by Katie Flynn
Gwen did as she was told then crouched down beside Wally as he located the cat and placed his hands around her, his expression turning from one of delight to one of apprehension. ‘What’s wrong?’ said Gwen.
Shaking his head, he pulled the limp body out into the open air. ‘Poor beggar, she must’ve been half starved before she even give birth. I reckon it were a miracle she managed to do that, given the state of her.’ He smoothed the fur down on the lifeless body.
‘What’s happening?’ Ellie called up from below.
‘C’mon, we’d best go and explain,’ Gwen said. She held out a hand to steady Wally as he descended the loose bricks with his pitiful burden.
One look at the cat was all it took. ‘Oh, the poor, poor thing,’ Ellie said, her bottom lip beginning to quiver. ‘They shouldn’t have to suffer because of a world at war. It’s not right.’ She cuddled the kitten in her arms close to her cheek. ‘I know what it’s like to lose your mam, but don’t you worry. We’re goin’ to take good care of you.’ She looked hopefully at Wally and Mr Rogers. ‘Please say you can take at least one of the kittens home with you? I’m sure we can take this one back to the barracks, but there’s no way they’ll accept three!’
Wally held out his hands to the kitten in Gwen’s arms, but Mr Rogers coughed uneasily. ‘I’m too old to take on a pet, queen. Besides, it’s not my ’ouse. I would otherwise …’
Wally took the third kitten from him and held one in each hand. ‘Me mam loves cats, and black ’uns is meant to be lucky. She’ll not say no.’
Ellie grinned. ‘You’re a star, Walter Redfern, and your mam’s an angel!’ Standing on tiptoe she kissed his bristly cheek. ‘There’s not many with a heart as big as yours.’ She brushed her lips over the top of the kitten’s fluffy head. ‘We’d best be off and get this one some milk and summat to eat.’ She turned to Mr Rogers. ‘Give my best to Mrs Rogers.’
The old man nodded gravely. ‘I will. You girls take care of yourselves. It’s a dangerous job you’re doin’ and we’re grateful.’ He ruffled the top of the little kitten’s head. ‘Youse a good gel, Ellie Lancton. You’ve done your mam proud.’
Chapter Eight
‘Ellie! How are you? Did you manage to see my parents? Are they all right?’ Arla’s voice came anxiously down the telephone.
‘Yes, they’re both fine. A bit shaken, but that’s understandable. Your dad said he was one of the people who attended a fire in a house a few streets down from yours. He reckoned the flames were twice as high as the roof. Good job there was no one in when it happened.’
Arla sighed with relief. ‘Thank goodness! When I spoke to them they tried to assure me they were both all right, but me mam sounded terrible. I s’pose it’s the trauma of all the fires an’ that.’
‘Everyone’s in the same boat, chuck. Even if you haven’t been bombed you know someone who has. I thought I’d check on Connor’s parents too whilst I was in the city, and even though they never got hit all the glass has come out of their windows so they’re all boarded up now. Mrs Murray said it’s good at night because they don’t have to worry about the blackout blinds, but it’s a pain during the day because they have to have the lights on all the time.’
‘I can’t tell you how good it is to know that you’re in Liverpool. I’d have been sick with worry if it weren’t for you. Thank you so much for checking on them. I know they’re more than capable of looking after themselves, but Dad always says everything’s fine even when it isn’t, so you can’t take his word for anything.’ There was a moment’s pause before she spoke again, and this time her tone was tentative. ‘What’s the city like?’
Ellie froze. This was a question she had hoped her friend would not ask.
There was an impatient sigh from the other end of the phone. ‘Can you hear me? I said, what’s the city like?’
‘Surviving,’ Ellie said practically. ‘A lot’s been badly damaged, but they’re making the best of things.’
‘That’s the spirit of Liverpool, that is! God, I miss home. I should be able to get some leave soon. Are you going to be there for a while, do you think?’
Ellie smiled. ‘I hope so, but who knows for sure? It’d be great if you could come back. You could come to one of the dances at the camp. It’d be so good to see you after all this time.’
‘I’ll let you know when—’
‘Caller, your time …’ The tinny voice of the operator cut across Arla’s words.
