The Evacuee War

by Katie King

  The children were thrilled with the haul of old kettles and badly dented saucepans that was uncovered, and they helped load these onto a lorry when it came to collect this precious scrap metal that also included all the unusable bent nails Larry had removed from the planks.

  The discovery of an old and discarded darts board was highly prized, and it wasn’t long before the boys had hung it in their dormitory; soon a rather nice mirror turned up and was bagged by Connie and Angela for their room.

  June threw a wonderful goodbye tea for Peggy at the café on her last day. It could only last an hour because it had to be after school so that the children could be there, but before June needed to have the space for workers having a hot meal on their way home.

  Everyone Peggy knew and cared about in Harrogate came, which touched her immensely, especially when they all belted out a rousing rendition of ‘For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow’.

  Well, everyone Peggy cared about in Harrogate, bar one: James.

  As she buried her face in the stack of nappies made from old towels – this was her leaving gift, as June had asked her regulars if they could each make a nappy from something old they had at home, or beg, borrow or steal Peggy a nappy that would come in useful for her playgroup – Peggy felt touched to her core at such kindness.

  But she couldn’t help feeling a distinct pang at James’s absence, and she didn’t have the courage to ask June whether she had spoken to him about the tea party and he had decided not to come.

  As the October nights turned chill, fourteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth made a special radio speech on the BBC aimed at the ‘children of the Commonwealth’, with the younger Princess Margaret joining in at the end to say goodbye, which the younger listeners at Tall Trees lapped up as they sat in the parlour cradling cups of warm milk.

  Peggy joined the children to listen, jiggling Holly on her knee as she wished Barbara and Ted were there too as it did feel like one of those occasions remembered long after the event and one that would have been nice to share as a family.

  The war seemed to have been going on for what felt almost like forever now, and Peggy wondered how many other times there would be when they were all forced to remain apart when they should have been together, and she couldn’t help shaking her head at the frustration of it all.

  Speaking from Windsor Castle, Princess Elizabeth began, ‘In wishing you all “good evening” I feel I am speaking to friends and companions who have shared with my sister and myself many a happy Children’s Hour. Thousands of you in this country have had to leave your homes and be separated from your fathers and mothers. My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you as we know from experience what it means to be away from those we love most of all. To you, living in new surroundings, we send a message of true sympathy and at the same time we would like to thank the kind people who have welcomed you into their homes in the country.’

  ‘It is as if she is speaking just to us, and she knows what we are going through,’ whispered Connie, her voice lowered in awe.

  ‘I expect Mr Churchill wanted her to boost our morale now that the bombs have started to fall, and he thought that having a child speak on the wireless directly to other children would do the trick,’ Aiden replied, looking directly at Connie.

  Peggy thought Aiden’s words made him sound wise beyond his years as this almost certainly would have been the suggestion made by somebody in the corridors of power. Then she realised that this was the first time she had heard Aiden say something directly to Connie for quite some time. Maybe things were thawing a little between them. Peggy hoped that was the case.

  ‘Ssssh,’ hissed Angela. ‘Don’t interrupt, you two. I want to hear every word the Princess is saying.’

  The children continued to listen with rapt attention to the well-modulated voice which sounded almost as if she was right in the room with them all, and even Peggy felt her temples throb with emotion when Princess Elizabeth began to draw her speech to a close with, ‘And when peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place.’

  Peggy stared down at Holly, who was gaily waving a crust of bread around as she burbled some baby speak, and Peggy thought that, yes, one day Holly and her generation would be in charge of the country, and she hoped with all her heart that the children sitting around before her would help to make the whole world a better and happier place than what they were all living through at that moment.

  Quietly and unobtrusively so that nobody else in the room would notice, Peggy crossed her fingers and made a private wish that when the time came for her generation to pass the baton of responsibility down to the next age group, the country would still be free, and in as healthy a state as possible, with people in work and the economy thriving.

  It was by no means certain that this would be the case of course, Peggy knew, but she vowed to herself just as Holly tossed her bread crust to the floor and chuckled at her audacious naughtiness, that if she, Peggy, had anything to do with it, then she was going to try really hard to help create a good future world for Holly and Connie and Jessie.

  In fact, the very best world possible, Peggy declared to herself.

  As Children’s Hour ended and the children chattered to each other about the Princess’s broadcast and her making a special mention of those who had been evacuated, an almost overcome Peggy clasped her little girl tightly to her chest, and then she leaned down and gently kissed Holly on the top of her head.

  How blessed she was to have Holly, Peggy thought, and how lucky the both of them were to be able to live in a home filled with warmth and kindness as Tall Trees always was.

  What Peggy and Holly, or indeed anybody else at Tall Trees, were unaware of was that James was standing in the back yard hidden in the half-light of dusk, as he gazed through the window at Peggy and Holly.

  She looked lovely in James’s opinion, appearing comely, loving and wholesome, all at the same time. As well as … well, strong, was the only description that sprung to James’s mind of how she also seemed.

  At any rate it was a fearsome combination of qualities, one the young doctor didn’t feel equal to.

