Archie chuckled. ‘I was really asking you about me digging a hole for an Anderson shelter in the yard. I want to keep you, Shirley and Reggie safe, especially when I’m not here.’
‘Then you can ask Lil if you can put one in her backyard and we’ll share it.’
‘You’ll not get everyone in there. Not while Frank’s still here.’
‘How many folk do they hold?’ Edie was determined not to be outdone.
Archie wrinkled his brow as he studied the leaflet. ‘Well, if you pack ’em in like sardines, you can get four adults and four young children in. But in our case, there’d be too many grown-ups.’
Edie chewed her lip. ‘But we’re complying with the instruction that we should grow all the vegetables we can. I’m already losing all me flowers. Me sweet peas – everything – just so you can grow potatoes and carrots and the rest.’
‘I’ve let you keep your rose bush.’
‘I should think you have, an’ all. You planted that for me when Laurence was born. You were that thrilled to have a son.’ They smiled at each other as they remembered.
‘But to get back to the Anderson shelter—’
‘I don’t want one, Archie, and that’s final.’
‘But what about Reggie and Shirley?’
‘Reggie won’t be here, if you have your way about him being evacuated and Frank’ll no doubt be gone soon’ – there was a catch in her voice as she was forced to face the facts – ‘so there’d be plenty of room for the rest of us in Lil’s shelter, if she agrees to you putting one up in her backyard.’
‘Except when I’m home.’
Edie sniffed. ‘Which isn’t often, let’s face it.’
He sighed. ‘I’ll talk to Lil, then.’
‘You do that.’
And, as far as Edie was concerned, the matter was closed.
Lil was quite happy for Archie and Frank to dig up the strip of ground – it hardly warranted the title of ‘garden’ – in her backyard. She’d never been a gardener, though she intended to do her bit for the war effort by growing a few vegetables now. But when she stood watching the two men beginning to dig the huge hole, she understood Edie’s refusal to have one in her own backyard.
‘I’ll finish it, Dad, if you have to go back before we’re done.’
‘If you get down to water – and you’re likely to, lad – get in touch with the council. Harry’s digging one in their yard and he told me that they help towards concreting it. And don’t forget to cover the top with earth deep enough to grow vegetables. Your mam and Lil are going to keep that going when I’m not here.’
And so the Anderson shelter took shape in Lil’s backyard and was made as comfortable as possible. Edie sewed some old blankets together to make sleeping bags and together the two women collected ‘emergency’ rations and first-aid items.
‘I really don’t know what Archie wanted to do all this for. We haven’t even had any bombs.’
‘He’s just being cautious,’ Lil said. She was grateful for the help she’d received; she couldn’t have constructed such a shelter on her own.
‘We’d better make the most of Christmas this year, Edie,’ Lil warned. ‘They’re starting rationing in the New Year. Butter and bacon’ll be first, they say.’
‘I know,’ Edie nodded grimly, ‘but it’s sort of started already. There’s a lot of things you can’t get even now.’
‘I’ve made me Christmas cake,’ Lil said. ‘I had the ingredients put aside before the war started.’
‘And I’ve made the puddings.’
The two households always spent festive seasons – Christmas and Easter particularly – together and the two women pooled their resources; something that was going to be even more useful as the war progressed and shortages really began to bite.
It was a strange time, this first Christmas of the war. They couldn’t help but look back and remember what they’d been doing this time last year, and Edie and Lil looked back even further, recalling the Christmases of the Great War, and now here they were almost four months into another.
‘Well, we’re all still here apart from Laurence,’ Edie said, trying to make light of the fact that one of her brood – her eldest boy – would be missing from the celebrations. ‘Even Archie reckons he’ll be at home this year, but he’s due away on Boxing Day.’ Laurence was already somewhere in France with the BEF – the British Expeditionary Force. ‘But we’ll make the best of it. We couldn’t have bonfire night because of the blackout, they’re saying we won’t get Easter eggs, and it’s very doubtful we’ll be able to have summer holidays next year, so I’ll be blowed if they’re going to take Christmas away from us an’ all.’
