The FitzOsbornes at War

by Michelle Cooper

  ‘Was it made of fish?’ asked Henry.

  I stared at her. I honestly don’t understand how her brain works, most of the time.

  ‘What?’ she said to me. ‘It could have been made of sharkskin or something. Carlos loves fish.’

  ‘It was just ordinary grey felt, as far as I can recall,’ said Daniel. ‘I think he was upset that no one was paying attention to him. But when I went out into the courtyard to ask if he’d give it back, I got attacked by that giant rooster of yours. And then Rebecca appeared out of nowhere and started screaming at me for making too much noise and disturbing His Majesty’s afternoon rest.’

  ‘And you thought, What sort of crazy place is this?’ I suggested. ‘And wondered whether it was too late to run back to the boat and sail home.’

  ‘Not at all,’ he said, smiling at Veronica. ‘I could tell at once that I wasn’t ever going to be bored there. It seemed a very interesting place.’

  ‘It was,’ said Henry. ‘It is. And Daniel, did you know that we’re going back there, as soon as we win the war and get rid of the revolting Nazis? But in the meantime, our aunt is making me go to some horrible boarding school. Daniel, you didn’t have to go to boarding school, did you?’

  ‘I’m afraid I did,’ he said.

  ‘Afraid?’ repeated Henry, her eyes widening. ‘Why? What happened there?’

  ‘Oh, that’s just a figure of speech,’ he said. ‘Nothing happened, except for the usual sort of school . . . happenings.’ He was trying to read the non-verbal signals Veronica was sending him behind Henry’s back. ‘And . . . there was a lot of sport. Yes. Outdoor sports.’

  ‘Hmph,’ said Henry. ‘But you went to a boys’ school. You probably did exciting things like archery and hiking and cadets. Do you know what girls have to do at this school? Dancing lessons!’

  ‘Now, Henry,’ I said. ‘There’s also tennis and lacrosse and all sorts of outdoor activities. You’ll love that.’

  ‘I won’t love it, I’ll loathe it,’ she said. ‘I’m not allowed to take my fishing rod or any pets, not even a tortoise, and anyone who rides the school horses has to ride side-saddle, which is the stupidest thing ever invented.’

  ‘But remember how much fun you had with the Girl Guides?’ I said. ‘And at school, you’ll be sharing a dormitory with four other girls.’

  ‘Four other awful girls,’ said Henry. ‘Like Lady Bosworth’s awful niece.’

  ‘I don’t think she’s in your year,’ I said. ‘And you haven’t even met her, so how do you know she’s awful?’

  ‘Well, Lady Bosworth is, and that sort of thing usually runs in families,’ said Henry.

  ‘I imagine you’ll have a lot of fascinating new experiences at school,’ said Daniel diplomatically.

  ‘Which reminds me,’ I said, glancing at my watch. ‘Henry, we really need to get going if we want to buy the rest of your uniform today.’ I was hoping to give Daniel and Veronica at least a couple of minutes alone together.

  ‘I don’t want to buy any of it,’ Henry said. ‘But I suppose Aunt Charlotte will yell at us if we don’t turn up at the hotel with lots of packages.’ She rose and shook hands with Daniel. ‘Goodbye. It was extremely nice seeing you again, and I hope you’ll come and stay with us when we go back to Montmaray. Veronica, aren’t you coming?’

  ‘She’ll catch up,’ I said. ‘Come on.’

  ‘Oh,’ Henry said. ‘Well, after we’ve gone, Daniel, you can kiss her. If you really want.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Daniel. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’

  I dragged Henry out of the restaurant.

  ‘What?’ said Henry. ‘I didn’t even mention the word “boyfriend”. Oh, look, they’re holding hands now.’

  ‘Leave them alone,’ I said. ‘Don’t you have any tact at all?’

  ‘I don’t know. I might. What is it?’

  ‘Thinking about how they might feel!’

  ‘But I was thinking!’ Henry said. ‘I was thinking he wanted to kiss her, because he kept giving her soppy looks – although I can’t understand why anyone as nice as Daniel would want to kiss Veronica, when she’s so grumpy. Did you see that look she gave me when we were saying goodbye?’

  I steered Henry out of the way of some ARP wardens, who were stacking sandbags against a building.

