A small, toothless old woman gave a cheer and clapped her twisted hands.

‘Shush, Eleanor,’ the flour-handed baker beside her hissed. ‘The Germans will shoot you.’

‘I’m not scared,’ she muttered.

‘What will you do when they come for you? Bite them?’

Old Eleanor showed her gums to the baker. ‘They’re on the run. Huns on the run,’ she sneered.

The mayor raised his voice. ‘The great fightback started two weeks ago.’

‘That’s right.’ Eleanor nodded. ‘We’ve heard the guns. We’ve seen the sky lit up with flashes bright enough to read a book.’

‘I didn’t know you could read, Eleanor,’ the baker said.

‘I can’t. But if I could I would have been able to. That’s what I’m saying.’

The mayor went on. ‘The German colonel came to me this morning and said the British will probably be here tomorrow. His men will fight for Bray. That means the British will be dropping shells and bombs on our town to get the enemy out.’

‘The German soldiers were in my shop two weeks ago,’ the baker sniffed. ‘They said the British would attack in the north in September. Our friends can’t be here already.’

Colette Fletcher smiled and whispered to Master DuPont, ‘I heard that story too. The British have been very clever.’

‘It will rain iron. We’ll all be killed,’ the fat baker groaned.

‘That’s why we’ve been warned,’ said the mayor. ‘We have time to get out. The British will cease fire tomorrow long enough to let you go west to Amiens. Pack what you can and be ready to leave in the morning. We’ll take all the carts and horses in the town.’

‘And leave nothing behind,’ old Eleanor cried, ‘or the Germans will steal it.’

The trembling people hurried away to empty their houses.

Colette Fletcher turned to Master DuPont and said, ‘What will you do, Rémi?’

‘I have to stay. The British need our reports now more than ever.’

‘Your rooms could be hit by British bombs like Saint Nicolas’s church was four years ago. It may be better if you came to our farm. The Germans have painted a large red cross on the roof of the barn to show it’s a hospital so the British won’t attack it.’

‘Thank you, Colette. Let’s hope my stay is short. It feels like the war is ending.’

They turned and walked back towards the farm. ‘Aimee can hardly remember a time when there was no war,’ Colette said. ‘Will it really end?’

The old teacher smiled. ‘I remember an English saying:

No one lives forever,

Dead men rise up never,

And even the longest river,

Winds somewhere safe to the sea.’

‘And you think the sea is in sight?’

‘We’re on the shore, my dear. On the shore.’