Danny’s eyes became slits as he peered through the snow, and sure enough, there below him were the faint lights of Pwllheli. The sight seemed to spur them on as slipping and sliding, the boys began to descend the steep hill. The drifts were deeper here, and soon their Wellington boots were full of snow and their feet felt as if they didn’t belong to them.
‘Are yer quite sure this is what yer want to do?’ Gus asked, and for the first time, Danny heard a note of uncertainty in his voice.
He nodded vigorously as he thought of his mam, and a little feeling of excitement fluttered to life in his stomach. If he arrived in Coventry to find her safe and well, which he prayed he would, then he would soon be in her arms again, smelling that wonderful smell that belonged to her and her alone. He realised in that moment just how very much he had missed her, and the thought made him renew his efforts. So much so, that Gus had to struggle to keep up with him.
At last they reached the cobbled streets of the town and began to tramp towards the railway station. They were almost there when Gus pulled Danny to a halt.
‘Slow up, matey. We don’t want to be seen hangin’ around here, do we? We need to go furver on an’ see what trains are comin’ through. Look, we could sneak in through that fence there. That way we won’t ’ave to go onto the platform.’
Seeing the sense in what his friend said, Danny followed him past the main entrance to a fence that had some of its panels broken. After squeezing through they found themselves amongst an assortment of engines and stationary carriages, from which hung sooty black icicles. Any train that entered the station would have to pass by them and Gus smiled with satisfaction as he crouched in the darkness. To the right of them, the dim lights on the platform chased the shadows away, revealing a couple of figures sitting huddled on a bench, suitcases at their feet.
‘So what do we do now?’ Danny whispered, his teeth chattering with cold and excitement.
‘We wait. It can’t be that long till a train comes, an’ then we’ll hop into one o’ the goods vans at the back end of it,’ Gus whispered back. At the sound of his master’s voice, Albert popped his head out of Gus’s pocket and looked about, then with a twitch of his whiskers he shuddered and burrowed back down.
Nodding, Danny nestled into his friend’s side and settled down on the frozen track to wait.
The first two trains that went past whistled through the station without even slowing, sending flurries of snow all over them. By now, Danny was sure that he had never been so cold in the whole of his life.
‘P’raps this weren’t such a good idea after all,’ he muttered miserably as he hugged his knees to his chin.
Gus, who was standing in the middle of the track peering along the line, turned to glare at him. ‘It’s a bit late to be changin’ yer mind now. The way the snow’s bin comin’ down we’d never get back to the village anyway. Just keep yer pecker up, there’s bound to be another train along soon.’
The words had barely left his lips when the stationmaster marched on to the platform and the track beneath them began to tremble.
‘Birmingham train!’ the stationmaster shouted, and Gus’s face dropped.
‘That’s near enough,’ Danny assured him. ‘Birmingham ain’t so far from Coventry as the crow flies so we can hop on another train into Coventry from there. Me mam used to go to the rag market in Birmingham on the train sometimes so that’s how I know.’
Gus laughed triumphantly. ‘In that case, stand well clear o’ the track then, an’ let’s hope this one stops.’
In no time at all a train appeared out of the snow and began to slow as it approached the station. The boys held their breath as they watched a guard appear who began to load what appeared to be mailbags into one of the carriages at the back. He was so close to them that had he looked round, he would surely have seen the two lads, but luckily he was too intent on getting his job done and getting back to the warmth of the office where a nice hot pot of tea was mashing.
The second he began to walk away, Gus hissed urgently, ‘Right, foller me an’ don’t make a sound else the game will be up.’
With his heart in his throat, Danny did as he was told. Gus sprinted across the platform and, after sliding the carriage door partially open, he climbed aboard and bent to offer Danny his hand. After hauling him in after him, he shrank down in the darkness clutching hold of the carriage door, not daring to slam it. They waited, hearts beating fast. Slowly, the train began to chug away.