  ‘If anyone has no tact, it’s Veronica!’ Henry went on indignantly. ‘What about my feelings when she’s giving me mean looks? Sophie, have you ever kissed a boy?’

  ‘That’s none of your business,’ I said.

  ‘That means you haven’t,’ she said. ‘Where are we going, anyway? I don’t even want a blazer. It’s such a waste of money, I’d much rather have new roller skates. You know, if Aunt Charlotte makes me go to this school, I’m going to run away as soon as I get there. Or roll away, if I can fix that broken wheel on my skates.’

  Veronica finally caught up with us in Debenhams, where Henry was busy despising pink pyjamas.

  ‘Oh, you’re a marvel, Sophie,’ Veronica said, looking at the items crossed off our list. ‘That’s all of the clothes done, and I thought it would take days! Well, I’ll take her to Lillywhites now to get that lacrosse stick, if you want to do your own shopping.’

  ‘Did Daniel kiss you?’ Henry asked Veronica.

  ‘That’s none of your business,’ said Veronica.

  ‘That means he did,’ said Henry smugly.

  I made a hasty escape before I could get drawn into their argument. Apart from outfitting Henry, Aunt Charlotte also wanted us to stock up on clothes and other supplies for ourselves. ‘I remember how it was during the last war,’ she’d said. ‘Running out of hairpins and buttons, and hardly any good-quality silk to be found by the end of it.’ So, my plan was to buy a really warm coat and hat, lots of stockings and underthings, and some smart blouses and skirts, suitable for working in an office.

  But I quickly discovered that shopping for clothes during wartime wasn’t much fun. All the department stores along Regent Street were crowded, and all the shoppers wore the same grimly determined expression as they gathered up armfuls of serviceable garments and dumped them in front of the weary-looking cashiers. There were still lots of pretty things on display, but I felt as though I’d be arrested for unpatriotic behaviour if I tried on the pink picture hat laden with silk roses or the polka-dotted organdie blouse with cascades of frills down the front – not that I’d have occasion to wear anything so frivolous now. At one counter, they had a display of cases made out of velvet and suede, specially designed to keep one’s gas mask in – because carrying protection against deadly gas attacks is now as normal as wearing a hat. It was all rather depressing. By the time I’d tried on several suits (none of which looked right on me) and bought a couple of plain shirts, I was more than ready to go back to the hotel.

  Veronica arrived not long after me, with what looked like the beginnings of a headache etched across her forehead.

  ‘This whole boarding school thing is going to be a complete disaster,’ she announced, unpinning her hat and flinging it at my bed. ‘Henry’s simply refusing to go, and you know what she’s like.’

  ‘I’ll have a serious talk with her,’ I promised. ‘I know boarding school’s not ideal, but I don’t think there’s any other option. She can’t live with us in London if we’re going to be at work all day.’

  ‘And she really needs a proper education,’ agreed Veronica. ‘She didn’t have the slightest idea how much change was due when I was paying for things today. And her spelling’s abysmal, and she never reads anything except comics and those Biggles books.’

  ‘She’ll come round in the end,’ I said. ‘We’re all having to deal with things we don’t much like.’

  ‘I know,’ said Veronica, with a sigh.

  ‘Sorry about luncheon,’ I said. ‘I mean, that you didn’t have Daniel to yourself.’

  ‘That’s all right,’ she said. She kicked off her shoes and collapsed onto her own bed.

  ‘Has he found a new job?�
�� I asked tentatively, just in case she wanted to talk about him.

  ‘Well, he had an interview at the War Office last week, but he hasn’t heard back yet. He thinks they’re doing background checks on him – you know, to see if he’s a member of the Communist Party.’

  ‘Is he?’

  ‘No, but only because he’s not the sort to join official organisations. He agrees with a lot of what the Communists think, of course. Anyway, Britain’s not at war with the Soviet Union, so it shouldn’t matter if he were a Communist.’

  ‘Well, the Soviets are friends with the Nazis now, so you can see why the government might want to check.’

  ‘Hmm.’ She was frowning at the ceiling. ‘Actually, he’s more worried about his relatives than finding a job, just at the moment. Do you remember his two cousins from Vienna, the ones who escaped to Paris last year? Well, they applied for official papers to come to England, and they arrived here a week ago. The two of them were staying with Daniel’s parents, but the police came round a few nights ago and took them away.’

