Keep Calm and Carry On, Children

by Sharon K Mayhew

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  September 18, 1940

  4:00 PM

  My body ached from being crouched down for so long. I stretched my good leg out, straightened my back, and stretched my arms. It didn’t help. The pain in my ankle grew worse. I tried to rotate my foot. It felt like it wasn’t connected to my leg. The swelling hurt a lot. My toes wouldn’t wiggle either. I pushed my back against the boulder and eased myself up on one leg. I took a long deep breath. It seemed to be taking a long time for help to arrive. When I heard voices, I relaxed my shoulders and exhaled.

  “I’m over…” I stopped. It didn’t sound like Molly, Phyllis or Sam. I didn’t know what Peter sounded like, but a teenage boy wouldn’t sound so gruff.

  “Over where?” someone replied.

  I slid back to my crouched position. Pain shot through my body. I pulled the cardboard over my body. I closed my eyes and regained control of my breathing. If they were going to find me, they would have to do it without me giving away my hiding spot. I bit my lip and pulled myself into a tiny ball under the cardboard.

  Footsteps shuffled around in the gravel. They got closer and closer. Then someone yanked the cardboard off me.

  “Got a problem, Gal?” one man asked.

  “Bin doin’ some sploring ‘ave ya?” the other one asked.

  “I got lost and then fell and hurt myself.”

  They appeared as giants looming over me. They must’ve been six foot tall.

  Streaks of sweat and dirt ran down their faces. The one with a cap on grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me away from the boulders.

  “Wot, we gonna do with ‘er?” The other asked.

  “Pl...pl…please,” I said, “I was playing with my friends, and I got hurt. They went to find the doctor for me. You…you can just leave me here. They’ll be back soon.”

  The man scratched his beard. “We should take ‘er up the hut an’ see wot the boss man wants to do with ‘er.”

  I shook my head in protest, but the man with the cap on laughed at me. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming. The bearded man picked me up.

  “Well, we gotta do sumthin’ with ‘er,” he said.

  “People know I’m here. There will be trouble if I’m missing.”

  “Ya sure ‘bout that, Missy?” said the man in the cap. “They ain’t gonna know where to find ya.” He chuckled as he grabbed my swollen, throbbing ankle.

  I focused on the pathway to keep from crying out. They dragged me up the side of the quarry to the hut.

  “Guess wot we found?” said the capped man as he pushed open the door.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  September 18, 1940

  6:00 PM

  There at the table, sat Mister Badderly with a stack of ledgers.

  I clutched my stomach and tried to control my hatred and pain. He was the boss man they were talking about. I had to make him believe I wasn’t afraid of him. I needed to convince him I lied to his men and it wasn’t just a doctor coming. The police were on their way too.

  I clenched my teeth and straightened up. “Mister Badderly, my friends went to get the doctor and the police. We discovered your cache, and we know you’re working in the black market. I’d suggest you and your men not harm me any further, and you prepare to confess.” I willed my voice to be strong.

  “I’ve bin nice ‘nough, Gal,” said the bearded man as he dropped me to the floor.

  I rolled, grabbing my injured leg. I winced. They roared with laughter. I backed up to the wall so I could support myself.

  “You and your nosey friends aren’t goin’ to get the best of us,” Mister Badderly said. His eyes bulged out of his face. He slammed his fist on the table. “This town needs us. No copper’d ever want to get rid of the services we provide Leek.” He chuckled and turned to the two men. “Now get off your arses and start moving everything out of the hut.”

  The men filled their arms and dashed out.

  “There isn’t any way they can hide all this stuff, not before the police get here.” I tried to sound confident that the police would be here soon.

  “You sit there and be quiet, Gal, or I’ll give you a royal beatin.”

  I sat quietly as the men rushed in and out of the hut. Mister Badderly rolled down blackouts, lit a lantern, and paced.

  “Jim, have we got any rope?” he asked the man in the cap.

  “I think we does,” Jim replied. “Ya wont me to get it?”

  Mister Badderly sighed. “Of course, I want you to get it, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked you dumb ape.”

  Jim rushed out of the hut and came back with rope. “I found somethin’ else too,” he said. He held up a scarf. “We can keep ‘er quiet with this.”

  “Al, you tie her up. Make sure she can’t get loose or make any noise,” Mister Badderly said. “Jim, you and me are goin’ to the bottom of the quarry to get more of our stuff.”

  Jim and Mister Badderly left. Al knelt beside me. He had gentle eyes.

  “Look, Gal. If ya promise to be quiet, I won’t tie ya up too tight,” he said. “Give us a bit of time to get away from ‘ere and then loosen the ropes. If ya pull down one of the blackouts, yer friends’ll see yer in here.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered. I hadn’t expected him to have a bit of kindness in him. I didn’t fight him as he tied me up. He put the scarf over my mouth, but not so tight that I couldn’t close and open it.

