Authors: Pamela Evans
‘Mm,’ agreed May. ‘The siren is going so often, most people just ignore it.’
‘Everything looks so shabby, doesn’t it?’ observed Connie, looking around. ‘Even our lovely West End.’
May nodded, glancing at the bomb damage and the peeling paint on the woodwork of the buildings. ‘The store owners can’t even give their shops a lick of paint, as only essential repairs are allowed,’ she said.
‘Let’s go in Lyons for a cuppa,’ suggested Connie. ‘That’ll cheer us up. At least there are still some tea shops around, even though a lot have disappeared because of the war.’
As usual, Lyons tea shop was crowded, noisy and fragrant with the scent of toast. The siren sounded again while May and Connie were in the queue with their tray. People paused in their chatter for a few moments then carried on regardless. A careless attitude perhaps, but there was something courageous about it to May’s mind.
‘What are you looking forward to most about the end of the war?’ asked Connie when they were seated at a table with tea and a bun.
‘Oh, there are so many things,’ replied May wistfully.
Her friend looked surprised. ‘I thought your answer would be George coming home,’ she said.
‘Obviously that is at the very top of my list,’ she said. ‘Same for you with Dave, I expect.’
‘Not half.’
‘Are you a bit nervous about it, though?’
Connie thought about this for a moment. ‘I expect I will be when the time comes, because you don’t know if it will be the same after so long, do you?’
‘No, you don’t,’ said May with that last disappointing leave in mind. ‘George and I go back such a long way, but we’ve never made it work somehow and I don’t know if we ever will.’
‘But he asked you to marry him.’
‘Yes, he did, but we haven’t had any time together to make the transition from being just friends; to get to know each other in that way,’ she said. ‘Besides, things change and so do people, and the boys have been through so much it’s bound to have had some sort of an effect on them. You just never know.’
‘That’s the way life is. Nothing is ever certain even when there isn’t a war on,’ said Connie. ‘And talking of change, Mum has found somewhere to live where all the family can be together at last, so I’ll be moving out of your place soon.’
‘Oh.’ May was downcast. She’d got so used to Connie being around, she’d almost forgotten that it wasn’t permanent. ‘I’ll miss you, and I know that Mum and Dad will too.’
‘I feel a bit sad about leaving too. It’s been fun and I’ve felt very much at home with your family, but Mum will be glad to have us all back together again.’
‘So I lose my surrogate sister,’ sighed May.
‘I suppose you do, but we’ll still be friends.’
‘Course we will,’ said May, struck with a sudden memory of another friend who was still often in her thoughts.
Having Connie around had helped to fill the emptiness of a lost friendship, but no one would ever replace Betty completely.
Expectations of an autumn victory began to fade in September when Hitler launched a new and even more deadly weapon on London. The V-2 long-range rockets just dropped and exploded, giving no warning so there was no time to shelter.
Later that month the Allies suffered a setback abroad with the failure of the airborne landing at Arnhem, and everyone accepted that they had to wait longer for peace.
May was distracted from the technicalities of the war when Dot Bailey came to call at the Stubbses’ one evening on the verge of tears and clutching a letter she’d had from the evacuation office at the Town Hall.
‘They’re moving Joe to different lodgings because the people he’s with can’t cope with his difficult behaviour,’ she said, holding the letter out for May to read.
‘Difficult behaviour?’ echoed Flo, who was peeling potatoes at the sink. ‘But Joe is the easiest little boy I’ve ever come across.’
‘Exactly,’ said Dot.
‘It doesn’t say what he’s actually done to bring this about, does it?’ said May, having read the letter.
‘No it doesn’t, and the office was closed when I came off my shift,’ Dot said. ‘But the only place he’s being moved to is home. I’m going down to Wiltshire to get him. I’m not having him shifted about like a piece of luggage with no one wanting him.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ offered May to give the other woman some support; she knew that Dot had never been far afield on her own. ‘It’s Saturday tomorrow. We’ll go after I finish work at midday. We’ll have to try and find lodgings for the night when we get there.’
‘Oh May, will you really come with me?’ said Dot, imbued with gratitude. ‘I could certainly do with some company.’
