Letters to Alice

by Rosie James

  Now Eve stood up, pushing her chair back so roughly that it almost fell over. ‘I must go home,’ she said, beginning to sound frantic. ‘My parents…my poor parents…they will be terrified! I must be there with them.’ She didn’t say what everyone in the room was thinking – had Eve’s parents managed to survive what sounded like a terrible attack? Would Eve find her family house still intact, and her family safe? Or would she find them buried under a pile of rubble?

  Suddenly the farmer came in, his massive figure framed in the doorway. He had heard the news. He went straight over to Eve and looked down at her.

  ‘Now then, my girl – you gotta go ’ome, an’ fast,’ he said, his usually gruff tones soft. ‘He glanced around at everyone else. ‘And you others – Alice and Fay – you go along as well to keep her company – ’elp out where necessary.’ And before anyone could interrupt, he said, ‘Roger – you take ’em in the van. And stick around and give ’em a ’and as well.’

  There were tears in Mabel’s eyes as Walter spoke. Her husband was a good man – when you understood his ways.

  ‘But will it be safe for them to go?’ Mabel asked, hating the fact that such a lovely calm spring morning had suddenly turned into a disaster. Poor little Eve. ‘Will Rog be able to actually drive into Bath?’ Mabel added anxiously.

  ‘I expect the roads leading into the city will be OK, Mum,’ Roger said, ‘and once we get there I’m sure we’ll be told where we can safely drive to.’ He paused. ‘I’m positive that we’ll be able to get to Eve’s place, even if we have to end up walking some of the way – and the raid’s all over now, the bombers have long gone,’ he added sombrely. He glanced at the girls. ‘Be ready in twenty minutes,’ he instructed them. ‘The sooner we go the better.’

  Upstairs, there was relative silence as the three prepared to leave, and Alice and Fay could see Eve’s hands shaking as she put a few things into her bag. Fay went over and put her arms around her. ‘Try not to think the worst, Evie,’ she said quietly. ‘Bombs are indiscriminate, we all know that, but plenty of houses will have been missed…will have been saved. And I bet you anything yours will be one of those. Your parents are going to be fine, you’ll see. Your dad’s probably already preparing their rice pudding for lunch.’

  Eve smiled weakly. She knew that Fay was only saying that to cheer her up, but it did help. ‘I was going to try and see if I could get through to them from the telephone box in the village later,’ she said, ‘but we haven’t got time now, have we, and anyway the lines will probably all be down, won’t they?’ she added miserably.

  Alice picked up her bag and went towards the door. ‘Come on – Roger said twenty minutes, and it’s almost that now.’ Her heart was heavy as she spoke. It was all very well telling Eve to look on the bright side – which Fay had done just now – but there was an even chance that when they got to Bath they could be faced with a tragedy. A tragedy for Eve. The wise monkey who had already displayed her innate vulnerability would need their support. And the others would be there beside her.

  As they began the journey, there was a distinct lack of the usual cheerful conversation between the four of them, but as Roger had thought, the country roads leading to Bath were unaffected by the bombing as the little van chugged its way toward the city. It would be quite some time before the carnage of the previous night became apparent.

  Their route took them through the outskirts of the town which seemed largely unaffected, as far as they could see, and Roger knew that the first thing he must do is to get to Eve’s house…he knew exactly where it was because he had dropped her off several times already. And as they approached the wide tree-lined street, all four in the van gave an exclamation of relief…it didn’t look as if any of the large Georgian houses had been touched! At first glance it appeared that every single window was in place. And for the first time that day, Eve began to weep quietly. ‘Oh thank you, God,’ she whispered earnestly. ‘Thank you, thank you…’

  Roger parked the car by the kerb outside the house, and together they all got out of the van – Fay jumping nimbly from the back – and Eve ran up the wide steps leading to the front door, ringing the bell over and over again. She just needed to see her parents, to hug them, to make sure they were all right, make sure that they really were still alive.

