Ruby looked up from where she was rolling out pastry for a pie topping. It was much thinner than her usual offerings as the pie had to be big enough to feed six people. She’d offered a meal to Bob Jackson and his son, Mike, and Freda and Betty would be round once Woolworths had closed for the day. ‘He’s up the garden putting in some broad beans. I said I could cope with doing that but he wouldn’t listen. He’s a good man. What do you want to see him about?’
Sarah shrugged her shoulders. ‘Something and nothing,’ she replied, stepping out of the open back door and winding her way down the garden to where Bob Jackson was forking over a pile of compost.
Ruby frowned. There was something afoot there. She could feel it in her water.
‘Hello, Sarah. If you’ve come to give me a hand, you’re too late,’ he said with a grin as he pointed to the neat vegetable patch.
I’m sorry, Bob. If I’d known you were helping Nan out, I’d have come over earlier. Maureen is looking after Georgina, so I thought I’d make the most of the opportunity and pop round to have a few words with you. Sergeant Jackson said you were here.’
Bob Jackson put down the garden fork and leant against a nearby fence. He looked at the young woman, who at that moment wore a serious frown. He had a soft spot for Ruby’s granddaughter, but then, just like her nan, she had a steely glint of determination in her eye along with a cheery disposition, so what wasn’t to like?
‘Do you have a problem, Sarah?’
Sarah chewed her lip. ‘Not really a problem, Bob, but I was thinking of volunteering to be an air raid precaution warden. I’ve heard they take women, but I wasn’t sure what the procedure was and if I’d be good enough. I thought I’d ask you for advice as I know you run the local unit.’
Bob thought for a moment before speaking. He was aware that many people would have an opinion on whether Sarah had the time to be an ARP warden, which could be a dangerous job. ‘What does your husband think about this idea of yours?’
Sarah’s cheeks turned bright red and she looked a little ashamed. ‘I’ve not spoken to him yet.’
Bob tutted. ‘Perhaps. . .’
Sarah interrupted the old man. ‘Please don’t think I’m going behind Alan’s back. I didn’t want to talk to him about it until I knew if it was something I was capable of doing . . . and if they’d accept me,’ she added quickly.
Bob nodded his head. ‘I can see the sense in that. Let’s sit down for a few minutes and I’ll give you an idea of what we get up to. You do understand that being an ARP warden can be hard work and at times traumatic?’
Sarah nodded her head so hard her shiny chestnut-coloured hair bounced on her shoulders. ‘I’m not afraid of hard work, Bob, and I know I could see some awful sights. I’ve heard about the injured and those who lose their lives and how the ARP wardens have to dig people out with their bare hands at times. I’m not saying I won’t be scared and upset, but it wouldn’t affect the way I worked. I’d give it my best shot,’ she said with a defiant tilt of her chin.
‘I’m sure you would, my girl. Now, sit yourself down on this bench and let’s have a chat,’ Bob said as he patted the wooden seat next to him and Sarah sat down quickly, keen to learn all she could. She knew she would have opposition from Alan, so needed to find out all there was to know about being an ARP warden if she was to convince her husband.
‘Apart from wearing a rather smart helmet with a W on the front, you get to shout a lot,’ Bob said with a grin. ‘Do you think you can do that?’
Sarah laughed. ‘Do you mean, PUT THAT LIGHT OUT?’ she bellowed.
Bob clapped his hands together. ‘Spot on, love, you’ll do well.’
‘Come on, Bob, there’s more to being an ARP warden than that. What else would I have to do and would I have to give up my part-time job at Woolworths? Please don’t think I don’t like my job at Woolies but, like everyone else, I want to play my part in bringing this war to an end. When I think what my Alan’s been through and all I’ve done is serve behind a counter and give birth to Georgina, it doesn’t seem enough.’
‘There’s some what would say that’s more than enough. I’d be glad to have you on my shift for as many hours as you can spare.’
Sarah flung her arms around the old man’s neck as Ruby appeared from the kitchen wiping her hands on a tea towel. ‘Whatever was all that shouting? I could have sworn someone bellowed “Put that light out” when it’s only mid-afternoon.’