‘Of course I’ll come. He’s my godson, remember, and I’m as upset about this as you are,’ she told her. ‘We’ll go together and get it sorted.’
‘A good thing too,’ added Flo supportively.
It was raining heavily as May and Dot got off the train at the small country station and trudged down a narrow lane, having been given directions by the man in the ticket office. The abundant puddles were deep and muddy and the women’s town shoes no match for them. The wind blew their umbrellas inside out so by the time they reached their destination they were soaked to the skin and thoroughly chilled.
The house they were looking for was in a row of cottages on the outskirts of the village. With a determined air they walked up the path and rapped the knocker.
A large woman in a wrapover apron opened the door and looked at them questioningly.
‘Mrs Green?’ asked Dot.
The woman nodded, eyeing them suspiciously.
‘I’m Mrs Bailey, Joe’s grandmother, and this is a close family friend who is also Joe’s godmother,’ said Dot in an even tone. ‘We’ve come to collect Joe to take him home.’
The woman’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Back to London?’ she said disapprovingly.
‘That’s right.’
‘But I heard you’ve still got bombing there.’
‘We have, but it’s all over bar the shouting and I want my grandson back home,’ she said. ‘Evacuation is not compulsory, you know.’
Mrs Green shrugged. ‘It’s your business what you do about the boy,’ she said. ‘But I was told the evacuation people would be moving him to another billet.’
‘Perhaps you were told that, but I’m telling you that he is coming home with us now,’ declared Dot. ‘He isn’t staying anywhere he isn’t wanted.’
‘You’re welcome to him,’ the other woman said nastily.
May put a restraining hand on Dot’s arm as she looked ready to set about Mrs Green. ‘Can you tell us what the trouble with Joe actually is please?’ she asked, hanging on to her temper. ‘He’s normally the easiest of children.’
‘Maybe he is by your London standards,’ she said scornfully. ‘But I don’t tolerate that sort of behaviour in my house.’
‘What behaviour are you talking about? What has he actually done wrong?’ asked May, keeping a firm grip on Dot, who was on the verge of explosion.
‘He don’t eat the food I give him, he won’t do as he’s told without asking why, and the other night he presented me with wet sheets to wash.’
Both women were stunned into silence.
‘What is it you ask him to do that he questions?’ asked Dot eventually.
‘Normal things.’ She seemed evasive.
‘And does he do as he’s told in the end?’
‘Eventually he does, yeah,’ she replied. ‘With a little persuasion from me.’
‘If you’ve laid a finger on him . . .’ threatened Dot.
‘There are other ways of making children behave.’
Dot gave her a hard look. ‘I shall find out exactly what’s been going on and make sure the evacuation people know about it,’ she said.
‘She’s probably been making him do jobs and errands for her,’ suggested May.
‘He has to do his bit around the place, of course,’ admitted Mrs Green.
‘He’s six years old, for heaven’s sake,’ said May.
‘That’s quite old enough to bring the coal in from the coal shed and help around the house,’ she said. ‘And he does it too, I make sure of that, but it’s his damned questions that I can’t abide.’
‘He isn’t used to doing the work of an adult, that’s why he asks why, and rightly so,’ Dot declared.
‘And as for the accident in the bed, that will have been caused by fear – of you,’ May put in.
‘You Londoners don’t train your kids proper, that’s why it happened; it had nothing to do with me. I was just the one who had to clear it up.’
‘Perhaps we could wait in your porch while you get him,’ suggested May as the rain poured down on them. ‘We are getting soaked to the skin here, as you can see.’
The woman’s brows went up in disapproval but she opened the door wider and they stepped into a tiny lobby containing shoes and coats. It struck May how quiet the house was considering there were children here; there were no young voices. It seemed strange to her; where there were infants there was usually the high-pitched sound of their voices. She knew there were other evacuees besides Joe and guessed they were too afraid of Mrs Green to make a noise. She decided not to upset Dot further by pointing this out to her.
After about five minutes a small figure appeared in his dark outdoor coat with his gas mask over his shoulder and carrying the small case he had brought with him. He looked pale and apprehensive but May knew she would never forget the look of pure joy when he saw his grandmother. Then he noticed May and his face was wreathed in smiles.
