Out of the Blue (10 page)

In the morning Uncle Geoff left the house for a trip to Ashford. Some time after he had gone, Kitty looked out of her bedroom window and saw Sammy in the lane. She scuttled
down to meet him, rushing through the door as he came in the gate. He grinned when he saw her, and Kitty knew that he was as pleased to see her as she was to see him. They kissed and Sammy lifted
her off her feet when he hugged her.

‘Are you okay, Kitty? Is your uncle still angry?’

‘He has nothing to be angry about – he should have been thanking you for taking care of me.’

Sammy nodded, but said, ‘He was taking care of you too, Kitty – in his way. Is he here? I want to talk to him, to explain about last night.’

‘You’ve just missed him, but come and speak to Auntie Vi.’

They went inside and Kitty called out to her aunt as they walked through to the kitchen.

‘Is that Sammy I hear with you?’

Aunt Vi was butchering the rabbit and she glanced up at them as they came through the door. Sammy approached the table where Aunt Vi stood with a meat cleaver in her hand. The carcass of the
partially jointed animal lay on a wooden block in front of her.

‘Mrs Bellamy, I want to apologise for Kitty being so late home last night.’

‘Kitty’s told me all about it. Sit down, lad. I’ve got the kettle on the stove. Kitty, make the tea please, dear.’

Kitty took the tin tea caddy from the shelf and set about warming the teapot.
Everything’s going to be all right,
she thought. Kitty looked over her shoulder and smiled at the two
of them. As she lifted the second spoonful of tea into the pot, Aunt Vi asked Sammy if he knew yet where the war was taking him next. Kitty jumped and caught the spoon on the edge of the caddy. Tea
leaves showered across the table.

‘Do be careful, Kitty, you know it’s like gold dust.’ Aunt Vi reached out to a ceramic pot containing wooden spoons and utensils and passed her niece a pastry brush. ‘See
what you can salvage with that.’

Kitty could sense Sammy watching her as she waited for him to answer Aunt Vi’s question. She brushed the scattered leaves into the palm of her hand and transferred them to the teapot. She
picked up a cloth and lifted the kettle from the stove. Carefully, she poured the boiling water on to the tea. She did not look up.

‘Mrs Bellamy, would you mind if Kitty and I stepped out for a little while? I do have news but, with your permission, I’d like to speak to Kitty about it first – if I may,
ma’am?’

Aunt Vi nodded. ‘We’ll have this tea now it’s made and then you can be off. But don’t go far – no missed buses today, please.’

Kitty sat opposite Sammy and sipped her tea, swallowing it down past the lump in her throat. At the end of the table Aunt Vi seasoned a saucer of flour and placed the pieces of rabbit in it. She
turned each piece over and around until the flesh turned a dusty grey, then she placed it in a skillet.

Sammy’s eyes sought out Kitty’s but, as soon as her eyes met his and she saw the tenderness there, she looked away. She could feel the need to cry swelling in her chest and behind
her eyes.

‘Would rabbit be something you have over where you come from, Sammy?’ Aunt Vi asked. She placed the skillet on the stove and began peeling and slicing an onion.

‘Well, sure, but we usually eat beef and pork. We have a farm, the cows are mostly dairy but we keep some for meat, and there’s always a couple of hogs being raised. We’ve not
suffered from short supply like you have in Britain, ma’am.’

Sammy and Aunt Vi continued their conversation while Kitty struggled with her tea. At last Aunt Vi told them to run along. Kitty left the kitchen and headed for the front door where she paused
to glance back at Sammy.

‘Wait – I’ll just fetch your logbook.’ She left him abruptly and ran up the stairs. Inside her bedroom, Kitty covered her face with her hands and pressed her fingers
against her eyes. She held her breath and willed the tears not to come. She couldn’t bear it – it was too hard. They had only just started out – this was their beginning and she
could not stand to be separated from Sammy now. Kitty looked in the mirror and dabbed a handkerchief to her eyes. She took a couple of deep breaths and put on some lipstick. She picked up the
logbook and went down to meet him.

Sammy had gone outside and, as she came through the front door, he moved to take her in his arms. Kitty let herself be hugged and pulled her mouth into a smile.

