The Woolworths Girls

by Elaine Everest

  ‘I wouldn’t call it a home from home, but it’s nice enough. Needs must when the devil dictates, as the saying goes,’ Maisie said as she pulled on her siren suit. ‘Are you fit?’

  ‘Oh, you and your sayings,’ Sarah said as she picked up her knitting bag and they headed out to the back garden. Both stopped to look skywards as they heard ack-ack guns in the distance and saw plumes of smoke in the sky. ‘I don’t think this is a false alarm.’

  ‘Best we get down the shelter a bit nippy like,’ Maisie said. In normal circumstances she’d have given her friend a mighty push but was considerate of her condition.

  ‘I don’t feel exactly elegant climbing down into this shelter,’ Sarah said as Freda offered her a helping hand down the wooden steps. ‘As soon as this baby arrives, I want one of those siren suits. It’s as draughty as hell in this frock.’

  ‘I’ll make you one, and one for the baby as well, but for heaven’s sake, get a move on, otherwise you’ll be wearing a bloody bomb on yer ’ead,’ Maisie said, flinching as they heard a mighty explosion from the river.

  Freda shoved the wooden door shut behind them and pulled down a curtain that would protect the inside of the shelter from dust if there should be an explosion outside. George had built a bench along one side that could double as a bed, and opposite there was a narrow bunk bed too. ‘Shall I light a candle?’

  ‘Save them for now. I’m going to knit. I’ve made that many balaclava helmets I can knit them in the dark. I’ve got my torch if I need to pick up a dropped stitch,’ Ruby said.

  ‘Knitting in the dark it is, then,’ Maisie declared. ‘I’m knitting a scarf, so a few odd stitches gained or lost won’t make much odds. How about you, Sarah?’

  Sarah laughed. ‘Perhaps by the end of this war your knitting might have improved, Maisie.’

  ‘At the end of this war I’m going to throw away me knitting needles and never cast on or cast off again,’ Maisie said. ‘I’ll stick to me sewing machine, thank you very much.’

  ‘George said he’s going to fix up an electric light when he has a minute. Vera’s got one in her shelter and she said it comes in very handy,’ Ruby announced from the darkness.

  They fell silent listening to the telltale signs from outside that showed the enemy were approaching. Each woman continued to knit, then stopped as they heard another explosion from the nearby docks.

  Suddenly Sarah’s groans shattered the silence.

  ‘Oh my God, Sarah. Are you in pain? Is it the baby?’ Freda shone her torch onto Sarah’s face, causing her to flinch in the bright light.

  ‘No. It’s just a stitch. This bunk bed isn’t the most comfortable thing to relax on.’ She held her breath as another pain gripped her body. She wasn’t going to worry Nan or her friends while they were in the shelter. There would be time enough later to tell them she thought that baby Gilbert was on its way; she’d try to wait for the all-clear to sound.

  Maisie shuddered as the ground shook, causing a dust cloud to form in the shelter, and checked her watch by the light of the candle. They’d long ago stopped knitting. Sandwiches had been made by candlelight and consumed with relish, as it was long past their midday meal and fast approaching teatime. They now sat silently listening and praying for the all-clear.

  ‘That was a close one. They seem to have moved away from the London docks.’

  ‘Perhaps they’re heading for home. Someone at work said the enemy planes use the Thames to guide them back to the sea and then home,’ Freda said.

  ‘What ’appens to the bombs they have left?’ Maisie wanted to know. ‘I doubt they take ’em home to Hitler.’

  ‘I heard they dump them,’ Ruby said.

  ‘What, in the river or out at sea, do you mean?’ Freda asked.

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ Ruby laughed. ‘They dump them on the poor buggers that live between London and the coast. Old George up the Co-op’s son-in-law is in the RAF and he told him that they will look for a likely site and get rid of them. London isn’t the only place that has docks and the like, and the Luftwaffe aren’t daft. They’ll find out where our big factories are and they’ll drop their bombs where they will do the most damage.’

  ‘Like Burndept’s, where I work, do you mean?’ Freda asked fearfully.

  ‘And Vickers where George works,’ Ruby added. ‘So think on when you’re chatting to your new mates in the pub, Maisie, and mention where your friends work. Who knows who is listening? And as the posters say, careless talk costs lives.’

  ‘Blimey. It’s bloody frightening when you think about it,’ Maisie said. ‘Don’t you think so, Sarah?’

