with a roar that she thought would never stop. A great cloud
of thick, “choking dust rose into the air and she buried her
face in her sleeve, trying not to breathe in too deeply, the
foul, gritty powder coating her tongue and teeth and making
her gag and retch to get rid of it. I can’t stand this, she
thought, I can’t stand it any more. Make it go away. Make it
go away.
Someone pulled her sleeve and she lifted her face away
cautiously and saw the young doctor mouthing something at
her. Panic gripped her as she realised that she could hear
nothing. She tried to yell back, but even inside her head her
words sounded distorted and meaningless. She shook her
head, terrified, but there was nothing but a strange, roaring
silence.
She looked around. Dust was swirling around the narrow
space and even the crimson light of the flames outside could
only just penetrate the darkness. With another leap of fear,
she wondered if the buildings here had caught fire, but
could see no fresh flames. It could surely be no more than a
matter of time, though. All this wood and plaster needed
only a spark to set it off, and even as the thought entered her head she saw a gobbet of flame drift past high above. We’ve
got to get out of here, she thought, and turned to see if the
entrance had been blocked.
Polly! For a few seconds, she had forgotten her aunt and
the old woman and her son, still trapped in the collapsed
building. She whirled back, to find her arm grasped again by
the doctor.
Judy shook her off angrily, and tried to shout again, but
her voice seemed to have no power. I can’t even hear myself,
she thought in despair, but there was no time to think about
that now. She jabbed her finger urgently at the fallen
masonry and made her mouth shape the words, ‘My aunt my
aunt —’ Whether the other woman understood, she
didn’t know, but she evidently remembered that they had
come here to help someone who was trapped, and nodded
quickly before turning herself to follow Judy’s pointing
finger.
The two men were getting to their feet as well, shaking
their heads and rubbing their ears. We’ve all gone deaf, she
thought, and grabbed their arms to drag them in the
direction of the fallen house. Even now there were still
bricks and slates and slabs of mortar tumbling down from
the splintered edges of the roof that was still left, hanging
drunkenly from the adjoining buildings. It only wants one of
them falling on your head to kill you, Judy thought, but she
couldn’t give up now. Polly was in there somewhere, and if
she left her she would never forgive herself.
Together, the four of them went cautiously forwards,
each keeping an eye on the wreckage above. To her
amazement, Judy saw that even though almost the entire
front of the building had fallen, the doorway itself was still
standing. The architrave must have been especially strong perhaps old oak from an ancient sailing ship, strengthened
from years of immersion in salt water. Tentatively, she
pushed at the splintered door and it swung open a foot or
so, then stopped, blocked by rubble. Judy began to wriggle
through the narrow space.
A touch on her arm made her turn. The doctor was
shaking her head, obviously warning her of the danger, but
Judy shook her own head in reply. ‘I’m going in there,
whatever happens. She eased herself very carefully round the
edge of the door and picked her way over a pile of bricks.
It hadn’t been far to the room where the old woman had
lain, but it was now almost pitch dark in there, with only the
faintest red glow from the flame-lit sky. Judy tried to
remember which way she had gone, and moved very slowly,
feeling her way. If only she had a torch …
As if in answer to a prayer, a thin beam of light flickered
in one corner and her heart jumped. Polly had had a torch!
Was she still there, still miraculously alive, perhaps calling
out unheard by her deafened rescuers, shining the torch to
show them the way? Judy tried again to shout, without any
idea as to whether her voice could be heard. Behind her, she
was aware of someone following, one of the men or perhaps
the doctor. The light had disappeared, but she pointed and
felt, rather than saw, the nod of the head, then groped for
her companion’s arm. The warmth and solidity reassured
her, and they went on side by side, taking slow, careful steps
and scrabbling with their hands at the mounds of bricks and
plaster.
Something soft met Judy’s questing fingers. She froze,
half afraid of what it might be, then moved her hands
cautiously, feeling the softness of fabric coated with gritty
dust. It was a garment of some kind, but was it something
that had been taken off and flung down, or was it still
wrapped around a body? A body, she thought in panic, and
almost tore her hands away. At the same moment, the fabric
shifted under her hands and the light shone again.
‘Polly!’ The name was a thought rather than a cry, but
Judy hardly cared now whether she was deaf or not, for
there at her feet, half-buried in rubble, lay her aunt, her
small torch gripped in one hand and shining towards her
grime-coated face. There was blood on her forehead and in
her hair, but her eyes were open, and as Judy bent towards
her a faint smile curved her lips.
Judy almost fell on her, half laughing, half crying. Beside
her, the doctor bent swiftly to press her fingers against
Polly’s neck and then looked up at Judy and indicated the
rubble. Her mouth moved and Judy read the silent message: ‘She’s alive! We’ve got to get this off her.’
Judy began to pull away bricks and slivers of wood. To
her immense relief they were all small, or at least within her
ability to lift, but she was so thankful to find Polly alive that she felt she could have moved a mountain to get her out. By
now, the two men were also in the small space, and together
they worked feverishly to free the trapped woman. Oh, let
her be all right, Judy prayed. Let her not be hurt too badly.
It was uncanny, working in the silence, uncannier still to
know that the air must be filled with sound, with the
cacophony of aircraft overhead, the roar of exploding
bombs, the rattle of ack-ack guns. The raid was still going
on - at any moment they might all be blasted to oblivion or
burned to death in a firestorm - yet the most important
thing in the world now was to get Polly out of her prison, to
bring her out alive.