‘Can we walk a little, please?’ she said, handing him the logbook before moving away and heading for the gate. Sammy followed her and they walked in silence. He took her hand and she
moved closer and leaned her head towards his shoulder. They walked steadily on, up the hill and out of the village. They continued to walk without speaking and being quiet together made Kitty feel
better. When they reached the top gate to the field Kitty stopped. ‘Shall we have a look in daylight?’

They climbed into the field and walked around the open barn. They sat down together on the hay bale. Sammy leaned in and kissed her, then sat up straight again. They looked down the slope of the
hill to where some cows cropped the grass. The animals lifted their big heads and stared at them while they chewed then lowered their broad noses to the ground once more. Sammy spoke first.

‘You’re very brave.’

‘I’m trying to be.’

‘We’re gonna be okay, Kitty – we will be together.’

‘Yes.’

He kissed her again.

‘A lot of people have it worse than we do.’

‘I know.’

‘I’ll write to you every day – twice a day. Did you write your address for me?’

‘Yes, and I’ll write back – you’ll let me know where to write to, won’t you?’

‘You bet.’

Sammy put his arm around her shoulders and they sat quietly staring down the field. Crows took off from the copse and flew away out of sight.

‘So, when do you have to go?’ Kitty asked because suddenly it was impossible not to know.

‘Today . . . please don’t cry. I was gonna tell you yesterday, honest I was, but I never found the right time . . .’

Kitty turned her face to him and though her eyes were sparkling with tears, she managed to smile.

‘I won’t cry. I promise – I’m not going to waste time crying.’

Sammy tucked his hand inside his jacket.

‘I’ve got you something.’

He placed a packet in Kitty’s lap and she carefully unfolded the brown paper.

‘Oh, stockings!’

‘I don’t know if they’re the right size or anything – one of the other guys had some, so . . .’

‘They’re wonderful, really wonderful. I’ve never had stockings before.’

Kitty lifted her face to his and kissed him. Sammy didn’t kiss her back; he closed his eyes and let himself be kissed. Kitty stayed close to him and studied his face.

He opened his eyes and grinned. ‘I was storing it up for later – I’m going to remember that kiss. If I’m ever feeling down, I’ll shut my eyes and conjure up one of
your kisses. And I’m going to look for the moon every night and say goodnight to you.’

‘It felt like our moon last night.’

‘It was our moon, Kitty – it’ll always be our moon. We can look at the moon and it’ll be like we are together.’

‘Yes.’

Sammy turned towards her and held her hand. ‘This is how I see it, Kitty. We’ll win this war and we’ll win it soon – the news from France is promising. I’ll think
about you every second and I’ll write to you every day.’ He stopped to kiss her, then continued. ‘And, when it’s over, I’ll come back and we’ll get married. And
then some day very soon we’ll be in Pennsylvania together and we’ll stay at the cabin for our honeymoon. Hell, we’ll stay at the cabin for a whole summer – what do you say,
Kit? We deserve a summer at least, don’t we?’

‘Yes,’ she said, and there were tears now but she was laughing. ‘Yes, Sammy we deserve it, we absolutely deserve it!’

They stayed at the barn making plans until the sun was high in the sky and it was time for Sammy to leave.

‘I’ll walk you home.’

‘No, let’s say goodbye here. This is our special place now.’

‘Okay, but I’ll stay and watch you walk down the hill.’

Kitty agreed and, after starting out then returning to his arms twice, she left him and walked slowly down the field, looking back every few yards to wave at him and blow him a kiss. Sammy
climbed a stack of bales behind their seat and waved at her.

‘See you soon,’ he yelled. ‘I love you.’

Kitty sets out on her shopping trip. It is hot and airless in the car and she opens both windows as soon as she has started the engine. She lifts a lever beneath the steering
wheel and soapy water sprays the dirty glass. The wipers leap from side to side and two glistening and transparent arcs appear in the dusty windscreen. She is soon driving past apple orchards where
the fruit has ripened early and the trees droop in weary rows. She joins a slip lane, indicates and pulls on to the dual carriageway and heads for Maidstone.

Kitty arrived home to find Dora sitting on the gate. She jumped down and ran to meet Kitty, slipping her arm through Kitty’s and leading her away from the house.