  ‘Why? Was there a problem with their papers?’

  ‘No, the government’s rounding up anyone who’s arrived recently and interrogating them, in case they’re Nazi spies. His cousins spent a few days at the local police station, but now they’ve been sent off to some internment camp and Daniel’s trying to find out where they are.’

  ‘But that’s ridiculous,’ I said. ‘They’re Jewish. They’re trying to escape the Nazis! How could they possibly be Nazi spies?’

  ‘I know, and Daniel said that when they were at the police station, they were locked up in the same room as actual Nazis. Or at least, Germans who seemed very keen on Nazi ideology and weren’t at all fond of Jews.’

  ‘Someone must have made a mistake,’ I said.

  ‘Well, yes, obviously,’ said Veronica. ‘The policeman Daniel spoke to did say that they’re going to set up tribunals to examine each individual case, but who knows how long that will take? In the meantime, two innocent people who could be helping the war effort are locked up, and Daniel’s mother is frantic, and Daniel’s rushing around trying to figure out what’s going on.’

  Veronica sat up abruptly and began taking down her hair, which had been twisted into a very large chignon at the back of her head. ‘These hairpins feel as though they’re digging directly into my brain,’ she said.

  ‘Shall I get you an aspirin?’ I asked.

  ‘No, thanks. It’s just all this hair. I’m getting it cut off tomorrow.’

  I stared at her. ‘You’re what?’

  ‘Short hair’s far more practical, and it’s not as though I’m going to have a maid around now to pin it up for me each morning.’ She glanced over at me. ‘What? Phoebe won’t want to come with us to London, will she?’

  ‘No, she wants to go back to her village and work on a farm. But oh, Veronica, cutting off all your beautiful hair!’

  ‘You have short hair,’ she pointed out. ‘So does Aunt Charlotte, and Julia, and practically every other woman in England.’

  ‘I know,’ I said sadly. And I knew Veronica would look lovely, regardless of what she did to her hair. It was just that I’d had enough of all these drastic changes in our lives, so many in such a short time. I forced a smile. ‘Well! Make sure you keep all the hair they cut off. Perhaps you could sell it, like Jo in Little Women, and become immensely rich.’

  ‘Perhaps I could braid it into a very long rope, and tie it to the window frame in case we need to escape during an air raid.’

  ‘Or you could weave it into blackout curtains.’

  ‘Or knit it into parachutes.’

  And we went on, getting sillier and sillier, turning the war – for a brief moment – into something we could laugh at.

  17th September, 1939

  YESTERDAY MORNING, I SAT HENRY down for a Serious Talk about boarding school. This mostly involved me admiring her bravery for agreeing to go (even though she still hadn’t agreed to anything of the sort).

  ‘I mean, I’d be terrified,’ I said. ‘Travelling all the way to Hertfordshire on a train by myself!’

  ‘Well . . .’ she said slowly. ‘I quite like trains, actually. I never normally get to go in them.’

  ‘And then, getting off at a railway station I’d never seen before! Of course, a teacher will be waiting to take you up to the school, so it’s not as though you’ll get lost.’

  ‘I wouldn’t get lost, anyway,’ said Henry. ‘I could take my compass and I know all about reading maps, from being a Girl Guide.’

  ‘And they did say that all the prefects know you’re coming,’ I continued, ‘and one of them specially volunteered to show you round after she heard that you liked horses, because apparently she’s won lots of ribbons for show jumping. But still, imagine meeting such a lot of new people! It would be like when all the Basque refugee children arrived. I felt a bit nervous beforehand, didn’t you?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she said. ‘Why were you nervous? I couldn’t wait to meet them, and they were all so much fun, especially Carmelita. Remember when she and I had that archery competition, and I almost got the bullseye, and she said, “Oh, there’s no way I can get closer than that!”, except her next arrow landed right on top of mine and broke it –’ And Henry continued reminiscing, getting further and further away from the point of the conversation. I eventually interrupted.

  ‘Oh, and that reminds me,’ I said. ‘You must write to Carmelita and tell her all about your new school. You know how much she loves her school.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Henry. ‘I know. But hers is different. It isn’t a boarding school, is it? She didn’t have to move away from home.’

