respect, ‘we’ll make you an honorary cockney.’

Jenny curtsied gracefully. ‘I’m touched, ma’am.’

‘You must be,’ Ivy chortled, ‘to want to stay here while there’s a depression, for God knows how long it’s going to last. Now I’d better go and break the bad news to my hubby and Mum.’

They parted with another hug, trying to make light of their desperate situation. When Jenny stepped inside Ma’s front room, she found the elderly woman staring at her from her armchair.

‘You’re back early. What’s happened?’ she demanded testily.

Ma was fully dressed and Jenny was concerned because Ma wasn’t back to full health yet and needed a lot of help in the mornings. ‘Did you get up on your own?’

‘Yes.’ Ma narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

‘You should have waited until I got home,’ Jenny scolded. ‘What do you want for breakfast?’

‘I’m not bloody helpless. And you know we’ve only got bread and marge in the cupboard until you do some shopping. So stop beating around the bleeding bush and tell me what’s happened!’

At that tirade Jenny’s placid nature disintegrated and she rounded on Ma. ‘Don’t you swear at me. If you must know, Ivy and me have lost our bleeding jobs. And you’re lucky to get bread and margarine because in another week you’ll be living on thin air!’

Much to Jenny’s annoyance, Ma started to chuckle.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘You are.’ Ma’s grin spread, her sharp eyes crinkling at the corners. ‘Go and put the kettle on, ducky, and we’ll talk while we eat our bread and scrape.’

When the frugal meal was ready, Jenny took it into the front room. They ate in silence, and it wasn’t until the second cup of tea that Ma spoke.

‘I always guessed you had some fire in you, ducky. You ain’t scared of that family of yours no more, are you?’