Keep the Home Fires Burning

by Anne Bennett

  Marion was grateful but she was watching the clock anxiously, knowing that peace would soon be at an end, especially after Peggy and Violet left for their friend’s house. She crept upstairs and peered out of the bay window in her bedroom and her heart sank when she saw the uncompromising strides of her mother as she turned into the road, arm in arm with her father. As she got nearer Marion could see that she was wearing the same expression as she’d on at Mass, and she went down the stairs dejectedly.

  ‘But that’s just what I am saying,’ Clara whined. ‘Because you agreed to house those girls over Christmas you were unable to accommodate me or your father. Your own flesh and blood. It’s just not right.’

  Marion suppressed a sigh. ‘Mammy, I have explained how it was. The girls have only today off.’

  ‘She has told us all this before, Clara,’ Eddie said.

  ‘Families should come first.’

  ‘Come on, Mammy, let’s not argue,’ Marion said in a conciliatory manner. ‘It’s Christmas Day, after all, and soon we’ll have a lovely tea with honey cakes and apple tart. I followed a recipe for a one-egg wonder cake too because I was light on eggs. Course, there so many of us I doubled up the quantities so ours is a two-egg wonder cake. I hope it’s not too heavy.’

  ‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ Eddie said loyally. ‘You’re a grand cook and always have been.’

  ‘Yeah, but with rations the way they are, I am often paddling in uncharted waters,’ Marion said. ‘But before we start on the tea let me give you your presents.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have bothered,’ Clara snapped. ‘I have no time for fripperies.’

  Keeping her temper with difficulty, Marion replied, ‘Then it’s a good thing I didn’t buy you fripperies, but a nice soft woollen shawl to put around your shoulders on cold nights.’

  It was a beautiful shawl in different shades of blue, which a woman Polly knew had knitted specially. It would be hard not to like it, but though Clara accepted it, and even allowed Marion to drape it around her shoulders, she uttered no word of thanks.

  But when Marion presented her father with a new pipe she had gone into the town to buy from a proper tobacconist, he said, ‘It’s wonderful, pet,’ turning it round in his hands. ‘I’ve never had such a fine pipe.’

  ‘Oh, Daddy …’

  ‘You shouldn’t spend so much on an old man like me. I know what pipes like this cost. The children—‘

  ‘The children had plenty and were pleased with everything they got,’ Marion said. ‘They know the score as well as the rest of us.’

  ‘Well, I have some sweets for them all in my coat pocket,’ Eddie said.

  ‘You didn’t tell me that you were bringing sweets,’ Clara snapped.

  ‘I didn’t need to,’ Eddie said. ‘It was my own money I saved. I couldn’t visit my grandchildren on Christmas Day empty-handed.’

  ‘Thank you, Daddy,’ Marion said before her mother could speak again. ‘The children generally get little enough sweets. They’ll be very grateful. Shall we go through for tea now? I’ll get Sarah to give me a hand.’

  ‘Where is she?’ Clara demanded. ‘In fact, where are any of the children?’

  Marion knew the children had found pressing things to do elsewhere in the house as soon as they had seen their grandparents approaching, but she said vaguely, ‘Oh, they’re around somewhere.’

  ‘They should be here, to greet guests,’ Clara said.

  They might if you showed the slightest pleasure in seeing them. For a moment Marion thought she had spoken the words aloud, but her mother’s expression hadn’t changed, and when she said, ‘Your children, Marion, have appalling manners,’ she had the desire to laugh at her mother and her hypocrisy. She restrained herself, but with difficulty, and needing to put some space between them, left in search of Sarah. Marion dreaded the meal, knowing that it would be a catalogue of complaints, and she knew she would be counting the hours until they would leave.

  NINETEEN

  The girls that worked with Peggy and Violet advised them to go to Madame Amie’s Dancing Academy in Chain Walk, which was just the other side of Birchfield Road at the very end of Albert Road. ‘She does the waltzes and quick steps, and that,’ one of their workmates said. ‘But they teaches you fun things as well like the swing, kangaroo hop and the jitterbug.’

  ‘And what on earth are those, when they’re at home?’ Marion asked that evening when they told her this.