‘Mind you,’ Lil said, ‘it’ll be very different. We can’t put a lit-up Christmas tree in the window like we usually do.’ The decorating and lighting up of their own tree in the front room had always been one of Lil’s favourite times; a time she spent just with her daughter, an intimate, private moment when she remembered Tom so poignantly and wished he could see what a lovely daughter they had. And now that little girl was a married woman and her husband was living with them. Not that Lil wasn’t enjoying having the young couple with her – they were great company. Frank had them both in stitches with his teasing and his jokes. And she had Irene to herself again when he was at sea.
‘You can still do your tree, Lil,’ Edie soothed, ‘but just mind your blackout’s tight, that’s all.’
That’s all! Lil thought mournfully. Christmas in complete blackness; it wasn’t her idea of the festive season. ‘And I expect the next thing’ll be they’ll be plastering anti-blast tape over the windows in all the shops and we won’t be able to see all the Christmassy things.’ That had always been another of Lil’s simple pleasures when she and Edie walked the full length of Freeman Street in early December ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ over all the wonderful displays.
So on Christmas Day they gathered around Edie’s table. Edie and Archie, who had docked on Christmas Eve, four of their five children, Jessie and Harry and, of course, Lil and Irene. It was a squeeze in Edie’s front room but that only seemed to add to the closeness of the Kelseys and their neighbours, who now really were part of the family. Edie realized she was luckier than many this first Christmas of the war. Scores of children had already been evacuated from the town and would not be at home for Christmas. The mere thought made Edie shudder.
Archie stood at the head of the table carving the roast pork. Edie and Lil had bought the biggest joint they could find between them. Lil had brought the stuffing, apple sauce and the vegetables and Edie had supplied the plum pudding and brandy sauce.
‘My, this smells good,’ Frank said. ‘I won’t want no tea.’
Edie smiled. If she knew her family, they’d be tucking into nuts, fruit and crystallized figs all afternoon – even the youngest Reggie – yet they’d still be asking for sandwiches at teatime. And Edie had even found a greengrocer with some oranges for sale, and she doubted there’d be many available in the future.
There was no hiding the fact that there’d be all sorts of changes soon. Frank – despite his age and being married now – would no doubt be called up eventually. Every day, Edie urged him to try to find a reserved occupation that would keep him safely at home. And Beth – they all wondered what Beth would do. She’d said very little, and there was a restlessness about her and she seemed to be putting off finding work locally. But at least she was still here. She hadn’t volunteered for one of the services or disappeared back to London, Edie comforted herself. At least, not yet.
Shirley seemed to be the only one whose plans for her future were settled. At the beginning of December, Irene had arranged for her to see Miss Townsend at Oldroyd’s and Shirley, with Beth’s guiding hand, had been quite presentable on the day of her interview.
‘You need to look your best, Shirl,’ Irene had said. ‘Miss Townsend is the one who hires and fires the women staff and she’s a stickler for a neat appearance.’
; As several of the older girls were now leaving the store to join the forces or to take up war work of some kind, Miss Townsend was desperate to fill the vacant posts with reliable young girls.
‘You haven’t left school yet, though, have you?’ The woman, dressed in a smart, yet serviceable costume, regarded the young girl over her spectacles.
‘No, Miss Townsend,’ Shirley said. ‘My mam would like me to stay on at least until the end of next summer.’
‘That sounds very sensible. Any employer will look favourably on someone who has stayed on at school a little longer. Education is never a waste of time.’
‘So – you would advise me to do that?’
Miss Townsend nodded. ‘I would.’ She was thoughtful for a moment and then she leaned forward, resting her arms on the desk. ‘But you are, of course, already the statutory school-leaving age, so there is something we could do. Would you be interested in working during the school holidays and perhaps on Saturdays in term time? That is usually our busiest day of the week. It would also ease you into the work very nicely if you still want to come to us full time next year. And,’ the woman smiled, acknowledging her own advantage in the idea, ‘we could see how you shape up too.’
