The Spitfire Sisters Page 11

‘I’ll take him,’ George said swiftly. ‘My car’s bigger than yours. He’ll be more comfortable spreading out on the back seat.’

  ‘We’ll go together,’ Pips said firmly, ‘and then I can make sure Mrs Pearson knows what needs doing.’

  George sighed inwardly, but when they called at Mitch’s flat on the Saturday morning, he put on a display of solicitousness.

  ‘Now, are you comfortable on the back seat, Mitch? Do you want a blanket? I’ll drive carefully.’

  ‘It’s good of you to take me, George. I do appreciate it.’

  ‘Don’t mention it.’

  George drove his recently acquired car sedately.

  ‘Nice car,’ Mitch said. ‘Very comfortable.’

  ‘It’s a Humber. 1935 model, but she’s been well looked after and not many miles on the clock. I need my own car to get to the office and back now that I work such odd hours and I thought a slightly larger one than Pips’s Ford would allow us to take passengers in a little more comfort.’

  ‘Well, like I say, I’m very grateful.’

  The rest of the journey passed in silence, but Mrs Pearson was waiting at Mitch’s house when they arrived.

  ‘Everything’s ready for you, Mr Hammond. Now, can you get upstairs or would you like a bed brought down? Mr Pointer has said he’ll call by this afternoon and help me if needed. And I’ve seen old Josiah, who lives just up the road from me, about doing a bit of gardening for you, but he’s not fit enough to be lugging beds downstairs. Now, come along in. I’ve got a meal all ready for the three of you.’ Mrs Pearson chattered on as she led the way into the house. ‘It’s times like these when I miss my poor hubby. He was always on hand to give a hand, bless him. Now, come into the dining room and I’ll serve lunch.’

  Places were already set on the table and the small, rotund woman bustled between the kitchen and dining room, serving roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and three vegetables.

  ‘There’s apple crumble and custard for afters.’

  Conversation as they ate was sparse, but George, trying to be polite, said, ‘This is a nice house, Mitch. I’m surprised you don’t spend more time down here.’

  After lunch, Pips had a quiet word with Mrs Pearson as they washed up together in the kitchen. ‘I’ve written my telephone number in the book on the hall table. Please let me know if there’s anything he needs.’

  ‘I will, Mrs Allender, but I think we’ll be all right. Mr Pointer says he’ll come every day and there are all the other Brooklands’ folk who, no doubt, will be popping in.’

  Though she said nothing more, Pips felt a pang of regret at obviously not being needed.

  ‘Jeff,’ Pips greeted him when he arrived in the early afternoon. She kissed him on both cheeks.

  ‘How’s my best ever pupil doing?’ he teased.

  ‘I’d’ve thought Daisy would have been a better pupil than I was.’

  Jeff pulled a comical face. ‘She certainly ranks a close second. Let’s say you were equal, to save any arguments.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t mind playing second fiddle to my niece. I’m very proud of her.’

  ‘How’s she doing at college?’

  ‘Very well. Come on through. They’re in the sitting room.’

  As they entered the room, George and Mitch were sitting near the window, deep in conversation, but when Pips and Jeff stepped into the room, they stopped talking abruptly.

  As if to fill an awkward pause, Jeff held out his hand. ‘Hello again, George. Good to see you. Am I going to get you flying yet?’

  ‘Not a chance,’ George said swiftly. ‘Are you still working for Mitch?’

  ‘At the moment, yes.’ He glanced towards his friend and employer. ‘But with all this uncertainty, neither of us knows how long our flying school will be needed if we are to be plunged into war again.’

  ‘Probably even more so than in peace time. Another war won’t be like the last one, you know. It’ll be fought in the air.’

  Mitch and Jeff glanced at each other and then both looked back to George.

  ‘I know you can’t tell us much, George – and we wouldn’t expect you to – but is there a real threat of war?’

  George took a moment before he answered carefully. ‘I’m sure you follow the news avidly, as I think most people in the country are doing. All I can tell you is that we are making preparations just in case.’

  ‘So, you didn’t believe the Munich agreement either?’ Mitch said bluntly.

