The girl lowered her arm and moved a few steps away.
‘Thank you for making this place bearable. Don’t take any notice of Iris, she thinks she’s in charge, but she’s not.’ The speaker walked across and held out her hand. ‘I’m Mary Smith, pleased to meet you.’
‘I’m Ellen Simpson, and I’m delighted to meet you.’ Mary was a bit older than her, with fair hair and pale blue eyes.
Immediately Ellie was surrounded by the others and they seemed a pleasant bunch, apart from Iris, of course. Some of them had biscuits and they were happy to hand them over to her once they heard of her plight.
‘Are we the only new recruits on this draft?’ Ellie asked.
‘The driver of our bus said the rest are arriving tomorrow. We are the odds and sods who travelled up individually. I believe the rest are coming en masse from a rendezvous point,’ Daisy Jenkins said. Daisy was short and dark with a smile that made her plain face pretty.
Ellie hoped she would become chums with Daisy and Mary.
The other girls decided to make their beds up as well as they didn’t want to sit on the floor any more than she had. The room looked less austere once this was done. There was one bed still stacked with the bedding.
‘Where’s bossy boots gone?’ This question was posed by the girl who was next to the empty bedstead.
‘I bet she’s gone to fetch that nasty corporal,’ Daisy said.
‘I’m not going to be cowed by her, I’m sure there are plenty of decent aircraft women in admin – they can’t all be like Fitzwilliam,’ someone else said with a smile.
‘I shall own up to lighting the stove. There’s no need for anyone else to get the blame for that.’
‘I think that woman should get the blame for putting you in here and not taking you somewhere warm to wait. You showed initiative and guts walking in the snow. I’m sure whoever’s in charge will appreciate what you did.’
‘Thank you, Mary, but I doubt it will ever reach the ears of the commanding officer. I’m quite prepared to be put on a charge – it was worth it to be warm.’
For all her bravado she jumped every time she heard a noise thinking she was about to get her comeuppance. When half an hour had passed and there was still no sign of Iris she became concerned.
‘I’m going to put on my outdoor things and go and look for her. She should have been back by now.’
‘Maybe there’s a telephone extension somewhere in this barracks,’ Daisy suggested.
They split into pairs and searched each icy dormitory with no success. This only left the sergeant’s quarters. ‘I’m going to look in here. The rest of you go back into the dormitory. There is no point in all of us being involved in another breach of the rules.’
All the girls apart from Daisy and Mary vanished immediately. ‘We’re coming with you, Ellie, it’s not fair for you to stick your head above the parapet every time,’ Mary said firmly.
The door opened with a creak that echoed down the corridor. This room was no warmer than anywhere else. ‘It’s over there, on that table by the window.’
Ellie picked it up and waited for an operator to answer.
Twenty-six
Ellie was connected with a lowly being who promptly passed her on to the CO. She gave her name and then explained the circumstances.
‘Let me get this straight, Simpson, you walked from the station and were then left in the barracks in subzero temperatures? I’m glad you had the gumption to disobey orders and light the stove. Duvall has since wandered off into the snow?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘I’ll organise a search party. You remain where you are until someone comes to take you to the canteen. Be at the door in half an hour.’
Daisy and Mary were waiting eagerly to hear what had been said. Ellie explained and they were delighted.
‘Hopefully that horrible Fitzwilliam will get a strip torn off. I hope Iris is all right – I don’t like her very much but wouldn’t like to think of her freezing to death,’ Mary said.
‘I’m certain she went out to snitch on us so I’ve no sympathy for her,’ Daisy replied.
‘I’m sure the others will be pleased we’re going to be fed soon. I wonder why our sergeant hasn’t put in an appearance.’ She led the way back into the wonderfully warm dormitory.
Someone had made up Iris’s bed for her and put her suitcase in the locker which made the room look tidier.
‘Does anyone know what’s going to happen to us over the next two weeks? Do we get to choose what we do?’ Ellie asked.
‘The leaflet said we get a basic training here, medicals and inoculations, and then get sent for further training if necessary. I’ve put down for admin as I was working as a secretary.’ The speaker was a short, plump girl with hair the same colour as Jack’s. Being reminded of him brought a lump to her throat.
‘I want to be a radio or wireless operator – but as they are both the same thing – I don’t know what the difference is,’ she told them.
Her flying jacket, helmet and goggles were much admired, as was the news that she had made her living as a flying instructor.
‘It seems a terrible waste of your skills not to be able to fly,’ Daisy said.
‘At least being in the WAAF will mean I’m close to the aircraft even if I can’t fly them. I did train half a dozen RAF recruits before my airfield was shut down.’
The conversation became general and, by the time they were all muffled up in their outer garments, Ellie thought she was going to enjoy spending the next few weeks with them. Having spent a few years at boarding
