by Rosie Clarke
‘I’d have liked to work in a dress shop,’ Maureen said and yawned. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t let me bother you. I’ve been off duty and I have to change into my uniform. It was lovely meeting you, Maureen. I hope we get a chance to go out together soon… I think it’s nice to have friends…’
‘Me too…’ Maureen murmured and fell asleep before Pam could answer.
*
She was woken by a series of loud explosions. Shocked, Maureen glanced round the hut and saw that she was alone; she jumped out of bed and pulled on the clothes she’d worn the night before. As she left her hut, a string of young women were heading for the hospital. Like her, they’d pulled on used uniforms and looked less immaculate than their daytime selves. She rushed into the hospital but before she could even decide which way to go, a senior nurse directed her to a ward on the second floor.
‘We need to get all the patients who can move down to the shelters in the cellar,’ she said. ‘Go straight to Ward Seven and take your orders from whoever is in charge. The hospital has been hit on the top corner and several people have been hurt, but your job is to help move our patients.’
Maureen nodded, not hesitating. She knew the drill and even now she was hurrying up the stairs like so many others; lifts were out of bounds unless you had an injured patient. If you were young and strong you could walk.
When she got to the ward she could see that chunks of the ceiling had fallen, some of it onto the beds, even though it was the floor above that had taken the hit.
‘Nurse, help me get these patients into the lift and go with them down to the shelter.’
‘Yes, Sister.’
Maureen had no idea who she was obeying but for the next two hours she helped organise the movement of patients, some able to walk, others in chairs down to the cellars, and when their ward was clear, she was detailed to help care for those men who had been so rudely pulled from their beds in order to be rushed to safety.
Drinks, medicines and changing patients’ bandages took up the first hour and then, when the all-clear sounded, Maureen was drafted in to help change beds, clear up debris and get patients back to their beds.
‘You look dead on your feet,’ the senior nurse told her with a smile. ‘Stirling work! Get some sleep or you will never get to work this morning – and if you’re a little late tell your senior to ask me why…’
Maureen thanked her and then hesitated, ‘Have you heard what happened on the top floor, Sister?’
‘I understand a patient was killed and also a couple of nurses… you will be informed tomorrow, but I think one of them was a probationer like you…’
Maureen nodded, feeling anxious as she walked slowly down the stairs and out of the hospital. She’d just left and was making her way towards the accommodation huts when she heard Sally’s voice call to her and she stopped, waiting until she caught up.
‘Glad you’re all right,’ Sally said. ‘I heard a couple of nurses were killed as well as a patient and others were slightly injured…’
‘You don’t know who it was?’
‘No,’ Sally said. ‘I hoped it wasn’t you or Pam…’
‘I’m all right,’ Maureen said. ‘I just hope it wasn’t Pam…’
Chapter 5
‘It’s great, Mum,’ Pip Ashley said and dumped his kitbag on the kitchen floor. He laughed as she eyed the bulging bag. ‘Full of dirty washing, just like I promised. Honestly, I knew flying was what I wanted to do, but even in my dreams I didn’t know how good it would be once I went up.’
‘Are you flyin’ already?’ Peggy asked, because although he’d joined the RAF as soon as he was old enough, she’d expected he would be having lectures and taking the theory for ages yet, but the sparkle in her son’s dark eyes told her that she was wrong. His hair was cut very short and controlled with Brylcreem so that it no longer stood up at the front in a quiff or was waved. ‘You’re not flyin’ on your own yet?’
‘Not yet,’ he agreed, ‘but it won’t be long. We have to do so many hours with our trainer and then we get to go solo. I can’t wait…’
‘How many hours do you have to do before you’re considered a pilot?’
‘Oh, a lot,’ Pip said vaguely, picking up on her anxiety. ‘Don’t worry, Mum, it will probably be months before I get a pop at the Luftwaffe – more’s the pity.’
‘Don’t be in too much of a hurry, darling. Let your instructors teach you all you need to know before you start volunteering.’
