‘Stay down,’ thundered Uncle Leo, ‘there’s no telling what will happen next. Will, Bobby, Daisy, are you all right?’
Aunt Minnie assured Uncle Leo that Will was beside her and Mother and Bobby both called out they were safe. Daisy managed a shivery acknowledgement but she felt too cold and tired to say more.
Almost immediately, the Luftwaffe returned. With all hope fading of an end to the attacks, or even a break in the intensity, they lay coupled on the ground, adjusting positions when possible.
Exhausted and cold, Daisy fell fitfully into sleep. She woke briefly in the night, trembling at the repeated explosions, wondering if Bobby and Will were just as afraid as she was.
Was Aunt Betty imagining her house a demolished ruin, like Grandma’s cottage? Was Mother thinking of Poplar Park Row and expecting it to be completely destroyed? She was in no doubt at all that Aunt Minnie and Uncle Leo feared for the studio. If it had been deemed unsafe to live in before tonight, then what would be its fate tomorrow after such a bombardment? That is, she thought desperately, if there was a tomorrow …
N o one heard Mr Cook at first. It was Daisy who recognized his voice and saw the pencil line of dawn light above the door.
‘Mr Cook, we’re in here!’ she shouted, slowly moving her cramped limbs. Her call woke Uncle Leo and with stiff, ungainly movements he heaved himself up.
‘Just a second,’ he said in a gruff voice and picked his way past the recumbent bodies to release the door.
‘Steady as you go,’ Mr Cook said as he assisted Uncle Leo and then Daisy from the shelter. A bedraggled group followed, sluggishly dragging themselves into the daylight.
’Thank God. We all came through,’ gasped Aunt Betty, brushing back her tousled hair.
‘I thought the night would never end,’ agreed Mother.
Aunt Minnie shook the dirt from her clothes. ‘It’s the confinement of the shelter I can’t bear. Sometimes I think I’d prefer to be hiding under my kitchen table.’
‘You’d be taking your life in your hands if you did,’ Mr Cook reminded her as they all stood in the gassy, putrid air. ‘Me and my crew have been on the job since dawn. Prepare yourselves for a shock. It was the roughest night so far.’
At this, everyone looked around. The thick, smoke-fuelled air was tinged with the sickening smell of burning.
‘What happened?’ Uncle Leo asked, clearing his throat and swatting the grey dust from his face and hair. ‘Why were we hit so badly?’
‘ ‘itler timed a corker of a raid to coincide with the tide,’ Mr Cook explained. ‘The high explosive parachute mines and fire bombs broke the water mains. Our firemen tried pumping from elsewhere but their engine’s overheated. Buildings were collapsing like nine pins.’ He narrowed his eyes craftily. ’But we had an ace up our sleeve - the elements! Just when the Luftwaffe was getting in their stride, the weather deteriorated over German airfields, so our Air Ministry says. Planes couldn’t take off. Couldn’t land. That’s scuppered their plans.’
‘We saw storm clouds over London on the way back from Wattcombe,’ replied Aunt Betty, wiping the dirt from her face with the back of her sleeve. ‘Little did we know what an important part they would play in our defence.’
‘You can’t beat Mother Nature,’ Mr Cook agreed. ‘Thank Gawd, last night she was on our side. He inspected them all closely. ‘You look as though you’ve had a rough night.’
‘You could say that,’ muttered Uncle Leo.
‘Get yourselves into the house, then,’ said Mr Cook, leading the way. ‘Some of your windows are cracked, but the structure is safe enough.’
‘Oh no!’ gasped Aunt Betty when they reached the kitchen door. ‘Just look at this!’
‘There’s a bit of tidying up to do,’ agreed Mr Cook as everyone contemplated the disaster of the kitchen. Bare, dusty shelves and china fragments strewn everywhere, a chair upended, the surface of the table thick with plaster from the ceiling, pots and pans violently shaken from hooks and scattered across the quarry tiles. And over everything lay a thick layer of grime and soot. ‘ ‘Fraid the other rooms ain’t much better,’ he commiserated. ‘And there’s more … ‘
Everyone spun round to stare at Mr Cook.
‘That empty house over yer broken fence? An incendiary landed in a road close by it. Wouldn’t have done much harm if the building had been stable. But it collapsed and the disposal blokes have sealed it off.’ He turned and wagged a finger at Daisy and Bobby. ‘Until the area is given the all-clear, don’t play in yer garden.’
‘Is it safe to use our Anderson?’ asked Aunt Betty anxiously.
‘Lucky it’s close to the house,’ replied Mr Cook.
‘But where can we play?’ Daisy protested.
‘In the street, kid. Like thousands of others.’
This wasn’t the reply Daisy had hoped for.
CHAPTER 66
DAISY STOOD IN THE KITCHEN, watching the changing expressions on the faces around her. Mr Cook’s latest announcement had unsettled them all.
‘There’s no imminent danger,’ said Uncle Leo. ‘Otherwise we’d have been evacuated immediately.’
‘It’s horrible to think that a bomb dropped so close,’ said Mother.
‘There’s not much room in the street to kick a ball,’ complained Bobby.
‘Can we just play by the Anderson?’ Will asked hopefully.
‘No!’ shouted Aunt Minnie and Uncle Leo together. ‘You heard what Mr Cook said.’
‘But - ‘ began Will truculently.
‘No buts, Will,’ said Uncle Leo sternly. ‘You’ll do as you’re told.’
‘What happens tonight?’ asked Mother. ‘Is it really safe to use the shelter?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ shrugged Uncle Leo. ‘Though I noticed they’ve erected a
