The Woolworths Girls (22 page)

‘Wake up, sleepyhead. Are you going to snooze all afternoon?’

Sarah awoke to find Alan leaning over her. ‘Goodness, did I sleep for long? You should have woken me.’

‘I didn’t like to. You looked so peaceful and without a care in the world. I want to memorize every detail of your beautiful face, even the scattering of freckles that you hate so much.’

Sarah rubbed her face. ‘It’s the sun. It always happens.’ She stopped rubbing her face and froze. ‘Why do you need to memorize . . . ? Oh, Alan, no! The RAF can’t have you yet.’ She sat up quickly and reached for her husband. ‘When?’

Alan took her hands and kissed both palms before looking into her eyes, where he could see unshed tears. ‘Be strong, Sarah. We knew it was going to happen soon. I’ve had the letter since before our wedding. I didn’t want to spoil our day. God knows Hitler did his damnedest, but we managed to have a great day despite the outbreak of war, and I swear to you nothing will spoil our life together. I may be away for a while, but you’ll be here in my heart and I’ll be thinking of you all the time.’

Sarah smiled; she had to be brave for Alan. He mustn’t see that her heart was breaking. ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t think of me too much while you’re flying your plane. We don’t want you having an accident, now do we?’

‘Oh, my love, I’ll hate being away from you, but I promise it will pass quickly; then we can plan for our future. I’ll be manager of a branch of Woolworths and you can be mother to our brood of children and make our own mothers proud grandmothers.’

Sarah smiled and bit her lip to remind herself not to cry. ‘I’m not sure that my mother will like the title. She’s sure to say it makes her feel too old.’

‘Whatever name she uses, she is sure to love any child of yours. George will be chuffed to bits. I can see him taking our lad fishing and teaching him to ride a bike.’ He helped Sarah to her feet and reached for the rug. ‘I told George about my call-up letter on the day of our wedding.’

‘Is that why he sprang this honeymoon surprise on us?’

‘Yes. He thought you would like it more than what I had planned, and he wanted us to have some time to ourselves before I left.’

‘My goodness. Whatever did you plan?’

Alan’s face lit up. ‘A tour on Bessie, and we would stay overnight in different pubs and inns.’

Sarah tried not to laugh. Bless Dad for stepping in, she thought, as she linked arms with Alan. ‘I’m sure it would have been lovely, Alan, but Dad’s surprise means we can spend more time together, rather than me sitting behind you as we travel around the countryside.’

There, she thought, my first white lie to my husband, but it was for the best. She’d not tell him just yet that she preferred to walk on her own two feet than sit on Bessie and be shaken to pieces. For the short time she had him to herself, she didn’t wish to disappoint Alan in any way.

‘When do you have to leave, Alan? Please don’t say we have to cut our honeymoon short.’

‘No, we have a few days at home before I set off for Scotland and my training period. I’m hoping that if I pass all my exams, I’ll be posted at an airfield in the south of England so I can come home as much as possible. It’ll give us something to look forward to.’

‘Alan, please, there’s no need to try to cheer me up. Wherever you are posted, we will find a way to be together as much as possible. I won’t lie. It will be strange not to see you every day. I don’t think we’ve missed seeing each other ever since the day I started work at Woolworths.’

‘Dear old Woolies. Make sure you write to me as much as possible and tell me everything that happens at work. Keep an eye on young Ginger so he doesn’t get the sack for slacking.’

‘I will, I promise.’

‘There’s something else I need to ask you,’ Alan added as he helped Sarah over the pebbles, away from the beach and pretty harbour, and towards a narrow passageway between fishermen’s cottages that led towards the High Street. ‘Do you think we could move into Mum’s house? She’s all alone apart from her friends at Woolies, and once I’m in the RAF, I don’t like to think of her alone when the air raids start. I’ve decorated the whole house for her, and the cellar’s as safe as Ruby’s Anderson shelter if things get bad.’

Sarah liked her mother-in-law a lot, but to move from Nan’s would be a big wrench. Then again, it was only a street away, and Nan had more people close to hand, as well as Dad visiting most weeks for his work. She didn’t like to think that Alan would be miles from home worrying about his mother.