  There was silence apart from a groan where Sarah lay on the lower bunk bed.

  ‘Sarah?’ Maisie fumbled for her torch. ‘Goodness, Sarah. Is the baby on its way? Why the ’eck didn’t you say something earlier?’

  ‘I . . . I didn’t want to worry you. I . . . I thought we’d be out of the shelter and indoors by now.’

  Ruby knelt beside the bunk and checked her granddaughter. ‘I think this little one is going to be born right here – and very soon.’

  ‘No, no, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be . . .’ Sarah sobbed as another pain gripped her. ‘I want Alan. I want my dad.’ She began to sob uncontrollably.

  Maisie leant over and took her by the shoulders. Leaning into her face, she spoke clearly and loudly. ‘Now look here. This baby is going to be born, and whether you like it or not, it’s gonna be born in this Anderson shelter. You can yell all you want for Alan and yer dad. You can even yell for yer mum too, although I couldn’t see her down here in a muddy hole in the ground delivering a baby. Even if they was here, there isn’t room in this shelter for them. There’s no room to swing a cat, let alone a baby.’

  Sarah stopped sobbing and went quiet for a moment. ‘I’m sorry. I’m all right now . . . Thank you, Maisie.’

  ‘Well, I don’t know why you’re thanking me, I’m sure. I have no idea how to give birth, and the most Freda’s ever taught at her Girl Guide meetings is how to use her tie to make a knee bandage or a sling for a broken arm. Just be thankful yer nan’s here, as without her we’d all be up the creek without a paddle.’

  Maisie’s humour broke the tension and for a few minutes the women laughed as they prepared for the arrival of the baby, making do with what they had at their disposal in the shelter.

  Ruby gave Freda the task of sorting out the bedding. She prided herself on the blankets being fresh, and the beds had sheets on them, which meant there would be something to clean and wrap the baby in. Ruby didn’t feel it was right that young Freda should witness a birth, but there wasn’t much she could do about that at the moment.

  Maisie tipped some fresh water from a stone bottle that Ruby kept in the shelter onto a piece of torn sheet and wiped the sweat from Sarah’s brow and spoke soothing words to her as contraction after contraction swept through her tired body.

  ‘I can see the baby’s head,’ Ruby called out as an explosion almost shook Sarah from her bed. Ruby flung herself across Sarah, fearing the worst, as Maisie and Freda righted the candles before a fire started. From outside the shelter, there was an almighty crash and again the ground shook, followed by a groaning noise as something heavy landed close by.

  ‘My God! The house must ’ave been hit,’ Maisie shouted, while from the bunk there could be heard the sound of a baby crying.

  ‘Well, you certainly chose a good time to enter the world, Miss Gilbert,’ declared her great-grandmother.

  The women worked together quickly to help tidy Sarah up and check that the baby was all right. With dust still settling around them in the shelter, Ruby wrapped the baby in a clean sheet. ‘I’m going to give the little ’un to Maisie to hold while I wipe some of the dust off your face and give you a sip of cold tea. Fortunately, there’s a bit of sugar in it, so you’ll get some energy. God knows you need it after giving birth in this hellhole.’

  Freda tugged a blanket from the other bunk, ready to hand it to Ruby as she p
ulled the soiled ones away. ‘I reckon we’ll have to boil these in the copper on laundry day.’

  ‘We’re probably best to just burn them, Freda. There’s a few more where they come from and I wouldn’t begrudge a blanket for my beautiful little great-granddaughter, or my granddaughter, come to that,’ she said as she gave Sarah a hug. ‘Now, let’s sort that cup of tea out. It’s not much, but I suppose it’ll be welcome.’

  ‘You can say that again,’ Sarah said with a weak smile. ‘Thank you, Nan. You too, Freda and Maisie. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.’

  ‘I wasn’t much help at all. If we wasn’t shut in down here because of the air raid, I’d have more likely run a mile,’ Freda laughed. ‘What about you, Maisie?’

  The women looked to where Maisie was cuddling the baby, rocking her back and forth. She looked up at them with tears in her eyes. ‘I’ve just been telling her what a lucky little girl she is to have so many people to look out for her and how we will never stop reminding her of how she came into the world.’

  As Maisie spoke, the all-clear began to sound. ‘Thank goodness for that,’ Freda declared. ‘I’ll get the door open. We could do with some fresh air in here after all this dust.’