  “We got a truck, and we covered up the lights, so no one’ll see us drivin’. We ain’t all that bad.” He shrugged. “Most people are ‘appy when they can buy bits and pieces from us.” He shoved something in my pocket. “Remember wot I said.”

  I nodded as he left.

  The engine started, and the truck pulled away. It sounded as though they drove past the quarry and into the woods. They must’ve had another hiding place in mind. I waited, just like I said I would, then I freed myself from the ropes and pulled the scarf out of my mouth. The room was almost empty. The lantern sat on the table. I pulled myself up onto a chair. My ankle still throbbing. There on the table lay a chocolate bar. Maybe they weren’t as bad as they seemed, well except for Jim. He seemed to be a vile man.

  I broke the chocolate bar into five pieces and ate my share. I yanked down the blackout and put the lantern on the window ledge. I eased myself to the floor, dragged myself to the door and wedged it open with a chunk of wood. Then I waited…

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  September 19, 1940

  7:00 AM

  A loud crash woke me with a start. I screamed.

  “It’s us,” Molly shouted.

  “How’d you get in here?” Phyllis asked.

  “Is your foot still hurting?” Sam asked.

  “It’s a long story,” I said. “Did you bring help?”

  “Peter and his dad are on the way in the ambulance,” Phyllis said. “The police are on their way too. We spent most of the night trying to convince them about the cache we found up here.”

  “They wouldn’t believe us,” Molly said.

  “But after they found out you were hurt, they decided they’d better come,” Phyllis said. “It was odd. Almost like they didn’t want to know about all the stuff up here.”

  “But that’s just crackers,” Sam said.

  I thought back to what Jim said. “It might not be such an odd idea,” I said. I attempted to move my legs so I could see everyone at once, but my injured leg didn’t want to cooperate. “I hope the ambulance gets here soon. I can’t take much more of this pain.”

  The sound of sire
ns grew louder and louder. I heard more than one car pulling up to the hut.

  Ma, Grandpa, and Gina rushed in first. They were followed by the doctor and his son, Peter. Two policemen stood in the doorway watching as Ma and Gina hugged me. The doctor examined my ankle.

  “I have a feeling it’s broken, right above your ankle,” he said.

  “I’ll carry her to the ambulance,” Peter said.

  With that, he picked me up and pushed past the policemen.

  “Right, where’s all this stolen stuff?” one of the policemen asked. I heard the silent response. I hadn’t been able to tell anyone what happened. I didn’t want the police to know, because Jim told the truth. Leek needed the black market to get through the war. Stealing is wrong, but in desperate times you do desperate things.

  “Peter,” I said, “Can you go back and get Sam, Molly and Phyllis I need to tell them something? Something important.”

  Peter nodded. He put me on a cot in the back of the ambulance and closed the door. Should I tell them the whole truth? Should I tell them about Jim, Al and Mister Badderly? I had to tell them about Mister Badderly. Sam couldn’t stay there anymore. It would be too dangerous for him.

  Peter opened the ambulance door, and my three best friends were standing there. “Go on,” Peter said, “climb in.”

  They climbed in and sat on the floor beside the cot.

  “I got in a real sticky bish after you left.” I grimaced from the pain. It looked like I’d swallowed a marrow whole and it was lodged in my ankle. “I can’t tell you everything right now, but I need you to do two things for me.” I looked at my friends. They all were as pale as Sam. They wore the same dusty clothes as they had worn yesterday. “Tell the police you made it up. You were just trying to get me help faster. Don’t take them to the bottom of the quarry. If they try to get you to talk about the things in the hut, say you don’t know anything about them. There’s one other thing…it’s really important. You must find a way to keep Sam away from Mister Badderly.” There wasn’t time to explain why. I hoped they trusted me enough to do what I asked. “He won’t be safe there.” The look on my face should have given them a clue of the gravity of the situation. “I left…well, one of the thieves left something for us to share. It’s on the table. One of you needs to go get it.”

  Doctor Haskell opened the front door to the ambulance. “Everyone out,” he said. “I need to get Joyce to the hospital.”

  I made eye contact with everyone before they climbed out. They trusted me. They’d keep Sam safe, even though they didn’t know why they had to. As soon as we got to the hospital, I’d tell Ma exactly what happened at the quarry.

  Doctor Haskell clicked on the siren, and we zoomed to the hospital.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  September 20, 1940

  2:00 PM

  I sat up in my hospital bed. Ma fluffed my pillow and put it back behind me.

  “I believe you’re going to have some visitors today,” she said. “Do you think you’ll be all right with that?”

  “Like it or lump it,” Sam said as he stuck his head into the room.

  “I’ll like it.” I smiled.

  Sam, Phyllis, Molly, and Gina rushed into the room. Peter followed them in and stood in the doorway. He certainly had a nice smile and was very strong.

  Everyone made a fuss over me. Gina gave me an embroidered handkerchief. Molly picked me some flowers. Phyllis wrote me a poem. Peter gave me some sticky plasters. He blushed when he handed them to me.

  “When you’re a doctor’s son, you give practical presents,” he said.