  ‘They’ve come from America,’ Violet said. ‘This girl was telling us the jitterbug is banned in some dance halls, and that some places seem almost afraid of it.’

  ‘I am not sure that I like the sound of this jitterbug,’ Marion said with a wry smile. ‘Maybe I should come with you as a chaperone.’

  ‘Mom! Sarah cried. ‘Mary Ellen and Siobhan want to go too, and Aunt Polly don’t mind.’ She made a face and then went on, ‘Orla played it up to come too, but Aunt Polly said no. I mean, she ain’t fourteen yet.’

  Marion hid her smile at her daughter’s indignation, speaking as she was from the lofty age of fifteen herself, with Mary Ellen and Siobhan seventeen and fifteen, but she made no mention of that. What she did say was, ‘I was joking, Sarah. The time is past when I would be afraid of a dance. It’s probably just a bit too lively for a lot of us old ones. I think you get little enough enjoyment in your lives at the moment and you’re only young the once.’

  And so every Wednesday evening, just before seven, the girls would be seen scurrying up Albert Road to their dancing class. Often at the weekend they would practise what they’d learned that week. They even got Richard up a time or two to partner one of them and didn’t seem to care a jot about his two left feet.

  This was the part that Richard liked best because he was very attracted to Violet, and had been almost as soon as she had come to live with them. He knew she thought of him as a young boy, but as he grew older his feelings for her grew stronger and he inveigled his way to sit by her as often as possible and was always asking her opinion on things. In fact, one of the reasons he had been so upset about not having a uniform for the Home Guard straight away was his need to impress Violet. One of his workmates, far more skilled than Richard about the opposite sex and matters of the heart, had assured him that women went a bundle for any man in uniform.

  However, he had a uniform now and he had to admit that it had made little difference. Not that Violet was unkind or anything; it was more that she was disinterested. In fact, Violet was well aware of Richard’s preoccupation with her and his lovesick eyes following her everywhere, and so was Peggy, and they had laughed about it, though gently.

  ‘The point is,’ Violet said to Peggy one day, ‘he is sweet and I do like him, but not in the way he wants me to like him.’

  ‘I think it could become quite awkward, anyway,’ Peggy said. ‘What if you did become emotionally entangled and then had a fallout or something. It could make living with the family really difficult.’

  ‘I know, but as I said, I don’t feel that way about him anyway.’

  ‘I think it’s best not to get involved anyway till the war is over,’ Peggy said. ‘Look at those pilots we met and were quite keen on. Both of them died in the Battle of Britain.’

  ‘Yeah, and we might never have known if one of their friends hadn’t seen us waiting for them outside the Globe and told us,’ Violet said. ‘Bloody shame it was as well. They were really nice, and so young.’

  ‘All the pilots were young,’ Peggy said. ‘Good job we didn’t get really attached. I’m not letting myself get tangled up with anyone again till this blessed war comes to an end.’

  ‘I think I’ll tell Richard that,’ Violet said. ‘It will let him down gently.’

  So when Richard plucked up the courage to ask Violet if she wanted to go to the pictures, she said, ‘I’d love to Richard. We all would.’

  That wasn’t at all what Richard had in mind. ‘I meant you and me on our own,’ he said. ‘Or do you think I’m too young?’

>   ‘It isn’t that, Richard,’ Violet said. ‘It’s nothing to do with you at all. I do like you very much, but I just don’t want to get serious with anyone at the moment. I have seen the heartache some of the girls at work have suffered. Anyway, your mother might not like us to go out together as we live in the same house and everything.’ Then she caught sight of Richard’s crestfallen face and added, ‘I’m sorry.’

  Richard was bitterly disappointed, but he knew that Violet’s reasons for refusing him had been valid ones and so when she said, ‘We can still go to the pictures, though. Rebecca is showing at the Globe. It’s Alfred Hitchcock so we girls might need a big strapping man with us in case we get scared,’ even he had to smile.

  ‘You lot don’t scare easy,’ he said. ‘But I might as well, I suppose.’

