Home Front Girls

by Rosie Goodwin

  ‘Hello, darling. Brrr, it’s cold out there, isn’t it? Have you been back long?’

  Annabelle took another cup from the dresser. ‘No, only a few minutes. Dotty and I went to Lucy’s for tea, but when we got there she found her brother home on two days’ leave, so we went round to Dotty’s then – and would you believe it – she had a visitor too, some woman who used to look after her in the orphanage where she was brought up.’

  ‘That was nice for them then, wasn’t it?’ Her mother took her coat off and placed it neatly over the back of a chair before saying tentatively, ‘Actually, I joined the WVS this evening. I’m going to collect my uniform in a couple of days.’

  Annabelle stared at her in amazement. ‘But I thought you’d put your name down for ambulance driving!’

  ‘I have,’ her mother said calmly. ‘But thankfully up until now there hasn’t been much need for me to do it. And even if or when there is, I’m sure I can fit the two in perfectly well.’

  Annabelle was taken aback and it struck her then just how much their lives had changed in such a short time. Just a few months ago, the most she had had to worry about was where she was going that week and what she would be wearing. Now her father was away God knew where, preparing to fight for his country, she was a shop girl, and her mother was about to become an ambulance driver and a member of the WVS!

  Seeing her daughter’s stunned expression, Miranda reached out to pat her hand. ‘Don’t look like that,’ she urged. ‘I did tell you I wanted to do my bit. But now, about these two friends you’ve made at work – I’ve heard you mention them so many times I thought it might be nice if you invited them over for tea at the weekend. Do you think they’d come?’

  Annabelle pictured Dotty’s tiny flat and Lucy’s little terraced house in her mind. They would probably both fit into half of the downstairs here, but seeing as she had nothing better planned for the forthcoming weekend, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask them to Primrose Lodge, though she seriously doubted that Lucy would come.

  ‘I think Dotty might come,’ she answered. ‘But I doubt Lucy will be able to.’

  ‘Oh, why is that then?’

  ‘Well, she has to look after her little sister, doesn’t she? As far as I can gather, she never goes anywhere without her, apart from to work.’

  ‘I can’t see that need be a problem; she could bring her with her too. The more the merrier, I say.’

  ‘In that case I’ll ask them both tomorrow,’ Annabelle replied, and then with a heavy sigh she got out the ironing board and plugged the iron in to start the job she detested the most. She still missed having her ironing done for her, but she had soon found out the hard way that if she didn’t do it, no one else would.

  Chapter Eight

  The girls met up outside the store the next morning and went in together.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see you today,’ Annabelle commented as she glanced at Lucy. ‘I thought you might decide to have a day at home with your brother, seeing as he hasn’t got a very long leave.’

  ‘I must admit the thought did cross my mind,’ Lucy admitted with a guilty grin. ‘But then it will be nice for him to spend some time with Mary, and I shall see him tonight, shan’t I? This place is short-staffed enough as it is, and I wouldn’t have felt right making things worse.’

  ‘Then you’re a better person than I am,’ Annabelle growled. ‘Just give me a good enough excuse and I wouldn’t set foot in this place again, apart from to shop here. I tell you, this job has been a real eye-opener for me. I never realised how much work went into keeping a store running smoothly.’

  ‘Things will calm down again after Christmas,’ Dotty said hopefully. ‘People are spending money at the moment like it’s going out of fashion. I’m sorry about last night, Annabelle. I wasn’t expecting a visit from Miss Timms, but you would have been quite welcome to stay.’

  ‘Yes, and I’m sorry too,’ Lucy piped up. ‘You could have knocked me down with a feather when I found Joel at home, and after I’d promised you both dinner as well.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter.’ Annabelle led the way into the cloakroom. ‘In actual fact, my mother has sent you both an invitation. She thought you might like to pop over and have tea with us on Saturday. That’s if you haven’t got anything better planned, of course?’