‘Oh Kitty – the most awful thing’s happened. My mother is with your Aunt Vi getting advice because she doesn’t know what to do for the best, and father is inconsolable.
Mother says that your aunt is a sensible person and a good sort and that she won’t gossip. I’m not supposed to know anything about it, but I heard them talking last night. You
won’t believe it when I tell you.’

Dora paused then as she noticed the packet of nylon stockings in Kitty’s hand.

‘That’s where you’ve been – walking out with your pilot!’ She looked around her in case Sammy was nearby. Dora took the stockings from Kitty and turned the packet
over in her hand.

‘What’s happened, Dora? Tell me, for goodness’ sake.’

Dora passed the stockings back to Kitty and leaned forwards so that her mouth was close to Kitty’s ear.

‘It’s Gwen,’ she whispered, ‘she’s going to have a baby.’

The turning to the town centre passes by on the left and Kitty drives on. At the next junction she glances at the sign to the multi-storey car park but chooses to ignore it.
This is not a shopping trip despite what she had told herself when she set off. Ten minutes later, she parks outside June’s house and sits for a moment, one hand rests on the handbrake, the
other hovers near the key which she has left in the ignition. She thinks through what she will say to June.
Just passing, thought I’d pop in.
She worries what June will say to this,
for June specifically asked her not to come.

As soon as she gets out of her car, she hears the thud and boom of loud music. She tries the doorbell and is not surprised when no one comes. No one can hear her. She presses the doorbell again,
longer this time, and almost immediately the door opens. A young man stares down at her. He looks as if he has just woken up. His hair sticks up, uncombed, and he wears tracksuit bottoms and no
shirt. He greets Kitty with a raised lip and screwed up nose – a comedy expression of enquiry unaccompanied by words.

Kitty tries to speak, but the music blasts through the open doorway and she has no idea whether she makes a sound or merely opens her mouth. The youth turns and pads off on bare feet. Kitty sees
the smoothness of his back and the grey Calvin Klein waistband of his underwear. Suddenly it is silent and he returns to the door.

‘Mum’s out shopping.’ His eyes flit across Kitty’s face and rest on something at some distance behind her.

‘I’m sorry to disturb you. Martin, is it?’ Kitty smiles and the young man shuffles from foot to foot and waits for more from her.

‘I’m a friend of your grandad. I was wondering how he is?’

Martin frowns, his gaze falls to the ground somewhere near Kitty’s feet.

‘I don’t know – he’s all right.’ He nods and sways as if he still hears the music. He makes a move to close the door and Kitty puts out her hand.

‘I was going to ask your mother if she thought I might visit him after all – I’ll be careful not to tire him. I would just like to see for myself how he is.’

Martin shuffles round and dips his hand into a china dish on a shelf behind him and pulls out a key.

‘All right?’ he asks as he holds the key out and reaches to close the door with his other hand. Kitty hesitates, then takes the key and turns to go; the music resumes as she passes
through the gate and she thinks that she can still hear the faint boom of it when she reaches Bert’s home. She lets herself in with the key.

‘Hello? Bert, it’s Kitty.’

‘Oh Kitty!’ His reply is earnest. ‘Oh, thank goodness, Kitty,’ he says as she appears in the doorway of his sunroom. Bert reaches for his stick, balances it against his
knee and starts to stand. He presses his large hands into the arms of his chair and his shoulders begin to tremble as he rises. Kitty hurries towards him.

‘Please don’t get up, Bert. Are you all right? June told me that you weren’t at all well after my last visit.’

‘I’m all right. I’m all right – it’s you, Kitty. I’ve been so worried about you.’

Bert sinks back into the chair and blinks away tears.

‘Whatever for, Bert? You don’t want to worry about me. I’m fine.’

‘I am so sorry, Kitty. Sit down . . . I have to tell you something.’

‘Yes, all right, but please don’t upset yourself – there’s to be no more talk about the war. June rang me to say that she thought I’d better not come at all,
because it had upset you so much last time. And I nearly didn’t come except I wanted to see how you are and I thought I could cheer you up.’

Bert’s eyes narrow in anger. He takes several noisy gasps of air through his open mouth before he speaks.

‘She had no right – June shouldn’t have – we have to talk about it – it’s been covered up for too long. Too long.’ Bert coughs and reaches for a
handkerchief and, as he wipes his eyes and the spittle from his chin, Kitty wonders what he has to tell her and suddenly feels afraid to hear it.