Far From Home (22 page)

‘Of course it is,' Kate said. ‘But let's get a move on because we have a lot to do today.'

 

Reverend Simpson was upset at the news Sally gave him. His lugubrious grey eyes darkened still further and his slack mouth drooped further downwards as he commiserated with her. And when she cried at the sympathy in his voice, he didn't seem to feel any awkwardness or embarrassment and knew all the right things to say. Kate was impressed, conceding that he couldn't help his long face and mournful expression. In fact, in his job, to look like that could even be considered an added advantage. The man certainly seemed genuine and concerned, and said he would go straight away to see Ruby in the hospital. ‘And,' he added to Sally, ‘remember, my door is always open should you have need of anything or even if you just want to talk.'

‘He looks like the prophet of gloom and doom,' Kate said as they walked away. ‘But I think his heart is in the right place.'

‘Oh, I think it is,' Sally said. ‘Phil used to say …' She stopped and swallowed deeply before going on in a
firmer voice: ‘Phil always spoke highly of him and, even though he was only a little boy when his father died, his mother had always said how good he had been then, and Phil could remember how much he helped them until he left school and went to work.'

‘I like to hear of clergymen practising what they preach,' Kate said. ‘But I had a thought when we were in there.'

‘What?'

‘Well, if Ruby dies, you shouldn't really go to the funeral.'

‘Why not?'

‘I never understood why we couldn't,' Kate said. ‘But it's forbidden in the Catholic Church.'

‘Well,' said Sally with a toss of her head, ‘you know what the Catholic Church can do, don't you, because if you think I am not going to Ruby's funeral because of some daft rule we don't even know the reason for, then you can think again.'

‘I'm not the enemy here,' Kate said gently. ‘As a matter of fact, I think you are right, and I'll go with you. If we are cast into Hell's flames because of it, then at least we will be together.'

A ghost of a smile played around Sally's mouth at Kate's words and a wave of love for her older sister rose up inside her. She grasped hold of her arm as she said, ‘Oh, Kate, I do love you and appreciate your support and everything.'

Kate was embarrassed beyond measure and she coloured slightly as she said, ‘Course I'll support you, you daft ha'p'orth. That's what big sisters do. Now we'll go and see that neighbour of yours and collect
some clothes and anything else we can carry that you might need.'

Phoebe came to the door with an apron tight around her middle and a turban on her head. Kate saw a stout lady about Ruby's age with startling blue eyes, which darkened with sympathy as Sally told her the news. ‘I guessed it would be bad,' she said. ‘And you and all, Bab. What shocking news for you. That's why I got stuck into the cleaning. Nothing like it to stop you thinking. Have you time for a cup of tea?'

‘No, thanks all the same,' Sally said. ‘We only came back to fetch some clothes because I am staying with my sister for a bit.'

‘Ah, you do right,' Phoebe said, removing her apron as she spoke. ‘Better to be with your own at a time like this. And I'll be away to the hospital to see if I can see old Rube. And you know where I am if you should need owt.'

‘Yeah, thanks, Phoebe,' Sally said. As they moved away she added to Kate, ‘Nosey as anything. Wants to know the ins and outs of everyone's business, but she would do anything for you. Salt of the earth, Ruby used to say she was.' Kate heard the slight sob in Sally's voice as she said Ruby's name, but she didn't comment on it. She knew that any sympathy might cause Sally to break down, and as she sensed she was holding herself together with difficulty, they walked back to the flat in silence.

 

Ruby died the following day. The hospital made all the arrangements for the funeral and Sally found an insurance policy in Ruby's shelter bag that would pay for the cost of it. She was glad of this because she couldn't
have allowed Ruby to lie in a pauper's grave, and yet the cost of even a modest funeral staggered her.

As it was, Ruby went out in grand style in a shiny mahogany coffin with brass handles. Susie was astounded at the number of people at the funeral. Ruby had lived in the same house all her life, and so Phoebe wasn't the only neighbour who came to show their respects. Susie and her mother had broken the Roman Catholic rule too and come along to support Sally.

There were a fair few young people as well, girls who Sally worked with and some young men in uniform who had been friends of Phil's. Phil would have no service and no grave, but as a couple of them explained to Kate later, they felt the least they could do was attend Ruby's, for she had been well known to them when they had been boys together. They were sure, they said, that Phil would have expected them to do that.

