A Wartime Christmas (28 page)

When Dolly walked in at last, she was dressed in a light-coloured coat and black fur collar. Instead of joining Kay at the table, she went to the bar. Smiling at the landlord, she laughed and
joked. Dolly swallowed the drink he poured her before walking over to Kay.

‘Have you brought me money?’ she asked, sitting down.

Kay nodded, still shocked by the fact that Dolly could carelessly down a drink and laugh and joke with the landlord as if this was an everyday occurrence.

Dolly grinned. ‘I knew you had it all along.’

‘Well, now I’m here,’ Kay replied, ‘where’s Sean? Have you been looking after him?’

‘Listen,’ spluttered Dolly, leaning close, ‘don’t look down your nose at me, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes. Alan didn’t ditch you and your kid. What would you have done if
he did? I tried me best to bring up that boy. I could have done a better job if my thieving husband hadn’t taken the bread from our mouths. But, seeing as you think you can do a better job of
looking after the kid, I’m prepared to give you a chance. Just as long as I get what’s rightfully mine.’

‘You will,’ Kay replied coldly. ‘But I want to see Sean first.’

‘All in good time,’ Dolly dismissed. ‘He’s staying with a friend of mine.’

‘Don’t he live with you?’

‘I’m not here to answer your questions,’ Dolly snapped. ‘It’s the other way round. Now where’s the money?’

Kay had told herself to keep cool, calm and collected. But Dolly always threw a spanner into the works. Her fingers were shaking as she opened her handbag and took out the Post Office book.

‘Let me see that.’ Dolly snatched it from her hand. Kay watched Dolly’s reedy expression as she read the name inside. ‘What’s your name doing on it?’ she
demanded.

‘I don’t know,’ Kay replied, trying to remain calm.

‘The bugger must have changed it.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Kay, trying to play along. ‘I’ll draw it out and give it to you.’

Dolly looked at Kay with contempt. ‘He was gonna make sure I never had it, the crafty good-for-nothing—’

‘I told you, it’s all yours,’ Kay interrupted, tightening her fingers in her lap. She wanted to defend Alan,
her
Alan, who would never be capable of such deception.
But she knew it was useless to argue with Dolly.

Dolly looked at her suspiciously. ‘You want the boy that much?’

‘Do you want your money back or not?’ Kay asked again.

‘I’m taking this.’ Dolly slid the book into her pocket. ‘Be here at ten tomorrow morning outside the pub. We’ll go to the Post Office together. If you call in the
rozzers, you’ll never see Sean again.’

‘You don’t have to worry about that.’

Dolly stood up, looking around her. ‘You’d better be on the level this time.’

Kay jumped to her feet. ‘Before you leave, I want you to tell me something.’

‘Now what?’

‘You said you first met Alan in Hyde Park. That he was one of the speakers there.’

‘So? What’s it to you?’

‘What was he talking about?’

Dolly laughed. ‘Nonsense as usual. Trying to get blokes to join some army or other.’

‘What army?’ Kay grabbed her sleeve.

Dolly glared at her. ‘Let go of me.’

‘Please, Dolly!’ Kay had to know.

‘Dunno why you want to know that. It was somewhere foreign like Spain.’

Suddenly a high-pitched wail filled the air. Everyone got up and hurried to the door as the scream of the siren grew louder. Dolly rushed away to join the other customers hurrying from the pub.
Kay stood there as if in a trance. Then someone pushed her forward. ‘You’d better get going, love. There’s a raid on its way.’

Kay nodded, still thinking of what Dolly had said about Spain. The man shoved her into the dark night and she stood on the pavement, not knowing which way to go. Then she saw Dolly’s
light-coloured coat. Kay elbowed her way towards Dolly as she went towards the entrance of Bethnal Green Tube Station.

Vi was worried. It was gone eleven and Kay wasn’t home. She was to meet Dolly at half past seven. Kay should have been home by now.

Vi got up from her chair, turned out the light and for the hundredth time that evening went to the window. She peered from behind the blackout curtain. The street was in total darkness. It was
silly to keep on looking, Vi scolded herself. Kay would soon be home, she was sure.

She sat down again. Alfie was fast asleep upstairs. The house was quiet and the ticking of the clock seemed very loud.

