Red Sky in the Morning

by Margaret Dickinson

  Douglas put his arm around May and smiled down at her. ‘It was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.’

  Watching them together, Anna thought: He really does love Mam, I’m sure he does. He’s so generous. Maybe Grandpa was wrong about him after all. He never stops buying things for Mam and spoiling her.

  May was always dressed in the latest fashion – thanks to Douglas. He bought material and employed a dressmaker to make dresses and costumes for her.

  ‘My future wife’s not going to be dressed in utility clothes. Mind you,’ he added, winking saucily, ‘I must say I like the idea of the shorter skirt to save on material.’

  And he brought gifts to the farm too. The day he came with a box of oranges, the Land Army girls and Anna fell on them with squeals of glee. ‘I’m not going to ask how you got ’em,’ Betty declared, peeling one and biting into the segments. She closed her eyes in ecstasy. ‘I’m just glad you did.’

  In August Paris was liberated and everyone began to hope that soon the war would be over. Plans for a better Britain were already being talked about. New homes were to be built and a National Health Service that would bring equal health care for all was promised.

  And soon, Anna prayed, Bruce would be home. She longed to see him again. She wrote to him every week, just as she had said she would. His letters were not so frequent, but she understood why and forgave him.

  I reckon I’ll sign on as a regular after the war, he wrote. I love the army life.

  Anna wrote back to him in a panic. But what about us?

  His reply was a long time coming and Anna was in a torment of uncertainty. He didn’t love her any more. He’d found someone else. A sophisticated, chic French girl perhaps, like the pictures she’d seen in the magazines Betty and Rita brought home.

  What do you mean ‘What about us?’ he wrote at last. You’re my girl, aren’t you? We’ll get married and you can come with me. It’d be a great life, travelling all over the world. You’d love it. You don’t want to live on the farm for ever. And even if you did – which I hope you won’t – you won’t need me around. You’ll always have the faithful Jed.

  Jed had been classed as being in a reserved occupation, much to Bruce’s scathing disgust.

  He’s yeller, he had scoffed in a letter home to Anna. He ought to be out here getting a taste of what being a real man is like.

  As Anna had expected, May spent more and more time in Lincoln with Douglas, but they still came at the weekend sometimes and then May would stay the rest of the week with Anna, whilst Douglas went back to the city alone.

  ‘We’ll have a lovely Christmas this year,’ May promised. ‘The war might be over by then and Bruce could be home. We’ll make it really special.’

  But the war was not over by Christmas, though towards the end of November Bruce did get leave and came home for a blissful weekend with Anna.

  As they said their goodbyes on the Sunday evening, Anna clung to him. ‘Do take care.’

  ‘Course I will. It’ll soon be over.’

  ‘But – but you said you might stay in the army. Did you really mean it?’

  Bruce shrugged. ‘Dunno yet. I might. Look, sorry, I’ve got to go. Dad’s waiting in the car.’

  He kissed her hard on the mouth and then he was gone.

  The following morning Betty came bursting into the kitchen.

  ‘There’s three hens gone missing. That beggar – whoever he is – must be back again,’ Betty said angrily. ‘I thought we’d got rid of him. Nothing much has happened lately.’

  ‘How do you know? Have you counted them?’ Rita asked.

  ‘I have now,’ Betty said. ‘I got suspicious when I couldn’t find Speckly.’ Betty’s favourite was a black and white speckled hen.

  ‘They could have wandered off somewhere,’ May suggested. ‘Laying their eggs under a hedge, I shouldn’t wonder.’

  Betty pressed her lips together as she shook her head. ‘No. Speckly comes to me to be fed every morning.’ The girl was adamant. ‘She’s gone, I tell you.’ And she glared belligerently at May as if it were her fault. ‘She’ll be plucked and roasted and lying on somebody’s plate now.’ She glowered as she muttered, ‘Somewhere in the city, I shouldn’t wonder.’

  ‘What? What do you mean by that, Betty?’ May asked sharply, but the girl turned away and left the house, slamming the back door behind her.

  ‘What did she mean?’ May asked, glancing between Rita and Anna.

  Rita got up. ‘I’d best get on.’ As she too left the house, May stared after her.