Arla sighed impatiently. ‘I know, I know, my time is up, please replace the receiver. Ta-ra, Ellie. I’ll ask about leave and let you know. Love to all.’
‘And you’ was all Arla heard before the line went dead. Replacing the receiver, she sat down beside Archie.
He pushed a mug of tea towards her. ‘Everythin’ all right?’
Arla nodded. ‘Yes, although I’ll feel a lot better when I’ve been home for a visit.’
He raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘Did you tell her?’
She shook her head. ‘No, not over the phone. I told you, I want to see her reaction.’
‘She’ll be surprised, no doubt about that. I wish I could come with you, but I’ve not long been back.’ He paused. ‘Talk about good timing! Any later and I’d’ve been slap bang in the middle of it all.’ Leaning back in his seat, he glanced at the clock that hung above the doorway. ‘Drink up, they’re showin’ King Kong in a bit. It’s a good ’un is that.’
Arla nodded and raised the mug to her lips. She felt guilty about keeping her friend in the dark; she just hoped that no one spilled the beans before she got a chance to tell her in person.
‘It looks fine to me, and if it means you can fly, or walk without problems, I don’t see what all the fuss is about,’ Connor said plainly. He was turning Aidan’s special shoe over and over in his hands.
‘You try wearing it. The damn thing stands out like a sore thumb. At least when I was limping people assumed that I’d been hurt doing some heroic stunt or other, but with that thing on I just look … look …’
Handing the shoe back to his cousin, Connor arched his brows. ‘Like you haven’t got a limp?’
‘You know damned well what I’m on about, Connor Murray, so stop playin’ silly beggars. You saw those Waafs, all doe-eyed and fluttering lashes until they noticed this bloody thing.’ He dropped it before kicking it sharply underneath his bed. ‘It was a different kettle of fish then, wasn’t it? They couldn’t get past us quick enough; they didn’t even bother to salute.’
Connor averted his gaze to the forsaken shoe that could just be seen poking out from beneath his cousin’s bed. He had a very different perspective on the business with the Waafs, and knew the women hadn’t ignored Aidan. If anything it was the other way round. As soon as Aidan saw them approaching he hung his head and didn’t raise it again until they had passed by. Connor would have said as much, but he was only visiting for the day and could not see the point in causing an argument. He knew that when it came to the shoe, Aidan could be bloody-minded.
If it had been Connor, he would have happily accepted the shoe if it meant he would be taken on as a pilot. As it was, he had to settle for being a gunner. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he knew it didn’t get you the same kind of attention from females as pilot wings did. When he first donned his uniform, the women in the WAAF had regarded him with far more favour than when he had been training as an electrical engineer, but he did not kid himself: when push came to shove a pilot was treated by the women as some kind of god. He sat down on the bed opposite his cousin and tried a different approach. ‘I reckon it’s all in your imagination. You can hardly see it under your trousers and you know as well as I do that a lot of women can be intimidated by a man with ranking. Besides, you don’t have to wear it all the time, just when you’re flying. I really don’t see why you’re lettin’ it stop you from seein’—’
Interrupting, Aidan pointed an accusing finger at the shoe. ‘I wanted to impress Ellie with my new look, but how can I do
that if she sees me with that on?’
Connor wagged a reproving finger at his cousin. ‘You know Ellie’s not like that. She wouldn’t care if you had two peg legs as long as your heart’s in the right place.’
Aidan shook his head gloomily. ‘I know that what you’re saying is right, but you must see that there’re hundreds of pilots out there, all decent fellers, all with two legs which work fine, and none of them wearing some stupid, ugly, thick shoe just so that they can fly a kite.’
‘But they’re not you, are they? If you’re not the feller for Ellie it wouldn’t matter whether your legs were good or not, so I wouldn’t go fussing over summat you can’t do nothing about.’ Connor’s tone was becoming impatient. ‘You should try being me, I may have two good legs, but next to you and that uniform of yours I may as well be a ghost!’
Aidan chuckled. ‘I reckon the only reason you wanted to become a pilot was so that you could wear the uniform and pull the lasses.’
Connor grinned. ‘And I reckon that a good, kind, loving cousin would see fit to lend me that uniform, just so that I could try it out some time.’