  Just as she had expected, Lucy frowned. ‘That would have been lovely. But the thing is, after Mrs P has looked after Mary all week, I don’t like to impose on her more than I have to at the weekends as well.’

  ‘That won’t be a problem. Mummy said you’re quite welcome to bring Mary too,’ Annabelle assured her.

  ‘In that case I’d love to,’ Lucy responded.

  ‘And so would I.’ Dotty was grinning from ear-to-ear. She usually spent her weekends tidying the flat and writing, and so the thought of going somewhere other than to work was appealing.

  Mrs Broadstairs entered the cloakroom then and suddenly there was a flurry as all the girls scattered like flies to their different departments.

  By home-time all three girls were exhausted after being run off their feet all day.

  ‘I never thought I’d say it, but I shall actually be pleased to get home and put my feet up tonight,’ Annabelle told them as she pulled her coat on. She was missing her friend Jessica badly, but tonight she wouldn’t have wanted to go out even if she’d had the chance to. ‘I shall be glad when the Christmas rush is over now,’ she said, never missing the chance to have a grumble.

  ‘Hmm, the problem then is we have the January sales and after that, we have to stock-take. Mrs Broadstairs told me so today,’ Dotty confided. ‘And apparently that’s no easy task. Still, I dare say we’ll survive it.’

  ‘It’s going to be a strange Christmas anyway with Joel away,’ Lucy said gloomily, and then she instantly felt guilty. Here she was feeling sorry for herself, but she still had Mary, whilst Dotty had no one. Perhaps she should invite her over for Christmas dinner? She decided she’d give the idea some thought.

  ‘At least we’ve only got five more days to go until we break up,’ Dotty said, ever the optimist. ‘And then we can enjoy a few days off work.’

  ‘Oh whoopee doo! We finish late on Christmas Eve and then we’re back in again the day after Boxing Day to start getting ready for the January sales. I cannot wait!’ Annabelle sighed as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders, making the other two burst out laughing. Annabelle could always make them smile without even trying.

  It was as they stepped outside the store onto the icy pavement that someone suddenly stepped forward and Lucy gasped with pleasure to see Joel standing there clutching Mary’s hand.

  ‘We thought we’d come and meet you out of work,’ he explained, keeping his eyes fixed on Lucy, but he was painfully aware of Annabelle standing directly behind her. ‘I thought Mary would like to see the displays in the shop windows. Not that there’s much to be seen now that it’s dark,’ he added.

  ‘Oh, that’s lovely, but I hope you’ve got her warmly wrapped up,’ Lucy fussed as she bent to tighten the ribbons of Mary’s bonnet beneath her chin.

  ‘She could go to the Antarctic and not feel cold with the layers of clothes she’s got on,’ her brother assured her wryly. ‘But now why don’t I treat you all to a nice cup of tea before you go home? I noticed there’s a café open just a bit further along in Trinity Street.’

  Annabelle’s tiredness was suddenly forgotten and she was glad of the darkness that would hide the colour that had risen in her cheeks. Her heart was thumping painfully again. I’m acting like a love-struck kid, she scolded herself, but she followed the others along the pavement all the same.

  When she entered the steamy café, she blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light inside. Apart from the Open sign outside she might have passed it without even knowing that it was there, for the place had blackout blinds that effectively blocked all the light from leaking outside and sandbags propped all across the front of it.

  Joel scurried to
the counter to get them all a drink as they found an empty table, and Annabelle quickly got out her compact and powdered her nose while he was gone, much to the amusement of Lucy. Dotty, meanwhile, was fussing over Mary, who had totally captured her heart.

  Soon Joel was back with a tray loaded with mugs of tea, a glass of milk for Mary and five scones.

  ‘There wasn’t much choice in the cake department,’ he apologised. ‘But these should keep us all going until dinnertime.’

  He found himself with no choice but to sit next to Annabelle and now it was his turn to feel self-conscious, but soon they were all chatting as if they had known each other for years. As Dotty and Lucy looked after Mary, Annabelle told Joel about her father joining up and her mother’s voluntary work.