Reverend Simpson also took this fact on board and mentioned Phil in the address, saying he was sadly missed as well. He said he had been one of the country's heroes and a fine young man who had paid the ultimate price in the fight for freedom and justice. ‘He will live on in the hearts and minds of many,' he said. ‘This funeral is for his mother, a dear lady I knew well who loved her son. So this funeral is also dedicated to Phil's memory.'

Even Kate had a lump in her throat when he finished speaking, and from the snuffling and sniffing around her, she knew Sally wasn't the only one in tears. And then they travelled to nearby Witton Cemetery for the burial. No other relations had been traced, and so it was Sally who was asked to throw the first clod of
earth and then Kate and Susie. And, as the dirt thudded on to the coffin, Sally felt as if it had been a brief interlude in her life that was now over, almost as though it had never happened.

After the funeral, Sally stopped taking the sleeping tablets that the doctor had prescribed for her just after Phil's death because she thought they were making her feel too lethargic. ‘I seem to be exhausted all the time,' she complained to Kate. ‘I'm frustrated with myself.'

‘Why worry?' Kate said ‘There is nothing spoiling, and you have been signed off sick from work for a few days. I will have to go back tomorrow but you haven't to rush.'

‘It's the rent on the house,' Sally said. ‘I have to make a decision about it soon.'

‘Are you going to keep it on?'

‘Well, I can't afford the rent on my own,' Sally said. ‘And it is far too big for just me anyway, but I was wondering if you and David would like it instead of this flat. It isn't much more to pay than you do now and it has a bathroom upstairs and three bedrooms, so when David came home I wouldn't have to move out.'

Kate thought about it and thought it would be lovely to have her own bathroom and her own front door and little patch of garden back and front; it was a semi-detached and a better and bigger house than the one David's parents had. Houses were like gold dust to obtain – in fact if she passed this one up, they might not have another chance of one for years.

‘D'you know, Sally, that's a great idea,' Kate said. ‘I really should ask David what he thinks, though I don't imagine he'll object. But trying to get hold of him now
is very difficult, and his replies take even longer to reach me, so I'll write and tell him. Meanwhile, I'll give notice here and start moving into Ruby's old house, if you're sure?'

‘Course I'm sure.'

‘And you won't be haunted by bad memories?'

‘Memories are not held in bricks and mortar,' Sally said, ‘though I think Ruby thought differently. But my memories – both good and bad – are locked in my heart. I had a lot of happy times in that house, so, yes, I would like to go back to living there again, especially with you.'

 

A fortnight later, after an almost tearful goodbye to Dolly Donovan, who said they had been model tenants whom she would miss very much, they were ready for the off. Everyone lent a hand to move Kate and Sally and their possessions to their new abode, much to Phoebe's delight. Kate was incredibly grateful to Frank Mason, because with petrol at a premium, finding a lorry or a van was well-nigh impossible unless you were willing to pay the earth for it, but Frank knew a man with a horse and cart. ‘We can move most of the stuff on that,' he told the two girls. ‘Most of it will have to have a tarpaulin over it so that we can tie it down.'

‘What's he charging for it?' Kate asked; and had a broad smile on her face when Frank said, ‘He said he'd settle for a couple of bales of hay.'

And eventually it was all done, the beds put up, the pictures on the walls and the rugs on the floor, the things they didn't want out in the garden for the horse to pull back to the tip. Sally and Kate sat down with
a welcome cup of tea. ‘Well, that's a good job finished,' Kate said with a sigh. ‘I think we will be happy here.'

‘Yeah, I suppose.'

‘What's up?'

‘Nothing.'

‘Yes, there is,' Kate insisted. ‘I can always tell. What's on your mind?'

‘All right then,' Sally said. ‘Ever since Phil died, I've been thinking that I should be doing more for the war effort.'

‘You're making shell cases now.'

‘I know, and I wouldn't stop,' Sally said. ‘This will be sort of in the evenings and that, like being an ARP warden. I mean, I know there aren't many bombs falling round here yet, but according to the papers and that man on the BBC, France will not be able to hold out much longer, and, meanwhile, Hitler, they say, is massing all sorts of boats, barges and landing craft on the other side of a very small channel. Before any invasion, they reckon there'll be a heavy bombing campaign to soften us up. The thought of bombs dropping from the sky and then exploding frightens me to death, to be honest.'

‘Any sane person would be scared,' Kate said. ‘I certainly will be.'