‘Get out of it!’ Aidan spluttered. ‘Could you imagine the trouble we’d get into if I let you impersonate a pilot?’
Connor waggled his eyebrows menacingly. ‘Not half as much trouble as I could get into with the ladies, given half a chance.’
Aidan eyed his cousin shrewdly. ‘Fair enough, but on one condition.’
Connor’s jaw dropped and he nodded his head vigorously. ‘Anything, you name it.’
Picking up the shoe from under his bed, Aidan held it out to his cousin. ‘You have to wear this.’
‘Oh, very funny,’ Connor said dejectedly. ‘Who do you think I am? Cinderella? Just for starters, your feet are smaller than mine, so not only would I be walking with one leg longer than the other, I’d be in excruciating pain. I’d end up looking like Quasimodo, lurching around with me face all twisted up.’
Aidan roared with laughter at the image. ‘Don’t worry, Connor,’ he said as he fought for breath, ‘if she’s a really nice girl it won’t matter what you look like.’
‘Bagheera?’ Gwen said, her tone incredulous. ‘Like out of The Jungle Book?’
Nodding, Ellie stroked the top of the kitten’s head.
‘But Bagheera’s a huge panther, and he’s …’ Gwen pointed a finger at the kitten sitting on Ellie’s lap, ‘he’s nothing like that. My foot’s bigger than him, you can feel his ribs, an’ I’ve seen more fat on a butcher’s pencil.’
Ellie shrugged. ‘You saw the state of the place he was livin’ in. You’ve got to be a real little fighter to get out of that lot in one piece, and he was the only one who climbed out on his own, so he’s an adventurer.’
Gwen sat down beside Ellie. ‘My turn,’ she said, holding her hands out expectantly.
Ellie scooped Bagheera up and placed him gently on Gwen’s lap. When they had brought the kitten back to the barracks both girls had anticipated objections to his presence, if not from the other girls then certainly from Corporal Caldecott, who would have to be consulted on his proposed living quarters – an old cardboard box with a blanket, which would be kept under Ellie’s bed – but instead the new arrival had been welcomed with open arms by everyone, apart from Evie.
Having gone over to see why a group of girls had congregated around Ellie and Gwen’s beds, Evie had screwed up her nose. ‘He stinks of wee. You can’t possibly mean to keep him here? Not smelling like that! Look at him, he’s practically knockin’ on death’s door as it is.’ She shook her head decidedly. ‘Kindest thing you could do is have him put to sleep. Where on earth did you find him, anyway?’
Hoping to appeal to Evie’s better nature, Gwen told the story of Ellie’s bombed-out home and the rescue of the orphans.
‘Now it makes sense. Even court kittens are slummy little scrag-ends.’ Evie looked disdainfully down her nose at the small ball of fluff. ‘Still, at least there’s some good news, I suppose.’
Gwen frowned. ‘I thought you didn’t like him?’
Evie rolled her eyes impatiently. ‘I meant, that Jerry has started a slum clearance. It’s taken them two weeks to do what the government should’ve done years ago.’
‘That was Ellie’s home, you heartless bitch!’ Gwen said, her temper rising. ‘And I’ll tell you summat for nowt, I’d rather share this hut with a pee-soaked kitten than I would with you, Evie Maddox. After all, we can always bathe him to get rid of the smell, but when it comes to you—’
‘Is there a problem?’ Corporal Caldecott’s voice broke through the atmosphere like a knife.
Evie smiled maliciously at Gwen. ‘I’d call that a problem,’ she replied, pointing at Bagheera.
The circle of women dissipated like mist on a summer’s day, leaving Bagheera curled up on Gwen’s knee purring loudly whilst Ellie braced herself for the dressing-down.
‘Dear God, where on earth did you find such a squalid-looking creature?’
Taking a deep breath, Ellie tried to keep her explanation as short as she could, finishing with, ‘I couldn’t just leave him, and Mr Rogers is too old, and the warden took the other two.’
The corporal sat down on the bed opposite them and held out her hands. ‘May I?’
Kissing the top of Bagheera’s head, Gwen handed the tiny kitten over, adding as she did so, ‘We’ve called him Bagheera, after the black panther in The Jungle Book, because he’s a fighter.’