‘It was Sarah here,’ Bob said as he untangled himself from the younger woman’s arms. ‘I’ve agreed she can join my shift and train to become an ARP warden. That’s if the Labour Exchange agree. You’ll have to register with them, you know.’ He directed his words to Sarah, who was now watching her grandmother’s face.
‘Don’t look at me like that, Nan. You know we’ve all got to pull our weight. Why, you’ve joined the WVS and look at all you have to do.’
‘I don’t have a young child to care for or a husband who could fly off anytime with the RAF. What if something was to happen to you? What would Alan and Georgina do without you?’
‘Oh, Nan, Alan’s safe now he is a flying instructor at Gravesend airfield and there are plenty of family around to care for Georgie while I’m on duty.’
‘That wasn’t what I was saying and well you know it. You could be killed at any time. Why, the ARP wardens are the last down the public shelters and they are often the first to help the injured and the dying. You’ve not thought this through properly. Why not join the WVS with me?’
Sarah wrinkled her nose. ‘No offence, Nan, I’m no good at what you do and I’d find it boring serving tea and organizing jumble sales. No, I want some excitement.’
Ruby went a little red in the face. ‘Excitement? I’ll let you know there’s more to the WVS than tea and jumble and well you know it.’
Sarah looked shamefaced. ‘Sorry, Nan, I got carried away. I know you work hard with Vera and the other ladies.’
Ruby nodded but wasn’t convinced. ‘If you want some excitement, you can get yourself down the garden and stop Nelson digging up Bob’s compost heap and then you can get the tin bath and give him a good scrub. I’m not having him in the house. He’ll stink the place out.’
Sarah rushed down the garden calling out to Ruby’s dog, who by this time was wriggling on his back amongst the rotting garden waste.
‘Sorry, Ruby, the girl was so enthusiastic it was all I could do to tell her what the job entailed,’ Bob said, looking shamefaced.
‘You’re not to blame, Bob,’ Ruby said, patting him on the shoulder. ‘When that girl sets her mind on something there’s no talking to her. She reminds me very much of her grandad.’ She smiled to herself at the memory of Eddie Caselton.
‘It’s good to be reminded, Ruby. My Mike reminds me of his mother at times. It can be a comfort.’
‘It can at that, Bob, but I think sometimes we should move on. There’s no good dwelling in the past all the time. Now, how about you scrub your hands clean in the kitchen sink and I’ll put the kettle on? It won’t be long before everyone arrives for their tea and I’m nowhere near ready.’
Bob rose to his feet and stretched his aching back. ‘I’ll give you a hand. You can rely on me, Ruby,’ he said as he followed her into the house.
Freda bounced into the kitchen with a bright smile on her face and headed to the sink to wash her hands.
‘You look full of the joys of spring considering you’ve been on your feet since this morning,’ Ruby said as she nudged her aside to strain a large pan of cabbage through a colander. ‘What’s made you so chirpy and where is Betty?’
‘She’s following on. There was a telephone call just as she was leaving Woolworths so I rushed on ahead to give you my news.’
Ruby held her breath for a moment. Whatever Freda’s news was she had a bad feeling about it. ‘You’ve not gone and joined up, have you?’ she asked, trying hard not to look worried. ‘You might set about mashing those spuds before they get cold.’
&n
bsp; Freda rolled up her sleeves and set to with the large pan of potatoes. ‘I have in a way. I’m going to join the Auxiliary Fire Service. I’ve completed the forms and handed them in at Erith fire station. They reckon I’ll get taken on there as an auxiliary. Isn’t that wonderful?’
Ruby huffed as she dolloped large spoonfuls of cabbage onto six plates. ‘You think it’s wonderful? I think it’s foolhardy. What about Woolworths? You’ve a good job there and you want to throw it away fighting fires? Why, you could be killed.’
‘I won’t be allowed to fight fires, Ruby. Only fully trained females can do that. I’m part of the auxiliary service who do the backup work, but I’m sure it will still be hard work and I won’t be leaving Woolworths.’
Ruby stopped what she was doing and stared at the young girl. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed. How you can be a fireman and a shop assistant at the same time? Giving up sleeping, are you?’
Freda giggled. ‘No, Betty has said I can work part-time at Woolies and fit my hours around my fire duties. That’s part-time as well, but I may be working night shifts at the fire station.’