  George smiled. ‘Officially – of course we did. Unofficially . . .’ He shrugged his shoulders, but his action spoke volumes.

  ‘So, Mitch, old chap, as soon as your leg’s better, we’d better start putting our own plans into action, don’t you think?’

  ‘What? What are you going to do?’ Pips asked.

  The two men exchanged a glance before Mitch said airily, ‘Oh, just offer our services to the authorities in any way we can be of help.’

  As they drove home through the gathering dusk, Pips asked, ‘George, what do you think they intend to do?’

  ‘I’ve no idea, Pips. Something to do with flying, I’ve no doubt.’

  ‘Like teaching young men who want to become pilots?’

  ‘Something like that,’ George said vaguely and Pips was left wondering just what he and Mitch had been discussing so earnestly when she and Jeff had entered the room. She had the distinct feeling that there was something neither of them was telling her.

  Seventeen

  Cocooned in the insular world of college, Daisy and Gill happily planned their Christmas holidays and looked forward to the final two terms.

  ‘I can’t believe we’ve done more than two years here,’ Gill said. ‘It’s flown.’

  Daisy nodded. ‘Only two more terms and we’re done.’

  ‘But the exams come before that, don’t forget.’

  ‘Oh, you would have to spoil it.’

  ‘You’ll be all right.’

  ‘So will you.’

  They smiled at each other. Neither of them was conceited, but they both knew that if they were to fail, it didn’t bode well for the rest of their year!

  ‘And best of all, it’s the year when Aunty Pips and Uncle George will be with us for Christmas and New Year. And I bet Granny will be planning extra celebrations because I couldn’t get home for my twenty-first birthday at the beginning of the month.’

  ‘We’re not visiting each other this holiday, are we?’

  Daisy shook her head. ‘Too much revising to do. And the same goes for the Easter hols.’

  Gill pulled a face. ‘Shame, but I know you’re right.’

  ‘We’ll make up for it in the summer, I promise.’

  Gill wagged her finger. ‘I’ll hold you to that.’

  Daisy was so busy during the holidays that she failed to notice the serious faces of her older relatives, who did their best to keep unsavoury news from her anyway. And in the Dawson and Nuttall homes, there was a tacit agreement that Luke and Harry should be kept ignorant of the political unrest. Even Bess Cooper kept her mouth firmly shut when the youngsters were around.

  ‘I’ve never known my mother so quiet about what’s going on,’ Peggy laughed.

  ‘If all this trouble escalates into war,’ Sam said solemnly, ‘it’ll be our lads that’ll have to go.’

  Peggy’s amusement faded and she bit her lip. ‘Couldn’t they get a – what is it called – an exemption because of the work they do?’

  ‘They might. After all, all their work is allied to agriculture, which was treated as a reserved occupation in the last war, but—’ He hesitated before adding, ‘They might not let both Luke and Harry get exemption.’

  ‘But they work in different parts of Len’s business, don’t they? Luke’s in the wheelwright’s workshop and Harry’s usually with you in the blacksmith’s.’

  ‘That’s true, so they might both be all right.’

  ‘Oh Sam, we’re talking as if it’s really going to happen.’

  ‘If Hitler trie
s anything else, Peggy love, I am sorry to say I think it will. Chamberlain sold out Czechoslovakia to him and that was once too often. It caused a revolt amongst some of his own party members.’

  ‘And what about the trouble in Spain?’

  ‘I think it’s almost at an end, with Franco victorious.’

  Peggy sighed heavily. ‘I don’t understand it all. Why can’t we all just live in peace, Sam? After all those poor boys we lost last time, why won’t they learn?’

  Sam put his arms around her and she leaned against his shoulder. ‘It’s all about gaining power. Look at Franco in Spain. All three of them – Franco, Mussolini and now Hitler – are hell-bent on becoming all-powerful dictators.’

  In January, Franco’s troops entered Barcelona, and by the end of February even the British Government recognized his possession of the greater part of Spain, which brought more disagreement in the House of Commons. When the President of Republican Spain resigned at the beginning of March, Franco’s final victory seemed inevitable. But the greatest threat still came from Germany.

