The others gazed at her and then looked at each other
miserably in the glow of the fire. There didn’t seem to be
anything anyone could say, Judy thought. They all felt
pretty much the same. But you couldn’t give in. You just
couldn’t.
‘Come on, Mum,’ she said gently. ‘We all depend on you,
you know. You’re the one that keeps us all going.’
‘Well, I’m not much use to you now,’ Cissie said bitterly.
‘I’m not much use to no one. I’ve just had enough, that’s all.
We’ve been having raids for months, and there’s been all
those terrible things happening in London and Coventry and
the rest, and now it’s our turn, and they’re just bashing us to pieces, to pieces — and what can we do about it, eh? Tell me
that. Oh, I know we can bomb them too, but what good’s that going to do? It just means a whole lot more people get killed
in their own homes, people like us who never wanted a war in
the first place. How’s it ever going to end?’
‘We can’t just let them ride roughshod over us,’ Judy
said. ‘You know what they’ve done in Poland and all those
other countries. We can’t let that happen here.’
‘So it’s better to be bombed to bits, is it? It’s better to
have everything smashed to pieces around us and have little
babies killed?’ Cissie took the apron from her face and stared
at them. ‘Oh, I know what they say, I know what they tell
us, and I’m just an ordinary person who doesn’t know
anything about these things - but I just can’t see the sense of it all.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry, I know we’re not
supposed to talk like this, but I’ve just had enough of it all
today, that’s all.’
‘You need a cup of tea.’ Judy got up, but her grandmother
put out a hand.
‘There’s no gas, love. The mains got fractured, see, and
they turned it off because of the danger. That’s why we’ve
got the kettle on the fire.’
Judy sank back. ‘No gas and no electricity. It’s the same
all over the city, I suppose. It’s a good thing we’ve got some
coal.’ A thought struck her. ‘Here, what about ,mr coal?
From - from home? Hadn’t we better get that over here?’
‘We’ve done it, love,’ her father said. ‘Been going
backwards and forwards all day with my old barrow. Had to
leave one of us on guard, too. There’s people swarming all
over the place, looking for anything they can pick up. Not
that there was much to find in our place,’ he added ruefully.
Judy stared at him. ‘You mean they were stealing things?’
‘Well, they wasn’t offering to pay for them! There’s
always people out for easy pickings, no matter what’s
happened.’
She nodded. ‘I know. The shops have all got soldiers
standing outside them because of looters, but I never
thought they’d take stuff from people who’d been bombed out. That’s awful.’
‘It’s all awful,’ Polly said, ‘but sitting here telling each
other about it won’t make it any better. Now look, I know
we’d all like something hot but we can’t, and that’s all there
is to it — but we can make a few sandwiches. There’s plenty
of marge and fish paste and some of that blackberry and
apple jam Mum made in the autumn, and you’ll never guess
what else I found in a tin in the cupboard.’
‘What?’ Judy asked obediently, and her aunt gave a little
crow of triumph.
‘Christmas cake, that’s what! Keeping it for Easter, your
Gran was, but I reckon we need it more now. We can all
have a really good slice, and thumb our noses at Hitler while
we eat it!’
Judy laughed and after a moment or two the others joined in.
Their laughter was a little shaky, and sounded dangerously
close to crying, but somehow they all felt better for it, and as Dick stoked up the fire and the kettle boiled and Polly began to cut bread, and the Christmas cake was sliced up and handed
round, the little gathering began to seem almost like a party.
‘I reckon we ought to play a few games,’ Judy said. ‘Or
sing some songs. Cheer ourselves up a bit. Just in case
there’s any Fifth Columnists listening down the chimney.
We don’t want them reporting back to Hitler that we’re
downhearted, do we?’