  And within a few seconds, there they were – Eve’s parents astounded and overwhelmed to see her so soon after the terrible night they’d just endured. They held her tightly to them as if they never wanted to let her go.

  Then –‘Come in, come in, all of you,’ her father said, standing aside for Roger, Alice and Fay to enter. ‘We still have electricity – and the kettle’s on.’

  Later, they all sat around and listened while Mr. and Mrs Miles took it in turns to describe how the sirens had suddenly gone off, and how everyone in the area had hurried to take shelter.

  ‘At first, we thought it was a hoax,’ Eve’s father said, ‘some kind of mistake, because Bath being blitzed has been the last thing on our minds ever since the war began, really.’ He shook his head, still hardly able to take it in. ‘But it wasn’t long before we realized it was the real thing, because we soon heard the ’planes overhead and then the bombing! The crashing…like the worst thunderstorm! It seemed to roll around the city in waves. You’ve never heard a noise like it!’

  Alice and Fay had heard plenty of noises like it.

  ‘And the shouting of the ARP wardens yelling at everyone to take cover, and people shouting and running about in the street…and the sound of the ack ack – the guns – retaliating…it was like a terrible dream, a nightmare, wasn’t it, Ellen?’ he shook his head. ‘But we weren’t going down any shelter, thank you very much – we stayed put, down in the basement,’ he went on, ‘as safe there as anywhere.’

  Eve’s mouth had dried as she listened. What if they’d had a direct hit and her parents had been buried beneath ten feet of rubble? It would have been days before anyone found them…and that would have been too late…much too late.

  Alice, meanwhile, sat quietly, taking in her surroundings. The six of them were sitting around a table in the dining room which was large and high-ceilinged, with a distinct air of shabby chic about it as if it had known better days. It was quite expensively furnished, with framed pictures on all four walls and as Mrs. Miles stood to pour another cup of tea for everyone, Alice was reminded – just for a second – of Helena Carmichael. Not that the two women looked alike at all, but there was something else…an air of gentility about Eve’s mother, the way she held her head, the way she used her hands. Hands that had obviously always been cared for in the way which distinguished pianists must surely have to do. And Mr. Miles, too, was a quietly-spoken man with a gentlemanly air about him – which was no surprise. Eve had displayed the same quiet elegance from the first moment they’d all met. What a life-changing thing it must have been for the girl to have to work on a farm and sweep the yard and help to muck out the pig sty…

  And although Eve had always given them a somewhat negative impression of her parents, there was undoubtedly a tangible and affectionate bond between the three of them. Alice couldn’t imagine for a single moment that they’d regretted having a daughter in their lives.

  Conversation flowed without difficulty between everyone in the room – Roger adding his own quiet observations from time to time, and Eve’s parents going over and over the events of last night…Alice and Fay reminiscing about experiences of their own during the Bristol Blitzes…and the tempo of the morning lifted by the occasional wisecrack from Fay about something that had gone on at the farm. Eve’s parents were especially amused by her account of the farmer’s reaction to the liniment they’d given him – Roger laughing like everyone else.

  But Eve was still shaken by the morning’s news, and she leaned across to hold her mother’s hand for a moment.

  ‘I cannot tell you, Mother and Father, how relieved I am, and how frightened I was when I heard about the Blitz,’ she said earnestly. ‘I felt as
if my world had suddenly come to an end…what would I do without you…what was I to do…if you’d been…hurt…or…’

  ‘Well, here we are, my dear, no need to worry, we’re still as good as new,’ Ellen Miles said, smiling at her daughter. And deciding to change the subject, she went on quickly, ‘And I must say, Eve, that it is lovely to meet your friends at last. From your letters, and from everything you’ve said, you all seem to get on so well together…I think you have been very lucky to be with Alice and Fay – and with Roger, too. How very good of you to drive them here, Roger,’ she said, ‘and on other occasions as well.’