Vi’s thoughts went over and over. That minx Dolly was two steps ahead of everyone on cunning. She was prepared to sell her own son. What mother would do such a thing? And what would Dolly
say when she saw the account was in Kay’s name? Kay had been certain she could talk Dolly round. But could she? And what if that big lug had been with Dolly and roughed Kay up again?

Vi went to the front door and opened it. She was really worried now. Kay could be lying in a dark alley somewhere, the rain pouring down on her. Vi knocked on Babs’s door. She didn’t
want to wake the children. She didn’t want to wake Babs either if she’d gone to sleep. But Kay might need their help.

The door opened. Babs and Paul stood there. ‘Is she home yet?’ asked Babs before Vi could speak.

‘No.’ Vi’s voice was a croak as Babs pulled her inside out of the rain.

‘I can’t leave Alfie,’ Vi mumbled. ‘But I’m worried. She was supposed to meet Dolly at half seven.’

‘I’ll come back with you.’ Babs reached for her coat to put on over her dressing gown. ‘Paul will be here for the kids if they wake.’

‘I don’t want to trouble you.’ There was a catch in Vi’s voice.

‘Try not to worry,’ Paul told her. ‘If she ain’t back in an hour I’ll get the car out of mothballs and drive up to Bethnal Green.’

Vi just nodded, swallowing her fear. She had never cared much for Paul, had never really given him the time of day after what he’d done behind Eddie’s back. But as he patted her
shoulder, she was glad he was on hand tonight.

At first, all seemed orderly if a little hurried as people made their way towards the narrow entrance of the Tube station. Dolly’s light coat kept appearing in the
darkness as Kay found herself shoulder to shoulder with strangers. Just then, there was a crash. More ear-splintering crashes followed and the sky above was lit briefly, revealing the terrified
faces around her.

‘The bombs are falling in the park!’ a man yelled out. ‘Hurry, or we’ll never get down the Underground in time.’

‘Jerry’s overhead,’ a woman cried out, pushing her way fiercely through the crowd.

‘It’s revenge for Berlin,’ another man shouted. ‘We flattened ’em good and proper the other night and now it’s our turn.’

Kay felt everyone’s panic. The surge of people was powerful as the fear of the bombs took over. As the station’s entrance came into sight, Kay was almost lifted off her feet. She
tried to turn back but the tide of bodies around her was too forceful. Inside the entrance there was hardly any light. She tried to grasp the handrail. If she could reach it, she might be able to
prevent herself from falling. The rain had made the steps very slippery. But there was no handrail in the centre as she expected. A woman screamed at the top of staircase and Kay saw the baby in
her arms. It was crying loudly. An elderly man fell behind the woman, causing congestion which only added to the panic of the surging throng. The woman and her child and the elderly man disappeared
in seconds yet the crowd ignored them, pushing forward and plunging ahead. Men, women and children disappeared from sight in the well of darkness, with the noise of the screams and yelling rising
to a terrifying pitch.

Kay screamed, her lungs feeling crushed as she tried to gulp air. The people behind her were forcing her on. Those in front were unable to move in the narrow neck of the darkened stairwell. Kay
suddenly spotted Dolly who was screaming too, trying to fight her way back. Her face was white and filled with terror. Unable to save herself, her cries were lost in the nightmare sounds of all
those who, like her, were being ignored and trodden down.

Kay’s last memory of Dolly was of her hands clutching nothing but the air above her head. The movement was useless against the force of the crowd. Dolly was sucked under, as if in a
vacuum, into the pit beneath. Kay was being driven forward. Like Dolly, she was succumbing to the force behind her. Desperate fingers, elbows, knees and feet thrust painfully into her back and
legs. Unable to move, her chest was flattened, squeezing the last gasps of air from her lungs.

She found herself screaming, trying to turn back, her hands automatically going up, to claw at anything that might prevent her descent. But there was only the relentless motion of the crowd that
swept her forward and down into the pitch-black darkness.

The female ARP warden’s face hovered above Kay. The woman’s smile under her tin helmet made Kay realize that she wasn’t dead.

‘Wh . . . where am I?’ Kay mumbled. ‘What happened?’

‘Lay back a minute, dear. You’ve had a nasty shock.’

Kay tried to look around her. Above her was a canvas roof.

‘There’s been an accident at the Tube,’ the woman told her. ‘You were one of the lucky ones. A man pulled you free from the crowd on the stairwell.’

‘Dolly, is she all right?’ Kay whispered.

‘Who’s Dolly?’

‘Someone I know. I must get up and find her.’

