by Anne Bennett
That was until she surveyed the mound that had been where they had taken shelter earlier that night and knew she would have been killed if they hadn’t got out. What was her life in comparison to a caseful of clothes? Nothing, of course, but what was she to wear – and in fact where was she to sleep off what was left of the night?
Ray surveyed the mound with satisfaction, knowing the case would be crushed beyond recognition. And he knew the site would remain untouched: there wasn’t the manpower to clear mounds of rubbish that were no danger to anyone. It was all they could do to rescue those trapped, and so this time Ray didn’t even have the bother of throwing the case in the cut, like he’d had to do a couple of times.
He said to Molly, ‘So, what are your plans now?’
‘I haven’t any,’ Molly said. ‘Not now, I mean. I had intended looking for lodgings just for a few days while I found out a few things and, I hoped, located Kevin, but then there was the raid and all, and now I don’t really know.’
‘Well, you can’t go looking for lodgings at this time of night – or morning, I should say,’ Ray said, ‘because it isn’t yet five o’clock.’
‘I know,’ Molly said. ‘Maybe I should go to the police station. They could probably direct me to a rescue centre, or something.’
That was the very last thing Ray wanted her to do, but he showed no alarm. Instead, he draped an arm around Molly’s shoulder and said softly, ‘Look, around you, Molly. This sea of rubble used to be streets and streets of houses, and the people that once lived in them are filling the rescue centres. They are bursting at the seams. The raid you witnessed tonight was one of many. The city has been pounded since August.’
‘What, then?’ Molly asked helplessly.
‘Well,’ Ray said, ‘I am looking after a flat for a friend who can’t live in it at the moment. It’s the first floor of a house not far away and the place is completely empty. It would be somewhere to lay your head down for tonight, at least.’
How Molly longed to do just that, but maybe it wasn’t wise – not that the men had said or done anything remotely suggestive or improper, and Ray in particular had been kindness itself.
‘Neither of us has designs on you, so don’t think that,’ Ray said, and he spoke the truth for he was not attracted to women, men and boys being more his scene. And as for Charlie, though he would sample both, he liked his woman older, far more experienced and willing to indulge in fairly kinky sex. Girls like Molly did not interest him in the slightest.
When Ray said, ‘We won’t even be there; we both have our own places,’ the last of Molly’s reservations fled.
‘All right then,’ she said. ‘I would like to have the use of the flat for tonight at least.’
The house Ray took her to was on the end of a terraced row, and next to it was a wide entry bordered on the other side by a high wall that had once been part of a factory, until it had been decimated by the bombing. The house had been converted into two flats very skilfully, and both were completely self-contained.
Beyond the front door, stairs led to the flat on the first floor while the door underneath the stairs led to the ground-floor flat. In the flat itself, just inside the door, was a hallway. Charlie helped Molly off with her coat, and she took off her dusty hat and scarf too. As she pulled her money belt over her head, she said, ‘I had all my money in there. I was advised that it was the safest way to carry it.’
‘Quite right too,’ Ray said, putting it in the drawer of the cupboard next to the coat stand. ‘There are all sorts of strange people about today. Come on in and see the place.’
Molly was amazed when she saw the opulence of the flat, which even the blackout curtains couldn’t entirely spoil. The floor of the very large living room was carpeted and lit with two glittering chandeliers. And if that wasn’t luxurious enough, two maroon settees and an armchair, which Molly was sure were leather, were grouped around the gas fire with a shining brass fender. Two bureaus of dark wood were in the chimney alcoves, on top of one a fancy wireless, which it bore little resemblance to the one Tom had bought in Buncrana. Against the far wall was a shining, dark wooden dining table, and tucked beneath it were six chairs, again upholstered in maroon leather. And the whole place was heated by radiators.
‘It is absolutely marvellous,’ Molly said. ‘But, Ray, won’t your friend mind me just moving in like this?’
