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‘We would,’ the two friends chorused.

The three women laughed and, with the matter settled, their thoughts turned to other topics as they sat around Edie’s table drinking tea and eating biscuits. Jessie loaded a teaspoon with
sugar from Edie’s sugar bowl and then paused. ‘I suppose we’ll have to cut down on all this sort of thing.’ She was still hesitating, the spoonful hovering over her cup.

Edie smiled and nodded. ‘Go on, Jessie. It’s not happening yet.’

‘But it will,’ her sister said, serious for a moment. ‘I remember the last time. I was sixteen when it started.’

‘And I was eighteen and courting Archie in secret. It was easy really, with him being away at sea such a lot. Mam didn’t find out for months.’

‘You went to work at the Victoria Flour Mills, didn’t you – in the war?’

Edie chuckled. ‘Much to Mam’s disgust. And you weren’t much better – in her eyes anyway.’

‘No, she didn’t like me working at the local War Hospital Supply Depot but I so wanted to be a nurse and I thought that would be a way in, but she was against that too.’ Jessie
pulled a face. ‘There wasn’t much I could do about it and by the time I was old enough not to need her permission to apply for training, the war was over. Besides,’ she shrugged,
‘I’d met Harry by then, so I ended up working in Ticklers’ jam factory. She wasn’t best pleased about that either, but it’s a lovely place to work.’ There was a
pause before Jessie asked, ‘What about you, Lil?’

Lil’s shoulders sagged as she remembered the drudgery of her young life. ‘I was at home helping my mam. She wasn’t strong and having six children hadn’t helped. I
didn’t get involved with anything in the war, I’m afraid, but,’ she added with a new determination in her tone, ‘I will this time.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ Jessie said. ‘We’ll soon have old Adolf licked.’

‘What do you think we should put by?’ Edie said, her mind returning to providing for her family. ‘Food, I mean.’

‘I remember our mam sending me out to buy extra sugar and tea,’ Jessie said. ‘And soap. She was terrified we’d run out of soap.’

Lil laughed wryly. ‘That didn’t bother anyone in our house. We must have been a mucky lot, looking back. No wonder I never had any friends.’

Edie reached across the table to touch her hand. ‘You’ve got plenty of friends now, duck.’

Lil smiled gratefully at her. ‘I think the only thing we bought extra of was Dad’s baccy. Selfish to the last, he was.’

‘I know what I’m going to do,’ Edie said suddenly. ‘I’m going to clear the top shelf in my pantry and put some extra things there that will keep – tins of
corned beef, salmon, mebbe cocoa and tinned fruit that I can bring out on special occasions.’

‘Just be careful it’s not too much of any one thing, Edie,’ Jessie warned, ‘or you might get accused of hoarding.’

Edie waved her hand dismissively. ‘That’s when you stockpile stuff – far more than you could ever need. I won’t be doing that, Jessie.’

On the day that Edie and Lil had presented themselves at the WVS centre, they found that Jessie was already there, organizing with a cheerful firmness that had everyone
following her orders without question. All except one person, who stood on her own at the back of the room, her mouth pursed in disapproval.

‘Oh heck!
She
’s here?’ Lil had muttered to Edie.

Edie glanced around. There were several women from their street and from the surrounding area too. And then she saw Norma.

‘Let’s ask Jessie what she wants us to do,’ Lil said, firmly, leading the way across the busy room towards her.

‘Aren’t you going to speak to your sister?’

Lil paused and glanced once more across the room before saying tersely, ‘Eventually.’

That first day was taken up with everyone getting to know each other. And gradually, Norma was included in the work, though it was obvious to Lil, if to no one else, that her sister resented
anyone else taking charge. It was true what they said about leopards and their spots, Lil thought, hiding her smile. Norma had always been the bossy one even though she was two years younger than
Lil.

So, too young to be conscripted, and now also married, Frank continued to go to sea whenever he could, though as the weeks and months passed more and more trawlers stopped
fishing. Many were turned into minesweepers to assist the war effort.

The time came when Frank could no longer find regular work.

‘You could take him with you, Archie. You’ve still got a ship,’ Edie pleaded once more.

‘You know my feelings about family members on the same ship. I won’t do it, love.’