  ‘My pleasure,’ Roger said amiably.

  ‘We do feel very lucky,’ Alice said. ‘And we all know each other so well by now. Which does help.’ She exchanged a quick glance with Fay. Neither of them would ever forget poor little Evie’s total misunderstanding about her “one night stand” after the concert. She would have been agonizing for weeks before they were able to set her mind at rest.

  ‘Now then,’ Mr. Miles said, being practical, ‘we must all have some lunch.’ He looked down at Eve. ‘We managed to get hold of a fresh rabbit yesterday, and hopefully we’ve still got enough power to cook it, and some vegetables…I hope that will suit everyone?’

  During what turned out to be a very good lunch indeed – including tinned peaches for pudding – it was decided between them all that a walk through the city should be undertaken.

  ‘It is not only useful, it is a matter of common decency to see what our fellow citizens went through last night –and to see where and how we will be able to get anywhere during the coming week,’ Mr. Miles said as they all made their way out of the house and into the street.

  And it wasn’t long before the effects of the Blitz became apparent. It began to look as if a swathe of destruction had started at the top and proceeded right through the centre of the city, from the Royal Crescent – which was largely intact apart from one unlucky building in the middle which was completely demolished – to Lansdown Crescent, The Paragon, Queen Square and the Mineral Hospital – on to Upper Borough Walls and the Roman Baths – the damage random and varied. The Recreation Ground had caught it, the bomb blast blowing out the Great East Window of Bath Abbey near by. There would be no services there for some time to come.

  What traffic there was, was light – some roads having been closed off, but they were able to continue walking through the city without much difficulty. As they approached the rank of shops at the end of New Bond Street, Eve’s mother exclaimed – ‘Look – Milsoms is still there, Eve! One of the lucky ones!’ She smiled across at her daughter. ‘How wonderful…it’s been left safe and sound…and your job will be there for you when you come home! See? Everything will get back to normal one day, and everything will be as it always was!’

  Eve didn’t reply to that as she continued gazing around her. Would everything really get back to normal one day, she thought? And if so, did she want it to…? Living on the farm had restricted her life in many ways, of course – but it had also given her a freedom she’d never known before…a freedom to be herself without question, or without any expectations of her as a person. She could not imagine a time, now, when she didn’t have Alice and Fay around, and the farmer’s family had become almost as close as her own here, in her home town. Eve bit her lip. These were awful, disloyal thoughts…

  But she couldn’t help it if the war had turned her into someone else.

  They walked on, not saying very much as they came upon clusters of more devastation. Yet, however terrible the damage was, the atmosphere everywhere was typically jaunty as complete strangers stopped to talk to each other, and point and make their opinions known, recount their experience of the night before, where they were when they heard the sirens, how no one could believe it…and taking full advantage of WVS ladies in refreshment vans handing out hot drinks and something to eat for anyone passing by. And of course the ARP wardens were everywhere, giving advice and directions. It could never be described as a party atmosphere, but it was typical of what happens when people are united in a common purpose, or in common adversity. There was a congeniality present which was uplifting and remarkable, and as the little group continued their walk of discovery they spotted someone – a woman – already sweeping the entrance hall to a house which had caught it mostly at the rear of the building. As if, even under these circumstances, it was right to try and make what was left as tidy and respectable as possible. Wielding that kitchen broom was as defiant a gesture as any to prove that Life Goes On.

  But as a detachment of soldiers, fully kitted out, marched past, no one was left in any doubt that the People’s War was still thriving and that last night might well herald many more like it. Even though Bathonians had thought themselves well out of the enemy’s spotlight, any complacency would be ill-advised. After last night, you could never be sure. Not now.

  As it happened, the events of 25th and 26th April 1942 were not repeated, though that awful night saw four hundred people killed and eight hundred injured. And most dreadful of all, a direct hit on a packed municipal shelter in Oldfield Park killed everyone in it to the extent that not a single fragment of humanity was ever found.

