The Evacuee Summer

by Katie King

  The women were ignoring the smell of the bones, and the bluebottles, as they needed to use the kitchen table as it was the largest in the house. Although Barbara worked during the daytime in a haberdashers and normally Peggy was very practical, it was Mabel who proved to be by far the best at making the two patterns fit on to the available material, although the wrestle with this piece of summery material was threatening to turn into a manful struggle that she wasn’t totally certain of winning.

  Barbara had been given the cotton remnant by one of the other ATS women whom she volunteered with several nights a week, and she’d been delighted when she’d seen how big the piece of cloth was. Now she was even more pleased that she and Peggy had something useful to talk about that wasn’t to do with Bill’s upsetting news.

  As they all stared down at what they were doing on the table, in a determined effort at keeping Peggy’s thoughts occupied away from Bill and MaureenFromTheNAAFI, Barbara described what daily life was like back in London with the war on, even though she knew she’d said some if not all of this to Peggy on other occasions and that Peggy wasn’t really listening to her anyway, while Mabel kept feeding Barbara questions so that the conversation didn’t dry up.

  ‘It’s so strange on the buses late on in the day, and on the trains too,’ Barbara said. ‘When it’s dark they have blinds that are pulled down and blue lights inside that don’t really give out anything more than a murky dark haze where you can hardly see anything. And the conductors don’t call out the stops any longer so goodness knows how strangers know where they are, which is the point of course, but still… It’s really easy to knock into people, but on the whole everyone is very good about it, and it’s rare to hear anyone complain.

  ‘And Ted and I went up to Piccadilly the other day, didn’t we, Ted, and the big statue there had been boarded up and covered with advertisements for War Bonds, not that we’ve got any spare money to buy them. And meanwhile Ted said it was very strange at the Jolly a couple of months back on the day when the two IRA bombers were hanged, as a couple of patrons dared to say they were pro-Irish, and there was nearly a fight.’

  ‘Well, one can see how incendiary that would be, when everyone else is looking to back the war effort, and the Irish are doing exactly the opposite,’ said Peggy more than a trifle half-heartedly, although she was clearly trying her best to concentrate on something other than her row with Bill. ‘Well, I know they say they’re neutral, but how can anybody be neutral these days. I bumped into Dr Legard the other day – you remember him, Barbara, as he came to our bonfire party here? – and he was saying that he’d heard that people who are too despondent, and dare to say so publicly, can now be taken to court.’

  Barbara did indeed remember the rather striking doctor – he’d saved Peggy and Holly’s lives, of course, but Barbara had noticed and been impressed by him well before that, as he’d been the first to twig that there was something awry with Peggy’s pregnancy back during a previous visit Barbara had made to Harrogate, when they’d thrown a small children’s party to mark Bonfire Night or, more accurately, Bonfire Afternoon seeing that nobody could do anything with illuminations or fireworks once it was dark because of the blackout.

  The usually talkative Mabel was concentrating deeply on the patterns still and so was uncharacteristically quiet for a while. But once she had finally managed to shoe-horn all the required pieces of tissue paper for both garments onto the cloth, she set Barbara and Peggy to cutting the now pinned patterns, while she described at length her plans to bring young Gracie into the WVS, and then a whole range of ideas that she had had about useful things for the League of Friends and their work with local hospitals.

  Mabel went on a bit too long about this, and cutting a trifle rudely across her monologue (although Barbara would never have dared to acknowledge this on such a cataclysmic day for her), Peggy said that there was one thing James had mentioned they were very short of at the hospital, and that was some sort of homemade drawstring bags for the wounded military men to keep their personal items safe and in one place.

  Roger looked up from organising the shoes that needed polishing and said, ‘Ah, interesting. Remind me to make a note of it to mention at tomorrow’s services. I’m sure many parishioners would be interested in helping out.’

  ‘You should ask for donations of old material and have a look in the jumble box at the church hall,’ added Mabel, ‘as with so many children in the house you’ve a ready-made army of “volunteers” living right under your nose, Roger.’