‘Yeah, but Phil probably was as well,' Sally said. ‘And a good proportion of those men and boys who were called to be soldiers most likely felt the same a lot of the time, but they still had to conquer that fear and go on. I want to prove that I can do the same.' And then she looked Kate full in the face and said, ‘I think I will get over Phil's death quicker if I do this. In a funny way I think I will feel closer to him. Anyway, I feel I have
languished long enough and I am going back to work next week.'

‘D'you think you're well enough?'

‘Course I am,' Sally said. ‘All a person does at home is think too hard about things and end up feeling sorry for themselves.'

‘I agree with that totally,' Kate said.

‘Anyway, how can I think about taking up extra work for the war effort if I am not able to do the job I'm paid to do?'

Kate was impressed with her sister and the way she had thought the whole thing through and so she said, ‘Sally, every word you said made sense. So much so that I want to help in some way as well. We'll look into this ARP business just as soon as we can.'

Before they were able to find anything out about ARP wardens, Kate had word that David was coming home on a forty-eight-hour pass. Susie had heard that Nick had leave too, but neither girl could be spared from work the first day the men were back, which was on Friday, when Nick and David were arriving about lunchtime.

As the two girls travelled to work that Friday morning, Susie said, ‘Thank goodness we will have Saturday off at least.'

‘Yeah,' Kate said. ‘Hope the weather holds.' It was the last week in June and the weather had been glorious for nearly a week. ‘Might cheer me up a bit as well,' she added. ‘I mean, I know it was a foregone conclusion that France would fall, but to actually sign an alliance with the country that is going to rule over you, as they did last week, seems all wrong to me.'

‘And me,' Susie said. ‘And it does mean that now Britain is completely alone.'

Kate nodded. ‘Sally wants to do her bit, you know,' she said. ‘She wants to become an ARP warden.'

‘Well, all they have to do at the moment is patrol the streets in the blackout,' Susie said. ‘And I suppose see if anyone is showing a light.'

‘Yeah, but she and I think things will hot up very soon. The Germans will be bombing towns and cities before an invasion – like they did Rotterdam.'

‘Yeah, frightening the Dutch government so much they gave up without a fight,' Susie said grimly.

‘That won't happen here though, will it?' Kate said. ‘Somehow I just can't see Churchill giving in so easy.'

‘No, nor me,' Susie agreed, and then went on: ‘I read somewhere that these barrage balloons hovering above the city streets are a form of protection against the air raids, though I don't see what earthly use they will be.'

‘Nor me,' Kate said. ‘And when the bombing does start, that's when the ARPs will be needed … So I've decided to volunteer as well.'

Susie nodded. ‘I think you're right,' she said. ‘Are you going to talk to your boy in blue and ask what he thinks about it first?'

‘Ask his permission?' Kate said. ‘The answer is no. David never asked if I minded him joining the Air Force. He told me that was what he intended to do long before he was called up and, if I remember rightly, Nick did the same.'

Susie nodded again. ‘He did and you're right,' she said. ‘They didn't ask us so there is no earthly reason why you should ask David. You know,' she went on, ‘I wouldn't mind coming along too. I imagine that duties will be arranged in the evenings or weekends and I'm doing nothing else. I'd feel I was doing my bit too, and anyway I'm finding life deadly dull just now.'

‘Yeah, I'm finding life a bit of a drag as well,' Kate said. ‘I mean, I don't really feel right going dancing without the chaps.'

‘Nor me,' Susie said. ‘Not that there's much dancing to be had. The single girls who do go say that there are so few men, except the odd one home on leave, that they spend the time either sitting at the tables getting bored to death, or dancing with their friends. Lots of the stars of the Music Hall are off entertaining the troops, so there's only the pictures left.'

‘All us bored married women,' Kate said with a smile. ‘Think what a contribution to the war effort we could make.'

‘Yeah, we might be the means of turning this war and planned invasion around completely,' Susie responded in like vein.

‘Well, we can give it a bloody good try anyway,' said Kate, getting to her feet as the factory came into view and the two girls ran giggling down the tram stairs.

 

David spent the first afternoon of his leave with Nick at the Masons' house, but they both went up to meet the girls from work that evening. Kate tingled all over when she emerged from the factory gates and saw David standing there. She flew into his arms. And then she took his face between her hands and examined him critically. ‘You are thinner,' she said, ‘and there are blue tinges under your eyes.'