‘It wouldn’t do me any good if I did,’ Pip said and kissed her cheek; squeezing her waist, he lifted her off her feet and laughed as she protested. ‘Light as a feather. How do you stay young and pretty, Mum? Got a picture in the attic?’
‘Idiot,’ she said, ‘Dorian Grey was a wicked evil man…’
‘Yeah,’ Pip grinned meaningfully. ‘Where’s Janet and my niece?’
‘They went shoppin’ for me,’ Peggy said and put a cup of coffee in front of him. It had been made with the last of the American beans and he smiled appreciatively as he sipped it.
‘Better than the muck they serve us at the base,’ he said. ‘Everyone drinks beer rather than the coffee and tea they serve up – unless we can get into the village. They’ve got a nice pub there, Mum, and the landlady serves food and a decent cuppa. She isn’t as good a cook as you, but it’s better than we get in the canteen.’
‘Do you want me to send you some food parcels?’ Peggy asked, but her son shook his head.
‘We’re all in the same boat, Mum,’ he said. ‘We exist on chips and bread a lot of the time, although the bacon sandwiches are fine. A girl comes in mornings and cooks the breakfasts and you can rarely get a table then, because she makes lovely eggs and bacon – and she’s a looker. Nearly as pretty as you.’
‘You won’t starve then,’ Peggy said and smiled at his flattery, thinking how grown-up her son sounded. A youth of eighteen had gone off to learn to fly and a man had returned. She could see a faint stubble on his cheeks and realised he was shaving regularly now; he was becoming an adult and would grow away from her as he became more confident in his new life, and yet she believed he would always come home.
‘Are you hungry?’
‘I wouldn’t say no to a slice of that apple pie,’ he said and finished his coffee, turning as the back door opened and Janet entered with Maggie in the pushchair. ‘Hi, Sis. You look frozen…’
‘It’s bitterly cold out there,’ Janet said and parked the pushchair close to the range without it being in her mother’s way. ‘The price of food is getting stupid. It’s a good thing the government brought in controls or they’d want two bob for a pound of sausages! I was tempted to buy some of the veggie ones for eight-pence a pound…’ She walked over and bent to aim a kiss at her brother’s ear and give him a hug round the shoulders. ‘How’s life in the RAF then?’
‘It’s great,’ he said. ‘One day you’ll have to come down and I’ll take you up for a spin…’
‘Do you think I’m mad?’ his sister derided with a grin. ‘I’m not takin’ my life in my hands. Maggie needs her mother.’
‘Cheek,’ Pip said but was unruffled by his sister’s mockery. ‘Mum’s not scared – are you?’
‘No, I’ll trust you, once you get your pilot’s licence,’ Peggy said and turned away to wink at Janet.
‘Letters…’ Nellie said and brought in a handful of envelopes, which had been delivered to the bar. Their usual postie had been off for a few days and Peggy was concerned because he’d been regular as clockwork for years and he hadn’t told her he was going on holiday. ‘One for you, Janet – and the others are yours, Peggy.’
Janet took her letter, glanced at the handwriting and slipped it in her pocket without a word. Peggy flicked through hers, realising that they were all circulars or bills, except for one, which she knew was from Laurie. It was the first time he’d written since Christmas and she wondered what had made him bother, because when they parted the situation between them had be
en distinctly cool. She decided to leave it for later. Nothing he had to say could truly interest her anymore. Their marriage was over and if it were not for the war she imagined she might even now be looking for a home and a job as a cook, because she didn’t think she could go back to the way it had been between them.
‘I’d better go and open up,’ she said. ‘If you want anything more to eat, Pip, your sister will cook it for you…’
She left them and went through to the bar, unlocking the front door and then going over to the bar to set up some clean glasses. They’d had three days when she’d had no beer to offer her customers, but the delivery had finally arrived and she was expecting a bit of a rush. Her regulars came whatever the situation, many of them drinking tea or a cup of coffee, and sometimes even Bovril if there was nothing else. They stopped for a bite to eat and a gossip, because life had to go on whatever the shortages, and then, when she put the notice in the window that beer was available again, she always got an influx of customers.
