Chapters (52)
- Cover
- Margaret Dickinson
- Dedication page
- Contents
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Part Two
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Sow the Seed
- Note
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Copyright page
‘They won’t like it,’ Isobel put in. ‘They don’t like girls ringing about their boyfriends and if they find out you’re a WAAF, they’ll take a very dim view.’
‘Shan’t tell ’em who I am.’
‘I doubt they’ll tell you anything then.’
‘You’re allowed to ring the Mess, aren’t you?’
Mavis and Isobel exchanged a glance, then Mavis shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me. If he’s on ops they’ll tell you absolutely nothing. You can bet your life on it.’
‘If that’s the case, then I’ll know, won’t I?’ she said reasonably.
‘You can’t ring from here, you know. It means walking down to the village.’
‘Well then, I’ll go down to the pub when I’m off duty and ring from there.’
That evening she cajoled the telephone number out of the Adjutant and rang the Airmen’s Mess at East Markham. As the receiver was lifted and a voice said ‘Hello,’ she could hear noisy singing and laughter in the background.
‘Is Danny Eland there?’
‘Who?’ She repeated his name and gave his rank. ‘Sorry, I’ve never heard of him.’ He covered the mouthpiece with his hand, but she could still plainly hear him shouting above the racket. ‘Anyone know a Danny Eland?’
She heard an answering shout but could not distinguish the words. The man on the other end spoke into the receiver again. ‘Seems he’s on leave. Got a seventy-two to go home.’
‘Home?’ Her voice was a strangulated squeak. ‘But he – he can’t have.’
‘Oh – er – sorry. Have I let the cat out of the bag? You mean he’s not come home?’
‘No – yes – no – oh, never mind,’ Kate said, and rang off.
She was seething as she walked back to the huts. How dare he go home – again – and not let her know? Was he taking it for granted that she could never get leave to coincide with his? He hadn’t even written to her to give her the chance to try.
Just wait till she saw him again; she wouldn’t half give him what-for!
‘There’s someone to see you.’ Mavis cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled at Kate across the stretch of grass between the control tower to which she was headed, and the MT yard where Kate was washing down the staff car.
Kate looked up to see Mavis gesticulating towards the guard-room near the gate. ‘Get a move on. It’s Danny.’
‘Danny!’ Kate dropped her cloth into the bucket, hardly noticing the water that splashed on to her foot, for already she was racing towards the gate.