‘I’ll read it later,’ Sarah replied firmly, and swiftly changed the subject. ‘How lovely it is to have real scrambled eggs for a change. The hens must be laying really well, even though the planes are making such a terrible racket.’

‘It’s still all go over there,’ said Peggy, wiping Daisy’s mouth clean and helping her get down from her chair. ‘I listened to the war report earlier, and it seems everything is going to plan, so I suppose we’ll all just have to put up with it for a while yet.’

‘You’ll never guess what I just seen,’ said Ivy, rushing into the kitchen and dropping her coat and gas mask onto a nearby chair.

‘A pink elephant walking down the High Street?’ teased Peggy.

Ivy giggled. ‘Nah, better than that. I saw your posh mate, Dolly, having a right set-to with Ethel.’

Peggy looked at her in astonishment. ‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘As sure as I’m breathing,’ said Ivy, plumping down at the table and eyeing Sarah’s breakfast greedily. ‘Can I ’ave some of that? I’m starving.’

Peggy smiled indulgently and fetched her plate from the warming oven. ‘I really can’t imagine Dolly getting involved in fisticuffs – especially with Ethel,’ she murmured, putting the plate in front of the girl.

‘Well, she was,’ said Ivy, digging into her breakfast. ‘Cor, this is blindin’, Aunty Peg,’ she said dreamily through an enormous mouthful of egg, toast and tomato. ‘There ain’t nothing like proper egg for breakfast, is there?’

Peggy held on to her patience as Ivy continued to shovel the food into her mouth. ‘What did you see exactly?’ she asked once the girl was mopping up the last of it with a heel of bread.

‘Your mate had Ethel pinned up against the dairy wall, ’er arm halfway up ’er back, ’er ugly mug pressed into the brick.’ Ivy grinned. ‘Ethel was kicking and struggling and yelling blue murder, but Dolly ’ad a firm grip on ’er, and she weren’t going nowhere.’

‘But what …?’ Suddenly Peggy had an inkling as to why. ‘Did you hear anything of what was being said, Ivy?’

‘Nah. I were too far away, more’s the pity. But I could see everything well enough. When Dolly grabbed her, Ethel’s famous lunch tin fell on the ground and there was tins of butter and milk and packets of tea strewn all over the pavement.’ She gave a sniff. ‘I always thought she were a thief, but to rob the Red Cross is low, even for ’er.’

‘So what happened next, Ivy?’ prompted an impatient Sarah. ‘Do get on with it. I have to leave for work.’