  ‘I think she’s doing it to keep her mind off what might be happening to Daddy,’ she confided and he nodded.

  ‘I can understand that. It must be really hard after being married all those years to be suddenly apart. Are you er . . . married?’

  Annabelle threw back her head and laughed. ‘Oh goodness me, no. I don’t even have a boyfriend.’ She instantly wished that she hadn’t told him that in case he thought she was setting her cap at him, but he seemed to take it in his stride. He began to tell her all about what his training had involved and some of the chaps he was stationed with, and she listened raptly until Lucy coughed gently to get their attention.

  ‘I think the lady is waiting to close up,’ she told them, pointing towards the counter where they saw the owner standing with her arms crossed, tapping her foot. Glancing around, they were shocked to see that they were the last customers in there. They had been so engrossed in conversation that they hadn’t even noticed that everyone else had gone. They all hastily rose and bundled little Mary ahead of them until they were once more outside on the cold pavement.

  ‘Look, I have to go back to camp the day after tomorrow,’ Joel said. ‘So why don’t you two both come round for dinner after work tomorrow? After all, I made you miss your meal what with turning up out of the blue like that yesterday, so I’ll do the cooking to make it up to you.’

  Lucy’s mouth gaped. She had never known Joel to volunteer for cooking before, but then she wasn’t going to argue.

  Annabelle and Dotty glanced at each other before nodding in unison. ‘That would be lovely, if you’re quite sure.’ And so it was decided and as Annabelle headed for the bus stop she found that she had a spring in her step.

  The next day she took especial pains over her make-up and set off for work feeling like a schoolgirl going on her first date. This is ridiculous, she berated herself as she stared out of the window of the bus. Joel isn’t even my type. He looks nothing like Clark Gable and he’s certainly not rich! But she still couldn’t stop herself from feeling excited at the thought of seeing him again.

  The day seemed to pass interminably slowly and she found herself glancing at the large clock above the lift doors in her department every ten minutes. If Lucy and Dotty noticed how quiet she was during the day they tactfully didn’t comment on it.

  ‘I have to say, Joel seems quite smitten with Annabelle,’ Lucy confided to Dotty as they travelled down in the lift together following the lunch break. ‘I’ve never even known him to look at a girl before but he must have mentioned Annabelle at least a dozen times over breakfast before I left for work.’

  ‘Well, judging by the way she was looking at him in the café last night, I’d say his feelings were reciprocated,’ Dotty chuckled, her romantic mind working overtime. ‘Although I have to say your brother doesn’t seem anything at all like the sort of man Annabelle is always telling us she wants to snare. No offence meant, of course. It’s just that she always says she wants a rich, handsome older man who will spoil her shamelessly and keep her in the lap of luxury.’

  ‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Lucy responded. ‘And a young private in the Army hardly fits the bill. Still, they do say love is blind. We’ll just have to see what happens, although it won’t be easy for them, what with Joel going off to God knows where the day after tomorrow.’

  Her face became solemn then and Dotty squeezed her hand. ‘Miss Timms always told me that everything happens for a reason, so let’s just sit back and see what happens, eh? If they’re meant for each other, love will find a way.’

  ‘Speaking of love, I’d love to get my mitts on another of your stories. It would give me something to look forward to, for when Joel is gone.’

  ‘That can be easily arranged,’ Dotty promised her as the lift creaked to a halt and then they parted and headed for their different departments.

  Dotty had a particularly difficult afternoon. One customer made her lift down almost every bolt of material in the shop before finally deciding on a length of pale blue satin. She then spent the next hour poring over the patterns, dismissing every one that Dotty suggested would suit the fabric before finally deciding on one that Dotty was sure would be totally unsuitable. By then Dotty had gone past caring and was just glad to see the back of her. It took her almost half an hour to replace all the different materials, and by then she was thoroughly cheesed off and longing for her afternoon break, although she was still looking forward to going around to Lucy’s that evening. Anything beat sitting in an empty flat.

