Turn Left at the Daffodils. Elizabeth Elgin

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СКАЧАТЬ was lost to him then in the darkness but he heard her laugh as she climbed aboard. Then he said her name softly as if it were a talisman. ‘Nan. Nan Morrissey. And you take care too, darling girl…’

      When the blackout curtains had been drawn at Southgate Lodge and the lights switched on and door bolts pushed home, Carrie said, ‘A smashing dance, eh? Great band.’ ‘Plenty of partners,’ Evie beamed, ‘though someone not two feet from me got herself an admirer, or I’m very much mistaken. Well, come on then Morrissey – tell!’

      ‘Ar. He’s luvley.’ Nan took off her tie and collar then unfastened her shirt buttons, eager to tell them about the sergeant who was a navigator in a Wellington bomber. ‘But he can’t dance, see, so I offered. He’s very light on his feet so he’ll be all right, with a bit more practice.’

      ‘You’re going to see him again, Nan?’ ‘Hope so. He gave me the aerodrome number so I can ring him in the sergeants’ mess. I couldn’t tell him what our NAAFI number was, so I’ll give it to him, when I ring. He’s called Charles Lawson by the way, and he talks real luvely. Y’know – like a frewt.’

      ‘Like a what,’ asked Carrie who was winding her hair into pincurls.

      ‘A frewt. FRUIT.’ She spelled it out. ‘Posh, like…’

      ‘I see.’ Gravely, Carrie logged up yet another Liverpudlian word.

      ‘Mind, I don’t call him Charles ’cause it doesn’t suit him. The fellers in his mess call him Charlie, but that doesn’t suit him, either. So it’s Chas. Mind, he blushes and stammers something awful when he talks to girls but he was all right, once him and me got to know each other. He kissed me goodnight and oh, hecky thump! I need to go down the garden! Anybody coming?’ She pulled her greatcoat over her pyjamas and pushed her feet into her slippers.

      ‘Not me,’ Evie grinned.

      ‘Nor me, but leave the back door open so we can hear you scream!’ Carrie teased. ‘Oh, for goodness sake! Take the torch. You’ll be all right.’

      Nan stuck her nose in the air, closed the bedroom door behind her, switched off the kitchen light, then opened the outside door.

      Around her, all was stillness, then she blinked her eyes and made her way down the garden path. And of course she was all right! She put Cecilia from her mind and thought instead of Chas, who was lovely and talked posh – and who wanted to see her again.

      ‘Aaah,’ she sighed softly into the night, wondering if Chas was thinking about her. She hoped he was.

      ‘You mustn’t tease Nan,’ Evie scolded, putting on her pyjamas. ‘She’s only a kid, remember, and it’s up to us to look after her.’

      ‘She’ll be all right,’ Carrie laughed. ‘She’s in such a state of bemusement that I don’t think she’d notice if she fell over the nun! She’s real taken with the airman.’

      ‘I think so, too. After all, I don’t think she’s had many goodnight kisses! I hope, when she rings him, he’ll ask her out.’

      ‘I think he will. More to the point, though,’ Carrie frowned, ‘Nan works shifts, so every other night won’t be on – and Chas flies bombing ops. Fixing dates might be a bit awkward. But did you enjoy tonight, Evie? Got plenty of partners, didn’t we?’

      ‘Mm. It was good, getting out again. We’ll have to try to arrange a trip to Lincoln.’

      ‘I could drive, if Freddy’ll let me take the pickup. Or maybe Norm would take us, and we could hitch a lift back.’

      ‘I’ll have a word with the sergeant. Next Saturday it’ll have to be – when we finish shift at two. And hi! You all right?’ she asked of Nan. ‘Locked the back door?’

      ‘Yes, I have. And was you talkin’ about me?’

      ‘We were,’ Evie said frankly. ‘We said we thought your airman was very nice, and we were talking ways and means about getting to Lincoln next Saturday so bear it in mind, when you’re fixing a date with your Chas.’

      ‘Mm. I will. Mind, he might not be able to get out, though I’d still like to go to town. Maybe,’ she said almost nonchalantly, ‘see if I can find a shop that’s got a lipstick under the counter.’

      Carrie’s eyes met Evie’s. Carrie winked slowly, saying not a word, and Evie bit her lip on a smile. Nan looking for a lipstick? So she had fallen for the airman, bless the girl. Then she hoped with all her heart that Nan wasn’t storing up heartache because fliers had a habit of not coming back from ops.

      ‘Think I’ll go on a lipstick hunt, too,’ Evie said. ‘And I wouldn’t mind a jar of cold cream, either – or a tin of Nivea.’ And she mustn’t think about Nan’s young man not coming back from night raids over Germany. Not ever! Absently, she closed her eyes and fondled her wedding ring.

       Take care Bob darling, wherever you are and God, if you could, take care of Nan’s Chas and Carrie’s Jeffrey. And oh, damn and blast this war!

      Six

      Letters for Southgate Lodge; four for Evie – redirected – one for Nan, and three for Carrie.

      ‘It won’t be long,’ Evie smiled, ‘before they come to me, here. Bob should have my new address by now. Mm. Don’t know whether to gobble them up, now, or to save them for when I come off shift tonight – read them before I go to sleep.’

      ‘Bet you can’t save them that long,’ Carrie laughed, opening the letter she knew to be from Jeffrey’s mother.

      My dear Caroline,

      News is very thin on the ground, here in Nether Hutton. The days grow shorter and the swallows are twittering on the telephone lines, ready to fly away. Taking summer with them, I suppose.

      I called on your mother, yesterday. She seems very low and the dreadful cough she seems not able to throw off is not helping. But don’t worry. I will keep an eye on her for you

      I hope soon to hear from Jeffrey and that he has got a ship. He seems very restless, in barracks. I do so hope you will be able to marry on his next leave.

      ‘Jeffrey’s mother,’ Caroline said to no one in particular, ‘says mother is depressed and can’t seem to get rid of her cold. She didn’t tell me she had one.’

      ‘Mothers never do,’ Evie soothed. ‘And isn’t that a letter from Jeffrey?’

      ‘Mm. It’ll be his new address.’ The envelope carried the red stamp of the censor. She slit it with her thumb and pulled out a single sheet of notepaper.

      Darling Carrie,

      My new address is Communications Mess, HMS Adventurer c/o GPO London.

      When I was in barracks I had a photograph taken in uniform. Have you got it, yet?

      In haste. Write back at once. Love you,

      ‘Jeffrey’s sent a photograph.’ More carefully Carrie opened the brown manila envelope with PLEASE DO NOT BEND written large on top. ‘Mm. Not bad. Looks СКАЧАТЬ