Ruby sighed. ‘Life was so much easier when you girls just worked at Woolworths and I knew you’d all be home for your tea. Nowadays I have no idea what’s happening. Even with our Sarah living with her mother-in-law, I like to know she’s home and safe . . . well, as safe as you can be with Hitler trying to kill us all. I’ll be glad when this bloody war’s over.’
Freda put down the potato masher and went round the table to hug her landlady. ‘Oh, Ruby, we all want this war to finish. That’s why we are doing our best to join in and help it along. I promise I’ll be careful and Betty was going to speak to you about that, but I’ll tell you now as you are upset. As I’ll be occasionally finishing my shifts quite late, she has offered me a bed so as not to be wandering the streets of Erith late at night or have you sitting up worrying about me. With her house being only yards from the fire station it seems ideal. However, I’m worried you’ll be on your own at times. What do you think?’
‘Oh, I’m just a daft so-and-so getting so upset. Betty’s offer of a bed is very good of her. Of course I don’t want you wandering in the blackout at the dead of night. As for me, I’ll lock the doors and have my trusty frying pan to hand in case anyone breaks in. I’m capable of getting myself down the Anderson shelter if the sirens start. I may even see more of Sarah if she becomes an ARP warden, as she’ll be working just up the road a bit. If truth be told, I’m a little envious of you girls with all your get up and go.’
Freda laughed. ‘No one will approach you if you have that pan in your hand. Why, I still can’t believe how you bashed that crook over the head and rescued our Lenny. Are you sure you are all right with me joining the Fire Service? If I don’t join something, there’s the likelihood I’ll get drafted into the services or sent for munitions work. I’m old enough for that. If Burndept’s hadn’t burnt down, I’d probably still be there now, and between you and me, it wasn’t nice work. I’d have stuck it out, though,’ she added quickly.
Ruby patted the young woman on the back. ‘I know you would have, love. I’m right proud of you all. It’s just that I’m getting that bit older and don’t like change. Now, let’s get this food on the plates before it gets cold. They’ll all be banging on the door soon and we won’t be ready.’ Ruby returned to dishing up the vegetables, feeling just a little lonely and thinking she ought to do something more towards the war effort.
4
George scratched his chin thoughtfully. His only wish was to have a quiet hour to himself while he read his newspaper before heading into work, but his mother had started chatting as she cleaned the kitchen. ‘Cornwall’s a long way off when you’re worrying about someone, Mum. Why didn’t you have a chat with Pat while she was here visiting John?’
Ruby sighed and thought for a moment. ‘Because I didn’t get the chance, that’s why, George. With so many people coming and going, this house is like Charing Cross station at times,’ Ruby said as she sat down at the kitchen table. ‘I’ve never even got time to think some days. The one time we were alone she danced around my questions like I don’t know what and before I knew it she’d left Slades Green without even a goodbye. Didn’t even tell me how she got on with that husband of hers.’
‘Now you know that’s not true,’ George said, taking his pipe from his pocket and starting to fill it with tobacco from a leather pouch. ‘Our Pat popped her head in before she left for the train station. In fact, if you recall, I walked her there myself and carried her case. She reckoned, depending on bombing raids, it would take her nigh on a day to get back to the farm. More if the train is stopped because of air raids. Would you want to travel for that long and to a place you’ve never visited? To my knowledge you’ve never left Kent in your entire life.’
Ruby ignored her son’s jibes about her being a home bird. Why, she’d been to London a few times with Sarah and her friends to see the shows, and hadn’t she been down the Thames on the Sawyer family’s paddle steamer to the seaside at Southend? That must have been outside of Kent, surely? ‘Did Pat say anything to you about what’s eating her? You’ve got to admit she’s not the same girl who left here a couple of years back. You mark my words, George, there something not right in our Pat’s world.’
George sighed to himself. He knew his mother of old and once she had something wedged in her mind there was no talking to her. ‘She was full of how much it meant to see her John again and how she’d be pleased to get back to the farm in Cornwall to see her children.’ George didn’t let on that he agreed that his younger sister was not telling all of what was on her mind. He’d put it down to the war and how it was changing people, but he wouldn’t let on to Ruby that he was worried or she’d be like a terrier with a juicy bone. ‘I’ll put my thinking cap on, Mum, and see how we can have you chat to Pat on the telephone so you can put your mind at rest. Now, I’m going to sit out in the garden and smoke my pipe. I have some paperwork to read before I go into work.’
