Goodbye for Now: A breathtaking historical debut. M.J. Hollows
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body gently so that he was looking into Frank’s eyes. He was serious for a change.
‘Will you do something for me, Joe?’ he said.
‘What?’
‘While I’m gone… will you… will you look after all the girls for me?’
Frank burst out laughing again and pushed back on his chair, whilst wiping a tear from his eye with the back of his hand. ‘You’re a softie you, lad. Had you going for a minute.’
Joe tried not to get angry at Frank’s ridiculing, he knew he was only joking. ‘Oh, are you still here, Frank?’
‘Hah! At least you have a sense of humour though. I’d be worried I might upset you otherwise.’
Joe didn’t think that Frank would ever be worried about upsetting anyone, he was too free and easy. He acted like he didn’t have a care in the world. Everything was a joke to him.
‘You know you’ll have to do all the boring work while I’m gone, don’t you, Joe? Can’t say that I’m sorry. I’d rather get away before it all piles up on my desk.’
‘Yes, well your spelling is atrocious anyway.’
‘Hah!’
Joe would miss Frank’s laughter around the office, that was for sure, and he wasn’t looking forward to the amount of work he would have to do. But that didn’t matter. He felt like he was losing a friend, and who knew if Frank would come back? The office would be a lot quieter, and a lot duller without him. He would only have Mr Harlow’s soft wheezing to keep him company on the long nights of overseeing casualty lists and reports from the front.
‘Listen, Frank. It’s my turn to be soppy now.’
‘Oh, ’ere we go. I thought you were already being soppy. Is that not a normal state of affairs for you? You actually mean you’re going to get worse? I’m not sure if I can take it. It’s completely against my martial pride.’
‘Shut up, Frank, and listen for once.’
Frank leant an arm on his desk and lay the side of his head at an angle on his upturned palm, to show that he was listening, then smiled at Joe. ‘Go on,’ he said.
Joe tutted, wound up by Frank’s levity.
‘Just when you’re out there. If you see my brother, you look after him. All right?’
‘Ah, I was only joking. Of course I will. I’ll take George under my arm and show him how a man in uniform behaves. Show him how to charm the ladies, since I seem to have failed with you. Hah!’
‘If you ever find him somewhere he shouldn’t be—’ Joe ignored Frank ‘—you do me a favour and make sure you get him out of there. Get him to safety. All right? Do that for me?’
‘All right, all right. You’re so serious sometimes, I worry about you. You’re going to end up very lonely sometime if you keep it up, you know? I won’t always be there to cheer you up.’
Joe grumbled. He didn’t need Frank to tell him that. Besides, it wasn’t the point, he was asking about his brother.
‘I can’t promise anything, Joe,’ Frank said. ‘Who knows what’s going to happen out there? I may never see him. He could be in a completely different regiment to me. But, I promise you I’ll try to find him, and if I ever see him in danger then I will do what I can.’
‘Good, that’s all I ask.’
‘You know, if you’re so worried about him, you could enlist yourself and keep an eye on him? It would be the best way, you could do more than I could.’
‘I don’t think he would appreciate his older brother mothering him in the army. Besides, you know I’m not going to enlist, no matter how much you try and convince me.’
‘Oh, go on. It’ll be fun. You won’t have a foil for your seriousness if you stay here on your own.’
‘No, Frank.’
‘Not even if I forced you?’ He balled up Joe’s sleeve in his fist, but it was gentle, and threatened to pull him off his chair. All the time he was smiling, the gesture lighting up his blue eyes. Joe tried not to resist, knowing that it would upset his friend.
‘No, not even if I’m forced, Frank. You can’t drag me round with you everywhere to keep you out of trouble.’
‘Hah.’
A wheezing sound passed down the rows of desks, accompanied by the clop of heavy footsteps. Joe looked up just in time to see a puff of smoke and then Mr Harlow’s round face peered out of the cloud.
‘What on earth are you two up to now?’ he said, shaking his head, glancing at where Frank still held Joe’s sleeve. Frank let go quickly.
‘Just chatting, Mr Harlow,’ Joe said, trying to distract him. ‘Sorry about the noise, you know how excitable Frank can get.’ With that, he gave Frank a very pointed stare, who merely shrugged in reply.
‘Hmmm,’ Mr Harlow said, before taking another puff of his cigar. ‘I knew I should have split you two up on day one. It’s a wonder you get any work done at all, Gallagher.’
Frank mumbled something under his breath, but Joe didn’t catch the words.
‘I should bring my office out here, so I can keep an eye on you.’ There was a glint in Mr Harlow’s eye which showed that he was joking, but Frank just stared at the pile of work on his desk with a frown. ‘At least I wouldn’t miss out on the fun,’ Mr Harlow continued, ignoring Frank. ‘Do you have that work I asked you for?’
He could do that so well, Joe thought. Go from reprimanding someone to being their friend, then asking them for the work that they should have been doing. It was a well-practised management technique he had picked up somewhere. Joe couldn’t think where he might have got such a thing; as far as he knew, Mr Harlow had been at the newspaper his entire life.
Frank shuffled through the papers on his desk, making what was a mess into an altogether different type of mess. He found what he wanted between a pile of books and pulled it out, smiling to himself. The books clattered onto the floor. Without attempting to pick them up, he handed the paper to Mr Harlow.
‘Here you go,’ he said. ‘I finished it this morning. Had I known you wanted it that desperately I’d have brought it you.’ He beamed with pride at having not been found wanting by Mr Harlow and smirked at Joe who shook his head and scoffed.
‘You should get that framed, Mr Harlow,’ Frank said.
‘Oh, why?’ He frowned at the two younger men.
‘It’ll be worth something one day. The last article that Frank Gallagher, national hero, ever edited. It’ll be priceless.’
‘You’re priceless, Frank,’ Joe said, laughing.
‘Another one leaving me.’ Mr Harlow tutted and shook his head. ‘Don’t think that there will be a job for you here when you get back. I can’t go keeping spaces for everyone that fancies their hand at soldiering. We’ve got a paper to run, you know. The owner said, “We have to support our brave men and boys,” but what does he know about running a paper, eh?’
He stared for a few seconds, as if willing them to answer his question.
‘Just you make sure that you get the rest of those articles ready to go for tomorrow’s paper, all right? I’ll have to go off and sort out finding someone to do your work, not that it’s much. Still, someone’s got to do it, even if it’s a trained monkey.’
He walked off, leaving a cloud of acrid smoke in his wake. The wheezing grew quieter as his footsteps diminished into the distance.
‘Well, I never. That was a bit rude,’ Frank said shaking his head and trying to tidy his desk. ‘He’s never spoken to me like that before.’
‘He