Caldecott rolled the kitten gently on to his back and placed a hand on his tummy. To Ellie’s dismay, he brought his little back feet up, kicking ferociously, and tired to sink his tiny pin teeth into the back of the corporal’s hand. Seeing the smirk of delight on Evie’s face, she leaned forward to take the kitten back, apologising profusely as she did so. ‘He’s never done that before. I’m terribly sorry …’
Caldecott laughed. ‘Not to worry, he’s only playing.’ She glanced at Ellie. ‘We used to have cats when I was little. Mine was a tabby called Tigger – of course – and my brother had a black one just like Bagheera, only he was called Sooty.’
Ellie smiled. It was the first time the corporal had ever spoken of her personal life. Caldecott rolled the kitten back on to his tummy and rubbed a finger under his chin. Closing his eyes, Bagheera purred with pleasure. She looked up at Ellie. ‘I gather you intend to keep him?’
Ellie looked at her hopefully. ‘Yes, but if he really can’t stay I thought I could take him to live on my friend’s farm. I’ve got a forty-eight coming up so I could take him with me when I go. But I thought it might be nice to keep him here, for morale.’
‘The rats’d have him for breakfast on a farm; he’s far too little.’ Raising her voice, Caldecott glanced around the barracks. ‘I take it there are no objections to Bagheera’s remaining here?’
All eyes turned to Evie, who flushed red but shook her head.
‘Good!’ The corporal turned back to Ellie. ‘I’ll go to the cookhouse and see if I can get him some cheese and milk, and whilst I’m there I’ll ask them if they’ve got any old roasting trays you can put some earth in for him to use as a sort of potty until he’s big enough to venture out.’
A noise escaped Evie’s lips, causing Caldecott to look in her direction. ‘Did you have something to add, Maddox?’
‘Just clearin’ my throat,’ Evie said sullenly.
Handing Bagheera back to Ellie, Caldecott stood up and walked over to Evie. ‘Sergeant Barton isn’t the only one round here who can make people’s lives easy or hard. I wouldn’t like to think you’ll be making trouble for our new mascot.’
Evie shook her head, but Ellie could see she was seething inside.
‘Good!’ said the corporal, and turned to leave the room, calling over her shoulder as she did so, ‘I’ll be back in a bit.’
‘She said he’s our mascot,’ squeaked Gwen. ‘There I was thinkin’ the poor bugger was in for the high jump, but instead she’s made him official, like one of us!’
E
vie was eyeing Bagheera disdainfully. She glanced frostily at Ellie. ‘Don’t let that flea-ridden, smelly creature near me or my things.’
Ellie smiled. It felt good to know that they had an ally in Caldecott. Perhaps Evie would start being a bit nicer now she knew they also had a friend in authority.
Wiggy scanned the letter before him, then handed it back. ‘I don’t understand.’
Aidan sighed. ‘I always thought that if I was going to arrange to meet Ellie I’d have liked it to be back at the farm, just like old times, but according to this she’s already there, although I reckon she’s probably been and gone and is back in Liverpool by now.’
Wiggy nodded. ‘Ah. Did she never tell you she was intending to go back to the farm for a visit?’
Aidan looked awkward. ‘She did say she was going, it’s just …’
Wiggy shook his head. ‘Pride comes before a fall, pal, and you’ve shot yerself in the foot. With both barrels, if you want my opinion.’
‘Well I don’t,’ Aidan said sullenly. He looked ruefully at the letter. Wiggy was right: he was making a right mess of things when it came to Ellie. She had written to him several weeks back informing him that she intended to visit the farm later on in the year, and how much she wished he could join her there, and how had he responded?
Dear Ellie, I don’t know what it’s like on a gun site, but being a flying officer I can’t just take off willy-nilly whenever the urge arises, so I’ll give it a miss if it’s all the same to you …
He had sounded like a condescending idiot. He looked resignedly at Wiggy. ‘I’ve been a bloody fool. After my last letter, I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t want to have anything to do with me, and what’s more I wouldn’t blame her, and all because I was worried she might find out about my flying shoe when it’s ten to one she already knows.’