They had shifted all the small stuff now and by the
flickering light of Polly’s torch, Judy saw with dismay that
there was a large beam of wood across her body. Oh God, if
she’s been crushed … she thought in horror, but almost
before the thought had formed in her mind she saw that it
was balanced on two other lumps of broken masonry, and
didn’t touch Polly at all. In fact, it had probably saved her
life, making a cage around her over which the rubble had
fallen, while inside she was barely scratched.
As soon as she was able, Polly began to struggle out from
underneath the beam. She was filthy and bedraggled, one
leg was dragging and there was still blood trickling down
her face, but her eyes were bright and she hugged Judy
fervently. Her mouth moved in some question, but Judy
shook her head and pointed to her ears. ‘I can’t hear,’ she
mouthed. And then, hoping that Polly could hear her, What
about the others? The man and his mother?’
Either Polly heard her or read her lips, for she glanced
round the devastated room and shook her head slightly, the
movement obviously paining her. The others had already
begun to try to dig through the rubble and the two women
joined them, but it was clear that there was little chance of
finding any other survivors. Eventually, one of the men
straightened up and wiped his forehead. ‘We can’t move any
more. We’ll have to get help. It’s all big stuff, too heavy … I don’t reckon there’s anyone alive in here now anyway.’
Reluctantly, they turned and battled their way out
through the cluttered courtyard. Outside, the raid was still
going on, although it seemed to have lessened. We must
have shot down some of their planes, surely, Judy thought,
and rubbed her ears, suddenly afraid that she was never
going to be able to hear again. I’m deaf, she thought in
panic.
The young doctor saw the gesture and looked at her in
concern. ‘Are you still deafened? she mouthed, and Judy
nodded. The doctor glanced at Polly, parted her hair gently
with her fingers to look at the wound in her head, and bent
to give her dragging leg a swift examination. Then she
straightened up and looked around.
The street was still full of people trying to fight the fires
that had broken out. Soldiers, sailors and civilians alike were rushing to and fro with stirrup pumps, buckets, anything
that could hold a few drops of water. At least the mains
didn’t seem to have been fractured this time. Judy moved to
go and help, but the doctor gripped her arm.
‘Hospital,’ she mouthed. ‘You both need to go to hospital.
We need an ambulance.’ She glanced around again and then
pointed to a vehicle which had apparently been abandoned
at the side of the road, and a sob of hysteria rose in Judy’s
throat as she recognised their own old van.
One of the men who had helped her came forwards and
spoke in the doctor’s ear. She nodded briskly. ‘This man will
take you.’ She helped Polly, who was beginning to sway,
into the back of the van. Judy, more anxious for her aunt
than for herself, followed, and they crouched together on
the makeshift bunk fitted inside.
The journey seemed to take hours. Swaying, jerking and
bumping through the bombed streets, they had no idea
where they were going. Polly was looking dazed and sick,
and Judy was unable to communicate with the driver.
Exhaustion overtook her, her ears hurt almost unbearably,
and she sagged against the cold metal walls of the van. She
was unaware of their arrival at the Royal Hospital and the
devastation that caused them to be turned away and sent to
St James’s, and when they finally stumbled out of the van
she had no idea where they were.
Once in the foyer, she and Polly stood leaning against one
another, almost too bewildered and exhausted to care what
happened to them now. The place was in chaos, crowded
with nurses, doctors and injured people. Stretchers and
trolleys cluttered every space. Judy and Polly found
themselves being hustled into a corner where a harassed young nurse began to question them.
‘I can’t hear.’ Judy pointed to her ears and then held her
hands over them to show that they were painful. The nurse
turned at once to Polly and evidently asked about her
injuries. Polly pointed to her head and then her leg, and the
nurse pushed her gently on to a bed and began to examine
her.
Judy watched anxiously. The head wound seemed-to have
stopped bleeding and was soon washed and bandaged. The
leg seemed to be no worse than a superficial cut on the skin,
but it was unpleasantly jagged and might have got germs in
it. Having attended to these, the nurse turned her attention
to Judy, but all Judy could do was mouth at her, ‘I’m not
hurt. It’s just my ears - the blast - I’ve gone deaf.’ Tears came to her eyes and she shook her head angrily, furious with
herself, but once started they could not be stopped and she
crumpled, her hands to her face, her shoulders shaking. I’ve
gone deaf. I’ve gone deaf. I’m never going to be able to hear
anything again …
‘Thank God I’ve found you.’ Cissie collapsed on to a
wooden chair beside Polly’s bed and stared at her sister.
‘Oh, thank God. I thought you and our Judy were both …’
She couldn’t say the word. Tears brimmed out of her eyes
and she wiped them away and sniffed, her mouth both
smiling and trembling.
‘I don’t know why they’re keeping me in here,’ Polly said
grumpily. She was sitting up in bed, swathed in a huge
white gown. ‘I’m all right, it’s just a bit of a cut on my leg
and a graze on the head. But they want to keep an eye on me
in case of concussion, the doctor said. I’m coming out
tomorrow though, thank goodness.’ She glanced around the
overcrowded ward. ‘They’re doing their best, I know, but
it’s horrible in here.’ She looked at her sister. ‘Have you
seen Judy yet?’
Cissie nodded. ‘She’s in a poor way. Oh, not hurt as such,
but it’s her ears; she can’t hear a thing and she thinks she’s
gone deaf permanent. She’s really cut up about it. I had a
word with the Sister and she says they’ll keep her in for a
day or two to make sure there’s no other damage, but she
thinks the hearing’ll come back pretty soon. She says it’s a
common effect of the blast. They get any amount of people