The Camden Tales

7 - Due To My Razor Blade

-=₪ March 1922 ₪=-

Shop / 45 Camden Road / 4.21pm

Malka and Sarah were working in the back office of the jewellery store. Their desks sat on opposite walls, facing one another. They would often chat while working, trivial things mostly, what they saw at market, food, fashion, which regularly lead to business. Fashions would heavily affect their line of work so being up to date with trends was important, but occasionally they would speak of family.

This wasn't something that happened too often. Malka wasn't one to raise family, especially with Sarah, owing mostly to guilt, but Malka also had an appreciation of her time with Sarah as being an Alfie free zone. Mostly, when family was mentioned, Sarah would speak of her late husband, Henry.

Henry and Sarah had met and married before the great war and had their son Albe. They had seemed like a perfect couple; young, happy, healthy, with their whole lives ahead of them.

When Sarah spoke of pre-war days, it invariably brought Malka's mind to her union with Alfie, and what their dreams had been. Dreams laid to waste for not only them, but a whole generation, as men signed up in droves to fight in the war. Just as Alfie and Henry had voluntarily done.

Henry, who had bravely fought as a fusilier, lost his life a few weeks into the Somme. Malka always listened to the same stories of life before it all. Better times, celebrations, and how everything seemed to have more colour back then.

Malka always smiled and did her best to comfort when Sarah became emotional, while Malka hid her own grief. During the post-war years Malka often felt that her Alfie, had never returned from France, but a stranger in his place. This was something Malka would never express to Sarah, at least Alfie had returned. A preferable outcome over the loss of a partner.

As a natural end came to one of Sarah's stories, Sarah realised that Malka had barely spoken all day. It was clear to Sarah that Malka wasn't doing well of late and her reason for raising family was to encourage Malka to speak of hers, of Alfie, but, as often was the case, it hadn't proved fruitful.

Sarah's information on family and the Solomons organisation at large, mostly came from her son, Albe, who got his information from nights out with the lads.

The lads were all similar in age to one another, and around ten years younger than Malka and Alfie. They were Albe, Ollie, Ishmael, and Louis. Louis was a nephew of Alfie's and Sarah's. He was a large and awkward lad who harboured ambitions of becoming a boxer. Alfie was Louis' favourite uncle, and even more so since Alfie had started paying for his gym membership to help young Louis achieve his dreams. Much to Louis' mother's dismay.

All the lads, except for Louis, worked for Alfie in one capacity or another. Albe was becoming a talented jeweller and often remained in a room upstairs where he prised gems and melted down metals from stolen items. He was also becoming proficient at designing and crafting the precious materials into new pieces, which were later sold in the store as legitimate stock.

Sarah glanced across to Malka's desk to see her slaving over the accounts for the distillery and the Solomons portfolio in general. A task Malka never did at the store, as the distillery, or more officially known as the Aerated Bread Company, was the central home to the Solomons empire.

"You've been here a lot recently Malka, is everything alright?" Sarah asked with some hesitation.

Malka instantly closed her eyes, dropped her pencil to the desk and sat back in her chair letting out a huge sigh.

Sarah became apprehensive. She may have known Malka for many years but had never managed to build any kind of close sister-in-law bond, even though she had tried many times. They were friendly, but not overtly friendly, because not only did Malka seem to hold everything in but Sarah also found Malka to be intimating and confusing to talk with. Similar to how she found her younger brother, Alfie, to be intimidating and confusing to talk with. The pair of them were not like other people.