  When they finally met up in the canteen it appeared that the other two hadn’t had a very good day either.

  ‘I had this one woman who had me spray at least eight different perfumes,’ Annabelle complained. ‘And then at the end of all that, she still couldn’t make her mind up and left without buying a thing! Between you and me, I just wonder if she ever intended to in the first place. And they were all expensive ones too.’

  ‘Well, you can’t win ’em all,’ Lucy said matter-of-factly, grinning as she spotted the tiny bit of mistletoe that had dropped into Annabelle’s hair, behind her ear. ‘It’s been manic in the children’s department too and I heard one girl say that they’ve been run off their feet in the food hall. I reckon people are beginning to hoard stuff before the food rationing comes properly into force. They’re stocking up on packets, tins and bottles and jars of things like there’s no tomorrow.’

  ‘That’s all down to this bloody war again,’ Annabelle said crossly. ‘They’re calling it “the phoney war” now so why is everyone panicking? It’s not as if it’s affected us yet, is it? And now we’re all going to be issued with identity cards. I mean, for God’s sake! It’s bad enough having to cart those damn gas masks about everywhere.’

  ‘Better to be safe than sorry,’ Lucy said sensibly. ‘I still have an awful feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.’

  Annabelle lit a cigarette and stared morosely down into her tea as the other two chatted about this and that.

  The rest of the afternoon proved to be as busy as before, and by the time the end of their shift came around, the girls were all worn out. Then, to crown it all, they ended up having to stay behind for fifteen minutes extra to do the tidying up that they had been unable to do whilst the customers were milling about. Admittedly the cleaners came in once the shop was shut, but the staff were still expected to put everything neatly away before they left.

  ‘We’ll have missed the six-fifteen bus now,’ Lucy wailed as they put their outdoor clothes on in the staff cloakroom. ‘And I only have tonight with Joel too. He’ll be gone again in the morning.’

  Dotty nodded sympathetically. Joel and Lucy seemed to be very close and she must be so worried about him being shipped off somewhere.

  ‘I’m sure he’ll write to you regularly to let you know how he’s getting on,’ she said comfortingly.

  Lucy nodded although her face was grim.

  They got outside to find it had started to snow, and right on cue, Annabelle groaned, ‘That’s all we need!’

  ‘It might not settle,’ Dotty said hopefully, although the flakes seemed to be as big as dinner plates. She glanced down at Annabelle’s shoes. The heels were not as high as sh
e had used to wear admittedly, but they were still totally unsuitable for walking on slippery pavements. But she didn’t dare say anything. The mood Annabelle was in, she was afraid of getting her head bitten off.

  Just as they had feared, they had missed their bus and the bad weather conditions made the next one late, which meant they didn’t get to Lucy’s until gone seven o’clock.

  Joel sighed with relief when they all trooped into the cosy back room.

  ‘Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick,’ he said as he helped Lucy off with her coat.

  She quickly explained as she crossed to warm her hands at the fire and kiss Mary. She then sniffed at the air appreciatively. Something smelled good and it made her stomach rumble with anticipation.

  ‘So, what culinary delight have we got for tea then?’ she asked with a twinkle in her eye. Her mother had used to tease Joel that he could burn water, before— She stopped her thoughts from going any further. This was his last night at home and she didn’t want anything to spoil it.

  ‘I’ve made us a cottage pie.’

  He flushed when Lucy raised her eyebrows then admitted sheepishly, ‘Well, Mrs P did help a bit.’

  ‘Whoever cooked it, it smells delicious.’ Lucy ushered Annabelle and Dotty to the table. Joel had laid the cutlery on the oilskin cloth and had even managed to find a few pink chrysanthemums at the local florist. He had placed them in a vase which now took pride of place in the middle of the table.

  ‘If I’d known you were this domesticated I’d have given you a few more chores to do before you went away,’ Lucy teased her brother as he hurried to fetch the pie and the vegetables.