‘No, Molly, he’ll be pleased,’ Ray said. ‘And that is the honest truth. You wouldn’t know the way your old city is now. Empty properties are either occupied by squatters, who have been bombed out, or commandeered by the military. My friend has only got away with it so far because this is on the first floor. Anyway, it’s only for a few days.’
‘Yes, that’s right,’ Molly said. ‘He must have a fine job, this friend of yours.’
‘I wouldn’t know what he does,’ Ray said vaguely. ‘A bit of this and a bit of that.’
Molly thought it a funny sort of job, but she reminded herself that he was Ray’s friend and it really was none of her business. She contented herself with exploring the rest of the flat. There were two doors from the living room. One led to a sparkling kitchen that Molly knew it would be a pleasure to work in. At the other side of the room a door opened on to a small corridor with two further doors leading off that. The first was a bathroom and it had all manner of beauty products left there: body creams and lotions, even some cosmetics, as well as shampoos and soaps such as Molly had never seen in her life before. She wondered at the manner of woman, for it must have been a woman, who would leave all this behind, as if she had left in one hell of a hurry.
She shrugged. That wasn’t her problem and she was more than glad the things were available when she caught sight of herself, for her face was coated with dust and dirt, which was even gilding her eyelashes. Feeling a little daring, she filled the basin with water, which was piping hot, washed her hands and face with the delicious-smelling soap and dried them with the soft, fluffy towels left behind the door. Then she tidied her hair with the comb that she found in the little glass-fronted cabinet on the wall.
Feeling better and more refreshed, she went from there to the bedroom. The bed was very large and she noted the sheets were silk. The fact that they were black with cream edging was unnerving enough, but what really threw her were the mirrors on the ceiling and down the length of one wall. Then she knew that however lavish this place was, she would breath easier when she was away from it.
Back in the main room, the men had opened a bottle of brandy that they said they had found in the cabinet part of the bureau and they had a glass filled for her too, diluted with lemonade. There was something else added to Molly’s glass, which would make her sleep like the dead, for Ray said he didn’t want to come back and find the bird had flown, though he would take the precaution of locking the door.
Molly’s heart sank. She was incredibly tired and would have preferred to seek her bed, even with the black silk sheets, but she knew Ray and Charlie only meant to be kind.
‘I have never tasted alcohol,’ she said, lifting the glass and sniffing apprehensively.
‘Bout time you did then,’ Charlie said. ‘What age are you, anyway? Sixteen? Seventeen?’
‘I was eighteen in February,’ Molly said.
‘Then the brandy will do you no harm at all, and once you have it drunk you will sleep like a top.’
‘I think I would sleep well enough without the brandy.’
‘It’ll be better with, trust me,’ Charlie said. ‘Isn’t that right, Ray?’
‘It’s right,’ Ray said. ‘And when you have it drunk then we will leave you to sleep the sleep of the just. So let us toast the fact that we met up with you tonight.’
Oh, Molly had no trouble toasting that. She didn’t dare think of what might have happened to her if she hadn’t met up with these lovely men. ‘Down the hatch,’ Charlie said as the glasses chinked. Molly took a large swallow and found she liked the taste, and accepted another when she found her glass em
pty.
But when she had finished that one, she felt very peculiar. She knew Ray and Charlie were talking, but she wasn’t able to register what they were saying. Her head had begun to swim quite alarmingly and when she tried to speak, her voice was befuddled and she couldn’t remember what she had wanted to say.
‘I would say you are a wee bit drunk,’ Ray said with a smile.
Molly tried to say she was sorry but her tongue seemed to have swollen to twice its normal size and what came out was just gobbledegook. Ray and Charlie laughed.
‘Come on,’ Ray said. ‘We’ll help you to bed and be on our way.’
Molly tried to say she didn’t need help, but she was unable to form the words, and when she tried to stand, she found she couldn’t do that either. It was as if her legs belonged to someone else. The two men carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the bed, where her eyes closed of their own volition.
‘What are you doing?’ Charlie asked as Ray began easing Molly’s jumper up.