And then, Edie broke her golden rule never to quarrel with Archie just before he put to sea. ‘You’d sooner see your own son be shot by Hitler’s Nazis than take his chances with
you at sea, would you?’

Archie had sighed heavily, patiently holding on to his resolve. ‘Edie, love, you know fishermen are a superstitious lot. I’m not, in general, but in this one thing I am. I always
have been and I won’t break my rule now.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Not even for Frank.’

‘Archie Kelsey, if you think I’m going to let you dig up the only strip of garden I’ve got – or am ever likely to get – for a shelter then
you’ve got another think coming.’

‘We could have moved to a better part of the town years ago,’ Archie said mildly with a twinkle in his eyes, for he knew very well what was coming next. ‘You could have had as
big a garden as you wanted.’

‘There’s no better part of town than our street, let me tell you. I’ve lived here all me life and I aren’t going to live anywhere else. Besides, I wouldn’t leave me
neighbours. Salt of the earth, they are, each and every one of them. And you know I couldn’t bear to be living anywhere else but next door to Lil. Really, Archie, fancy bringing that up
again.’

Archie chuckled. ‘I was really asking you about me digging a hole for an Anderson shelter in the yard. I want to keep you, Shirley and Reggie safe, especially when I’m not
here.’

‘Then you can ask Lil if you can put one in her backyard and we’ll share it.’

‘You’ll not get everyone in there. Not while Frank’s still here.’

‘How many folk do they hold?’ Edie was determined not to be outdone.

Archie wrinkled his brow as he studied the leaflet. ‘Well, if you pack ’em in like sardines, you can get four adults and four young children in. But in our case, there’d be too
many grown-ups.’

Edie chewed her lip. ‘But we’re complying with the instruction that we should grow all the vegetables we can. I’m already losing all me flowers. Me sweet peas –
everything – just so you can grow potatoes and carrots and the rest.’

‘I’ve let you keep your rose bush.’

‘I should think you have, an’ all. You planted that for me when Laurence was born. You were that thrilled to have a son.’ They smiled at each other as they remembered.

‘But to get back to the Anderson shelter—’

‘I don’t want one, Archie, and that’s final.’

‘But what about Reggie and Shirley?’

‘Reggie won’t be here, if you have your way about him being evacuated and Frank’ll no doubt be gone soon’ – there was a catch in her voice as she was forced to face
the facts – ‘so there’d be plenty of room for the rest of us in Lil’s shelter, if she agrees to you putting one up in her backyard.’

‘Except when I’m home.’

Edie sniffed. ‘Which isn’t often, let’s face it.’

He sighed. ‘I’ll talk to Lil, then.’

‘You do that.’

And, as far as Edie was concerned, the matter was closed.

Lil was quite happy for Archie and Frank to dig up the strip of ground – it hardly warranted the title of ‘garden’ – in her backyard. She’d never been a gardener,
though she intended to do her bit for the war effort by growing a few vegetables now. But when she stood watching the two men beginning to dig the huge hole, she understood Edie’s refusal to
have one in her own backyard.

‘I’ll finish it, Dad, if you have to go back before we’re done.’

‘If you get down to water – and you’re likely to, lad – get in touch with the council. Harry’s digging one in their yard and he told me that they help towards
concreting it. And don’t forget to cover the top with earth deep enough to grow vegetables. Your mam and Lil are going to keep that going when I’m not here.’

And so the Anderson shelter took shape in Lil’s backyard and was made as comfortable as possible. Edie sewed some old blankets together to make sleeping bags and together the two women
collected ‘emergency’ rations and first-aid items.

‘I really don’t know what Archie wanted to do all this for. We haven’t even had any bombs.’

‘He’s just being cautious,’ Lil said. She was grateful for the help she’d received; she couldn’t have constructed such a shelter on her own.

‘We’d better make the most of Christmas this year, Edie,’ Lil warned. ‘They’re starting rationing in the New Year. Butter and bacon’ll be
first, they say.’

‘I know,’ Edie nodded grimly, ‘but it’s sort of started already. There’s a lot of things you can’t get even now.’

‘I’ve made me Christmas cake,’ Lil said. ‘I had the ingredients put aside before the war started.’

‘And I’ve made the puddings.’

The two households always spent festive seasons – Christmas and Easter particularly – together and the two women pooled their resources; something that was going to be even more
useful as the war progressed and shortages really began to bite.