They ate their sandwiches and cake, then did as she had
suggested. But as their voices rose in a wavering rendition of
‘Roll Out the Barrel’ and ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’,
they were each still thinking of the devastation outside, and
of the people who were homeless tonight, or who had been
killed or injured. They were each thinking of Kathy
Simmons and her baby boy, of the two little girls who had
lost their mother, and of all those others up and down the
country who had had their lives shattered.
Later on, when everyone else had gone to bed - Cissie
and Dick upstairs to the front bedroom, Polly to the back
room she would share with Judy, and her grandmother Alice
to the front room downstairs — Judy sat by the dying fire
and tried to write a letter to her fiance, Sean.
It seemed so long since she had seen him, so long since
the night last May when they’d got engaged, only three
weeks after they’d met at a dance on South Parade Pier.
Dick and Cissie hadn’t been at all keen on such a hasty
courtship, but Judy was twenty-two, so they couldn’t very
well say no. And there was no question of a wedding yet,
with Sean going back to sea the very next day.
For most of the past eight months, Sean had been in the
Northern Atlantic, off Norway and Iceland. During that
time, he had sent letters — none for weeks, and then a dozen
all arriving at once. Letters that were now buried beneath a
heap of rubble in Friday night’s blast.
How did you tell your fiance the sort of things that had
happened during the past twenty-four hours? Judy sighed
and sucked the end of her grandmother’s fountain pen, and
started to write.
Dear Sean,
We had a bit of trouble in Pompey last night. There were
a lot of aircraft and we got badly bombed. We ‘re all OK
but Mum and Dad and Polly and I are staying with
Gran up in April Grove. I hope things are OK with you,
as they find me here. I’m too tired to write any more now
and will close for tonight.
From your loving Judy.
It didn’t seem much, but she felt that if she started to tell
him what it had really been like, she would still be there
come morning.
Polly got up early next morning and found Judy already
downstairs, lighting the fire.
‘I know Gran wouldn’t usually have a fire in the morning,
but there’s no other way of making any tea. I wanted to get
everyone a hot drink before I go off to work.’
‘You’re going to work?’ Polly looked at her niece in
surprise. ‘But it’s Sunday.’
‘Doesn’t matter. We’ve got to get the new offices sorted
out. People will be flooding in wanting help, and we can’t
just tell ‘em to go away and come back on Monday. There’s
all the Emergency Centres to be seen to, and people
evacuated or found new homes - any amount of things to be
done.’ Judy held a sheet of newspaper in front of the fire to
make it blaze up. ‘It’s a good thing you went and got our
coal. I don’t know how long it’ll be before we get the gas and
electricity back.’
‘It’s not just that, either. They were going round telling
people to boil water for ten minutes before drinking it in
case of typhoid.’ Polly put some plates on the table and
began to slice the rest of yesterday’s loaf. ‘Well, at least Jerry gave us a quiet night; we’ll all feel better for a few hours’
sleep. Me and your mother have got to go round the
Emergency Centre again this morning, get new ration books
sorted out and see what money they’ll give us. They were
too busy yesterday, so once we’d registered we just came on
here. And there’s people we ought to let know - your
Auntie May and Uncle Fred, and your mum’s friend Mrs
Walker. One of us ought to go round and see Jean Foster
too, let her know where we are. She’s Terry’s girlfriend
after all, almost one of the family.’ She stopped and stared at the loaf in her hand. ‘I wish I could go out and see Sylvie.’
‘Oh, Polly! She must be wondering if you’re all right.
They won’t know what’s been going on, out there in the
country.’ Judy lowered the newspaper just as it was
beginning to scorch in the middle. ‘Why don’t you go on the
train?’
‘I don’t suppose they’re running, do you? Anyway, I
don’t feel I can leave your mum and dad, not with the way
Cis is, and your dad was wheezing all day long yesterday.
There’s such a lot to see to here. I did send a telegram
yesterday, just to say we were all well, but she don’t know
nothing about the house, of course. There’s not much point
in telling her, is there - not straight away. She’s only seven
and I don’t want to frighten her.’