  I thanked everyone. Ma stepped out of the room to get a cuppa and a biscuit. She took Gina with her. Gina grabbed Ma’s hand as they left. It made me happy and sad at the same time. We hadn’t heard from Mum or Dad since we arrived here. My best hope for them was that they were busy helping England.

  “Where are you staying, Sam?” I adjusted myself so I could see everyone.

  “He’s staying with us,” Phyllis said.

  “How’s your leg?” Sam asked as he plopped onto the chair beside me.

  “It’s a bit uncomfortable, but the plaster cast helps a lot. Doctor Haskell is giving me a wheelchair and crutches when I leave the hospital.”

  “Gosh,” Phyllis said, “it’ll be fun pushing you around.”

  “We have so much to tell you,” Molly said.

  “You won’t believe what happened when we got back from the quarry,” Sam said. “We came up with a plan to stay clear of Mister Badderly, but it turned out we didn’t need it.”

  “Ma went round to see if Sam could go on a camping trip with us, up to Black Mere Pool,” Phyllis said. “And you’ll never guess it…He was gone.”

  “Ma said we could go camping if Peter went with us. So, we did. We found out why Black Mere Pool is so black…” Sam shuddered.

  “Peter stuck a tree branch in it and pulled out lots of moss. It was horrid smelling,” Molly said.

  Sam pinched his nose closed and held his breath until he could hold it no more. Everyone giggled when the air exploded out of his mouth.

  Phyllis rolled her eyes. “Anyway, when we got back from camping Ma said Sam would stay with us until everything was straightened out. No one has seen Mister Badderly anywhere.”

  “We have to find out where he is so I can be released to find a new host family,” Sam said. “If I don’t find a new family, I don’t know what will happen to me.”

  I felt my eyes sparkle. “I have a brilliant match for you, Sam.” I pulled a cord, and the curtain beside me slid back. The lady in the other bed sat up and grinned from ear to ear. She recently found out her husband had died in the war. It made her so sad that her sister thought she needed a hospital stay. She taught school in the village and wished they would’ve had a child before he went away. Her name was Missus Barbara Copeland, and I had a plan for her and Sam.

  “I’d love to have you stay with me,” she said. “We’ll have to get the warden to approve it though.”

  I knew my plan would work. Missus Copeland would have a companion and not be sad, and Sam would have a wonderful host. Perhaps breaking my leg was a blessing in disguise.

  Peter coughed. “Joyce, are you going to tell us the truth about what happened to you while you were at the quarry?”

  I told them about Al and Jim and what Al told me about the black market. Then I told them about Mister Badderly.

  “Phyllis, can you find my breeches? Al put something in my pocket before he left,” I said.

  Phyllis found my breeches.

  They were stowed under my bed. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a stack of pound notes, held together with an elastic band.

  “Gosh, what are we supposed to do with this?” I held up the thick wad of money.

  “Let’s buy lots of chocolates and fizzy lemonade,” Sam suggested.

  “I have a much better idea,” Molly said. “We could share it with our host families.”

  Sam’s head drooped.

  “Golly, Sam,” Molly said, “you aren’t still hungry, are you?”

  His face turned the colour of holly berries on a Christmas wreath.

  “What about Peter?” Phyllis asked. “He helped with your rescue. He should have a share.”

  Missus Copeland coughed three times. “Perhaps you should give it to the police.”

  “I think Al wanted me to help someone with it,” I said. “If the police agree, I say we give it to Missus Copeland if she’s able to help Sam.”

  “Jolly good idea,” Molly said.

  Ma strolled into the room pushing
a wheelchair. “Are you ready to go home, Dear?”

  I slid to the side of the bed and let Peter help me into the wheelchair.

  “That wasn’t terribly hard,” I said.

  “Right.” Ma clapped her hands. “Everyone out. Joyce needs to get dressed so she can come home.”

  They all left, and Ma helped me get dressed. After a quick goodbye to Missus Copeland, Ma pushed me through the hall and out of the hospital. The ambulance drove me home. Everyone else had to walk.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  September 24, 1940

  1:00 PM

  Sam leaned back on the kitchen chair and rested his hands on his stomach. “Best shepherd’s pie I’ve ever tasted, Ma.”

  Ma grinned. “Did you get enough? I know there’s a hole in the bottom of your stomach.”

  Sam blushed. “I ate the exact right amount.”

  Grandpa Wood patted Sam on the head. “When’s this young man going to move in with Missus Copeland? He’s eating us out of house and home.”

  “We have to find some papers at Mister Badderly’s house first,” Ma said. “We’ll have a look later this week.”

  “Ma,” I said. “Could we go for a walk today? Sam or Peter will push me.”

  “As long as you stay away from the quarry,” she said.

  Ma, Gina and Grandpa Wood went into the sitting room. Phyllis and Sam cleared away the dishes. I couldn’t help because my wheelchair took up too much space. I kept getting in everyone’s way. Not being able to help frustrated me.