  ‘Be careful, Freda. We’ve got no idea what came down after that last explosion.’

  Maisie handed the baby to Sarah so carefully she could have been made of china. ‘Here you go, Mum. You hold yer daughter while I give Aunty Freda a hand.’

  Ruby roared with laughter and relief. ‘Why, you’re all not much more than kids yourself and here you are calling each other “Mum” and “Aunty”.’

  Maisie nudged Ruby in the ribs. ‘Get away with you. You’re only calling us kids ’cos it’ll make you sound younger now you’re a great-granny.’

  Even Sarah joined in the laughter, although she felt as though she was in a dream. Looking down at her daughter’s face was like looking at Alan. There was such a likeness. She tried to fight the tears that threatened to fall as she kissed the baby’s forehead. ‘It’s just you and me, my little treasure, until your daddy comes home. Won’t he be surprised to meet you?’

  ‘I think we’ve got a problem,’ Freda said. ‘The door won’t budge.’

  Maisie came alongside her. ‘Let’s both try together. One, two, three, push!’ They both shoved the door and it moved a couple of inches, but try as they might, they couldn’t move it another inch.

  Freda squinted through the small gap. ‘I think I know what came down in that last crash.’

  ‘Please don’t say it was the back wall of the house,’ Ruby cried.

  ‘I think we’d all be as flat as a pancake if it was,’ Maisie snorted. ‘What can you see, Freda?’

  ‘I can see leaves and some branches. It must be next door’s apple tree.’

  ‘Oh bugger. Bang go the cooking apples,’ Ruby sighed.

  23

  ‘What’s that noise? I hope it isn’t a rat. There’s no knowing what can get in here, being below ground.’ Ruby started to stamp on the wooden floor to frighten off whatever was making the scraping, scratching noise.

  Sarah held her baby close. It was over an hour since the all-clear had sounded and it was getting increasingly chilly in the Anderson shelter. Would anyone realize they were trapped? Her dad would be home later that evening, and Betty was due round for her tea. Surely one of them would find them in the shelter.

  ‘Ssh. The noise is coming from outside,’ Maisie hissed. ‘Hello? We are trapped in here. Can you help us? It’s Mrs Caselton and her family. Help!’

  They all held their breath and listened. Sure enough they could hear something close to the small opening in the door.

  Freda crept forward. ‘Hello. Can you hear me? It’s Freda.’

  An excited yelp, followed by loud barking.

  ‘It’s Nelson. Thank goodness he’s safe,’ Ruby said. ‘I was a bit worried when he didn’t come into the shelter with us.’

  ‘He won’t be much use. I can’t see him digging us out, and he’s not likely to go get help, is he?’ Maisie sniffed.

  ‘No, but his barking might alert someone. Vera from up the road reckons she can hear him a mile off and he wakes her up at night,’ Freda said.

  Ruby snorted. ‘She’d say black was white if it meant she got some attention.’

  ‘I have an idea. Maisie, can you tear off a strip of that blanket and tie some knots in it?’

  Maisie did as Freda asked, although the look on her face showed that she thought Freda was bonkers.

  Freda poked the end of the rag through the gap in the door and teased Nelson, who was soon playing tug with the girl. Freda pulled the rag inside the door and encouraged Nelson to bark. ‘That’s it, boy, ask for it. Good boy!’

  ‘Gawd, it’s been ten minutes. I’m not sure I can stand that dog barking much more. He’ll have the neighbours complaining that I’ve got a wild dog in the garden. Look, he’s woken the baby now,’ Ruby sighed.

  Suddenly Nelson stopped barking and ran off. Freda could hear him excitedly yapping and a human voice talking to him. ‘Help, help! We’re trapped in the Anderson shelter. Can you hear me?’

  ‘Well, blow me down. Thank goodness I came round the back way when I couldn’t get a reply at the front door. I thought you girls was playing with that mutt in the garden. I told you he was a bit on the noisy side, Ruby,’ Vera called loudly.

  ‘Do you think you can get us out, Vera?’ Ruby shouted. ‘Only, the baby will freeze to death in here if we aren’t careful.’

  ‘Baby? Oh my! I’ll go get some help. It’s only next door’s tree blocking the doorway. It’s too heavy for me.’

  ‘Vera, is the house still standing?’ Ruby called.