‘She’ll have to know, though, because of addressing her
letters.’ Judy stood up, irresolute. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t go
into work, after all …’
‘No, no, you go, you can’t let the office down. We can
manage here, and what Sylvie doesn’t know won’t hurt her.
I’ll try and go out sometime next week if the trains are
running again, and I’ll write her a letter. Now, is that fire
hot enough for the kettle yet?’
The two of them got together a scrappy breakfast of bread
and margarine, just coloured with jam, and by the time the
kettle boiled Alice had emerged from the front room where
she had slept on the sofa and Cissie had come down from
upstairs. ‘I told Dick to stay in bed; he’s had a terrible night, hacking away. That dust and smoke really got into his chest.
How were you on that settee, Mum? I felt proper bad,
turning you out of your own bed.’
‘Don’t be daft, girl, I was snug as a bug in a rug. Stood to
reason you two would have to have the double bed. I might
be able to get a camp bed or put-u-up for later, but the
settee’ll do for now.’ She bustled through to the lean-to scullery. ‘I suppose there’s no gas on yet?’
‘Nothing’s on yet. And we haven’t got all that many
candles left, neither. I don’t know what we’re going to do if
they don’t get things straight soon. There’s going to be
people desperate.’ Polly poured out five cups of tea. ‘There,
are you going to take Dick’s up to him, Cis? There’s not
much sense in him coming down till the room’s warmed up
a bit. And look, I’ll toast a slice of bread, he needs
something hot inside him. Spread some Marmite on it.’
Cissie took her husband’s breakfast up the stairs and the
others sat round the table, drinking their tea. Polly looked at her mother.
‘Cis and me are going down the Centre this morning, see
what’s what. Are you going to stop here with Dick?’
‘I am not!’ The old woman looked at her indignantly, her
bright eyes snapping. ‘Stop here when there’s work to be
done? No, I’ll be helping on the tea-stall, same as yesterday.
There’ll be plenty glad of a cuppa while they’re clearing up.’
‘Yes, but I don’t want you to overdo it.’
‘I’ll be the judge of when I’ve overdone it!’ Alice retorted.
‘Just because you’ve moved in here, our Poll, it doesn’t
mean to say you can start ordering me about. I’d have done
as I pleased if you hadn’t been here and I’ll do as I please
now you are, and don’t you forget it.’
Judy grinned and Polly shook her head. ‘I’m not likely to
forget it, you independent old besom! You’ll be ordering us
all about from your deathbed - that’s if you don’t outlive us
all. All right, you go and pour tea for firemen while me and
Cis go and see about our ration books and try to put
together a few clothes and things. How about you, Judy, do
you want us to try to get you anything?’
Judy shook her head. ‘Miss Marsh said there were going
to be some things out at the new offices - the Lady
Mayoress was going to see to it. After all, if she can’t get us a few things from her own Clothing Store, nobody can!’ She
put down her cup and stood up. ‘I’d better be going.
Goodness knows how long it’ll take me to get all the way out
to Southsea. I don’t suppose there’s any buses running.
Better expect me when you see me.’ She shrugged into her
coat and called up the stairs to her mother. “Bye, Mum I’m
off now. ‘Bye, Dad.’
Polly watched her go. ‘I hope she’ll be all right. She was
tossing and turning all night long. It really upset her, seeing our house bombed to bits and then going down and seeing
the Guildhall in flames - not to mention all the other
damage. We’ll have to keep an eye on her, Mum.’
‘She’ll be all right. She’s made of the right stuff-like you
and me. And she knows that the best way to take your mind
off things is to get on with your work. No, it’s Cis that I
worry about, she takes everything so hard. And Dick, too.
He was grey when he got round here yesterday, proper
grey.’
‘Well, with all that smoke and dust about…’
‘It’s not just his chest. It’s what it’s doing to his mind. It’s bringing it all back, you can see that. What he went through