  ‘That’s true,’ I said. ‘I really do admire how brave you’re being about that.’

  ‘I am a fairly brave person,’ conceded Henry. ‘Usually. But it’s not that I mind for myself. It’s about leaving poor Carlos and Estella all alone.’

  ‘Oh, Henry!’ I said. ‘Estella loves living at the Home Farm with the other pigs, and you know how well Mr Wilkin treats them. They’re the most spoilt pigs in the county.’

  ‘But . . . but what about Carlos?’ Henry said, and her eyes suddenly filled with tears. ‘It would be different if you and Veronica and Toby were there – but there’ll be no one to look after him!’

  I put my arm around her and, for once, she allowed me to console her. ‘I know he’ll miss you,’ I said, as she sniffled a bit. ‘Of course he will – he’s such a faithful dog. But the kitchen maids all adore him, and they’re usually the ones who feed him, aren’t they? And he always keeps himself busy, chasing rabbits, and swimming in the lake, and visiting his friends in the village.’

  ‘I suppose Jocko will still be there,’ she said. ‘And Mrs Jones at the vicarage – I mean, she ended up keeping two of the puppies, so she must really like dogs. And I’ve seen Barnes talking to Carlos, sometimes.’

  ‘Even Aunt Charlotte has a soft spot for him,’ I said, ‘except when he tracks mud inside the house. But Henry, you’re talking as though you’re going away forever! There are holidays halfway through each term and in between terms, and then for the entire summer. Carlos will barely have time to miss you before you’re back at Milford.’

  ‘I suppose so,’ she said. ‘But Sophie –’ Then she stopped and chewed her lip.

  ‘What?’ I said.

  ‘Well . . . what about the school part of it? In books, schoolboys are always getting into trouble for not doing their prep or getting answers wrong in class. Sometimes they get caned for it.’

  By ‘books’, I assumed Henry meant those awful twopenny boys’ weeklies that she and Jocko buy at the village shop. ‘Girls are never caned,’ I said firmly.

  ‘But what if I can’t do the work?’ Henry persisted. ‘What if Miss Bullock didn’t teach me the right things? Or anything, really.’

  I was tempted to point out that Henry’s failure to learn had not been entirely Miss Bullock’s fault. However, Henry’s fundamental hon
esty came to the fore.

  ‘Of course, I could have tried harder,’ she admitted. ‘But even if I had – I bet all those girls at school will still know loads more than me about arithmetic and French and those sorts of things.’

  ‘I don’t think they will,’ I said. In fact, I had a strong suspicion the school had been chosen precisely for its unacademic reputation (Aunt Charlotte detests bluestockings). ‘The headmistress said there are lots of new pupils who hadn’t been to school at all before this term, so you won’t be the only one.’

  I pulled away to look my little sister in the eye, uncomfortably aware that she was now an inch taller than me. ‘Henry, listen to me. If it’s really unbearable – if someone’s being horrible to you or you get terribly homesick – I promise that Veronica or I will try to sort things out. You just have to write and tell us. We’ll telephone the headmistress, or visit you, or do whatever we can to make it better. But I’m counting on you to be really grown-up about this, to try your best to get along with everyone, to do your work and be sensible. There’s a war on now, and we all have to do our bit.’

  ‘I will,’ she said, nodding solemnly.

  ‘And you have to promise that you won’t run away from this place,’ I said. ‘Because if you suddenly go missing, we’ll worry about where you are.’

  She considered this for a moment. ‘But what if the Germans invade and I have to run away because they’ve taken over the school?’

  ‘They aren’t going to invade an enormous country like this. Remember, Britain’s got an army and navy and air force to stop them. But if it looks as though the Germans might invade, I want you to do whatever your teachers tell you, until we can come and collect you – which we will.’

  ‘All right, then,’ Henry said, after further thought. ‘I promise. Do you want me to swear a blood oath? Because I brought my penknife with me, it’s in my suitcase –’

  ‘That won’t be necessary,’ I said hastily.

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Oh – and Sophie!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘As I’m practically a grown-up now, can I come with you and Veronica to visit Julia this afternoon? Please? Because I haven’t seen her for absolute ages, and I’ve never been to her house.’