  ‘Can you imagine the faces of Aiden, Tommy, Larry and Jessie if they have to learn to sew? Priceless!’ he chuckled.

  ‘Bribe them, as that will work most likely,’ advised Mabel. ‘Say that t’ first boy t’ make five useable bags will win a prize of, well, I really don’t know, but I’m sure you can think of summat, Roger.’

  ‘I’m sure I will be able to. Perhaps being able to choose the piglet we are going to put under the apple trees, or not having any chores to do for a week,’ he replied.

  Peggy was staring off into the distance, and Barbara thought she very probably hadn’t heard much of this last bit of the conversation.

  There was a pause, and they could all hear Ted, once more back in the yard, talking to Milburn as he leant in over her stable door.

  Then as she began to cut the patterns, the long scissors making a rhythmic chopping sound on the wood of the table as she went, Barbara said, perhaps erring a bit too much on the casual side, ‘Peggy, you probably ought to have a word with James to see what size would be ideal for those bags.’

  ‘Oh, I think it’s just for a few bits and pieces like tobacco and matches, maybe a letter or two, and a pen, and so the bags needn’t be too large,’ answered Peggy in a distracted way as she moved to fill the kettle. ‘I doubt anyone would mind what size they are.’

  ‘Well, we don’t want to make them too large and thus waste material,’ Barbara answered, ‘and it would be foolish if they were made too small simply because nobody checked.’

  Roger and Mabel caught each other’s eye, and slightly raised their eyebrows but Barbara’s blank but nonetheless articulate glance in their direction told them in no uncertain terms to keep their counsel, at least while Peggy was in the kitchen.

  But Barbara needn’t have worried as the children came in as one and looked expectantly at Mabel. They were clearly peckish, and keen to know when they would next be fed, and so Peggy said distractedly above the children’s chatter, ‘Oh, maybe you’re right, Barbara – I’ll try and remember when I next bump into him.’

  Chapter Nine

  Roger went back to church for evensong, and as it was bath night which was always a bit of a palaver, Mabel served an early tea of a large Woolton pie, made with fresh vegetables from the patch the children looked after in the garden at Tall Trees, under the guidance of the verger at Roger’s church, who seemed to be able to coax things to grow in the most unlikely of places, in this case Mabel’s old ornamental rockery, which had had only the most rudimentary of clearances, with just the largest stones being heaved to one side.

  Mabel had sliced and diced the vegetables, and had added several handfuls of porridge oats and a thickened vegetable stock to bulk it out, all covered in a golden shortcrust pastry topping. To go with it there were fresh garden peas that Roger had nursed along, shelled by Angela, plus Mabel had served what she described as her ‘legendary potato surprise’, pronounced sur-preeze she claimed, the only surprise being, Tommy joked, that it was made of potatoes and nothing else. Immediately his mother pointed out that she had added a little milk and some tiny daubs of margarine dotted on the top to help it brown in the oven, which meant it wasn’t ‘just potatoes’, and then she had to laugh when Tommy good-naturedly rolled his eyes. She knew what he meant, and she had to agree with him.

  Still, with lots of salt and pepper, it was a much more appetising meal than many were sitting down to, everybody knew, and so nobody dared to comment that it was anything other tha
n moreish.

  Ted had been very clear with the twins when they’d left Bermondsey the previous September that they were to eat whatever was put in front of them, with no arguments, and for either of them to leave any food on their plates would definitely not be acceptable under any circumstances, whether they liked what they’d been given to eat or not. The twins had been quite fussy eaters when they were small, but they left London knowing that those days had to be in the past now, and generally they had tried their very best, with only fried tripe proving a complete stumbling block and, once, even Mabel had to agree with the twins that her attempt at serving half a boiled calf’s head with white sauce was a mistake never to be repeated again.

  ‘Ma, do yer mean we don’t ’ave to ’ave calf’s ’ead no more?’ Tommy had dared to ask. ‘Or yer goin’ t’ practise cookin’ it like mad?’ Mabel had used her best withering look before she shook her head, and the children all laughed in relief, with Connie saying, ‘Mishap avoided!’

