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was sorely tempted. But I didn’t spend the penny, I gave it to me mam.’
    ‘I’m beginning to feel like the odd man out,’ Danny said, his dimples showing. ‘I’m the only one here who hasn’t broken a window or had a doll. I never noticed, like, but I must have led a really dull life.’
    ‘There’s plenty of time yet, son,’ Ada told him. ‘It might not be windows yer break, but a few girls’ hearts.’
    ‘Oh, I’ve done that already, Mam! At the last count it was twenty-two. One girl took it so bad, she threatened to jump off New Brighton Pier.’ He chuckled at the look on his mother’s face. ‘It’s all right, Mam, she chickened out. She was at the dance the next night, and she had the cheek to tap me on the shoulder in the excuse-me waltz.’
    ‘She didn’t jump off the pier, then?’
    Danny shook his head. ‘No, I pulled her up about that. I told her she had no right to say things and then not do them. And d’yer know what her answer was? She said she got the ferry over to New Brighton, determined to jump, only to realise when she got there, she’d forgotten to take her bathing costume with her.’
    Paul thought he had the answer. ‘She didn’t intend to jump, she was only saying that to frighten yer.’
    Danny put on a surprised expression. ‘Is that what you think? No, I can’t see her doing anything like that.’
    ‘Of course she did,’ his brother said, with all his ten years of experience behind him. ‘She wanted to get her own back on yer ’cos yer wouldn’t let her be your girl.’
    ‘There speaks a man of the world, Danny,’ Ada said. ‘Yer want to take what he’s saying on board, for he could be hitting the nail on the head.’
    Danny nodded his head slowly for his young brother’s benefit. ‘Yeah, he could have a point. If she excuses me in a dance tonight, I’ll have a word with her.’
    However, Paul wasn’t going to leave it there. ‘Is she ugly, or something? Is that why yer don’t want to go out with her?’
    ‘Sadly, although I really shouldn’t talk about anyone behind their back, ye’re right. She’s even worse than the pigeon-toed, bandy-legged, short-sighted girl I told yer about. This girl has got huge buck teeth, and can’t close her mouth. She looks as though she’s laughing all the time. If yer told her someone had died, she’d look really pleased.’
    Jimmy was highly amused. ‘If yer told her a joke, how would yer know whether she thought it was funny or not?’
    ‘I couldn’t tell yer the answer to that, Dad, ’cos I didn’t see the point in telling her a joke.’
    ‘These dances yer go to, son,’ Ada had this question for him, ‘aren’t there ever any pretty girls there?’
    ‘Oh, yeah, plenty of them! That’s why I’m going to leave the table now, and nab the sink before yer start doing the washing up. I want to get there early so I’ll have the pick of the bunch.’ Danny pushed his chair back, then, ruffling his mother’s hair, said, ‘Give me fifteen minutes, Mam, ’cos I need to shave.’
    He was in the kitchen when Paul shouted, ‘Why d’yer have to go looking for pretty girls when there’s Sally next door? She’s really nice, is Sally.’
    Danny’s head appeared round the door. ‘Because I’ve known Sally since the day I was born, and she’s like a sister to me. And no bloke would want to go out with his sister.’
    Ada lifted her hand to silence Paul when she saw he was about to speak. ‘Leave it now, son, and let him get ready. And leave yer plate where it is. I’ll take it out later, with the others.’ She gave a little sigh, but kept her thoughts to herself. She’d never mentioned it to her family, but over the years, when Danny and Hetty’s daughter Sally were growing up, they hadbeen really good mates. And both mothers had been hoping the pair would one day find romance together. They would have been over the moon to have the two families united. But while Sally did at one time seem keen on the boy