‘I saw two explosions from your bedroom window. So you must have heard something while you were at work, or seen something on your way home.’
‘Of course I heard the bombs. None fell on the town. At least I didn’t see any bombed-out shops when I was biking home. Dad said, because Lowarth was directly under the Luftwaffe’s flight path, the bombs were dropped by accident.’
Her mother leaned forward and tilted her head. She wants to know more, Ena thought, and carried on. ‘Dad and I think it’s Coventry that they’re bombing. We could hear the bombs exploding and see the fires from Silcott’s. Well, we couldn’t actually see the fires, but the sky above Coventry was bright red. We wouldn’t have seen or heard anything if it were Birmingham, it’s too far away.’
Ena thought for a moment. ‘You know, the air strike happened almost without warning. Air raid sirens are supposed to sound fifteen minutes before bombs are dropped, to give people time to get to a shelter, not when the planes are on top of them. Lowarth’s air raid sirens were cranked into life before the Luftwaffe were anywhere near. We didn’t hear Coventry’s sirens until they were over the city.’
Ena wondered whether she should tell her mother that bombs had fallen near the factory. The grapevine between Lowarth and Woodcote, the nearest village to Foxden, was long and very active. Better any information about bombs came from her than from the village women in the post office the next morning.
‘No one was hurt, most people were already in the shelter, but a couple of bombs did go off near the factory.’
Her mother put down her knife and fork and set her jaw.
‘The planes were destined for Coventry not Lowarth. They didn’t even bother with Bruntingthorpe or Bitteswell aerodromes. As I said, Dad thought the bombs dropped on Lowarth were accidents,’ Ena said, trying to ignore the fact that she could have been killed by any one of them.
Her mother nodded, picked up her knife and fork, and began to eat. ‘And your father? Did he say what time he’d be home?’
‘No. The ARP wardens were still there when I left. I expect they’ll help the Home Guard look for unexploded bombs. There aren’t any of course,’ Ena said quickly, not wanting to worry her mother, who shot her a concerned look and frowned. ‘I’d have heard them fall, wouldn’t I?’ Ena concluded, with a reassuring smile.
Ena’s explanation and her phoney relaxed attitude seemed to placate her mother, and she nodded.
When they had finished eating, they cleared the table, and washed and dried the pots together. ‘Are you going to listen to the wireless, Mam?’
‘I won’t get a wink of sleep until your dad gets home, so I might as well.’
‘I know. How about a glass of stout?’ Her mother shrugged but Ena knew she would like one. ‘You go through to the living room, tune the wireless, and I’ll bring a glass in to you,’ she said, putting the clean plates in the cupboard.
Her mother pulled herself out of her chair, took off her pinafore, and hung it on the back of the door. ‘A drop of stout might help me to sleep,’ she said, shuffling out of the kitchen in her old slippers. Ena smiled to herself. Her mother found a reason to have a drop of stout every time her dad was on ARP duty. And tonight, like all the other nights, it was to help her sleep.
After taking her mother a glass of beer, Ena returned to the kitchen, took a clean blouse from the washing basket and ironed it for work the following day. It was pale blue and looked smart with her new navy two-piece. If she was going to see the boss’s wife she wanted to look her best.
‘I’m going up, Mam,’ Ena said. ‘You coming?’
‘No. I’m going to wait for your father. I expect he’ll be hungry,’ she replied, absentmindedly. ‘I’ll make him something to eat.’
‘Don’t forget the stew in the side oven.’ Ena hung her blouse on the back of a dining chair. ‘This feels a bit damp. I’ll leave it down here to air.’ Ena crossed to the fire and added a couple of logs to what was mostly ash and embers. ‘Night night,’ she said, bending down and kissing her mother on the cheek. ‘Don’t stay up too long.’
Her mother smiled, but Ena could tell she was worried by the deep lines on her forehead. ‘Good night, love.’
Ena lay on her bed listening to the ferocious and unrelenting bombing of Coventry. So many bombs exploding at the same time made it impossible to distinguish one from another. Eventually, unable to sleep, she got up, threw her dressing gown round her shoulders, pulled back the blackout curtains, and looked out of the window.
The sky above Coventry was an even brighter red than when she had got home. Touching several objects on her dressing table, Ena came to her wristwatch. She picked it up, held it close to the window, and peered into its face. It was almost two o’clock. Conscious that she had to be at work at nine, she let go of the curtains. As they swung back into place, she felt her way across the room. Climbing back into bed, Ena pulled the blankets up to her chin, and closed her eyes.
Ena hadn’t been asleep for long when she was woken by the roar of aeroplane engines. She sat up. ‘What the...?’ Diving out of bed, she opened the blackout curtains and looked up at the sky. Hundreds of German bomber planes were flying overhead.
She looked to her left. A steady stream of aircraft was coming from the west and heading east. Ena sighed with relief. The blitzing of Coventry was over. The Luftwaffe would soon be over the