  Although Peggy barely ate anything of the Woolton pie, both Ted and Barbara were very gratified to see the twins guzzle down everything put before them with no quibbling, a far cry from the slightly picky, vegetable-shy appetites they had demonstrated less than a year earlier.

  As a special treat because Barbara and Ted were visiting, there was even a bread and butter pudding (heavy on the bread, light on the butter and raisins) to follow, accompanied by some thinly made but still tasty Bird’s custard. When the children were at last allowed to get down from the tea table, they were all feeling as if their eyes had been bigger than their tummies, and very full indeed seeing that, unusually, they’d just had their second cooked meal of the day, while even Peggy looked to have perked up a little, now that she had eaten something hot and sweet.

  After tea, while Tommy, Aiden and Larry drew lots to see the order in which they would get into the same water for their weekly bath, Ted and Barbara retreated to the parlour with Jessie (who was hoping he might be able to avoid a bath this week) and Connie, so that all the Rosses could have a little time on their own, as they had used to do.

  They didn’t get up to anything special, other than Jessie show his parents a code he was working on so that he and the other boys could leave secret notes for each other at school, after which they all played a hotly contested Snap tournament with Ted’s playing cards, which he’d remembered to bring, and then dominoes and some other board games, before all cramming onto the two-seater couch, the twins perched on the arms and leaning against the parent next to them, as they listened to the nine o’clock news from the BBC on the wireless. Then the twins were told to have a quick top-to-toe wash and jump into bed as the next day was a school day, and so they mustn’t be late to go to sleep.

  Angela was still awake when Connie and Jessie went past her ground-floor bedroom on their way upstairs, as since her injury she had been a poor sleeper, exceptionally prone to nightmares, so Mabel was sitting with her, reading to her from a battered and dog-eared copy of Swallows and Amazons. But although Connie wanted to listen to Mabel read too, she was herded up the stairs alongside her brother by Barbara.

  Once Connie and Jessie had settled down, and their parents had returned to the parlour, Peggy came in with cups of weak cocoa for Barbara and Ted, although when they asked her to join them, she said she was tired and so was going to head on straight up to bed herself.

  Left alone at last Barbara and Ted could talk about the twins. It felt very odd to see them so much more independent than when they had left Bermondsey, as well as taller and stronger (although Jessie still looked to be small for his age and he definitely seemed younger than his sister at times, with Barbara pointing out to Ted how Jessie had said ‘daddy’, but Connie had preferred ‘mother’, and Ted saying Connie had reverted to ‘daddy’ when he had told the twins off).

  Naturally, before too long, the conversation turned to Peggy and Bill, and Barbara went through everything Peggy had said at least twice. ‘And she knows how expensive getting divorced is, and how everyone at home will gossip, and so I don’t know what she’ll do,’ Barbara wound up.

  Ted didn’t seem to have much of an opinion either way, which was, in Barbara’s view, much too reasonable, and indeed downright irritating when he refused to condemn Bill totally, and she sighed strongly in disapproval, even shuffling away from her husband a little on the sofa.

  But Ted remained firm, closing with, ‘I’m sure that if things ’ad gone on as before an’ Peggy and Bill ’ad been able ter stay at ’ome, it would all ’ave worked out otherwise for them an’ Bill would never ’ave strayed. But it must be strange to be away from ’ome and wi’ other men, an’ some women can be right determined on a chap if they feel that’s who they want.’

  ‘Well, I don’t agree,’ said Barbara petulantly as she stared at the old-fashioned carpet in front of the small sofa on which they were sitting. ‘And how would you know, Ted, what other women are like?’

  Ted took the sensible decision to keep quiet as he knew Barbara could be fiery when riled.

  They both stared at the carpet, and after a while Ted poked his elbow into Barbara’s side. She huffed, but then she poked him back with her elbow, at which he put his arm over her shoulder and drew her close, whispering, ‘Well, I don’t know, do I? It’s jus’ what the lads say at the Jolly.’