‘Undressing her.’
‘But, why?’
‘Well, I don’t want to leave her in her clothes all night,’ Ray said. ‘She won’t remember any of this. If we were that way inclined, we could both take her now and she’d be none the wiser. But she is more valuable to us as she is because I am positive she is a virgin and I have Collingsworth looking for just such a girl. He is willing to pay and pay well if the girl is untouched.’
‘So what are we doing this for?’
‘Because when she wakes tomorrow under the sheets and in a slinky nightdress, and we say we left her fully clothed, she won’t remember a thing about it and I have a feeling that will unnerve her a bit and that’s what I want.’
Charlie shrugged. ‘You are a queer kettle of fish, mate,’ he said. ‘But I won’t argue with you because I think we are sitting on a little goldmine with this one, if we play our cards right.’
‘That is what I am counting on,’ Ray said. ‘So you just look in those drawers and get me the slinkiest, sexiest nightdress you can find.’
And Charlie, with a grin, did just that.
SIXTEEN
Molly woke with a raging thirst. Her head felt as if it were made of cotton wool, and Ray was standing beside her bed, holding a cup of tea.
‘How are you feeling?’
‘Awful,’ she said, and her voice came out like a croak. She struggled to sit up and suddenly realised that she had a nightdress on that she had never seen before. ‘How did I get here and undressed and all?’ she asked, taking the very welcome cup of tea.
Ray looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’ he said. ‘I told you to choose and left you to it.’
Molly took a long gulp of the tea, for all it was so hot, before saying to Ray, ‘I can’t remember anything, not even getting undressed.’
Ray smiled. ‘That doesn’t surprise me,’ he said. ‘Let’s say you were not yourself last night.’
‘Was I drunk?’
‘A little, I think,’ Ray said. ‘But that was made worse by tiredness and the upset and distress you suffered in the raid.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be,’ Ray said. ‘It happens to the best of us. Now, are you hungry?’
Molly suddenly realised she was. ‘Starving,’ she said, ‘and when I have eaten, I will start the search for Kevin.’
‘Too late for that today, my dear.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s already turned five o’clock.’
‘You don’t mean in the evening?’
‘I do indeed.’
‘I can’t have slept all that time.’
‘You did, and all I can say is you must have needed it.’
‘Maybe I did,’ Molly said. ‘But I am still annoyed with myself. Can we not go out afterwards, when I have eaten?’
‘Out in the blackout with a full moon shining in the sky?’ Ray said. ‘How would it be if we were caught in a raid that went on for hours and we were unable to get home? Trust me in this, my dear.’
‘All right,’ Molly said with a sigh. ‘To tell you the truth, I still feel tired and not myself at all. I don’t think I would be up to it anyway.’
‘It is quite understandable,’ Ray said. ‘You sit and rest yourself and drink your tea, and I will rustle us up something to eat.’
When Ray had gone, Molly put the drained cup down and got out of bed, padded across the room and immediately caught sight of herself in one of the many mirrors. Her face was the colour of lint and her hair tousled about her head because she hadn’t plaited it and it had come adrift from the Kirbigrips that had held it fast. Her eyes looked puzzled and were screwed up in pain.
She was wearing the most beautiful nightdress, which she was sure she had never seen before. It was made of silk, and a deep azure blue with a white lace trim, and though it was floor length there was a split either side to her thigh. There wasn’t much to the bodice at all. It seemed to be made entirely of lace and it was so low cut it barely covered her nipples. Her face flushed with shame for, by her standards, the nightdress was almost indecent. She suddenly realised with alarm that her locket was gone. Scanning the room a little frantically, she spied it on the little table by the bed. But she never took it off. Then she told herself she couldn’t remember taking anything else off either, and she felt ashamed of her behaviour.
Ray didn’t seem bothered about any of it, though, and he brought her broth in on a tray. ‘Come back into bed,’ he said, ‘and eat this up. Then maybe you would like a bath?’