  ‘We are now making four hundred aircraft a month for the RAF, but that’s still only two thirds of what Germany are producing,’ Pips told her family solemnly on a visit in March.

  ‘It certainly looks as if they’re up to something, doesn’t it? Any other signs that we’re starting to get prepared, Pips?’

  ‘Air-raid shelters are being distributed to households in London in areas they think will be the most likely to be targeted. And there are discussions about the evacuation of children from cities, if hostilities should break out.’

  ‘And does George really think they’re likely to?’ Edwin asked.

  Pips drew breath, glanced around the table at her parents and Robert and Alice, knowing that what she now had to tell them would be devastating news. ‘It will be in the papers tomorrow, but George said I could tell you this now. Hitler has marched into Prague.’

  Four pairs of anxious eyes stared at her.

  ‘I knew it,’ Robert murmured. ‘I thought all his posturing and promises that Germany had no more claims in Europe was a lie. Chamberlain should never have trusted him.’

  ‘He meant well, Robert,’ Pips defended the Prime Minister, ‘but now, he’s as shocked as the rest of us. He told the House that this is the first time that Hitler has occupied territory that is not inhabited by Germans.’

  ‘So this time, you mean, there’s no excuse for his occupation?’

  ‘None.’

  ‘I’m very much afraid, my dears,’ Edwin said, twirling his wineglass between fingers that were not quite steady, ‘that this might very well escalate into war.’ He glanced at Pips. ‘Has George – or Matthew – been able to tell you if the Government are planning any kind of pledge to other countries should they be attacked?’ He shrugged and suggested, ‘Like Poland, for example, or France? He seems to be intent on marching into the countries which border Germany.’

  ‘Not in so many words, no, but like you he thinks the situation is very serious.’

  ‘I expect they would bring in conscription a lot earlier than they did last time,’ Alice said quietly. Her voice trembled as she asked, ‘Will Luke and Harry be called up, d’you think? And – and what about Daisy? She’d be expected to do some sort of war work, wouldn’t she?’

  ‘When she finishes college in the summer,’ Henrietta said firmly, ‘she will be employed here on the estate and that will surely be regarded as important war work. The production of food will be paramount, if I’m not mistaken.’

  ‘Quite right, Mother,’ Robert said. ‘Daisy will be fine and so will her friend Gill, but about Luke and Harry, well, I’m not so sure.’

  At the end of March, Britain and France pledged to defend Poland against attack and by the middle of April, when Mussolini had occupied Albania, the British Prime Minister gave an assurance that Britain would go to the aid of Greece and Romania. France again gave its promise too. A few days later, Chamberlain also pledged to go to the aid of Holland, Denmark and Switzerland if they were attacked.

  At the end of April, the British Government brought in the conscription of men aged twenty to twenty-two for military service.

  ‘I won’t allow it. I won’t let Luke go!’ Len shouted, jabbing at the newspaper and glaring at his wife as if it was all her fault.

  ‘You’ve changed your tune since last time,’ Norah said boldly. ‘Learned ya lesson, ’ave ya?’

  ‘That was different,’ he growled. ‘They didn’t bring in conscription until much later in the last war. The lads went of their own accord. Volunteered like the brave men they were. But I won’t have any government telling my grandson what to do.’

  ‘He’s twenty-three. It’s not him they’re talking about, and Harry’s too young.’

  ‘I aren’t bothered about Harry. He’s not mine.’

  Norah said no more. Although Harry was not a blood relative, she’d always thought of him as another grandson.

  And then her thoughts turned to the other two young men, who really were her grandsons: Pascal and Waldo. Would Belgium be attacked again this time? What would happen to them and would she ever see her son, William, again?

  Whilst Britain quietly prepared, Germany and Italy signed a ‘Pact of Steel’ in May, a political and military alliance.

  ‘We have agreements with France,’ George told the Maitlands on a brief visit to Lincolnshire with Pips, ‘but our approach to Russia doesn’t seem to be meeting with enthusiasm. We suspect Stalin is seeking a closer alliance with Germany.’

  ‘Really? That surprises me,’ Robert said.

  ‘Stalin’s a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment.’