  The film was good and they all enjoyed it, though it was not the date Richard had envisaged. Often at weekends Mary Ellen and Siobhan would come down to practise dancing, and they would all get Richard up to partner them, so he sometimes got to hold Violet tight in his arms. There was always a lot of fun and laughter at these sessions and Marion found the dancing quite entertaining to watch, though she marvelled at the energy they all had. The jitterbug in particular was very invigorating and fun, and she could quite see why the young girls would enjoy it so much.

  There were air raids over the next few months but they were light and weeks apart, and none came near Aston. Marion became more hopeful that the raids were petering out, especially as the days passed and the grey low clouds and the icy blasts of winter were being replaced by clearer skies and spring sunshine. Everyone was looking forward to Easter and, after that, Tony’s eleventh birthday, and so when the sirens rang out again on Wednesday 9 April, in Holy Week, everyone thought it would be another short, sharp skirmish.

  It was half-past nine, but the children hadn’t been in bed long because it was the Easter holidays, and Marion was tempted not to rouse them. The last few raids had been so slight and sporadic there had been little point in going to the cellar.

  When she suggested staying where they were, though, Richard frowned. ‘I don’t know, Mom,’ he said. ‘Listen to the drone in the sky.’

  Marion listened to the rumble getting louder every minute and she shivered as Richard said, ‘I don’t think it’s worth taking a chance. Anyroad, didn’t you say you promised Dad?’

  Marion had. She looked at Sarah, Peggy and Violet. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Well,’ Peggy said, ‘I’ve no desire to go down to the cellar, but as Richard said, maybe it’s best not to take chances.’

  ‘Yeah, I feel the same,’ Violet said. ‘Anyroad, if it is a short sharp one like the last few we will be back here in no time.’

  ‘And a promise is a promise,’ Sarah said.

  Marion gave a groan and got to her feet. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘You’ve convinced me. Sarah, will you see to the twins, and, Richard, can you see that Tony is up and carry the blankets down for me?’

  ‘Yes, ‘Richard said. ‘That’s no problem, but get a move on. There certainly seem more planes than there have been in the last few raids.’

  The children grumbled initially, but when they heard the first crashes the twins at least were anxious to get underground where the frightening sounds would be somewhat muffled. Tony was trying very hard to be brave, especially as Richard said before he left, ‘All right, Tony it’s up to you now. Remember you’ll be man of the house once I enlist so you take care of everyone down here.’

  Tony felt puffed up with pride. Richard had told him that before, and it had made Tony feel a bit scared but also excited. After all, he was very shortly going to be eleven and not a baby any more, so when Richard said, ‘Think you can do that?’ he said with all the assurance he could muster, ‘Course I can.’

  Tony took the other blankets from Richard as he spoke and then with a cheeky grin said, ‘Best get yourself away if you’re going.’

  Richard smiled as he cuffed his young brother lightly around the head. ‘I am going, so you all look after yourselves.’

  ‘Who is he talking to, anyroad?’ Marion said as the door closed behind her elder son. ‘He’s the one going out in the teeth of the raid, not us. We at least have a cellar to shelter in, and at least it’s not as cold down here as it has been.’

  ‘No,’ Violet agreed. ‘But there’s a sort of dampness in the air just the same.’

  ‘There is,’ Marion agreed as the first bomb blasts were heard. ‘I think I will light the paraffin stove anyway.’

  Everyone was all right at first. The planes seemed far enough away not to trouble them, and they played dominoes or chatted together. Then, as the droning rumble got nearer, Peggy opened her gramophone and wound it up, and soon the stirring music of Glenn Miller filled the cellar.

  The sounds of the raid almost overhead could still be plainly heard, though, and when there was one terrific explosion very close, Missie gave a yelp.

  ‘We are really safe in here, aren’t we?’ she asked her mother.

  Tony felt sorry for his young sister because he saw she was really scared and so before his mother could find an answer, he said, ‘Course we are. Have been so far, ain’t we? Anyroad, Dad always said we’d be as safe as houses in the cellar, dain’t he, Mom?’

  ‘He did,’ Marion said as confidently as she could. She realised now that this was no quick skirmish but another full-blown attack. She listened to the scream of the ever-descending bombs and the ack-ack guns barking into the sky, and she felt fear clutching at her as some bombs fell extremely close and shook the cellar walls.