‘There yer go!’ Gus laughed exultantly. ‘We’re on our way, matey. Now let’s see if we can’t make ourselves comfy an’ try to ’ave a kip. Look - if we shove some o’ these sacks togevver, we could lie on ’em. Be like a nice fevver bed, then, won’t it?’
Danny nodded as they heaved some of the mail sacks together. It was certainly not the most comfortable of mattresses they had ever slept on, but even so they had barely left Pwllheli behind before both boys had fallen into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter Thirty-Three
A sharp dig in the ribs brought Danny springing awake. ‘Ouch!’ he grumbled as he stared at Gus who was standing over him with a deep frown on his face.
‘Come on, wakey wakey. I don’t know what’s goin’ on but the train seems to be slowin’, though I can’t see no sign of a station ahead.’
Danny yawned and stretched stiffly, almost overbalancing as the train suddenly slewed to an abrupt halt. The change of trains at Birmingham had been amazingly easy, as the platform there had been almost as deserted as the one at Pwllheli.
‘What the bleedin’ ’ell is goin’ on?’ Gus sounded concerned as he peered through the slight gap in the door.
Crossing to join him, Danny suddenly gasped and pointed at the sky. It was dark with aeroplanes that seemed to be heading for the city beyond. Suddenly the sky lit up with searchlights and the sound of bombs dropping not too far away reached them.
‘Jesus Christ. It looks like we’re arrivin’ in the middle of an air raid. That’s probably why they’ve stopped the train from goin’ into the station, in case they target that.’
Fear swelled in Danny’s throat. ‘What are we goin’ to do?’
Squaring his slight shoulders, Gus inched the door a little wider. ‘Well, I ain’t gonna stay ’ere like a sittin’ duck, that’s fer sure. Come on - let’s make a run fer it. I reckon we’ll be safer takin’ our chances out there than squattin’ ’ere.’
As Gus swung himself down from the carriage, Danny reluctantly followed him, surprised to see that although there was a sharp frost here, there was no snow.
Keeping their heads down, the two friends sprinted across the tracks and ran until they pushed their way through a hedge and found themselves in what appeared to be a park of some sort.
Glancing around him, Danny suddenly declared, ‘I think I know where I am! Me gran used to bring me an’ Lizzie here sometimes to feed the ducks.’
‘So we are in Coventry then?’
Danny nodded as they began to walk across the frozen grass. In the centre of the park was a lake that was frozen over. The moon was shining down on it, making it appear like a sheet of polished glass, but neither of the boys were in the mood to appreciate it tonight.
They trudged on until they reached the entrance gates where Gus demanded, ‘So which way do we go now then?’
Peering this way and that, Danny tried to get his bearings. The streets were dark and deserted, save for the searchlights that swept the sky, and it was hard to judge.
‘I reckon it’s that way,’ he told his friend, nodding towards the area where the bombs were dropping thick and fast.
Gus shuddered but turned in that direction all the same. Keeping close to the shadows of the buildings they crept along, their eyes fearfully watching the sky overhead. The closer they got to the city centre, the louder the noise became until they had to shout to each other to make themselves heard.
‘I reckon we should try an’ make our way to a shelter,’ Gus roared as a bomb dropped dangerousl
y close to them. Danny almost jumped out of his skin and threw himself face down on the ground. Only yards away from them, a wall suddenly collapsed with a sound like thunder, and the ground beneath them shook. He could see the city centre ahead of them now, but it was nothing like he remembered it to be. The Cathedral, all apart from its spire, seemed to be flattened, and well-known shops were no longer there.
His lip trembled as he tried to be brave. Just twenty more minutes or so and they would be home. But could they make it? Lifting his head, he peered up at the sky through his fingers, and the sight that he saw made him suck his breath in. Multi-coloured incendiary bombs were drifting gracefully to earth on tiny parachutes, but the second they hit the ground the sound of the explosions they made was deafening.
‘On second thoughts, we’d ’ave bin better off to wait back there wiv the train,’ Gus shouted to him above the noise.
Danny nodded, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Bombs were dropping all around them, so they would be in as much danger if they tried to retrace their steps as go forward.
