BooksBarbecue
Back Sisters of Gold
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

‘Well, why dain’t yer say so?’ Miss Hinks said, rolling her eyes. ‘You all right, Lizzie? Wait there,’ she said to Annie. ‘I’ll have to fetch someone to turn it round for yer.’

Annie stood feeling foolish as Lizzie began work. She already seemed to know what to do and have a feel for it. All the other women were thumping away, managing to chat to each other at the same time, and there was a busy hum in the room.

‘What’s up wi’ you then?’ The woman the other side of her seemed very old to Annie, as well as very stout, and her voice sounded aggressive. Her face reminded Annie of a big angry dog’s. Several of her teeth were missing and her tone was not friendly.

‘I’m left-handed,’ Annie said.

‘Ooh, left-handed,’ the woman mocked.

‘My old man’s left-’anded,’ someone said from the other side of the room.

‘I ’ope ’e’s good with both ’is ’ands, bab, whatever ’anded ’e is!’ the first woman cackled, all the while working at the speed of a turbine.

‘Dirty girl, Doris!’ the other woman called back amiably. ‘That’s what you are. Dirty-minded.’

Annie looked down, her cheeks flaming. She was not entirely sure if she had guessed what the woman meant but she had a nasty feeling she had. She was not sure how to deal with any of this.

‘Ooh – brought a blush to yer cheeks, ’ave I, bab?’ Doris said, in a rude, mocking tone which Annie did not like. She chose to ignore her.

‘Don’t you mind ’er,’ the other woman called over. ‘’Er don’t mean no harm. New to it, are yer, bab?’

‘Yes,’ Annie admitted.

‘You’ll soon pick it up – nothing to it.’

Lizzie looked round at Annie and rolled her eyes. But she gave a little smile.

‘You wanna keep yer eye on the job, Lizzie Poole,’ Doris shouted to her. ‘Or you’ll ’ave the end of yer finger off. And that goes for you an’ all,’ she nodded at Annie.

Miss Hinks appeared with a middle-aged man at her side and all the chatter quietened down. In a few skilled movements, screwing and unscrewing bits of the press, he had converted the handle to the other side.

‘There yer go, bab. Left-handed press,’ he said, rushing off before she could thank him.

Annie, fumblingly, copied what Lizzie was doing, with Miss Hinks peering over her shoulder. It was not too difficult, but she felt unexpectedly overawed by the thought of how fast the other women were working.

‘Well,’ Miss Hinks said in an unimpressed way that punctured Annie’s pride, ‘you’ll do, I s’pose. You’re going to have to get quicker than that, though.’