‘Well,' said David, ‘you can put my thinness down to the culinary delights of NAAFI food, and the bags under my eyes to the fact that I don't get much shut-eye.'

‘Right,' Kate said. ‘I will see what I can do for both of those problems now you're here at last.'

‘Looking forward to that,' David said. ‘But how tired are you at the moment?'

‘It's Friday night,' Kate said. ‘What do you think?'

‘Are you too tired to walk home?'

Kate thought a little teasing wouldn't come amiss and, looking at him coyly, she said, ‘That would depend on who was asking me.'

‘You cheeky monkey,' David said in mock annoyance. ‘I hope you would not walk home with any Tom, Dick or Harry. It's me asking you – David Burton, your lawful wedded husband.'

‘Is it really?' Kate said. ‘Well, as he was the one that I promised to love, honour and obey, I'd better accept.' And with that she stepped on tiptoe so she could reach David's face and, despite the others from the factory streaming past her, she kissed him gently on the lips. ‘Welcome home, darling,' she said. ‘It is so good to see you.'

‘And you,' David said, tucking her arm through his as they began to walk through the balmy evening. ‘I think of you a lot through the day and dream of you at night, and I live for your letters. I was real sorry to hear about Phil, by the way, and his mother too. It must have been a lot for Sally to cope with?'

‘Oh, it was,' Kate said. ‘She took some time coming to terms with it. But she is all right now and working out her own salvation.'

‘Oh,' David said. ‘What's that?'

Kate told him. ‘She says it will help her to get over her own tragedy helping others,' she explained. ‘And it
will certainly not allow her much time to think and brood.'

‘And it's a very worthwhile thing to do.'

Kate decided to bite the bullet, and so, taking a deep breath, she said, ‘Would you feel the same if I was to take it on too?'

David looked at her and said, ‘You are joking?'

‘Why should I be joking?'

There was a steely note to David's voice as he said, ‘I would think that obvious. You are a married woman.'

‘Right. So my life stops, does it?'

‘Of course not,' David said. ‘Now you're being silly.'

Kate pulled out of David's embrace and faced him. In the evening sunlight he saw her eyes flashing as she said, ‘No, David, I am not being silly – remember, you are a married man.'

‘That's different. Surely you can see that?' David said.

‘No, I really can't,' Kate said. ‘How is it?'

‘Look, Kate …' David began. ‘No, I can't allow it. As an ARP warden you'll be out in the teeth of the raids.'

‘I know that,' Kate said. ‘And, as for you not allowing it, you can forget that for a start, because I'm not asking permission anyway. I am telling you what I am going to do, and if you say one word about my promising to love, honour and obey you, I will brain you, because this is something I must do.'

‘All right,' David snapped angrily. ‘I won't remind you of your vows, but that didn't mean that the marriage didn't happen. You did say those words and now, just months later, you are going to defy me.'

‘Yes, if that's the way you want to think of it,' Kate
said a little sadly. ‘I really thought you might understand. I feel I must do this, in the same way you felt you had to join the RAF.'

‘Oh, tit for tat, is that it?'

‘Oh, don't be so childish!' Kate snapped. ‘Of course it isn't.'

‘It's dangerous work,' David said. ‘I don't think you understand—'

‘Of course I understand,' Kate said testily. ‘I am not a fool. I suppose flying a fighter plane is as safe as a vicar's tea party, is it?'

David gave a wry smile. ‘Hardly, but Kate, you are a woman. It's not right. I mean, won't you be frightened?'

‘Sometimes probably,' Kate said. ‘Aren't you ever?'

‘We never talk about fear.'

‘But not talking about it does not mean you never experience it. You have had to learn to deal with it the same as I will.'

‘But I would worry about you so much.'

‘Oh, David,' Kate cried. ‘Don't you realize I have a sick knot of worry inside me all the time you are away, no doubt taking no end of risks? Again, that is something I have to deal with.'

David still had a mulish face on and so Kate went on: ‘It's a different world now, David, because it has to be. Women have had to work in places that formerly were male preserves: brass foundries, drop forges, all sorts of places. Haven't you seen the women car mechanics and those driving lorries and buses and trams? And who do you think is making the machine-guns you fire and the rifles and the pistols and the
bullets to go in them; who is making up the bombs and sewing the parachutes and the uniforms you wear? Me, making radiator grilles for Jeeps. I could go on and on. And we have women in the forces, don't we?'

‘Yes, but the WAAFs usually only do the clerical work.'

‘All of them?'