  And the longer James peered across the yard and through the kitchen window, the less worthy he felt of Peggy.

  He knew he had been unutterably rude and that he should have been in touch with Peggy long before now, and he was thoroughly ashamed, especially as he had no excuse for his behaviour other than feeling totally out of his depth.

  So ashamed was James in fact, that try as he might, he just couldn’t pluck up the courage to knock at the door and ask to speak to Peggy, even though that was precisely why he was standing there, feeling such a hopeless fool.

  Still, it was a long time before he had had his fill of looking at Peggy and her daughter, and he tried hard to memorise every detail of her, feeling he might never be up to the task of bridging what felt to him like an impossible gulf between them.

  James knew this was a gulf that was of his own unnecessary making, considering Peggy had offered him an olive branch with the letter she had written, despite her saying that he shouldn’t reply, which he’d never believed for an instant.

  He knew as well that he would never properly respect himself if he didn’t do something to try and make things right between them.

  The problem was what was it that he should do?

  James had no idea, other than he didn’t want to look a total twerp if Peggy rounded on him in anger and told him to get lost. He was already behaving in such a juvenile way, he knew, as he should have done something before now to make things better between them, but that didn’t mean that he was ready to appear an utter twerp in Peggy’s eyes, and none of this sat comfortably. Not at all.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Milburn was now very nearly ready to have his shoes put on again, and to be ridden and put in the trap.

  But to give the pony a treat after his long summer of the children employing him in t
heir drive to collect spare paper for the war effort, and of course because of his injuries sustained after Bill and James’s fight, first Roger arranged for Milburn to have a fortnight’s holiday before he returned to normal duties.

  He was going to be turned out in a field alongside some other horses that belonged to a farmer in Roger’s congregation.

  Before Milburn left for his well-earned break, the children took measurements of his girth so that they could check again when he returned home to see if he put on weight when he was grazing all day.

  It was a hard outcome for them to guess as Milburn was greedy, but the grass at this time of year held little nutritional value and Aiden pointed out that he might expend lots of energy if the other horses in the field encouraged the pony to gallop around. And then Jessie had a thought that because the grass was losing nutritional value Milburn wouldn’t put on as much weight as he would do if he were going out on spring grass, although that would never happen as they all knew the dangers of greedy ponies overeating too much rich pasture and causing the agonising foot condition laminitis. And so it went on.

  Peggy didn’t listen much to these discussions as she was busy planning ahead. As far as she was concerned the pony’s temporary absence meant that Milburn’s stable could be sanitised at the same time as she was sorting out and disinfecting the space at the other end of the coach block, and thus would be an economic and efficient use of the lye and disinfectant that she needed to use anyway.

  There was a small stall next to Milburn’s stable that had been used for bales of straw, but one day Peggy said to Roger, ‘You know where we keep the straw, Roger?’

  He nodded cautiously.

  ‘How about we move what’s left of it to that other poky room at the end of the row, after I’ve given it a clean, of course, and then the children could make a proper winter home for Porky? It’s going to be too cold for him out in the garden in a few weeks, and it will give the children something positive to do together. Now that Porky isn’t going anywhere. For a while.’

  Porky hadn’t needed his own sleeping arrangements in the cold weather before. He had been only a tiny piglet when he had arrived, and as he had been easy to house-train, he had spent his earliest months inside Tall Trees where he’d more or less treated the whole the ground floor as his private fiefdom, although if he was tired his favourite place had always been as near to the Rayburn as he could squeeze himself. Over the summer, once the warm weather had arrived and the vegetable beds had been securely fenced off so that he couldn’t nibble the produce, he had graduated to spending his nights shut out in the garden, wandering at will.

  The nights would soon be frosty, and too chilly for the pig to be outside as he only had scanty patches of sparse fur.

  However, although Porky was far too big now to come back inside the rectory, he steadfastly refused to acknowledge this. It meant that everyone had to make very sure the back door was shut at all times as otherwise Porky would try and barge in, despite everyone telling him no. Peggy smiled as she thought of this, and then at how the children would be thrilled that Porky was being given an official bedroom at Tall Trees; they would understand immediately that it meant he wasn’t going to be shipped off for slaughter any time soon. The thought of the children’s happy faces was a good one, and Peggy felt a pleasantly warm, tickly feeling in the centre of her chest in response.

  ‘Okay, Peggy,’ agreed Roger wearily, ‘against my better judgement and all that … Honestly, that pig lives the life of Riley!’

  There was only the tiniest noise in answer from Porky’s direction; he was trying his best to be unobtrusive.

  Peggy thought it sounded like a snort of triumph, but she made sure Roger didn’t see her sneak a second smile in the direction of the cheeky piglet.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  At school, events suddenly took an unexpected turn.

  Connie went down with a severe case of tonsillitis that meant she was confined to bed, and without her to concentrate on, Dave suddenly began to pay attention – and not in a good way – to Aiden and Jessie again, if his long and pointed looks in their direction at breaktimes were anything to go by.

  Aiden appeared calmer about this than Jessie, who felt sick to his boots. But this probably wasn’t by very much, Jessie thought, when he noticed that suddenly Aiden had started to bite his nails.