‘I’d like that, Miss Townsend. I’d like that very much. Thank you.’
‘That’s settled, then,’ the personnel manager said, straightening up and shuffling a few papers on her desk. ‘You can start at the beginning of January. You’ll get thrown in at the deep end because that’s our traditional sale time, but I’ll mind I put you with one of our senior members of the sales staff, who’ll look after you.’
And so, Shirley was the happiest member of the family to sit down to Christmas dinner that day. ‘Let’s play charades this afternoon,’ she suggested.
‘I want to play with my new board game,’ Reggie said. ‘Snakes and Ladders.’
Reggie’s woolly stocking had been bulging when he woke up that morning, quite pulled out of shape with all the different presents: colouring books and paints, a whip and top, a small boat with white cotton sails, chocolate and, pushed into the toe, were three bright new pennies. He’d been a lucky boy – the family had spoiled him – but there was one gift he’d turned his nose up at – a gas mask container.
‘But I like charades,’ Shirley said. ‘We played it last year.’
Beth laughed. ‘We play it every year, Shirl. But don’t worry, we’ll have time to play everything.’
‘It’s a tradition that we play charades, isn’t it?’ Shirley persisted. ‘We don’t need to stop doing things just because there are no Christmas lights up this year and the blackout’ll have to go up before tea.’
Edie sighed as she glanced around her best parlour. That was another tradition; they always had Christmas dinner in the front room. Christmas Day and Easter Sunday were the only times they ate in this room, though it was used on other occasions, as it had been for the recent wedding. Now, coloured paper chains were looped across the room between the picture rails and a spindly artificial tree sat in one corner. They’d made the effort and yet there was not the same spirit in the room.
Something – and someone – was missing.
Word came from Laurence spasmodically. They knew he was somewhere in France by now and the news was bleak. And at home – just as Lil had warned – rationing began in January 1940.
‘How are we supposed to feed our families on this?’ Edie moaned to her friend as they spread out their ration books on the table and totted up just how much they could get each week.
‘It says here,’ Edie went on, reading from a piece of paper, ‘that meat is likely to be rationed next month but for the time being we don’t need coupons for brawn and sausages.’
‘Mebbe so, but what sort of rubbish will they put into sausages and the like?’ Lil muttered morosely.
‘They’ll feel the sharp end of my tongue, if they do,’ Edie said and then carried on with her reading aloud. ‘We can also get poultry, game – and fish. Oh well, that’s all right, then.’ She smiled. ‘We’ll be all right in Grimsby, won’t we?’
‘I read somewhere that even if you don’t need coupons, it’s going to be rationed on the basis of value.’
‘There’s got to be some sort of control, else people will start to hoard.’
‘It’s going to be an offence to do that, so I’ve heard.’
‘Quite right too,’ Edie said with asperity. ‘We’ve all got to pull together to get through this.’ Her face fell as she added, ‘I just hope my Laurence comes back safe and sound. I can’t help being selfish about that.’
‘Of course you can’t. By the way, what’s Shirley going to do when she leaves school this summer? I hear you’ve persuaded her to stay on until then.’
Edie laughed wryly. ‘Yes, we have – at least, Beth did – but it was a struggle. She’s a little madam, that one. I understand that it was Irene who tipped the balance, though.’
‘Was it?’ Lil raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s the first I’ve heard.’
‘Shirley wanted to leave school as soon as she could and Irene asked at Oldroyd’s if there were any jobs going. She had an interview with someone in December and they advised Shirley to stay on. But they offered for her to work Saturdays to see how she gets on. She starts this week.’ Edie gave a thoughtful sigh. ‘Funny, really, how life pans out, isn’t it? My mam would have given her eye teeth for me to have stayed on and taken exams. She wanted both me and Jessie to work in an office. She thought it would be a “nice” job.’