  ‘Some slates off the roof and a few broken windows. Nothing to write home about. A landmine dropped on the sidings up the road a bit. No one’s been hurt.’

  ‘That’s not so bad, then. Hurry up, Vera. I could do with me dinner.’

  Two hours later they were sat round the wireless listening to the evening news. The East End had taken another battering and many lives were lost.

  ‘It seems strange to think that while so many people were being killed, we welcomed a new life into the world,’ Freda said.

  While Maisie and Ruby had set to covering the broken windowpanes and arranging for someone to come in and look at the hole in the roof where some slates had been smashed, Freda had helped Sarah wash herself and climb into bed. The baby’s cradle was at Maureen’s house, so they’d made a bed up in a deep drawer, where she had fallen into a contented sleep wearing one of the night-dresses that Maisie had sewn by hand.

  ‘She’s so beautiful,’ Freda sighed as she watched over the new arrival.

  ‘I think we are a little biased, but I must agree with you,’ Sarah smiled as she stroked her daughter’s cheek.

  ‘Won’t Maureen be surprised when she finds out she has a granddaughter?’

  Sarah agreed. ‘I thought she would have been round here by now to find out what happened.’

  ‘We don’t know what’s been going on at Woolworths this afternoon. Perhaps they are staying late to clear up. If we were affected by the landmine, they must have been as well. If you like, I’ll jump on my bike and pedal round to let her know the news.’

  ‘Have your dinner first, Freda. It’s been a long day for all of us.’

  ‘If you’re sure. I’ll go and help your nan and bring you something up.’

  ‘That would be lovely, thank you, Freda.’

  ‘It’s no trouble to run upstairs with a tray. I’ll get to see little Miss Gilbert again.’

  ‘No, I mean thank you for everything today. It must have been scary for you.’

  Freda bent over and kissed the baby’s head. ‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.’

  Sarah snuggled down in the bed. It would have been perfect if Alan had been there to greet his daughter. She didn’t know how she felt about him anymore. What man doesn’t keep in touch with his wife? Perhaps once
she was back on her feet, she would do what Betty suggested and see if someone in authority in the RAF could tell her where Alan was. If he didn’t want to see her, he could at least know about his daughter.

  The women had just finished a scratch meal of sardines on toast when there was a knock at the door. Maisie let Betty and Maureen in.

  Ruby jumped up. ‘You must be famished working this late. Let me get you both something to eat. We have such a surprise for you.’

  Betty raised her hand, indicating for Ruby to stay where she was. ‘Ruby, we have some bad news. Where’s Sarah?’

  ‘We packed her off to bed. She had the baby this afternoon while we were in the shelter.’

  Rather than look happy, Maureen started to cry into her handkerchief.

  Maisie took the woman in her arms to comfort her. ‘She’s fine, Maureen, and so is the baby. Why don’t we take you up to see them both?’

  Maureen shook her head. ‘No, not at the moment. We have something to tell you.’

  They all turned to see Sarah standing in the doorway.

  ‘I heard the front door. What is it?’ She looked from Maureen’s tear-stained face to Betty, who stood there looking so helpless. ‘It’s Alan. He’s dead, isn’t he?’

  Betty took her hand. ‘No, my love, it isn’t Alan. We were still clearing up at the store after this afternoon’s raid and there was a phone call. The nurse knew that you worked at Woolworths and hoped that we could contact you.’

  Sarah looked puzzled. ‘I don’t understand. If it’s not Alan . . . ?’

  ‘It’s your dad, Sarah. George was driving home in the blackout and a lorry pulled out in front of him. He’s very poorly. They’re operating at this very moment.’ She turned to look at a now ghostly white Ruby. Freda went to her as Ruby crumpled into her armchair. ‘Things don’t look good, Mrs Caselton,’ Betty added sadly.

  ‘Dad,’ was all that Sarah could say before falling to the ground in a deep faint.

  ‘The poor love. It’s been a long day and one she won’t forget for many a year. I’m so glad that Maureen stayed with her while she slept,’ Ruby said to no one in particular as she stared at the wall of the hospital corridor. Either side of her, Betty and Maisie sat and let her talk. They’d been at Erith Cottage Hospital for two hours and had yet to see George. The sterile corridor with cream walls and a simple bench echoed with the brisk footsteps of nursing staff as they hurried between the ward and a door with the ominous words ‘No entry’.