At The Going Down Of The Sun by Hague G.M

Author:Hague, G.M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Graeme Hague
Published: 2014-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

***

The sunshine was smothered when the weather turned to scattered showers, the thicker grey clouds looming over the skyline when they were least expected and catching people in the open. Daniel didn’t care. He couldn’t have been happier than walking, mostly arm-in-arm, around the old city and wondering at the marvels he’d only ever seen in books and scratchy film reels. Dianne took on her role as a tour guide enthusiastically, reciting everything she knew of the monuments and famous buildings. They pointedly ignored the tremendous amount of bomb damage, as did everyone else in the streets.

At one point, Daniel saw a bank and they went inside. Dianne sat in a comfortable chair and watched from a distance as a teller’s attitude towards Daniel changed from barely disguised tolerance to near fawning at his every word. She couldn’t help noticing the wad of notes he stuffed in his wallet was rather thick.

They had a good lunch of a meat pie, potatoes and drinks in a smoky pub claiming to be over a hundred years old. The meat tasted so nice that Daniel didn’t spoil things by asking what it was—since the menu avoided the issue too. Refreshed, but weighed down by the meal, and in Daniel’s case two pints of bitter, they again found a nearby Tube station and rode to Marble Arch, before setting off to walk around Hyde Park.

Directly opposite the gates of the park, they saw a nondescript building which might have been offices or flats—it was hard to tell—that had been hit hard. One middle section of the place, nearly a third, was a crumbled mess of broken brickwork, blackened walls and exposed beams. The rest of the building stood precariously like a cracked shell around the impact point. This time Daniel couldn’t help stopping, pulling Dianne to a halt and staring across.

She said quietly, ‘It’s incredible they haven’t hit anything important—I mean, historical or precious. Everything’s important, of course.’

‘I suppose we’re trying to do exactly the same thing to them, aren’t we?’ Daniel answered grimly.

‘Are we? I was asking myself the very same thing, last time I came to London—’ Dianne didn’t remind him of the bombing of the fish and chip shop, which he knew about. ‘Are we bombing civilians and city centres too? As well as strategic targets? We never see the target maps.’

‘I’ll have to get a few more trips up my sleeve before I can honestly answer that, but I like to think not.’ Daniel shrugged. ‘It’s better not to worry about it. We’ve just got to beat the bastards any way we can. The Japs, too.’

Dianne guided him through the gate, turning away from the bombing. ‘What about that? Do you worry that you should be back home fighting the Japanese instead of being here and putting up with our problems?’

Daniel laughed softly. ‘I reckon if the Japs do invade Australia, they might be in for a bit of a shock. North Queensland’s not much like this,’ he gestured at the impeccable gardens around them.

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