  ‘Just you make sure it says that way,’ said Barbara, and then she changed the subject as she felt her point had been made. ‘I don’t know, Ted, I’m pleased that the twins seem to have settled so well here with Roger and Mabel, but I can’t help feeling we’re missing out on such a lot, don’t you think? Jessie is code-mad, which he never used to be, and he’s getting a bit of Yorkshire about him as he speaks, isn’t he? While I can see too that it won’t be long before Connie finds herself starting to develop as a young woman as she’s not quite the beanpole she was.’

  ‘Barbara!’ said Ted, looking uncomfortable. He hated talking about anything to do with ‘women’s things’, and Barbara realised that this meant he felt awkward therefore with her even encouraging him to think about how much Connie had grown, and this was without Barbara having stepped into any territory to do with adolescence that Ted would have described as ‘saucy’. ‘Surely not? She’s still a little girl, not yet eleven…’ he faltered.

  ‘Well, I’m not saying anything major is going on just now. But I can see that it will do at some point, and that this all might not be too far away for either her or Jessie. All I am pointing out is that I think things will be happening to Connie that her own mother should be around for, and as good as Mabel and Peggy are, it’s not going to be the same for Connie without me to speak to, especially seeing how keen she is on Aiden, although I’m sure that is still completely innocent and so I don’t want to say anything that will spoil it for her,’ Barbara said reasonably. ‘And of course the same goes for our Jessie too, although not the Aiden bit! There will be things to do with his own body that will be facing him that a father needs to prepare him for, otherwise he’ll be getting the gossip from school and probably scaring himself to death, and so it’s a shame that you are not with him more to help him understand what is going to be happening to him. Look at Tommy and Aiden, for instance, they are big strapping lads, and have you noticed that Tommy almost looks as if he has the first hint of a moustache coming through, which says to me that a lot more is probably changing than just a bit of facial hair.’

  ‘Barbara!’ breathed Ted again, although this time in an even more shocked tone, his cheeks, earlier ruddied by the sunny jaunt out in the trap with Roger and Milburn, paling rapidly at the thought of what his wife was driving at. ‘Oh…’

  Barbara smiled and shook her head. She could see that Ted wasn’t going to be ready to have the birds and the bees talk with Jessie on this visit, but she needed to let him know that he couldn’t keep telling himself that he would do it one day but not quite yet.

  ‘You’re not going to be able to put it off for too much longer, Ted,’ she said with ju
st the tiniest hint of iron in her voice, ‘and so I think that you must prepare yourself that if you get a good moment to broach what you need to say to Jessie about all the changes his body is going to go through, and how babies are made, then you should take the plunge.’

  Ted’s face was so stricken at this that Barbara had to work quite hard at not laughing out loud.

  Chapter Ten

  The next day was Monday and the twins had to attend school in the morning, along with the rest of the children from Bermondsey, while the pupils who came from Harrogate were on the afternoon school shift for the week, and so Barbara and Ted walked the twins to school well before the first lessons would start, as they wanted to have a quick word with their teacher to see how the twins were faring.

  Angela and Larry were also on ‘earlies’, but they were going to set off a bit later, with Larry pushing her there. Angela was only doing two hours a day in class at the moment, as following her head injury she found she got a headache if she tried to concentrate on anything for too long, and Larry hadn’t yet returned to school officially and it probably wasn’t going to herald the end of the world if he were a little late. James’s advice was that Angela be eased gently back into her normal routine as he didn’t want to risk the sort of setback that would see her have to return to hospital for further recuperation, as his field hospital, which had been set up for wounded servicemen and had only taken Angela because they had at that point been quiet and he had the best expertise in the area with head injuries, was becoming busier by the day with soldiers and naval men, and Air Force pilots who’d been injured now rapidly filling the wards after being returned from abroad. Luckily for Mabel and Roger, who was always over-committed at the best of times, Aiden and Tommy could pop over to the school to collect Angela after her two-hour stint and take her back to Tall Trees, after which they would share an early dinner together, before the boys would head back to school for their ‘lates’ session with the other children who’d been born and bred in Harrogate.