  Annoyingly, the school turfed everyone outside at break and dinnertimes unless it was actually raining, or really cold.

  Jessie huddled close to the school building one lunchtime in what felt like a cruel and whipping wind as he hoped that they would be allowed back inside soon. His legs were goose-pimpled below the hem of his short trousers and his fingers were that chilly purple that’s the stage before blue.

  But when he was caught sneaking a longing look at the school’s entrance, which would be the first step of the way to his none-too-warm classroom (but underheated as it was, it was still better than this), Jessie was ordered by a schoolmaster to move away.

  The master added that if Jessie were feeling chilly, then he could run around to warm up, as the weather was merely a bit parky and he really should be more determined about using mind over matter in order not to feel cold.

  A less polite child than Jessie might have begged to differ, but Jessie was too timid to say anything, and he resigned himself to moving as far away as he could go, where he could stand shivering over by the far wall with Aiden beside him until the bell went and they could go inside again.

  In Connie’s absence, Dave saw his opportunity, and he seized it quickly.

  He nodded towards the other four lads, who fell in behind him, and then Dave spearheaded the phalanx of the evacuees from Hull as they marched showily across the school yard, until they stood right in front of Jessie and his loyal pal Aiden.

  Jessie wasn’t sure what to do, as all he could see was Dave and the others’ arms crossed threateningly in front of their chests, and the threatening distance between their planted legs splayed far apart as they stood stock-still, apparently not affected by the sharp gusts of wind.

  Jessie realised immediately that he and Aiden had very little option for escape as their backs were, quite literally, up against the wall.

  Dave and the others shuffled forward a bit, still silent. And then they shuffled forward a bit more.

  Dave didn’t stop coming until he stood toe to toe with Aiden. The price of the Hull lads seeing Aiden’s arm around Connie’s shoulder looked like it might be high, judging by the glint of dislike in Dave’s eyes.

  At first, Jessie felt an embarrassing rush of relief at not being Dave’s prime target, and then he felt really guilty about feeling pleased that his friend might be in for a battering and not himself.

  Although he knew he might get caught in the slipstream, whatever Dave was working up to looked as if it was to do with Connie, Jessie was certain.

  Aiden’s eyes never wavered as he stared unblinkingly back at his adversary, and so Jessie thought it clear that Aiden thought similarly.

  He was impressed with the heroic attitude with which Aiden held his ground.

  ‘After school Friday, behind t’ tennis courts. Me an’ you,’ drawled Dave in a menacing voice, as he jabbed his forefinger hard into Aiden’s chest.

  Aiden stood up straight in a brave effort at not flinching, and although he stood firm it was very obvious that he wasn’t as tall or as heavy as Dave.

  ‘After school Friday,’ Aiden agreed, his voice level, which impressed Jessie no end, as he knew he couldn’t have been so calm were he in Aiden’s shoes. It was very like Aiden to agree to something like this, rather than shouting at Dave to ‘shove off’ or to call a teacher as he himself probably would, Jessie thought.

  ‘Now, now, boys, what’s all this about?’ said an elderly schoolmaster who’d wandered over to the lads. He had been brought out of retirement for the duration, and Jessie thought his lessons were extremely old-fashioned, but he had obviously noticed that something was going on
that he should look into.

  ‘Nothing, sir,’ said Aiden promptly.

  ‘Nuttin’,’ echoed Dave, and only added the required ‘sir’ after a weighty pause.

  The bell for afternoon lessons went, and the schoolmaster said, ‘Look lively then, lads. But no running.’

  As they walked as quickly as they could to their next lesson, Jessie said, ‘Saved by the bell, eh?’

  Aiden didn’t believe even a withering look in Jessie’s direction was a worthy reply to judge by his very glum expression.

  Jessie spent the rest of the school day thinking about Friday afternoon. He had a feeling of dread about the whole business.

  Without saying as much, Dave had made it very clear that he and Aiden were to fight for Connie’s affections, Connie not being at school having given the boys the opportunity to fuel the latent animosity between them.

  ‘Do you think you need to set out rules of engagement, Aiden?’ whispered Jessie when they were supposed to be learning some French verbs. He was worried that without official rules, then there would be nothing to stop Dave doing something very rash and dangerous, such as wielding a knife in the scrap, if he wanted.

  When the Hull boys had attacked Jessie they had been brutal, and that was even without any weapons, and the thought of this filled Jessie with dread.

  ‘Nah,’ said Aiden. ‘I’m going to see if I can speak to my cousin Kieran, who used to be a boxer, and then I’m going to do just what he says. After which I’m going to put that Dave in his place. He’s messing with the wrong chap, bringing a fight to me.’

  Jessie thought Aiden’s defiant words sounded brave but also foolhardy, and while he doubted that Aiden actually believed them, he began to wonder if he should inform a teacher or one of the grown-ups at Tall Trees about what was due to happen. Peggy would be furious if he didn’t tell her, Jessie knew, and so would Barbara and Ted if Peggy squealed on him for keeping quiet.