‘Oh, I would love one. Will anyone mind?’
‘How could anyone mind? There is only you and me here. I’ll have to find you something else to wear; the things that you had on last night are covered in dust. There are plenty of clothes here, and for all you are a bit on the small size, I’m sure I will find something to fit you.’
‘I can’t wear someone else’s clothes.’
‘Well, you sure as hell can’t go round in your birthday suit,’ Ray said with a grin. ‘It’s too cold, for one thing. Anyway, it didn’t bother you last night when you put on that nightdress.’
‘But who do they all belong to?’
‘Don’t you worry your pretty head about that,’ Ray said. ‘Eat up now. You’ll feel better afterwards.’
And Molly did. She was unaware of the white powder that Ray had mixed in with the broth. Afterwards a bath seemed a wonderful idea, and a few minutes later she was luxuriating in a hot bath full of fragrant bubbles. She washed her hair too with creamy shampoo.
Eventually, she stepped out and, wrapping herself in a towelling robe, she went through to the bedroom when Ray had laid some clothes on the bed. They were not at all the sort of things she was used to and she was not at all sure she wanted to get used to them either. She had virtually lived in dungarees and shirts for over five years, and though she had longed for something prettier and more feminine, she had never envisaged wearing clothes like those Ray had laid out. The lacy underwear and sheer silk stockings were nice enough, but the blouse was so clingy, none of her shape was left to the imagination and the neckline plunged so low it showed a fair bit of cleavage. The skirts were far too short too.
Fully dressed, she surveyed herself in one of the many mirrors. She looked like a different person and she knew without doubt that if there had been a person dressed as she was in Buncrana, people would assume she was fast, up to no good. Molly’s cheeks grew hot at the thought.
When Ray knocked on the door she was almost too embarrassed to open it, feeling sure she was showing too much flesh altogether. He obviously didn’t feel the same way, though, for she saw his eyes widen in appreciation.
‘Do I look all right?’ she asked tentatively.
Ray knew that Molly would have no idea how fetching she was. Her skin was fresh and glowing from the warm bath, her cheeks pink-tinged, and her hair was wrapped up in a towel, turban-style but some of her curls had escaped the turban and framed her pretty little face. For a moment R
ay regretted that girls as beautiful as this one did not stir him in the slightest.
Molly’s eyes were troubled, but when Ray said, ‘You do not look just all right, you look wondrous,’ they cleared a little.
She looked doubtfully at her reflection. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Quite sure.’
‘You don’t think I look a bit, well, sort of fast?’
‘Molly, believe me, you are the picture of loveliness,’ Ray said. He caught up her hands and turned her round to face him, and added, ‘You also look seductive and extremely sexy, and what’s wrong with that?’
‘I … I don’t know that I want to be sexy,’ Molly said. ‘And these clothes feel strange on me.’
‘They don’t look strange.’
‘Well,’ Molly said with a shrug, ‘they’ll do, I suppose, till I can get something more suitable.’
Ray pulled Molly towards him and put an arm around her shoulder as he said gently, ‘Listen, sweetheart, Britain is at war. Making clothes in vast quantities is not considered important for the nation’s survival and most places that make clothes have been converted to making uniforms anyway, so there is little in the shops to buy. You were not the only one, either, to be left with just the clothes on your back. No one can afford to be too choosy these days. So these things may not be your choice, but there is little alternative.’
Molly knew Ray was probably right. After all, what did she know of war restrictions? And she had no desire to upset the man who had been so kind to her.
‘Anyway,’ Ray went on, ‘you have a lovely body. Never be ashamed of it.’
‘But it’s wrong to show yourself.’
‘Who said? The harridan of a grandmother?’
‘No, well, I mean she didn’t need to. I just knew.’
‘Why?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean why is it wrong to show your body?’ Ray said. ‘The female naked form can be beautiful. Look at some of the paintings.’
‘I … I haven’t seen paintings like that.’