‘There, there, dear,’ said the warden gently. ‘Try to rest. You’re safe now. You’re in a temporary shelter erected close to the Tube. We’re hoping to have the
doctor here soon. Until then you must keep still. I have to go as we’re very busy with casualties. But I’ll be back shortly.’

The woman patted her shoulder and left. Kay realized she was lying on a blanket on the ground. As she moved her head to one side she saw there were others in the tent too. Some people were
moaning and groaning, others calling for help. But there were also unmoving shapes covered by sheets.

Kay gazed up at the flimsy canvas. Many had perished in the Tube stairwell. She thought she had been about to die too. Who had rescued her?

She managed to sit up. Through the flap of the tent she could see lights twinkling despite the blackout. Her chest ached as though she had been stepped on. Her bag was miraculously beside her.
Her wet shoes were still laced and on her feet. She shuddered at the memories of the terrified crowd that rushed back. Was Dolly dead?

‘You should be resting.’ The warden had returned and was bending over her again.

‘Who was the man who brought me here?’

‘I don’t know. It’s been too busy to keep track of everyone.’

Kay glanced at the rows of bodies. ‘Are those people dead?’

‘Don’t upset yourself by looking at them. Now lay down. The doctor won’t be long.’

When Kay was on her own again, she climbed to her feet. Was Dolly one of those bodies under the covers? She couldn’t bring herself to look. Instead she picked up her handbag and walked
unsteadily out.

On the ground, as far away as the pub in one direction and Victoria Park in the other, Kay could see rows of covered bodies. Ambulances were driving up and stretchers brought
out to collect the dead and injured. Kay stumbled between the rows, staring at the terrible sights. A foot stuck out here, a leg and an arm there. The colour of people’s skin was blue and
purple, not pink. She found herself walking aimlessly amongst the dead.

A few drops of rain fell on Kay’s face. She could hardly feel it. All she could think of was that stairwell and the crowd pushing forward as if it had a life of its own. And Dolly’s
arms and hands raised as she screamed for help. The look on Dolly’s face was as if she knew what agony awaited her below. The screams still lingered in Kay’s head: the wails and crying,
the pitiful pleas from those around her who were caught up in the force of the crowd.

‘Are you looking for someone?’ an older man asked her. He wore an ARP uniform and was holding a file of crumpled papers. He looked tired and old, with his white hair untidily scuffed
around his face.

‘Yes.’ Kay nodded shakily. ‘I am.’

‘What’s the name? If they’ve been injured I can tell you what hospital they’ve gone to.’

‘Dolly. Dolly Lewis. She was wearing a beige coat with a black fur collar. She has blonde hair and—’

‘I’ve only got names, love. Not descriptions.’ He ran his eyes over the papers. ‘Name’s not here, I’m afraid. But there’s injured folk who haven’t
been able to say who they are yet and some without their identity papers.’

Kay knew Dolly wouldn’t be carrying any identity. ‘I’ll keep looking,’ she said weakly.

‘You don’t look so good yourself.’

Kay saw a red bus in front of her and was shocked when she found that even this was being used to transport bodies. There were carts and lorries, anything available to remove the dead and
injured. A child was crying as she was put on a stretcher. She remembered the woman with the baby. They had both disappeared in the Tube entrance.

‘There’s more casualties in St John’s,’ she heard a policeman tell a crying woman. He pointed to the church opposite the Tube. ‘The others have been taken to the
Whitechapel mortuary.’

Kay stared at the place where she had almost lost her life. Now the entrance was crammed with rescuers. What had made the crowd panic? There had been the sound of something like rockets. Then,
everyone had rushed into the stairwell. She felt sick at the memory.

Vi woke from her doze when she heard the car draw up. Unsteadily she got up from the chair. It was still dark when she opened the front door and saw Paul and Babs bringing Kay
in from the car.

‘She’s lucky to be alive,’ Paul said as he led Kay into the front room. The embers of the fire still held a little warmth as Vi helped Kay take off her dirty coat.

‘What happened?’ Vi asked as Kay sank down in the armchair.

‘It was awful, Vi. So many people died.’

‘Died!’ Vi turned to Paul. ‘What’s she talking about?’

Paul thrust back his untidy hair. ‘There’s been some sort of accident at Bethnal Green Tube. But no one would tell me what happened. All I could see was bodies on stretchers. I found
Kay wandering amongst them.’