WEEKLY SOAP Riverside by Glenda Young

The Ship is the venue for a very special birthday . . .

HOW many leek and potato pies have you brought, Mary?” Big Jim shouted through to the back room of the Ship.

Mary was busy folding napkins for Ruby’s surprise birthday party that evening. “Five!” she yelled back. Jim crossed off his list.

“Five?” he said as he walked through to the back room to help her.

Buster, the pub dog, looked up at him, startled by his master’s cry.

“Five?” he repeated. “We’ll never get through five pies! Not with all the other food we’ve ordered.”

“I had to do something with the leeks,” Mary told him. “George wouldn’t have anything to do with them after he’d nurtured them and grown them from seed. He was that disappointed he didn’t win the show.

“I wasn’t going to waste them, so I baked them all in pies last night.”

Jim tutted.

“I did hear that Bob had won Best In Show with his prize leeks, but I never had George down as such a bad loser,” he said.

“It’s show leeks we’re talking about, Jim.

Pies

Everything rides on who wins and who loses. You know what they’re like around here with their leeks.”

Jim nodded.

“That’s true.” He laughed. “Well, there’s always next year.

“I’ve got Sam and young Claire coming in to work the bar tonight so I’ll be able to join in Ruby’s party. You’re sure she knows nothing about the surprise you’ve got planned?”

Mary shook her head. “Nothing. She thinks she’s going out for dinner at the Old Engine Room with Beryl and Pearl. They’re up from London.”

“Well, I hope she’s not too disappointed when she finds out she’s having a buffet in her old back-street boozer instead of a posh meal out with her aunties,” Jim said, a little concerned. Mary laughed. “We’ve known Ruby for a long time, and we both know she’d like a knees-up and a disco better than anything else, especially on such a milestone birthday.”

“She looks good for her age, I’ll give her that,” Jim said, checking his list again.

Just then, a young woman entered backwards through the door of the pub, pulling a pushchair.

“Claire’s arrived,” Jim said. “I’ll pop out to the wholesalers for the rest of the buffet food and I’ll see you when we open later.”

Once Mary had laid the pies on one of the tables in the back room of the pub, she made a beeline for Claire and her pushchair.

“And how’s Brady doing?” she said, gently pinching the little boy’s cheeks and making him giggle.

Claire lifted Brady out of his pushchair and held him in her arms, balancing him on her hip.

“Say hello to Mary, Brady,” she said.

“Ree!” Brady cried, laughing. “Ree!”

Mary held out a hand and Brady grabbed hold of her fingers.

“How’s your Susan doing?” Claire asked.

“Oh, she’s blooming,” Mary replied. “The baby’s due next March. It’ll be our first grandchild.”

Excited to greet the new visitors to the pub, Buster waddled over to see what was going on. After a bit of tail wagging, he lay down next to one of the wheels of Brady’s pushchair, gave a big sigh and fell fast asleep.

“He always does that, you know,” Claire told Mary. “Every time the pushchair is in the pub, that daft dog comes and sits right next to it. He won’t let Brady out of his sight.

“The other week, a woman came in,” she continued. “I’d never seen her before –”

“Not one of the locals?” Mary interrupted.

“No. I didn’t know who she was. Anyway, she was at the bar and she knew my mum and dad, who were looking after Brady for me while I was working.

“When this woman got near the pushchair, Buster stood up and growled, like he was protecting Brady.”

“That’s odd,” Mary agreed. “We don’t usually hear Buster growl at anything. He’s as soft as muck, that one.”

The two women looked at the sleeping dog on the floor and, as they did so, Buster opened one eye.

He looked from Mary to Claire, then to Brady as if to check he was all right, before he closed his eye and went back to sleep.

****

Later that evening, the Ship was full to bursting.

Mary received a text from Beryl to say they were on their way. The buffet was ready and waiting in the back room. A big banner announcing Ruby’s birthday hung above the bar.

Everyone knew what they had to do as soon as Ruby arrived.

The plan was for Sam to pop a bottle of champagne. Then, to get the party started after hugs and cards and presents, Ruby’s favourite Tom Jones song would blast out from behind the bar.

When the door of the pub finally opened and Ruby’s aunts walked in, everyone shouted together. “Surprise!”

But it soon became clear that while Beryl and Pearl had made their way to the pub, Ruby wasn’t with them.

“Where is she?” Mary asked.

Beryl took her to one side.

“Mary,” she said, “I’m afraid Pearl and I have something to tell you.”

More next week