  ‘What did Betty mean? Do you know, Anna?’

  Slowly Anna said, ‘I think she’s hinting that poor Speckly – and probably everything else that’s gone missing over the months from the farms around here – has ended up on the black market in the city.’

  ‘Well, yes, I expect it has. We all know that, but – but she seemed to be hinting at something else. Something more—’

  Mother and daughter stared at each other.

  ‘Douglas! She thinks it’s Douglas, doesn’t she?’ May’s fingers fluttered to cover her mouth. ‘Oh, how could she?’ Then suddenly May’s eyes sparkled with anger. ‘It’s more likely she’s got some feller in tow who’s wheeling and dealing and she’s supplying him with our stock. Huh! The cheek. Accusing my Douglas. She’s still jealous, that’s what. Just because it’s me he comes to see now and not her.’

  Now it was Anna who did not know how to answer.

  May refused to speak to either Betty or Rita for the rest of the week, and by the time Douglas arrived again on the Saturday afternoon she had packed her suitcase and was waiting for him, wearing her hat and coat in readiness.

  ‘We’re going straight back to town,’ she informed him before he had scarcely got out of the car.

  ‘Why? What’s the matter? Trouble?’

  ‘I’ll tell you later. Come on, we’re going.’

  Anna had never seen her mother so forceful. May turned briefly towards her daughter. ‘I don’t know when I’ll be back. You’ll – you’ll be all right?’ There was a moment’s brief hesitation in her resolve.

  Anna nodded as Douglas lifted his shoulders and spread his arms in a helpless gesture. But he was laughing again as he climbed back into the car. ‘Your wish is my command, ma’am.’

  As they disappeared down the lane in a cloud of exhaust fumes, Betty came to stand beside Anna. Putting her arm around the young girl, she said, ‘I’m sorry I’ve upset your mam, but I’m not apologizing for suspecting him. Have you noticed that stuff seems to disappear only after a weekend and only when him and his lad have been?’

  Anna gasped and turned to face Betty. ‘You mean you think Bruce was involved too?’

  Betty watched her with serious eyes. Then she nodded. ‘I’m sorry, pet, but—’

  Anna pulled away from Betty. ‘How could you? Mam was right. It’s not them. It’s you, but you want everyone to think it’s them.’

  ‘Me?’ Betty’s face was red, not with guilt but with anger. ‘How dare you think that of me? Why, if Pops was still here—’

  Tears glistened in Anna’s eyes. ‘Don’t you dare even mention his name.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Rita said, coming across the yard.

  Betty swung round. ‘This little madam is accusing me of stealing.’

  Rita’s mouth dropped open. Then she laughed. ‘Don’t be daft, Anna. Betty wouldn’t take a ha’penny that didn’t belong to her. You should know better than that.’

  Now it was Anna’s turn to flush with embarrassment. ‘All right then, but she’s no need to go accusing others.’

  Puzzled, Rita glanced from Anna to Betty and back again. ‘Others? What others?’

  ‘Douglas and – and Bruce.’

  ‘Ah, well now, there you have me because I’m afraid I have to agree with her.’

  Now it was Anna’s turn to glance from one to the other as she said falteringly, ‘You – you do?’

  Rita nodded. ‘Sorry, love, but
yes, I do.’

  Betty was gentle now as she could see that Anna was genuinely distressed and confused. ‘Actually, it’s more Bruce than Douglas, but I reckon his dad was in on it and all. He was the only one with the transport. Think about it, pet. We had a spate of livestock going from all the farms around here, didn’t we? And then, for a while, nothing. All the time Bruce was away doing his basic training. And then when he comes home on leave – three hens go missing.’

  ‘Bill told me yesterday that he lost a piglet last weekend an’ all. Same time as our hens went. The weekend Bruce was home on leave.’

  Anna closed her eyes and groaned. ‘It’s not true. It’s not. I won’t believe it.’

  ‘I’m sorry, love,’ Betty said again, ‘but I think it’s more that you don’t want to believe it. Don’t you?’

