The water problem was not drastic for Aunty Edie though, thanks to her valuable connections among the American military. Edie’s laundry continued to operate as always, her girls doing their daily chores, washing and ironing and hanging out clothes while aircraft roared low overhead.

Amid the ever-present backdrop of war with all its resultant privations and fears, not the least being the ominous threat of invasion, it was bizarre how everyday life did go on.

Despite restricted operating hours, The Brown’s Bar continued to function as normal, the snake pen attracting punters just as it had during its pre-war days. And young Tom Francis, in between his bicycling duties as a runner for the Americans, could still be relied upon to catch and deliver frogs and mice for Val’s snakes as he had done since he was ten.

And as for Amelia Sanderson, well, strangely enough, life seemed more ‘normal’ than it had for a long time. She was a teacher again. After years of feeling suffocated by guilt and an overwhelming sense of purposelessness, it was as if she was finally able to breathe.

Following the success of Private Anthony Hill’s first lesson, Samuel Robinson had lost no time introducing Amelia to two new students from Company C. Aged nineteen and twenty respectively, young Privates Leopold Smith and Robert Symonds, like Anthony, were to attend one-on-one classes each Sunday when Samuel could be present in the house, reading his paper over a cup of tea in the kitchen.

Sunday for Amelia promised to become a very busy day, and already she was loving every minute of it. She loved too her preparation for each pupil. Leo was completely illiterate, so she would need to approach his lessons as she might those of a five-year-old, with ABC pictures of apples and bananas and carrots. Robbie, like Ant, was semi-literate, so she intended to rely once again on the magical works of Rudyard Kipling. Her decision proved a wise one; Robbie’s very first lesson was just as fulfilling as Ant’s had been. The story of the Whale, the ’Stute Fish and the Mariner was a great success.

Now, after just two Sundays, Amelia no longer noticed that her students were black. She was a teacher and these her pupils, and her pupils were responding to her instruction, they were learning; this was the purpose she’d craved.