  She tried to hide her fear from the others and instead delved into her shelter bag. She had a packet of biscuits she gave to the children to share and she poured tea for the adults with hands that shook.

  ‘I really did think we were over all this,’ Violet said.

  ‘And me,’ Sarah agreed. ‘It’s awful isn’t it? Just as you start to relax it starts all over again.’

  ‘Oh God, I hope you’re wrong about that,’ Peggy said. ‘I’d hate to think that this is the forerunner of another blitz.’

  ‘So would I,’ Marion said. ‘And there’s no way of knowing. We’ll just have to wait and see, though it’s nerve-racking waiting for the sirens to wail out night after night.’

  ‘Richard said some of the lads he works with listen to someone called Lord Haw-Haw,’ Tony said. ‘And he says what’s going to happen sometimes. He don’t do it in a nice way or anything, though. Richard said he’s horrible.’

  ‘He is, Tony, and a traitor. He takes pleasure in terrorising people, prophesying what the Luftwaffe have planned next. I would never listen to him on principle.’

  ‘Quite right too,’ Peggy said. ‘People aren’t supposed to listen to him, anyroad.’

  ‘I don’t see why anyone does,’ Sarah said. ‘I don’t think it will do morale any good. I mean, through all these raids and everything we’ve got to keep thinking that we’re going to win this war, and from what Richard told me this Lord Haw-Haw doesn’t help.’

  There was a sudden shattering explosion right beside them. The cellar walls shook and Marion saw mortar dribble out from a few of the bricks. The adults looked at other in sudden fear and the children’s eyes looked as if they were on stalks.

  ‘God, that was close,’ Peggy said.

  ‘Yes,’ Marion said, and to Tony and the twins: ‘You must be worn out. It would be better if you could sleep for a wee while.’

  ‘I don’t think I could sleep,’ Magda said. ‘It’s too scary and noisy.’

  ‘I couldn’t either,’ Tony said. ‘Them planes are all round us, and above us and everything.’ Peggy packed the gramophone away as she said, ‘I wonder if them ack-ack guns ever shoot any of them planes down. It doesn’t seem to make any impression on them.’

  ‘Maybe it’s just done to make us feel better,’ Tony said. ‘Like fighting back, you know.’

  ‘It doesn’t make me feel any better,’ Missie said.

>   ‘Come on,’ Marion urged. ‘Let’s sit on the settee together and I’ll read you a story.’

  Marion had a big book of bedtime stories that Bill had bought when he had been home, and with the twins either side of her and Tony sitting cross-legged on the mattress, Marion began to read. Snuggling against their mother, with the lateness of the hour and her soothing voice, the twins soon grew very drowsy. Three loud bombs dropped in quick succession and very close jerked them awake.

  Then Magda sat upright and said, ‘What’s that pong?’

  Marion sniffed too and she knew what it was straight away. ‘Gas!’ she cried. ‘Get out, quick.’ She knew it was better to take their chance outside, even in the raid, because gas was a certain killer.

  They all knew speed was essential and were soon pounding up the cellar steps, Marion behind them all. She was almost at the top when she remembered the lit paraffin stove. She knew when the cellar filled up with enough gas it would cause a massive explosion. She would be all right for a few minutes, as long as she could hold her breath, she told herself as she turned without a word to the others and began to go back down the steps.

  Tony had been directly in front of his mother and the only one to be aware of what she had done. He opened his mouth to tell Sarah or one of the others but then he shut it again. He knew Richard wouldn’t have let his mother return to a gas-filled cellar all alone and he had charged him that night to look after them all and so he followed her. By the time he had reached the bottom of the steps Marion had sprung across the room and turned off the tap of the stove. Her lungs felt as if they were bursting and she knew she had to get up the steps quickly, but as she turned she saw Tony and she felt fear grip her as he opened his mouth and said, ‘What’re you doing?’

  Marion let out the breath she had been holding and cried in alarm, ‘Get out of here, quick. Run! Go on!’

  She saw Tony put his hand to his head and begin to cough and retch as poisonous fumes filled his lungs. He swayed on the steps and she fought to reach him through cloying blackness as she too began to cough and splutter, stinging water streaming from her eyes.