by Emma Carroll
‘Mum?’ Velvet said tentatively. ‘What’s going on?’
The best tea service was on the table, indicating someone had visted while she’d been out. Patting the place beside her, Mrs Jones made Velvet sit down.
‘Mr Clements and that nice Mr Perks …’ her mother said, her voice wobbling. ‘Came around … telling me … about the bus … and the animals …’
‘Oh.’ Velvet’s face grew hot. ‘That.’
She took a deep breath. Her mother already knew bits and pieces, but the whole story was bound to come out sooner or later. It was a miracle they’d kept it secret for so long. Readying herself for the telling-off of a lifetime, Velvet was shocked when instead her mum reached for her hand.
‘You brave, brave girl,’ Mrs Jones sniffed. ‘To think you did something like that for all those people.’
‘And their pets,’ Velvet added.
Mrs Jones sat back in her seat, wiping her eyes and looking long and very hard at her daughter. ‘You’ve grown up this summer, haven’t you? Right under my nose and I hadn’t even noticed.’
‘You’ve been busy,’ Velvet said. ‘There’s a war on, remember?’
Her mum smiled. ‘That doesn’t mean you’re not important to me, Vee. You’ve had to look after yourself, be here by yourself for nights on end. No wonder you wanted something to do. You must’ve been pretty lonely.’
‘I suppose I was,’ Velvet admitted. ‘But I’ve got brilliant friends – and they’ve got the sweetest pets. And if I can’t have my own, then—’
‘Oh, stop with your pleading, child!’ Mrs Jones, laughing, held up her hands. ‘I give in.’
Velvet gaped at her. ‘You what?’
‘You could do with the company, I see that now,’ her mum acknowledged. ‘And you must promise to look after it – mind you, you’re doing a pretty decent job of it with everyone else’s pets already.’
Velvet seized her chance. ‘Is that a yes, then? Is it?’
Reluctantly, against her better judgement, Mrs Jones said it was. Before she had tea, before she changed out of her school things, and definitely before Eddie returned with his decision, Velvet raced round to Robert’s house with her news. Bertie, finally, officially, was hers.
*
By the end of summer, the puppies were old enough to go to their new owners, including the young friends of Eddie’s. One girl pup went to a boy in Somerset, the remaining male pup just up the coast to Budmouth Point. The final home proved a big surprise – bigger even than Mrs Jones’s change of heart.
‘Old Ferret-face wants a dog?’ was Velvet’s reaction.
It seemed he did. It’d made him rethink the air-raid shelter business too, though Velvet suspected that was Mrs Clements’s work, bargaining the very best deal for her puppies.
Meanwhile, going to the park after school became an everyday part of life. It was what responsible dog owners did, and Bertie, now the size of a small calf, needed all the exercise he could get. It was amazing how much energy he burned chasing Sprout and Wisp, and, when he got bored of that, Mo’s football.
On this particular day, Robert had received two messages in the post, which he was keen to share.
The first was a proper letter, postmarked ‘Frostcombe’, and read:
The second was a postcard with a picture of the Budmouth Point lighthouse on the front, back in the days when it was bright red and white.
They had no idea what mock banana sandwiches were, but it was wonderful to hear about the pups.
‘Muffin and Otter,’ Velvet mumbled the names out loud. ‘Hmmm.’
‘Makes you think of small, sweet dogs, doesn’t it?’ Lynn mused as they sat on the bench, watching Bertie tear around the park. In reality, he was starting to look more like a wolf.
‘He’s got to be some sort of hound, hasn’t he?’ Velvet asked.
Robert laughed. ‘He is – at least, Wisp is. Part deerhound, part whippet, part greyhound.’
‘And there was me, thinking they were just scruffy old mongrels,’ Mo said.
Velvet nudged him. ‘To you they might be!’
To her, the word greyhound meant more than Wisp and her pups, more even than Bertie. It meant Eddie, and the air raids, and thunderstorms on the moors. Best of all it meant finding your way home again when the bombs fell silent at last.
PRAISE FOR EMMA CARROLL
‘A beautifully-written and incredibly moving triptych of tales that are so good you’ll have to ration yourself.’ Scott Evans, The Reader Teacher & #PrimarySchoolBookClub
‘Engaging and entertaining.’
Independent on Sunday
‘Perfect for captivating the imagination.’
Mumsnet
‘Absorbing … brimming with atmospheric detail.’
Carousel
‘My go-to author for historical fiction.’
The Bookbag
‘Rich in thrilling details.’
Lovereading4kids
‘Compelling.’
Metro
‘Absorbing, sensitive and genuinely magical in feel.’
Independent
‘A fast, exciting read.’
The School Librarian
‘If your middle grade kids (ages 8-12) haven’t discovered Emma Carroll yet, then they’re missing out.’
Irish Times
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma Carroll was a secondary school English teacher before leaving to write full time. She has also worked as a news reporter, an avocado picker and the person who punches holes into filofax paper. She graduated with distinction from Bath Spa University’s MA in Writing For Young People. When We Were Warriors is Emma’s ninth book. She lives in the Somerset hills with her husband and two terriers.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Frost Hollow Hall
The Girl Who Walked on Air
In Darkling Wood
The Snow Sister
Strange Star
Letters from the Lighthouse
Secrets of a Sun King
For free downloadable teaching resources head to
www.faber.co.uk/faber-childrens-resources
Copyright
First published in 2019
by Faber & Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House,
74–77 Great Russell Street,
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2019
All rights reserved
Text © Emma Carroll, 2019
Cover illustration © Julian de Narvaez, 2019
Images p.246 and 247 © Shutterstock
The right of Emma Carroll and Julian de Narvaez to be identified as author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–35041–4