‘Of course I will. I’m sorry I never thought of it myself. Why don’t we buy some of those funny postcards and let her know to expect us? We can move in properly before you leave for training.’

Alan kissed her cheek. ‘You are an absolute darling. I can go away knowing that everyone is happy and taken care of. Why don’t I treat us to afternoon tea and we can write the cards and get them in the post this afternoon? There’s a tea room just over the road. We may even get toasted teacakes if we’re lucky.’

‘Here you are, loves. A pot of tea for two, toasted teacake for one and a slice of Victoria sandwich for the other. I’d leave the pot to brew for a few minutes if you like it stronger, and I’ll bring you out a jug of water to top it up.’

‘Thank you. It looks lovely,’ said Sarah, gazing at the enormous slice of cake sandwiched with strawberry jam. ‘It looks delicious. I’m not sure I can eat it all.’

‘I’m sure you’ll do your best, and what you can’t eat I bet your young man can finish off.’

‘Husband,’ Alan said as he bit into his teacake. ‘We’re on our honeymoon.’

‘Well, bless my soul. With all the awful news we’ve had lately, you nigh on made my day. When was the wedding?’

Sarah blushed. ‘Sunday just gone.’

The waitress sat down. ‘That’s a day to remember and no mistake. So where do you hail from?’

‘Erith,’ they both said at the same time.

‘I know it well. I come from Woolwich. Moved down here and took on the cafe after my husband’s brother retired. It’s a good life, but I miss the area I grew up in. I go back as often as I can to visit the family and go shopping. You can’t beat the shops up that way, but then you’d know that, as Erith has a fair few.’

‘We do have some good shops, as well as the river. In fact, we both work at Woolworths. That’s where we met,’ Sarah said proudly.

‘You don’t say? I worked at the Woolwich branch myself for a while before I married. If we ever moved back home, I’d be on their doorstep like a shot asking for a job.’ The lady, who had told them she was called Mavis, looked wistful.

‘Surely it’s safer down here than nearer to London?’ Sarah asked.

‘I dunno, love. Look up the estuary. See those large things that look like flying elephants? They’re barrage balloons. Supposed to stop enemy planes getting to London. My old fella says if they can’t get up to the Smoke, then they’re more likely to bomb us. Well, that did it for me. We had the grandchildren evacuated last week, the pair of ’em packed off who knows where – somewhere in Wales is all we know – and now my daughter, Sandra, won’t leave her bed she’s that upset. I told her she’s bound to hear where they are living before too long and they’re probably having a whale of a time.’

‘She must be upset. I know I would be too,’ Sarah sympathized. She’d seen a crocodile of young children heading for Erith Station only last week wearing labels tied to their coats and carrying small bags for their clothes and a gas mask over their shoulders. The children seemed excited, but she recalled well the drawn faces of the parents and that some of the mothers were reduced to tears.

The woman wiped her eyes with her pinafore and stood to her feet. ‘I’ll get you that hot water. Enjoy your tea.’

‘It seems wrong somehow.’

‘What, writing a few postcards?’ Alan asked.

‘No, us being so happy and all. This is a seaside town – why would little children be in danger here?’

‘I’m no expert,’ Alan said, wiping melted butter from his chin, ‘but I’d think the whole Kent coast would be tempting to the enemy. Think of all the boats heading in and out of London, let alone the fishing boats. Hit this area and it could affect our navy as well as supplies of fish and all that.’ He didn’t add that they could also be invaded from the Channel if the Germans reached the coastline of France.

Sarah shook her head. ‘So would the RAF protect the seaside towns as well as the cities?’

‘I dare say they would, but until I’ve done my training, I won’t know what’s expected of me.’ Alan saw Sarah’s face drop. He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. ‘I did promise you that I wouldn’t do anything dangerous, so stop looking so sad and pour me a cup of tea. I’ve got a feeling that if we don’t polish off every crumb, we’re going to be in trouble with our new friend.’