‘Morning, Peggy,’ one of her regulars put his head round the corner. ‘It’s a bit early, but I’ll have a half of bitter please. I’ve got a long day ahead and you might be sold out when I get back.’
‘I don’t think so, Bert,’ she said to the rather disreputable-looking man who entered. Dressed in a rusty black jacket, trousers held up with a piece of string, and heavy hobnailed boots, he ran a rag and bone yard just off Gun Street in Three Farthings Court, which consisted of three large derelict houses, in various stages of decay, and he’d managed to earn a good living before the war. She wasn’t sure how business was for him these days, but he always seemed busy. ‘I’m glad things are goin’ well for you…’
‘Not so bad, love,’ he said and grinned. ‘I’ve got an army of lads collecting scrap fer me and I reward ’em with chocolate bars. Me and the missus never eat sweets, so we save our rations and pay the kids in penny bars – sometimes ’ave to give ’em a copper or two extra if they’ve done well, but they like the chocolate best.’
‘What do they bring you?’ Peggy asked, but he tapped the side of his nose with his finger and shook his head.
‘All sorts,’ he said and chuckled to himself. ‘Anythin’ they can find – includin’ empty shells. One of the brats brought a live ’un the other day. I put it in a bucket of sand quick. Might have blown us all to kingdom come…’
Peggy frowned because that was dangerous and not a source of amusement in her opinion. The boy who had brought in the live ammunition could have killed himself and other people, but of course he would only have thought about the chocolate bar he’d been promised. ‘I hope you told him to be careful in future?’
‘Aye, I gave him a cuff round the ear and told him to make sure it was empty next time or to call the cops – that’s what I had to do and they brought the bomb squad out. Cost me a fortune in cups of tea to get it dealt with…’
Peggy nodded, but her customers were coming in faster now and she turned her attentions to their requests, mainly for beer, but sometimes for food and soup to keep out the cold. Ellie Morris was back at work in the hairdressers’ after a short honeymoon and looking down in the dumps because her new husband had returned to his unit and she was discovering that being married at seventeen wasn’t much fun when your man was in the Army. She ordered a cup of coffee and a slice of hot toast, taking it to sit in the corner alone.
No one was particularly cheerful because the news had been worrying for weeks, and the bitterly cold weather didn’t help. Peggy didn’t feel it so much herself, but Janet was always cold and she fussed over Maggie, wrapping her up and constantly anxious that her baby should not get a chill.
Nellie came through to the bar to give Peggy a hand with serving until the rush died down, and then did the washing up. She’d slipped into the habit of staying to eat with Peggy and sometimes brought in meat or eggs she’d managed to buy in the market. Peggy had refused to take her coupons, but Nellie insisted on contributing her share and she couldn’t refuse her friend, because she knew it meant a lot to her to stay with them for much of the day. Nellie found it lonely when she went home to her empty house and had talked about taking in a lodger of late.
‘Be careful who you choose,’ Peggy warned. ‘We’ve had one or two in the past I didn’t care for. Laurie could deal with them, but I wouldn’t want some of them now he isn’t there.’
‘I’m not sure what to do,’ Nellie told her. ‘A woman might be a bit of company at night, but I don’t know as I could share my home with a stranger. I certainly wouldn’t want a man I didn’t know.’
‘Well, I expect there are some lovely girls in the hospitals and the volunteers needin’ rooms,’ Peggy said. ‘Why don’t you get in touch with someone who places them in temporary accommodation? They wouldn’t want to stay on once the war is over…’
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ Nellie agreed and nodded to herself. ‘I might just do that…’
What Nellie really wanted was to have her son and daughter back home, but she knew it wasn’t likely to happen, because they’d both joined the forces when war became imminent, and she was obviously lonely at home now. She’d been a widow for a lot of years and it was unlikely she would marry again… Thinking about Nellie’s problems made Peggy remember the letter from her husband.
