The Cornish Girls. Betty Walker
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Название: The Cornish Girls
Автор: Betty Walker
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Сказки
Серия: The Cornish Girls
isbn: 9780008400293
isbn:
Since her mother’s death, she’d been brought up by her father, who was a military officer and often absent or too preoccupied to notice her. Eva loved him dearly, but instilling proper manners in his rebellious daughter had not been high on Daddy’s list of parental duties. And once war had been declared, and her father had been packed off to the back of beyond, somewhere down in Cornwall, she’d barely seen him.
Suddenly, the eerie, all-too-familiar whine of the air-raid siren rose above the swing music. The band stopped playing at once and began to pack away their instruments, and the singer slipped away backstage for her coat.
Once, the band might have carried on playing through the air raid, like the band on the Titanic was reputed to have done when the iceberg famously struck. But there’d been a near-miss the other week, completely demolishing a building a few doors away, and since then Walter had made the decision to call it a night whenever the sirens went off.
Eva jumped up too, straightening her skirt. ‘I’m sorry,’ she told the soldiers with genuine reluctance, for she did not often have a chance to talk to such interesting people, ‘but we have to head to the shelter now. It’s only a few hundred yards down the street. Will you come?’
She managed a smile, but could have screamed with frustration. They had been getting along so nicely. As far as she was concerned, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Drat those German bombers!
Flight Lieutenant Carmichael seemed to share her disappointment. But he was preoccupied, glancing doubtfully at his friends. ‘We should probably report back to base. It’s quite a drive away.’ He got up too, swiftly followed by the others. Around them, everybody was knocking back their drinks and filing towards the front entrance. ‘But I can walk you to the shelter first.’
‘Thank you.’
Outside on the dark London street, people were quickly making their way towards the shelter, some in dressing gowns and slippers, summoned from their beds by the siren. Above them, the night sky was lit up with criss-crossed searchlights and the frequent flash and crack of anti-aircraft guns.
Rather cheekily, Max took her hand as they hurried down the street together. Eva was surprised but decided not to pull away, even though it was a bit of a liberty for a man she had only just met. He had such an irresistible smile, after all.
But before they could reach the underground station where she had spent so many nights before, Eva heard the terrible whistle of a bomb descending.
‘Bomb incoming!’ someone shouted. ‘Run for the shelter!’
The whistle grew louder and louder as it hurtled towards the earth, almost directly overhead.
People started to scream and run all around her.
‘Quick!’ Max pushed her through the churning crowd towards the mouth of the underground station entrance, only a few feet ahead but packed with people. ‘You get to safety, honey.’
Eva protested and tried to turn around, but stumbled on her heels, pushed along by the crowd of hysterical club-goers on every side. She could hardly breathe, she was pressed in so tight. They were nearly there, nearly at the shelter.
Suddenly, she felt herself lifted off her feet as though flying …
Then everything went black.
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