The following day, hardly able to contain her nerves, Claire scrambled onto what looked like a cradle attached to the underbelly of a balloon. She followed the instructor, who shouted, ‘First trainee to board will be first to jump.’ Again she tried breathing deeply to calm her nerves. Again it didn’t work. Nick boarded behind her, followed by Ellen, and Johnny climbed in last.
The motorised winch juddered and the balloon began to rise, but Claire’s stomach stayed on the ground. It soon caught up. All of a sudden the engine cut out and the winch jolted to a halt. Claire peered through the opening in the centre of the cradle at the fields below and wished she hadn’t. Her heart was beating like a drum and her legs began to shake. Was she frightened of heights? She didn’t think she was. In class, Martin said the balloon would be anchored at a thousand feet, which meant they were stuck at around five hundred.
‘A small hitch,’ Martin shouted above the labouring engine and blustery wind. ‘We’ll be on the move soon.’ And they were. It felt like an hour but could only have been a couple of minutes before Claire heard a dull cranking sound and the balloon began to rise again. She smiled nervously at Ellen who grinned back, her lips a tight line.
The winch stopped and Martin pointed at her. ‘First,’ he shouted, ‘second, third and fourth,’ he said to Nick, Ellen and Johnny. Keeping her eyes on him, Claire moved closer to the hole in the middle of the cradle. ‘Prepare to jump,’ he shouted. She nodded. ‘And go!’
The next second Claire was plummeting to the ground. A squeezing sensation gripped the pit of her stomach and she squealed. Air rushed into her mouth and up her nose as she dropped like a stone. Worried that something had gone wrong, she looked up. At that moment the chute opened its dome and ballooned like a huge mushroom. She felt exhilarated, excited, and squealed again as she was swept up and dropped. Suddenly the ground was coming up to meet her. She began to panic and, misreading the swing of her body, landed badly. Propelled by a strong ground wind she was dragged along at a speed almost faster than her legs could cope with. She feared she would fall. Before she did, the wind lessened and she was able to slow down until she was sprinting and finally walking. Struggling for breath, she pulled the guide lines of the harness, controlled the parachute, and managed to collapse it.
She watched the others as they came down. All but the instructor and Johnny had a problem controlling the chute in the wind. Johnny, Claire thought, had probably controlled everything in his life, all of his life.
‘Well done, everyone,’ Martin said, as they walked back to the hanger. ‘We’ll go up in the balloon again in the morning, and in the afternoon I think you’ll be ready for the real thing. Go to the canteen, get yourself something to eat, and do something relaxing for the rest of day. You’ve got a big day tomorrow. See you in the morning at 09:00 sharp,’ he shouted, heading towards the next group of trainees.
In the canteen they joined a queue of flyers and ground staff. The choice of main course was meat and potato pie and gravy, or fish and chips with mushy peas. Claire loved fish and chips, but after looking at the greasy batter and thin chips she decided on the pie. She was ravenous – as, it seemed, were Ellen, Johnny and Nick. The four trainees, who Johnny referred to as the A team, had become firm friends after their shared experience. They talked excitedly about the jump, how much they’d enjoyed it, and how they were looking forward to the real thing the next day. When they had finished eating they decided to take the instructor’s advice and relax by going to the flicks in Manchester.
The film showing at the Carlton was Gone With The Wind. Ellen swooned over Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. Claire, using Eddie’s pet name for Captain Mitchell, said, ‘He’s all right if you like beefcakes. I prefer Leslie Howard.’ The boys said they liked Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland equally, so the girls chose Leigh for Nick and de Havilland for Johnny. They were still discussing which of the actresses was the most beautiful when the lights began to fade. A woman in front of them tutted loudly and Ellen giggled.
Johnny bought popcorn and tipped it accidentally, or so he said, down the neck of the tutting woman, which made Ellen giggle even more. Johnny and Nick smoked cigarettes and at the interval bought the girls ice cream.
During the second half of the film, Johnny put his arm around Ellen, catching Claire’s shoulder. She looked at Ellen, who was smiling like the cat that had got the cream. Johnny whispered into Ellen’s ear and she giggled again, causing the woman in front to turn and glare at her. She said, ‘Shush’ several times, but Ellen couldn’t stop giggling.
When the flick ended they jumped into a taxi. There had been an air raid earlier in the day and the main route out of Manchester was blocked. By the time