  ‘Well, with the size of his country, I’d rather he was on our side.’

  ‘Don’t we all.’ George’s reply was heartfelt.

  Eighteen

  ‘I forbid it. You’re not going and that’s final. It’s my last word on the subject.’

  ‘Granddad, I don’t want to go against you, but this is something I have to do,’ Luke said quietly. ‘I intend to volunteer for the RAF and I intend to go now before war is actually declared, because we all know it’s coming, don’t we?’

  Len flung his lump hammer against the anvil with a loud clatter, making Luke wince. ‘If you go,’ Len said menacingly, ‘there won’t be a job for you to come back to, nor an inheritance. You know what happened to that coward of a son of mine, well, same’ll happen to you. I’ll change me will. I’ll leave it all to Daisy. An’ if she’s daft enough to marry you – as some folks seem to think’s on the cards – then I’ll leave it to young Harry, even though he’s not me own flesh and blood.’

  Quietly, Luke said, ‘Harry is going to volunteer for the RAF too – as soon as he’s old enough.’

  ‘Then it’ll be on your head if owt happens to him, because he’s only following you.’

  Luke frowned. ‘I can’t understand your attitude. You disowned Uncle William because he wouldn’t volunteer alongside his brothers, yet now I want to go, you’re threatening me with the same. Why?’

  ‘It were different then,’ Len growled. ‘All the young men were enlisting and anyone who didn’t was branded a coward.’

  ‘Uncle William wasn’t a coward. He was a very brave man. He chose to go to the front as a stretcher-bearer, carrying wounded and dying in from the battlefield. He was there all the time – every day and through the night too. He didn’t have a few days at the front and then go back behind the lines for a rest like the soldiers did. And he was there for four years doing that. Four – long – years.’

  ‘But he didn’t get killed like his brothers, did he? I bet he kept himself out of harm’s way. I bet he only went to pick up the wounded when the guns had stopped.’

  ‘That’s not true and you know it’s not. He went out to get Uncle Robert in when he lost his arm and he helped Aunty Pips fetch Mr Hammond in from his crashed aircraft when she got shot in the leg. The bullets must have still been flying then.’

 
‘Aye, and it’s her I blame for all this. She took you flying, didn’t she, when you went AWOL the first time?’ He narrowed his eyes as he glared at Luke. ‘And I bet you’ve been again this time. I’ll be having words with her, next time she’s home.’

  ‘She’s got nothing to do with this. This is my own decision. I want to be a fighter pilot and, if I volunteer now, I’ve a good chance of being able to get what I want and not just be drafted anywhere.’

  ‘More fool you, then,’ Len growled and turned away. The conversation was at an end.

  When all their examinations were finished, Daisy and Gill packed all their belongings, said goodbye to all their friends, hugged Mrs Gordon, who had been like a second mother to them, and thanked all their tutors.

  ‘It’s home, then,’ Gill said, as they stood on the driveway and looked up at the castle where they had spent so much time.

  ‘It’s been a good three years,’ Daisy said a little pensively, ‘but I’m ready for home now, aren’t you?’

  ‘Can’t wait,’ Gill said, a broad grin on her face. ‘At least we’re lucky in that our parents – or granny, in your case – are willing to listen to all the ideas we’ve got. They’re open to change, whereas one of the other students was telling me his father will never change.’

  ‘He might find he has to, if what everyone is saying comes true.’

  ‘That there’s going to be a war, you mean?’

  Daisy nodded. ‘I think living here and working so hard, we’ve been missing what’s actually been going on in the real world. But my dad will explain it all to me when I get home.’

  ‘Mine, too. But I don’t think we’re going to like what they’re going to tell us, Daisy.’

  ‘We’ll just have to cope with whatever’s thrown at us, won’t we? At least we’ll be able to feel that we’ll be doing something to help the war effort by providing food, if what Prof said is true.’

  Gill’s eyes gleamed. ‘Like I said, I can’t wait.’ She paused and added, ‘But you will keep in touch, won’t you?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Promise?’

  Daisy linked her arm through her friend’s as they walked to where Jake was waiting beside the car. ‘Now I’ve learned to drive, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up and see you sometimes.’