  Much later, having made their goodbyes – with Eve decidedly weepy as her parents waved them off – the little Morris began its return journey to the farm.

  Alice, who had insisted on taking her turn in the back, leaned in through the small window. ‘I thought your parents were very nice – and so kind to us, Evie,’ she said.’That was a very good lunch. And tea and cake as well, afterwards,’ she said.

  Eve turned her head to look back at Alice. ‘I still can’t believe my father,’ she said. ‘He seems to be doing all the cooking now. I never would have thought my mother would relinquish the kitchen so easily.’

  ‘No, and I would never have thought, Evie, that you would sit for hours on a stool and milk those cows,’ Fay said. ‘Or spread stinking animal shit over the field you helped to dig, either.’

  No, Alice thought, nor had any of them expected to take part in a weekly communal bathing session in someone’s kitchen, or to be obliged to tramp past rows of cabbages to answer the calls of nature.

  War certainly throws up strange things.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mabel wandered over to the range and riddled the coals for a few moments with the long black poker. It was mid-afternoon – the only hour of the day when she put her feet up. When she could sit back in her easy chair and close her eyes. But today, she hadn’t managed to get even a single wink because her thoughts had been with Eve, and the rest of them over there in Bath. Wondering what on earth had gone on. Mabel had already envisaged the worst, and wondered what in the world she was going to say to that poor girl if her parents had been injured – or killed. It just did not bear thinking about.

  Mabel added another lump or two to the gently glowing fire, and sat back in her chair, feeling unusually down. Today’s news had made her realize – if she needed reminding – that one day this war would surely be over and the girls would be returning to their own homes. To Bath, and to Bristol. Cities not that far off, but out here in the sticks they might have been a million miles away.

  And when the girls did leave, the farm would be back as it had always been – busy as ever but quiet, solitary, with just the three of them, her, Walt and Roger.

  Mabel tried to banish these thoughts, and cheer herself up. Of course their two normal lads would be demobbed and back again, and. it would be lovely to see them – naturally it would. But it would never be the same with the girls gone. And Mabel realized that she was dreading the day when she would wave them off for the last time. She pursed her lips. Walter had been proved completely wrong when he’d grumbled at having to employ Land Girls, saying over and over again how could you expect anything out of townies, who were more used to dressing up and varnishing their nails than having to dig the dirt from out of them.

  But whatever he’d said then, Mabel knew
how much he’d changed his mind – even though it wasn’t easy for him to express what he felt. And when he’d ushered them all out, telling them to get to Bath as quickly as possible, he’d looked as anxious and concerned as everyone else as he’d helped the girls into the van.

  Mabel smiled a sad little smile. Perhaps… Perhaps if they’d had a daughter – or daughters – it would have altered his nature, just a bit. Would have softened his sometimes aggressive outlook on life. Not that she was complaining. She understood the man she married. They understood each other.

  Mabel glanced at the clock. It was 6.30, and she’d prepared the evening meal as usual, even though she wasn’t sure when they’d all come home. Perhaps Eve wouldn’t come home, or come back, she reminded herself sternly. This was not her home! Home is where Eve had been all day and where she would eventually return for good. As the others would to their homes.

  Mabel got up decisively. Being busy was often what got her through life – what were the words of that hymn again – “the common round, the trivial task, should furnish all we need to ask” –well, she couldn’t have put it better herself. She was used to tasks, trivial or otherwise. And it was all she needed…or nearly all.

  She started setting the table for the six of them as usual. Today they were having pork chops with stuffing and all the vegetables as usual, followed by jam roly-poly and custard. Whatever they’d all had to go through during the day, a good meal would set them up and give them a good night’s rest.

  It was 8 o’clock before they all got back, and Mabel – closely followed by Walter – almost ran towards them when she heard the van come up the lane. Roger stopped the engine and was the first to get out, waving his arms briefly.