Her dad was back at work but only doing a half-day. He seemed to be enjoying having the extra leisure time.
He was sitting on a deckchair reading the paper when they got in as if he hadn’t got a care in the world, as if the world wasn’t going to change irrevocably in the next few days. How could he be so calm when Neil, George and Greg would soon be in deadly danger?
‘I suppose you two heard about Poland. Greg rang and said to tell you all leave is cancelled indefinitely so he won’t be here for a while. Not heard anything from your brothers.’
‘I don’t think either Greg or George will see much action initially; it’s going to be fighter pilots who are needed first,’ Jack, beer in hand, said and prepared to sit in a deckchair that had been left folded up against the wall.
‘No, not that one...’ Too late. There was the sound of tearing canvas followed by a stream of extremely rude words as Jack ended up on his backside with the remains of the chair surrounding him.
‘I tried to warn you.’ She could barely speak through her giggles and her dad was also laughing too much to do more than splutter. When she recovered her breath, she continued. ‘It was folded up because it is torn.’
‘Ha bloody ha! It’s not the first time I’ve had a sore arse, but if I’d dropped my beer I’d be really cross.’ He extricated himself from the ruined deckchair and stood up. ‘I’ll sit on the grass if there aren’t any more chairs. Do you intend to join me or continue to stand there sniggering?’
‘I’ll get the rug and find myself a cold drink and then I’ll happily join you both.’
When she told Mrs B the housekeeper didn’t laugh. ‘He’s been having a lot of pain in his arm, Ellie, I hope this didn’t make it worse.’
‘I’ve forgotten about his accident. He’s not mentioned it to me but I’ll ask him about it. It might have been all that heavy work he did the other week in the yard.’
‘It’s a salad tonight, why don’t you eat it outside?’
‘We will, but only if you agree to join us. You’re part of the family now and I’m really not comfortable with you eating on your own in the kitchen whilst we sit in splendour in the dining room.’
‘Fred said the same the other day so I’ll be happy to join you. If you give me a hand, we could put up one of the trestles so we don’t have to eat from our laps.’
As neither of the men could help, the shifting and carrying was left to Mrs B and Ellie. If you worked in a man’s world it was only fair that you didn’t expect them to run around after you when you were at home.
Whilst she put the finishing touches to the impromptu dining table she was watching her dad and Jack deep in conversation. She couldn’t remember either of her brothers talking to him like that. If Mrs B could be considered an honorary Simpson, then so should Jack. He fitted in so well – was like another brother to her. She could talk to him about anything and not feel a bit embarrassed. If it wasn’t for his fiery red hair she might actually believe she was related to him in some way.
They gathered in the sitting room to listen to the nine o’clock news. When the bulletin had finished she got up to turn the wireless off.
‘War hasn’t even been declared and we’ve got to use the blackouts from tonight. It’s a good thing I’ve got everything ready. I’ll go round and draw the curtains now,’ Mrs B said and she dashed off to comply with the regulations.
‘I can’t believe thousands of little children are going to be sent into the country without their parents. I think it’s really unkind.’
‘Ellie, don’t be daft,’ Dad said. ‘It’s better they’re homesick than killed by German bombs.’
She shuddered. ‘I know you’re right but imagine how many families are going to be miserable tomorrow. I suppose the RAF will be the first involved in any action. I’m not going to think about the young men we’ve got to know over the past few weeks. Worrying about Neil, George and Greg is quite enough for me.’
‘None of the guys we train will be ready for action for a year or more – they just get the basics from us, then have to learn all the technical stuff and do the training for whatever aircraft they’re going to be flying in future.’
‘Your brothers joined up two years ago and have only just qualified,’ Dad reminded her. ‘I reckon it takes a long time to turn out the sort of blokes the RAF wants to fly their planes.’
‘So people joining up now mightn’t be active until the war’s over. I just hope we’ve got enough trained men to do what’s necessary over the next months.’ Ellie didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Her brothers and Greg could well be in action in the next few days and that was too dreadful to contemplate.
*
Greg had completed half a dozen circuits and bumps with his crew to make sure they were comfortable together. He’d also flown in formation with the other bombers in his squadron doing what was essentially a dry run for when they were ordered into battle.
He had been in the Officer’s Mess when the Prime Minister made the solemn announcement that Britain was at war with Germany. This had been expected, but what wasn’t was the order to attack German warships off Wilhelmshaven two days later somewhere he’d never heard of. Thank God all he had to do was fly the kite, Bobby Telford, his navigator would get him there.
The CO warned them that on no account should civilian establishments, either houses or dockyards, be