Ruby nodded. Her George was a hard worker and she could tell from the greyness around his eyes that the job he did was preying on his mind. Whatever his work was, she knew it was important to the war effort. No doubt once he and Irene had moved up here from Devon he’d be working even longer hours, but at least he wouldn’t have all that travelling every other week.
‘You go have your smoke while it’s quiet. I promise not to go on about our Pat.’ She grimaced as she heard someone pull the key on its string through the letter box and the front door being opened.
‘Cooee, it’s only me, Ruby, and you’ll never guess what’s happened?’ she heard Vera from up the road announce in a flustered breath.
‘You best hop it into the garden or she’ll have you involved before you know it,’ Ruby told George. She needn’t have spoken as her son had already seized his cup of tea and briefcase and was hurrying out of the back door.
‘So you see, I’m in a right two and eight, Ruby,’ Vera declared as she took the official-looking letter back from her friend.
‘I just can’t have strangers living in my home,’ she said sadly. ‘I did tell them our Sadie would be home someday and she wouldn’t take kindly to having had someone we don’t know sleeping in her bedroom. She’s particular about things like that.’
And don’t we know it, Ruby thought to herself. Not a day goes past without Vera proudly announcing another of her granddaughter’s foibles as if they were gifts from above.
‘I wondered if your George could have a word with someone in authority?’
‘I’m not sure someone who works at Vickers in engineering has any clout with the government, even if his work is valued. Did I tell you that George and Irene are moving back up this way?’ Ruby added, trying to change the subject.
Vera was having none of it. ‘Then Maisie’s David, he has an important job. It’s well known that he had a finger in finding out what had happened to Alan when his plane went down.’
‘I doubt whet
her the RAF can help you, Vera, even if you had the whole of the Luftwaffe sleeping in your back bedroom.’
‘But there’s no room in my Anderson shelter. What if we have another air raid? The person may get there before me and I’d be blown to kingdom come in my own garden! It’s just not right of them men in parliament to tell us to take in strangers. I could be killed in my own bed. Goodness knows who they will send to Alexandra Road,’ she wailed.
‘Your shelter’s the same size as mine and if ours can hold the family, then so can yours; not that we’ve needed to use them these past few weeks. No, I’m afraid you’re just going to have to do your bit for the war and take in some paying guests, Vera. Some people are having a worse war than we are and it’s only fair we do our bit.’ Ruby was getting annoyed with her friend. She knew that Vera was decent in so many ways, but when she got the bit between her teeth there was no letting up.
Vera was thinking. ‘Paying guests, you say? I hadn’t looked at it that way. My Sadie will just have to bunk in with me if she comes to visit and she’ll have to realize that we all have to play our part. I’ll write a few words to Mr Churchill and say I’m more than willing to help out under the circumstances and suggest he sends me a couple of genteel ladies who have fallen on hard times . . . but not so hard that they can’t pay their rent. I’m glad I thought of that,’ she said, rising to her feet. ‘Well, I can’t sit here nattering all day long. Some of us have war work to do.’
That put me in my place, Ruby thought with a grin as she saw her neighbour to the front door. ‘Don’t forget we have WVS duties this afternoon. There’s fresh clothing needs sorting as well as umpteen other jobs.’
‘I’ll knock for you on my way down,’ Vera called back.
‘I’m sure you will,’ Ruby muttered to no one in particular. You don’t miss a chance to feather your own nest, Vera Munro, she thought, you never have.
Freda had no sooner stepped inside the crumbling building that was Erith fire station and climbed the rickety stairs to where the office and a staffroom were situated when she was issued with her orders for the day from the officer in charge. He was sitting at a small wooden desk set beside a large window, from which could be observed two fire tenders ready to head out whenever a call came from the concerned public. Freda took a deep breath. She could just about catch the smell of straw from when the horses, which used to pull the old tender, had their feed stored in this very loft of the old fire station building in Cross Street.
Christmas at Woolworths Page 5