  Anna was quiet for the rest of the week. She didn’t ignore Betty and Rita, who did their best to act normally, but she was unhappy. She liked Betty and Rita. Her grandpa had too – he’d thought the world of them and trusted them completely. But, she remembered uncomfortably, he had not liked Douglas or his son. Anna sighed. But she loved Bruce and wanted to believe in him. He had gone away again, back abroad, and she didn’t want to write this sort of thing in a letter. If only he would come home on leave again, she could sort it all out with him and prove his innocence. And Douglas’s too.

  The week dragged by. She missed Bruce and now she missed her mother. But for the two Land Army girls’ insinuations, it could have been a happy week. Betty and Rita were good workers and despite the atmosphere between them and Anna they still carried out the work as they always had done.

  Privately, Betty said to Rita, ‘For two pins I’d walk out, but I’m doing it for Pops.’

  ‘Anna’s all right. I know she likes Bruce, but I reckon she’s wavering.’

  Betty’s tough line softened. ‘Poor kid. She’s only young. She doesn’t know what to believe.’ Her tone hardened again. ‘But May’s old enough to know better.’

  Rita laughed. ‘Come on, Bet. You fell for him once.’

  Betty grinned. ‘Nearly, I admit it. But,’ she tapped the side of her nose knowingly, ‘I never let myself get so carried away that I can’t suss out what they’re like. And I soon started to see that Mr Douglas Whittaker wasn’t quite all he was cracked up to be.’ She sighed and added, ‘But May—’ She needed to say no more. They both knew that May was so besotted with Douglas that she could see no wrong in him.

  ‘We ought to work on Anna,’ Rita said seriously.

  Betty shrugged. ‘I don’t expect she’ll believe us. When her own mother is so taken up with the father you can hardly expect her to turn against the son, can you?’

  ‘It’s worth a try, even if only for poor old Pops,’ Rita said solemnly. ‘It’s what he would have wanted us to do.’

  The girls’ plans to get Anna to see what they believed was the truth were dashed when May returned home three weeks later, flashing a wedding ring.

  ‘We were married by special licence, Anna,’ May said, her face glowing with happiness. ‘I’m sorry you couldn’t be there, but Douglas says we’ll make it up to you. You and Bruce, next time he’s home.’

  ‘Well, that’s it, then,’ Betty said, folding her arms with a gesture of finality. ‘You’ll not be wanting us around any longer.’

  ‘As you wish, Betty,’ May said stiffly.

  ‘Oh now, come on, Betty.’ Douglas put his arm around her shoulders. She stiffened beneath his touch. ‘May’s told me of your suspicions and yes, you’re quite right to suspect me—’

  ‘Douglas!’ May’s eyes were wide, but he was laughing.

  ‘Oh, I’m not perfect, May darling, I’ll be the first to admit it and yes, I do a bit of dealing on the black market, but I wouldn’t stoop to stealing. Specially not from May. I’d be a fool wouldn’t I?’

  ‘What about that lad of yours then?’ Betty persisted. ‘Is he pure and lily white an’ all?’ she added sarcastically.

  Douglas was still standing with his arm draped around her. His face was close to hers. As she looked up, she was sure she saw a fleeting malicious glint in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant and she wondered if she had imagined it.

  Douglas forced himself to laugh again. ‘No young feller of his age is pure and lily white, as you put it, but he’s not a bad lad.’

  Betty moved away from him as she glanced at May. ‘I still think it would be better if we left. Now you’ve got a husband to help you with the farm work, you won’t need us.’ There was the merest hint of sarcasm in her tone and everyone noticed it. Only Douglas guffawed. ‘Me? Milk cows and muck out the henhouse? I think not. Besides, May and I will be spending most of our time in Lincoln. Won’t we, darling? We’ve got a nice house in view – a semi-detached in a nice part of the city.’ He turned towards Anna, as if suddenly realizing he had not included her in their plans. ‘You’ll love it, Anna. And we’ll have your room decorated just as you’d like it.’

  Anna smiled weakly and murmured, ‘That’s very kind of you, but I must stay here.’ She turned to Betty and Rita. ‘Please don’t leave me. I couldn’t manage on my own.’ But before either of them could answer, Douglas said, ‘It’d be far better if you could sell the lot. This place is a millstone round your neck. A young girl like you should be out having fun, not slaving away out here in the back of beyond. If it hadn’t been for that vindictive old man, you could be well off and having the time of your life.’