‘You’ve done a much better job, duck, raising a wonderful family,’ Lil reassured her.
‘Aye, but they’re all going to be leaving me now, one way or another, aren’t they?’ Edie said sadly.
Seven
Beth was still at home, but she was restless. The Forsters hadn’t asked her to go back to London yet, much to Edie’s relief but to Beth’s increasing agitation.
‘I must do something,’ she said, her warm, brown eyes troubled. ‘They’ll start conscripting single young women soon – I’m sure of it – and if I’m not careful, I’ll get drafted into something I don’t want to do.’
‘What do you want to do?’ Edie asked, though she feared the answer. She bent her head over her knitting as she sat beside the fire. Archie, on the opposite side of the hearth, was pretending to read the newspaper but his attention was divided. He was listening to Edie and Beth.
‘I don’t really know,’ Beth sighed. ‘That’s the trouble. I only know I must get involved. I can’t bear sitting about doing nothing.’
‘You could come down the WVS with me an’ Lil. They’re always glad of another pair of hands.’
Beth laughed. ‘No offence, Mam, but it’s hardly my scene, is it? A lot of old ladies knitting and gossiping.’
Behind his paper, Archie chuckled softly, but he said nothing whilst Beth stared into the fire thinking hard. At last, her mind made up, she said, ‘I’ll write to Alan and find out if there’s any work for me in London. The War Office, maybe. That’s where he is now. If not, I’ll look at one of the services and join up. I won’t wait for conscription – I’ll volunteer.’
Archie and Edie glanced at each other across the hearth, their hearts sinking.
‘I tell you what you could do, love,’ Archie said with seeming casualness, but the motive behind his suggestion was to try to keep his beloved Beth here at home for as long as possible. ‘You could ask your Uncle Harry to teach you to drive.’
Harry Charlton was the only one in the family to own a car. He’d always been generous and had often taken Edie’s children out in it for a Sunday afternoon drive to the seafront at Cleethorpes where they’d spend a happy afternoon building sandcastles on the beach or running in and out of the waves, shrieking with laughter at the cold water.
‘Do you think he’ll be able to spare the petrol for something like that?’ Beth asked doubtfully. Petrol rationing had started the previous September.
‘You can only ask, love,’ Archie
said mildly and returned to reading his newspaper, but the print blurred before his eyes. Had he done the right thing in suggesting she should learn to drive? Perhaps not, if it meant she might end up driving ambulances through the bombed streets of the capital.
But Harry was only too happy to teach his niece to drive.
‘I don’t use my car much and I’m thinking of taking it off the road while the war’s on, but before I do, we’ll get you driving.’
The two of them spent several happy hours bowling along the country lanes on the outskirts of Grimsby.
‘You’re a natural,’ he told her. ‘I’ve never seen anyone pick it up so quickly. Are you planning to volunteer? Is that it?’
‘I must do something, Uncle Harry. I’m bored to tears at home. Sorry, that sounds awful, but I am, and I thought driving might be useful. Actually, it was Dad who suggested it, but I think he’s right.’
Harry said nothing. Archie had had a quiet word with his brother-in-law and Harry knew the reasoning behind her father’s idea. But he wasn’t sure it was going to help; Beth wanted involvement and excitement and nothing and no one was going to stand in her way. Harry sighed inwardly. He loved all his nephews and nieces, but like Archie, he recognized that Beth was someone special – very special. He just hoped and prayed she would stay safe.
At the beginning of April, when the disturbing news came that Hitler had invaded Denmark and Norway, Irene, however, had a piece of good news.
‘Mam,’ she said shyly one morning. ‘I went to the doctor yesterday.’
‘Oh ducky, what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong, Mam. I’m going to have a baby, that’s all.’
Lil stared at her for a moment before hugging her and saying, ‘“All”, she says. “That’s all”, as if it isn’t the most marvellous news ever. Oh, wait till Edie hears this!’
‘D’you want to tell her, Mam? I don’t mind if you do.’
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