‘I’m so sorry I dropped you in all this mess, Gus,’ he muttered miserably. Gus’s cold fingers snaked across the ground to squeeze his hand encouragingly.
‘Don’t be daft. We’re best mates, ain’t we? An’ mates stick together through thick an’ thin.’
Danny felt his heart swell, but now was not the time for expressing their feelings so they rose and started off again. They found themselves tramping across piles of rubble, and now the plaintive cries of people who had been hurt could be heard. They saw a terrified woman clutching a baby in her arms suddenly run out of a house into the street ahead of them, and even as they watched in horrified fascination, a bomb landed within feet of her, and tossed her into the air as if she weighed no more than a feather. The baby was thrown from her arms and landed like a little rag doll on a heap of broken bricks that had once been someone’s home.
Danny’s hand flew to his mouth as he stopped in his tracks, unable to take in the sight he had just seen. Fires were springing up all around them, and the streets were full of terrified people running this way and that.
He turned to say something to Gus, who was no more than a few yards behind him, just in time to see a bomb hurtling towards him. Panic set in. He opened his mouth to scream a warning but the words stuck in his throat, and suddenly everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.
Gus smiled at him then suddenly the bomb exploded and he seemed to be flying into the air. Albert fell from his top pocket and Danny watched in horror as the little creature plummeted towards the ground, to land with his head at an unnatural angle. Gus fell within feet of him and Danny raced across the debris to kneel beside him.
‘A . . . Albert . . .’
With tears streaming down his dirty face, Danny scurried over to the tiny creature and carried his lifeless little body back to his master. Laying him on Soho Gus’s chest, he sobbed as he saw a single tear slide from the corner of Gus’s eye.
‘Oh, Soho Gus, I’m so sorry I got you into this.’
Gus struggled to say something, but instead of words, blood spurted from his mouth when he opened it to speak. As Danny clutched his hand, the other boy tried to smile, but then his eyes suddenly became frantic as he stared at something behind Danny. Turning, Danny saw yet another bomb plummeting towards him and then suddenly the pain in his heart was gone and a comforting darkness enclosed him.
Earlier in the night, when the sounds of the sirens had pierced the air, Beryl had cursed, ‘Oh, God love us! Not another bloody raid.’ She’d almost fallen out of her brass bed and fumbled in the dark for her faded old dressing-gown.
Doors opening and shutting on the landing told her that the siren had woken the others too. Emerging from her bedroom, she’d found Jo propped against the landing wall. Her face was ashen and she looked as if she were about to throw up at any minute. Beryl had ushered her towards the top of the stairs. ‘Go on down, love,’ she’d urged. ‘Get yerself as comfortable as yer can in the cupboard under the stairs. I’ll be down to join yer when I’ve rounded Maggie an’ David up.’
Jo had lurched away, gripping her stomach as David stumbled from his room, swiping the sleep from his eyes with his one good hand. He’d shot her a withering glance as she’d stepped past him and then she was gone, her footsteps making almost no sound at all on the worn stair-runners. Beryl had been concerned to see that he didn’t look much better than Jo, and she cursed the Jerries under her breath. Why did they have to choose tonight of all nights? Her poor son looked as if a good night’s sleep would have done him a power of good. Within seconds, Maggie had appeared too and Beryl had begun to push them along the landing.
They had only gone a few steps when David suddenly stopped dead, causing Maggie to bump into the back of him.
‘You two go on down,’ he told them, as sweat stood out on his brow. ‘I’m going to take my chances up here.’ He was too ashamed to admit that he couldn’t face the close confines of the cupboard under the stairs.
Sensing his panic, Maggie turned to Beryl and told her, ‘You go down to Jo. I’ll stay here for a while with David.’
Beryl had opened her mouth to protest but something about the set of Maggie’s mouth made her shuffle away to do as she was told. She had barely disappeared down the steep stairwell when David had begun to shake like a leaf.
Taking his good arm, Maggie calmly led him back to his room where she pressed him down onto the bed and sat close beside him. ‘It’s all right,’ she muttered soothingly. ‘I’ll stay with you.’