  Anna gasped. ‘I love the farm. I’ll never sell it. Never.’

  Now Douglas couldn’t hide his anger. ‘Well, you’ll be on your own then because your mother and I have no intention of living here.’

  May bit her lip and glanced anxiously between her new husband and her daughter. But she said nothing. She made no attempt to deny Douglas’s words.

  Anna’s dark violet eyes filled with tears as she murmured again, ‘Betty, please don’t go.’

  The two older girls glanced at each other and, as if reaching mutual agreement, Betty sighed and said, ‘All right, pet. We’ll stay a bit longer.’

  As it turned out they only stayed a few more months, for in the following May the war ended and when demobilization began, as Betty had predicted, there were plenty of men looking for work.

  Anna’s heart sang. Bruce would be coming home and then everything would be all right.

  Forty-Four

  ‘I ’spect we’ll be going home soon, then,’ Betty said.

  They had all been to the street party in the village to celebrate VE Day and had returned home to the farm tired, but elated that the war was finally over.

  ‘I don’t expect they’ll let us go just yet. Not till demob starts and there’s fellers back home to take our places,’ Rita said.

  Betty nodded. ‘ ’Spect you’re right. They’ll tell us when, I suppose.’

  ‘You’ll stay till after shearing, won’t you? Even if we get new fellers, they won’t be as good as you.’

  ‘Could I have that in writing please, ma’am?’ Betty quipped. ‘I might need a good reference when I go back home and start looking for work.’

  It was Jed who took charge at shearing time.

  ‘He’s a born natural with them shears,’ his uncle said proudly. ‘He’s won prizes for it, y’know.’

  Anna was fascinated to watch Jed at work. He was firm but gentle with the sheep. There was no panic or rough handling, but his strength kept them under control as he rolled them over and began to shear, the fleece falling off.

  ‘Like a knife through butter,’ Betty, standing beside Anna, murmured. ‘He’s good, isn’t he?’

  Anna nodded. For a brief moment there was a lump in her throat. Things had not been the same between her and Jed over the last months and she missed his easy friendship.

  ‘Yes, he is good,’ she said and meant it about more than just sheep shearing. He had taught her so much, she realized. It had been Jed who had shown her how to fold the fleeces, Jed who had helped her at dipping
time when she had not wanted to plunge the poor creatures right into the dip.

  ‘You’ve got to do it, Anna, for their own sake,’ he’d explained gently. ‘You don’t want to see ’em with ticks or lice or, worse still, sheep scab, do you?’

  And despite the rift between them over Bruce, he was still here, still helping her, even though she had the uncomfortable feeling that he was now doing it more for her grandfather’s memory than for her.

  ‘I don’t like leaving you, Anna,’ Betty said worriedly when the day came in the autumn for both her and Rita to leave. Their former, easy relationship had never been fully restored since Betty’s accusations, yet both Land Army girls were genuinely fond of Anna – and May, too, though they were exasperated by the older woman’s blind worship of Douglas.

  ‘Can’t she see him for what he is? A wide boy. A spiv. If only she’d listened to Pops. He knew, bless him. Oh, how I wish I’d never brought Douglas Whittaker here. I could kick myself. If I’d thought for one minute—’ Betty said more than once, but never now in front of Anna. ‘And what’ll happen when Bruce gets home I shudder to think.’

  ‘It’s not our worry,’ Rita tried to tell her.

  ‘No, I know. But when I think about Pops—’ It was all Betty needed to say for them to lapse into a sorrowful silence, until Rita said practically, ‘There’s nothing more we can do, Bet. Time to go home and pick up our own lives.’

  And now the day had come. Their belongings were all packed and they were in the yard waiting for the lorry that was coming to pick them up. Anna hugged them both in turn, all discord forgotten. Tears were running down her face. ‘I wish you weren’t going. You’ve been wonderful.’

  ‘I just hope these two new fellers you’ve got are going to be all right.’

  Anna smiled through her tears. ‘Well, it isn’t as if I don’t know them. Jed is still here – ’ she pulled a face – ‘well, now and again. And I went to school with Phil – one of the new hands – though he is a bit older than me. Grandpa knew his family, so I know he would have approved.’