‘Well, we do have women mechanics and fitters and such, but they don't go into combat.'

‘But we won't have a choice if the bombs come,' Kate said. ‘Someone's got to be out there helping wherever help is needed, and there are only women and old men left – and many of the older men have already been drafted into the Home Guard. And a lot of the women taking on extra duties like these will be married, some of them mothers doing their bit to help win this dreadful war. I want to be part of it.'

David wanted his Kate to be as safe as it was possible to be, if the bombing raids came, but he realized that he had married a woman with her own mind and one who was as stubborn as a mule. Despite the fact he was still a little annoyed with her high-handedness, he had a grudging admiration for her determination.

‘Come on, David,' Kate said impatiently. ‘Sally said doing work like this will help her feel closer to Phil, and both Susie and I understand what she means.'

‘Is Susie involved in this as well?' David said. ‘I might have known really.'

‘Yes, you should have,' Kate said. ‘We'll be like the three musketeers. And I bet Nick will be fully supportive of her decision, not like the grouch I'm married to!'

David laughed and his irritation melted away, though the misgivings remained. ‘All right then,' he said. ‘Join
the wretched organization if it means so much to you. And while I'm still not totally happy about it, I am very proud of all three of you for even thinking about it.' He took her arm again and they walked on for a while before he said, ‘That was our first argument. We have never disagreed about anything before.'

‘It wasn't a bad fight,' Kate said. ‘Not really. I just had to point out to you that I haven't stopped being a person just because I'm married.'

‘I never thought you had, Mrs Burton?' David said, and a jocular tone was back in his voice.

‘Well, it didn't sound like that, Mr Burton,' said Kate.

‘Is this what married life is all about?' David asked.

‘I'm afraid it probably will be a lot of the time,' Kate admitted. ‘Can you stand it, do you think?'

‘Oh, yes, my darling girl,' said David. ‘I think I will be able to stand it very well indeed.'

 

David was very impressed with the house they would now be living in, though he said Kate had described it well in her letters to him. When he saw Sally was already home, he was quick to offer his condolences to her. She thanked him, but her smile didn't touch her eyes. They had a bleak look to them, and the bloom was gone from her cheeks, and he knew whatever public face she was putting on, she was still grieving. But it was early days yet, he thought as he followed behind Kate, who left Sally putting finishing touches to the meal while she showed David around. ‘It's just great,' he said when they arrived back in the kitchen. ‘I mean, it's one thing hearing about it in a letter, but quite another seeing it,' he said. He grabbed hold of Kate
and kissed her as he added, ‘I think that we have been very lucky.'

‘Yes, and I had to snap it up while I had the chance.'

‘You did absolutely the right thing,' David said. ‘But I'm surprised that you have no Anderson shelter – the garden is big enough.'

‘Ruby was offered one last November when they were first delivered to Birmingham,' Sally said. ‘But she refused to have one.'

‘Why?'

‘Oh, she said that no Hitler was getting her out of her house into some hole in the ground like an animal, and that she would sit out any raids under the stairs.' And then Sally smiled and went on: ‘No one could budge her. She could be a cussed old woman at times.'

‘Well, I don't really think that is a very sensible option,' David said. ‘And I couldn't rest easy if I thought about you huddled under the stairs. If the house was hit then you could be buried.'

‘Bit late now though.'

‘No, I shouldn't think so,' David said. ‘The council have a sort of duty to try and keep you all safe, so you could enquire about that. I would have to dig the hole out for you, because it has to be four foot deep, and that will have to be done before any shelter can be delivered.'

Kate wasn't sure that she wanted to hide away in a hole in the ground any more than Ruby had, so she said, ‘Oh, don't bother with that now. We'll get it all seen to when you've gone.'

‘No, Kate, there's no time to waste,' David said. ‘Nick will help and maybe Susie's dad, he's a decent fellow.

Pity Martin has been called up, because he is another strapping chap, but between us we'll manage it. And it would be better to start first thing tomorrow.'

And that's exactly what happened. Saturday dawned fine and clear and, instead of walking through some leafy park and soaking up the sunshine and enjoying being together, Kate watched David and the other men begin digging up the turf of the scrappy little lawn and then slicing through the dusty earth beneath it. The dryness of the recent weather made light work of it, and so by the time they stopped for a bite to eat there was a sizeable hole just outside the kitchen door, deep enough to semi-bury the Anderson shelter as the government had advised people to do.