Sarah grinned and poured milk into their cups before picking up the teapot. All the same she felt the now familiar shiver run through her as if someone was walking over her grave.

Later that night, as they snuggled up in the large double bed, Alan whispered into Sarah’s ear, ‘I’ve had an idea.’

Sarah giggled as his breath tickled her neck. ‘What would that be?’

‘Let’s make ourselves a promise that we will come here next year to celebrate our first anniversary, shall we? We can sunbathe on the beach and go to Mavis’s tea room for one of her roast dinners she told us about.’

Sarah shoved Alan playfully. ‘Alan Gilbert, I think you’re more interested in coming back to Whitstable for a roast dinner than to celebrate our marriage.’

Alan laughed and pulled his wife close. ‘I think we both know that isn’t true.’ As his lips met hers in the room, which was lit only by moonlight, he fervently hoped that a year from now the war would be over and they would both be safe.

16

‘This is for me? It’s so pretty. Thank you.’ Freda admired the dainty bracelet made of shells that Sarah had just given her and put it on her wrist.

‘It’s just a little something from Whitstable to say thank you for looking out for Nan while I was away.’

‘It was more like her looking after us. I swear I’ve doubled in size with all the food she’s stuffed into us,’ Maisie added as she admired her brooch, made from similar shells to Freda’s bracelet. ‘We took her to the Odeon to see
Goodbye, Mr Chips
.’

‘It was lovely. I did cry at the end,’ Freda sighed.

‘I thought they were closing the cinemas for the duration?’ Sarah said.

‘The Odeon was only closed a few days, and when it opened, we thought we’d better nip round there quick before the government changed its mind and closed the cinemas for good.’

‘That would be unbearable,’ Freda said indignantly. ‘I couldn’t go without my weekly visit to the pictures. How does Alan feel now he only has a couple of days left at work before he joins the RAF?’

‘He hasn’t said much. As for me, I’m dreading the day he leaves Erith.’

‘Chin up. He’ll be home on leave before you know it. Fancy another cup of tea?’ Maisie said, getting to her feet. ‘We’ve got time before the end of our tea break. We came up late.’

Sarah checked the clock on the wall. ‘I’d best not. I have to see Betty in five minutes.’

‘Miss Billington,’ Maisie called over her shoulder as she headed to the counter. ‘No familiarity, please. We are at work now.’

Freda and Sarah laughed together as Sarah leant close to her friend. ‘It’s good to be back to normal after the wedding and everything. Tell me, how is Maisie coping now that her Joe’s off in the army?’

‘You know what Maisie’s like – always the life and soul of the party, but it’s a game she’s playing. For all their arguing, Joe and Maisie are devoted to each other and she’s missing him so much, but me and your nan have kept her busy. Maisie might think she’s been looking after Ruby, but the truth is, it’s been the other way round. Ruby kept asking her to help out in the garden, and then she hinted she’d never seen
Goodbye, Mr Chips
when she’d been to Dartford to see it with Vera from up the road only a couple of days before. We had a good time, though.’

Sarah checked the clock on the wall of the staff canteen again. ‘Look, I have to dash, but I’ve had a thought. It means talking to Nan, and it also affects you, as you may want to move back into number thirteen. You know there’s always a place for you there. I just wondered if we could talk Maisie into moving into my old bedroom. She’d be happier living with Nan than with her mother-in-law. Now that me and Alan are living with Maureen until we get our own place, there’s plenty of room at Nan’s. What do you think?’

Freda nodded her head. ‘It sounds like a good idea to me. I’m not planning to move out of my digs just yet. Perhaps we could talk about it more on Sunday? There’ll be time while we’re in Margate. That’s if you don’t mind? It’ll be your last day with Alan before he heads off for his training camp.’

‘I think Alan will be able to spare me for a few minutes. He’ll probably have his own views on it as well. I’m looking forward to the trip. I heard it may be the last time the paddle steamer does pleasure trips, as it’s going to be used for more important work while this war is going on. Such a pity, as it is fun to travel on the Thames down to the seaside.’