Turn Left at the Daffodils. Elizabeth Elgin

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СКАЧАТЬ face. ‘And it looks like every date we have will depend on that war, damn and blast it! And he mightn’t even be there, on Sunday. He could be flying ops!’

      ‘So you’ll walk all the way to the Black Bull, and he mightn’t show – then walk all the way back? And it’s getting dark earlier now, Nan.’

      ‘It’s all I can do. If they suddenly tell them they’re off bombing, he can’t give me a quick ring, can he? Their switchboard shuts down. No calls out and no calls allowed in. Security, see?’

      ‘Oh, Nan Morrissey! Your love affair is going to be as complicated as mine,’ Carrie laughed. ‘You and Chas and me and Jeffrey trying to get together, I mean. But if Chas shows on Sunday, surely he’ll walk you home?’

      ‘Of course he will. Suppose, if I’d told him how to get here, he’d have met me at Priest’s. I was just so glad to be talkin’ to him that I didn’t think. But don’t worry about me, Carrie. I’m a big girl, now.’

      ‘Mm. Old enough to take the King’s shilling so I reckon you’re grown up enough to go on dates without Evie and me watching over you like mother hens. Sorry, love.’

      ‘Don’t be sorry, Carrie. I like being fussed over. It’s nice when somebody cares about you – honest it is. And I’m going to give this place a good turn out, so you’d better get yourself back to the stab-leyard. And if you see Evie in the washroom, tell her not to hurry back.’

      She wanted Southgate to herself, Nan thought; wanted to think about and sigh over Chas. And if it meant getting into her horrible brown overall and sweeping and mopping and dusting the place, then it would be worth it, because Chas was very nice to think about, and sigh over. And oh, please, let him be there at seven tomorrow night, and not flying into danger in a bomber?

      ‘I’m pushing off now to get some supper,’ Sergeant James said to Evie. ‘There isn’t a lot of traffic – you can manage without me, Turner, till the end of the shift.’ It was more of an order than a question. ‘I’ll be back before ten, to hand over to the night man.’

      ‘We’ll be fine,’ Evie smiled, wondering how much longer Sergeant James could keep up her long working day – six in the morning until ten at night, with only breaks for meals. Soon, maybe, she should talk about her having more time off. After all, Evie reasoned, she did have a stripe up and more than able to cope with anything the people behind the green baize door might throw at her. ‘See you about ten.’

      ‘So you’re in charge,’ Nan said when the sergeant had left for the cookhouse.

      ‘Yes I am, and since you don’t seem busy, how about putting the kettle on?’

      Maybe then, Evie thought, they could have a chat about tomorrow night, and was Nan really thinking of walking the mile back alone, if her boyfriend didn’t show up, and to keep to the side of the road if she heard anything coming and not stick her thumb out for a lift. That was just asking for an accident. Things like that happened all the time in the blackout with motors only allowed dim lights to drive on.

      She stared at the switchboard and thought, soberly, that soon they would have dark nights to endure; blackouts to be in place, in November, by late afternoon, and not one glimmer of light to be shown until next morning. Not even the lighting of a cigarette, out doors. And then there would be winter, and freezing billets and frost patterns on the insides of windows. It made her wonder if they dare light a fire at Southgate and if, on moonlit nights or nights bright with stars, anyone would notice the smoke puffing from the chimney.

      ‘Y’know,’ she said absently, ‘I was thinking that when the cold weather comes and we’re on late shift, we could boil up the kettle and fill our hot-water bottles.’

      And Nan said it would be a good idea, but she didn’t have a hot-water bottle and surely Evie knew there were none in the shops, now that rubber was a commodity of war, and anything made from it non-existent, almost.

      ‘Well, next time I go on leave I shall bring mine – and the little camping stove and kettle. I’m not looking forward to winter, Nan.’

      ‘Who is?’ Nan blew on her tea. ‘But what I’m more worried about is tomorrow night – that Chas will be able to make it, I mean.’

      ‘Yes – but if he doesn’t, you will be careful walking home on your own?’ Evie seized the opportunity. ‘Keep to the side of the road, because it’ll be getting dark, don’t forget.’

      ‘Don’t worry – I will. But I don’t even want to think that he mightn’t be there.’

      ‘You’re very taken with him, aren’t you Nan?’

      ‘We-e-ll, he is the first feller that’s asked me out. And he’s not a bit common and he talks luv’ly. He’ll be smashin’ when I’ve taught him to dance. He gets a bit scared talking to girls, so he’s never plucked up the courage.’

      ‘But he asked you!’

      ‘Nah! It was me asked him. I told him that if he didn’t get up on the floor with me, then some other feller would ask me – and I wanted to dance with him.’

      ‘Nothing if not direct,’ Evie laughed.

      ‘It’s the way us Liverpudlians are. Straight to the point. No messin’. I had a great time.’

      ‘I know. I was there, don’t forget! But you will be careful, Nan? You know what I mean?’

      ‘I think I do. And don’t worry. I didn’t come down with the last fall of snow, you know!’

      And now they were back to snow again, Evie thought. And winter and sleeping with your undies under your pillow, to keep them warm.

      ‘I wonder,’ she said, ‘when Sergeant James will get the leave-roster going? I’m not due leave for two months yet, but you and Carrie and the two at Priest’s should be thinking about it before so very much longer.’

      ‘They told us when we first joined that leave was a privilege and not a God-given right.’

      ‘Yes, but you always get it, Nan. They like to throw rules and regulations at you, just to show you who’s boss. And someone,’ she grinned as a small round disc dropped, ‘is alive and kicking at the big house. Thought they must have gone into town tonight, to the flicks.’

      She picked up a plug, pushed it in and said, ‘Switchboard.’

      And Nan hugged her mug which was thick and white and shaped like a chamber pot and willed one of her teleprinters to shift itself and click out a signal.

      ‘I think,’ Evie said, ‘that it’s going to be one of those nights. There are times, I’ve found, when the war seems to take a breather for some peculiar reason. Ah, well, roll on ten o’clock…’

      At ten minutes to ten, the green baize door opened and the Yeoman said, ‘Evening, ladies.’ He was dressed in his usual night rig and carried a notepad and pen, his tin-lid ashtray and a packet of cigarettes. ‘Busy?’

      ‘Nah. Boring, actually,’ Nan shrugged. ‘In fact, we decided that most of your lot must be out on the town, it bein’ Sat’day night. Packed up for the weekend, have they?’

      ‘Wouldn’t СКАЧАТЬ