She and Dot were crying openly as they trudged back towards the village in search of lodgings for the night with Joe walking between them. They were cold, wet and tired but they had their boy back so they could endure anything.
‘From what we can make out from talking to Joe, he was obviously terrified of the woman,’ May told her parents when she got home from Wiltshire the next day. ‘It must have upset his whole system so that he felt sick and couldn’t eat, so she shouted at him which made him feel even worse. He didn’t understand how to do the jobs she told him to do around the house because he had never done adult work before, so he asked and she shouted at him some more and the whole thing led to him wetting the bed and her telling the evacuation people she wanted rid of him.’
‘The poor mite,’ said Flo.
‘The woman wants shooting,’ added Dick.
‘Dot is going to the Town Hall to tell the evacuation people about the way she treats the kids, so hopefully they’ll do something about it.’
‘Terrible to think there are people like that taking kiddies in,’ said Flo.
‘We were unlucky,’ said May. ‘For all the stories you hear about bad evacuation experiences, there are more good ones, though no one will know the truth of it until all the children come back for good after the war. Joe seems absolutely fine now, that’s the important thing.’
‘He’s back where he belongs, thank goodness,’ said Flo.
Winter came in with frost, ice and freezing fog. People were cold, hungry and weary of the war, especially as shortages became even more acute. When news came in that the Germans had broken through in the Ardennes, hopes of peace in the near future vanished completely.
Another wartime Christmas seemed almost too much to bear, but most people managed somehow to create a festive atmosphere. The Stubbses and the Baileys joined forces for Christmas dinner as well as tea this year to help make the rations go further. They only had meat pie with very little meat and rice pudding for afters, but they had Joe back and he created his own magic. Sheila was home on leave and Connie came over on her bike in the afternoon, so they managed to enjoy themselves, playing games, singing songs and talking.
‘We may not have peace yet but at least the streets aren’t quite so dark since some of the blackout restrictions were lifted,’ said Flo to Dot as they were making sandwiches for supper in the kitchen. ‘It’ll be a bit easier for you when you go home later on. I know it’s only half lighting but it’s better than nothing.’
‘I’ll say,’ agreed Dot. ‘And I think we’ve all enjoyed the day even though the war is hanging on for grim death.’
‘I agree,’ said Flo.
‘I’ve got Joe back; what I want now is his dad back too,’ said Dot.
‘I’m sure it won’t be long,’ said Flo encouragingly.
Although the freedom of peacetime gradually got under way in the new year, with various restrictions being lifted and the public tasting what life would be like after the war, still victory remained elusive.
The tension built almost to breaking point during the spring months, when it became legal to buy bunting without coupons so long as it was red, white and blue, and factory hooters were allowed to be sounded again for the first time in nearly six years, but still no end to the war.
Then things really started to happen when the Allies achieved huge successes in Germany and news came through that Hitler was dead. Peace was almost upon them.
May had never experienced anything like VE Day before; a unanimous outpouring of jubilation so strong it was overwhelming. She couldn’t imagine that anything would ever be this powerful again in her lifetime. It was a new world for every man, woman and child in the country. Knowing that they were free; that they would wake up each morning to a bomb-less life after years of danger and threat. The joy was indescribable.
Everybody was out in the streets, hugging each other and laughing. The Stubbses and the Baileys decided that there was only one place for Londoners to be today, so they headed for the station and joined the crowds outside Buckingham Palace. With Joe sitting on Dick’s shoulders they stared at the balcony draped with crimson and yellow with a gold fringe and cheered until they were hoarse when the royal family came out through those famous doors.
The capital throbbed with patriotism and emotion. People were singing and dancing and kissing complete strangers. Later on, May and the others went home to join in the celebrations there. London was one big party.
May experienced a sudden moment of sadness for Betty and Doug, both struck down at an early age. In the outpouring of relief and joy that peace was here at last, it was easy to temporarily forget those who hadn’t lived to see it. She guessed that all over the world people would be having quiet moments just like hers.
Although nothing could diminish the joy of freedom, the shortages and shabbiness were still there when the celebrations were over, and all the signs were they would be with them for a very long time to come.