His face when he turned it to her had brought tears stinging to her eyes. He’d looked so old suddenly, and nothing like the handsome man who had gone away to war.
Deeply ashamed, he’d hung his head as the sound of the first bombs dropping reached them through the walls of the house. It was almost pitch black with the blackout curtains closely drawn, but even so Maggie sensed that he was crying and her heart went out to him. What terrible sights he must have seen, she’d thought to herself as she gently stroked his hand and uttered words of comfort. They’d sounded inadequate even to her own ears, so eventually she fell silent and they sat shoulder to shoulder listening to the devastation that was going on all around them. Very soon the smell of burning reached them and Maggie had to suppress a shudder. What would they find when they emerged from the house this time? If they emerged, that was.
Downstairs, crouched in the cupboard under the stairs, Jo hadn’t been feeling much better as she saw in her mind over and over again the way David had looked at her on the landing. As if she were nothing more than something dirty stuck to the sole of his shoes. But then, could she really blame him? She was dirty, to all intents and purposes. An unmarried mother; a former prostitute not even aware of who the father of her unborn child was. Feeling her shudder, Beryl had wrapped an arm about her slim shoulders.
‘Don’t worry, love. It’ll all be over again soon, an’ then happen we can get back to us beds.’
Her sympathy had the opposite effect to what she’d intended, for Jo had suddenly burst into heartbroken sobs.
‘Do yer know somethin’, Beryl, I ain’t much bothered one way or the other at the minute. I mean, look at me . . . David thinks I’m scum, an’ happen he’s right.’
Beryl had been appalled as she rocked her to and fro. ‘My son doesn’t know the half of why yer did what yer did, me gel, so let’s hear no more o’ that silly talk, eh?’
Jo had fallen silent. The bottle of castor oil she had drunk earlier that night was beginning to make her feel even queasier than usual now. She could still taste the grease on her lips, imagine the sliminess as it had slipped down her throat, but would it have the desired effect?
Up until the last couple of weeks when she had started to show a little she’d thought she could go through with it, but now she wasn’t so sure. After all, what life would she have after it was born - or the child, for that matter? She would always be known as a loose woma
n then, and the child would be branded a bastard. No, it would be far better if the castor oil worked and she lost it. At least then she would have some chance of living a normal life. Only the week before, she’d boiled some copper pennies up in a saucepan and then somehow managed to drink the water. She had heard somewhere that this was a surefire way to get rid of unwanted pregnancies, but all it had done was make her be twice as sick as she normally was.
Just the thought of it now made vomit rise in her throat, and pushing Beryl aside, she had crawled towards the door.
‘Where the bloody ’ell do yer think you’re goin’?’ Beryl had gasped as Jo thrust the door open. Jo’s only answer had been a strangled groan as she clamped her hand across her mouth and made a dash for the yard.
Once again, the bombing had seemed to go on forever. Somehow, Maggie found herself curled into David’s side as the pair of them finally lay down on the bed. And yet, for all their closeness they were both aware that nothing was as it had been between them. The old attraction had gone. Perhaps it’s because neither of us are the people we were any more, Maggie pondered. Far too much had happened, and they both knew it. Sam was dead now, and yet strangely, they could both feel his presence far more strongly than they ever had when he’d been alive. He was still there between them, and Maggie suspected that he always would be.
David had thought of his twin brother too, and his heart was breaking. How would Maggie feel if he were ever to tell her that Sam was the cause of him losing part of his arm? He’d stared up at the ceiling, his eyes heavy with unshed tears. She must never know, even though he had longed for moments of closeness like this.
He was no longer the man he had once been, and never would be again. Maggie deserved someone better than him. Not half a man; a helpless cripple who would never even be able to hold down a proper job.
The tears had spilled silently down his cheeks then, at the injustice of it all. He had loved Maggie for as far back as he could remember, yet now their beloved daughter was dead, and it seemed they were destined never to be together.
Moonlight and Ashes Page 34