It was quiet in the bar once the first little rush was over and she took out his letter and read it through. He’d covered one small sheet and, although it was penned in a conciliatory tone, Peggy wasn’t sure what to make of it.
My Dear Peggy,
I just wanted to tell you that it’s over with her. I know that doesn’t make everything right, but I am sorry I hurt you. It’s war and all the stress of everything – but I’m not going to make excuses. I just hope that you can forgive me and try again. I may be home somewhere around Easter, but I can’t be sure because sometimes things get a bit manic here. I’ll let you know when I’m sure of leave – if you want me to come?
I meant it when I said I wanted to keep the family together, but I don’t expect you to forgive me just like that. Know that you are often in my thoughts and think of me with kindness if you can.
Affectionately yours, Laurie.
Peggy folded the single sheet, replaced it into its envelope and slipped it back into her pocket just as the door opened and a man walked into the bar. He came straight to her smiling and seeming to bring a breath of fresh air into the room. His eyes lit up when she smiled at him, and the eagerness in his face caught at her heart, making her feel like a giddy lamb in spring.
It was so long since Laurie had looked at her like that.
‘What can I get you, Able?’
‘A cup of coffee and some pie,’ he said. ‘I’m on duty, just waiting around until my colonel is ready to leave London.’
‘Are you going away?’ Peggy knew he must have seen her disappointment because he laughed softly.
‘Just for a couple of days…’ He hesitated, then, ‘When I get back – would you allow me to take you somewhere nice? I thought dinner and a show one evening, if you can get someone to take care of things here?’
Peggy drew a sharp breath because the invitation had caught her off-guard. Her heart raced and for a moment she felt as if she couldn’t breathe. It was on the tip of her tongue to deny him, because after all she was married – but then she realised that Laurie had let her down and betrayed her. Despite her husband’s conciliatory letter, there was no reason why she shouldn’t go out with this handsome man who made her feel so good about herself just with his smile.
‘My daughter would probably manage or I could ask a friend,’ Peggy said a little shyly. ‘Yes, I’m sure something could be arranged, thank you, Able.’
His smile was dazzling and her heart jumped, making her feel like a young girl on her first date. She was probably making a big mistake, but Laurie’s letter had confused and annoyed her. He seemed to think all he had to do was say sorry and she would forget that he’d broken the promises he’d made years
before on their wedding day. Saying sorry couldn’t heal the hurt he’d inflicted or give her back the trust she’d had in him.
‘That’s great, Peggy,’ Able said. ‘We’ve got a dance coming up at the Savoy next month – our officers are giving it for our British friends. Perhaps you could manage that as well?’
‘As long as the two events aren’t too close together,’ Peggy said. ‘It isn’t easy to find help I can trust, but I should love to come out with you sometimes…’
She felt a little surge of excitement, because in the midst of all the sorrow and worry there was a small spark of happiness beginning to grow inside her. Peggy didn’t know what she wanted or expected from the future and the way things were these days no one knew how much longer that future might be, but there was surely nothing wrong in taking the chance of a bit of fun? Laurie had apologised for hurting her, but she wasn’t sure she’d forgiven him. Besides, why shouldn’t she enjoy herself for a while? After all, Able hadn’t said anything about an affair, he just enjoyed her apple pie and wanted to take her out because he was a stranger in a foreign land… No, Peggy wasn’t going to pretend, there was every likelihood that she might end up making love with him, but somehow she didn’t feel in the least guilty at the thought.
*
Maggie was sleeping peacefully in her cot when Janet sat down on the edge of her bed and took out Ryan’s letter. It had given her quite a jolt when she saw the handwriting and knew it was his, because he’d said he wouldn’t be in touch unless she contacted him. Janet had battled to keep her thoughts straying in Ryan’s direction, because it confused her. She was in love with Mike and felt certain that if he’d been injured physically but was still aware of her, still the loving man she’d adored, she wouldn’t have even thought of straying. It was the rejection in his eyes when she’d told him that she loved him, explaining how they’d married and that they had a young child – that had stung her, and when he turned his head from her kiss and told her not to touch him, it had broken her heart.