A Sister’s Courage. Molly Green

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СКАЧАТЬ his head round to her.

      ‘Yes, thank you.’

      He nipped down and put his hand out to help her. Then in a flash he’d swung her bicycle out and set in on the ground.

      ‘I’m really grateful for the lift,’ Raine said.

      ‘Always glad to give a lift to a pretty maiden,’ he said as he doffed his cap. With another spring he was back in his seat and urging the horse forward.

      The minutes ticked by as Doug failed to appear. Raine glanced at her watch every few seconds, willing him to come. Five minutes passed, then ten, now fifteen – it was gone half past ten. She began to worry, hoping nothing had happened to him. She remembered the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled and her pulse quickened. Enough of that. She doubted he’d ever give her the time of day, though if he’d take her up again, he’d be her hero forever.

      Someone was loping towards the gate. The man came nearer but to her disappointment, she could see it wasn’t Doug. This man, about the same age, she guessed, was nowhere near as handsome. Still, he was smiling as he ran up to her.

      ‘Are you Raine?’ he asked as he removed his cap.

      She nodded.

      ‘Andy Strong.’ He paused and studied her. ‘You look like you’ve been in the wars.’

      Raine looked down at herself. She was splattered with mud. ‘I fell off my bike,’ she said, ‘and I can’t move the handlebars back.’

      Andy glanced at it. ‘Here, let me.’ He took hold of the bicycle and put his legs either side of the front wheel. Then he pulled hard on the handlebars until they were straight. ‘There you are,’ he said. ‘That ought to do it, though you should get that nut tightened up,’ he tapped it to show her, ‘as soon as you can.’ He felt in his jacket pocket. ‘Oh, nearly forgot the reason why I’m here. Doug gave me this to give to you.’ He handed her an envelope marked ‘Raine’ and a long squiggle underneath.

      ‘Thank you.’ Her heart beat hard as she ripped open the envelope and pulled out a small sheet of paper and read Doug’s scrawl.

       Raine, I’m most awfully sorry not to be there this morning as I’d hoped. But I’m definitely on for Saturday morning, same time, if you can be there. Do hope so. There’s a job going which I’m sure you could do. Doug

      She read it quickly again then folded the note and tucked it back into the envelope.

      ‘Any reply?’ Andy asked as he gave her a curious glance.

      ‘Yes,’ she said breathlessly, the words ‘there’s a job going’ running through her head, making her dizzy with excitement. ‘Yes. Please tell him I’ll be there.’

      ‘Roger.’ He set his cap back on and, giving her a cheerful wave, ambled off.

      She stood staring after him, happy that Doug hadn’t wanted to let her down. Something had turned up, but he hoped to see her again, maybe with some news. She’d discipline herself to be patient until Saturday. She’d even be patient with Maman. That was until she realised her mother would get hold of her as soon as she was home. Well, she’d go to the library, after all. Take her time. Then she wouldn’t have to tell any lie, and with a bit of luck, Maman would have forgotten all about cutting her hair.

      Raine propped her bicycle in the shed and walked nonchalantly through the door into the sitting room, carrying her library books, annoyed with herself for needing proof of where she’d been. Maybe Maman wouldn’t let rip as she usually did while her sisters were there.

      ‘I thought I told you—’ her mother started, leaping up from the chair by the fire.

      ‘I didn’t want to wake you,’ Raine said, trying to muster a concerned smile. ‘So Ronnie said she’d bring you a coffee and I could change my books.’

      ‘You will not go against my wishes again,’ her mother said as she stood before her. ‘Is that clear?’ She gave Raine a critical glare. ‘I have waited in to cut your hair.’

      ‘Maman, I’ll be eighteen in June. No longer a child. So please let me decide whether I want my hair cut or if I’d like to change my library books, or other normal things an adult chooses to do.’

      ‘Not while you are under my roof and not until you are twenty-one,’ her mother retorted.

      ‘Then perhaps the best thing for all of us would be for me to pack up and leave.’

      She heard Suzanne and Ronnie gasp.

      ‘You will do nothing of the kind.’ Her mother’s eyes flashed with anger. ‘But I will speak to your father when he is home about your insolence.’

      ‘What’s all this about not obeying your mother?’ Raine’s father asked her that evening when her sisters were in their rooms busy with their homework.

      Her mother had gone to visit a woman she’d met in the village baker’s who spoke French.

      Raine told him as briefly as possible about her weekly visits to the aerodrome, without mentioning she’d been up in a plane again.

      ‘One of the pilots, Doug White, said there might be a job going for me,’ she finished.

      ‘Doing what?’

      ‘Just general … something clerical, I expect.’ She didn’t want to use the word ‘dogsbody’ or her mother would have another fit.

      Her father paused to light his inevitable cigarette. Raine knew it was to give him time to think.

      ‘I believe this is something we don’t need to discuss with your mother,’ he said finally, taking in a deep drag of the cigarette. ‘But I’ll come with you on Saturday to meet this chap.’

      ‘Oh, Dad, don’t come with me,’ Raine said, horrified. ‘He’ll think I’m a complete baby.’

      ‘No, he won’t. If he’s genuine, he’ll know that I’m a concerned father who wants to make sure his daughter will be safe and happy … and not taken advantage of.’

      Her father and Doug got along as though they’d known each other for months instead of having just met. Doug took them to meet Flight Lieutenant Hartman, in one of the administration buildings, who asked Raine many questions about her school subjects and what she enjoyed. She tried to reply as intelligently as she could.

      ‘Hmm, you have impressive results for your School Certificate and your recent test,’ he said, folding the paper and handing it back to Raine. ‘But don’t you want to finish school? Take your Higher Certificate?’

      She shook her head.

      ‘I wish she would,’ her father said, to Raine’s exasperation. ‘And so does her mother. But she’s bent on getting her pilot’s licence, so she needs to work to pay for the lessons.

      Hartman looked straight at Raine. ‘Well, there’s nothing to stop you having flying lessons on the civilian side, but you know that as a female you’ll never fly with the RAF as a pilot, even if they form a women’s section.’

      ‘Yes, СКАЧАТЬ