It was a strange time, this first Christmas of the war. They couldn’t help but look back and remember what they’d been doing this time last year, and Edie and Lil looked back even
further, recalling the Christmases of the Great War, and now here they were almost four months into another.

‘Well, we’re all still here apart from Laurence,’ Edie said, trying to make light of the fact that one of her brood – her eldest boy – would be missing from the
celebrations. ‘Even Archie reckons he’ll be at home this year, but he’s due away on Boxing Day.’ Laurence was already somewhere in France with the BEF – the British
Expeditionary Force. ‘But we’ll make the best of it. We couldn’t have bonfire night because of the blackout, they’re saying we won’t get Easter eggs, and it’s
very doubtful we’ll be able to have summer holidays next year, so I’ll be blowed if they’re going to take Christmas away from us an’ all.’

‘Mind you,’ Lil said, ‘it’ll be very different. We can’t put a lit-up Christmas tree in the window like we usually do.’ The decorating and lighting up of
their own tree in the front room had always been one of Lil’s favourite times; a time she spent just with her daughter, an intimate, private moment when she remembered Tom so poignantly and
wished he could see what a lovely daughter they had. And now that little girl was a married woman and her husband was living with them. Not that Lil wasn’t enjoying having the young couple
with her – they were great company. Frank had them both in stitches with his teasing and his jokes. And she had Irene to herself again when he was at sea.

‘You can still do your tree, Lil,’ Edie soothed, ‘but just mind your blackout’s tight, that’s all.’

That’s all! Lil thought mournfully. Christmas in complete blackness; it wasn’t her idea of the festive season. ‘And I expect the next thing’ll be they’ll be
plastering anti-blast tape over the windows in all the shops and we won’t be able to see all the Christmassy things.’ That had always been another of Lil’s simple pleasures when
she and Edie walked the full length of Freeman Street in early December ‘oohing’ and ‘aahing’ over all the wonderful displays.

So on Christmas Day they gathered around Edie’s table. Edie and Archie, who had docked on Christmas Eve, four of their five children, Jessie and Harry and, of course, Lil and Irene. It was
a squeeze in Edie’s front room but that only seemed to add to the closeness of the Kelseys and their neighbours, who now really were part of the family. Edie realized she was luckier than
many this first Christmas of the war. Scores of children had already been evacuated from the town and would not be at home for Christmas. The mere thought made Edie shudder.

Archie stood at the head of the table carving the roast pork. Edie and Lil had bought the biggest joint they could find between them. Lil had brought the stuffing, apple sauce and the vegetables
and Edie had supplied the plum pudding and brandy sauce.

‘My, this smells good,’ Frank said. ‘I won’t want no tea.’

Edie smiled. If she knew her family, they’d be tucking into nuts, fruit and crystallized figs all afternoon – even the youngest Reggie – yet they’d still be asking for
sandwiches at teatime. And Edie had even found a greengrocer with some oranges for sale, and she doubted there’d be many available in the future.

There was no hiding the fact that there’d be all sorts of changes soon. Frank – despite his age and being married now – would no doubt be called up eventually. Every day, Edie
urged him to try to find a reserved occupation that would keep him safely at home. And Beth – they all wondered what Beth would do. She’d said very little, and there was a restlessness
about her and she seemed to be putting off finding work locally. But at least she was still here. She hadn’t volunteered for one of the services or disappeared back to London, Edie comforted
herself. At least, not yet.

Shirley seemed to be the only one whose plans for her future were settled. At the beginning of December, Irene had arranged for her to see Miss Townsend at Oldroyd’s and Shirley, with
Beth’s guiding hand, had been quite presentable on the day of her interview.

‘You need to look your best, Shirl,’ Irene had said. ‘Miss Townsend is the one who hires and fires the women staff and she’s a stickler for a neat appearance.’

As several of the older girls were now leaving the store to join the forces or to take up war work of some kind, Miss Townsend was desperate to fill the vacant posts with reliable young
girls.

‘You haven’t left school yet, though, have you?’ The woman, dressed in a smart, yet serviceable costume, regarded the young girl over her spectacles.

‘No, Miss Townsend,’ Shirley said. ‘My mam would like me to stay on at least until the end of next summer.’