Child of the Mersey by Annie Groves

Author:Annie Groves [Annie Groves]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-07-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

November 1939

The dark nights had long drawn in and there was a powerful, bitter wind blowing in off the River Mersey as Danny Callaghan stepped out of the warm, smoky confines of the Sailor’s Rest. His unsteady footsteps, meandering up Empire Street, were not helped by the blacked-out gaslights, or the torrential rain that started as soon as the saloon doors closed behind him. Pulling his jacket collar up, Danny stumbled towards the edge of the pavement and by some pull of magnetic force he veered back towards the houses.

‘Not fit to fight for King and country,’ he muttered, thumping his chest with a clenched fist. ‘What do they know …? Idiots, the lot of them!’ Danny’s head was bent low to protect him from the blinding rain and, with his cap pulled down over his eyes, it would be almost impossible to see even if there wasn’t a blackout. His chin almost touched his chest and, huddled down inside the thin jacket that offered little protection against the onslaught, Danny drove his hands deep into his threadbare pockets as he lurched and staggered up the street. The sun would never shine for him again, he knew for sure.

His lifelong dreams had crumbled to nothing after he applied to join the army, only to be told by their doctors exactly the same as the navy medic had said. They might as well have said, ‘You are surplus to necessity … Not worthy.’

‘What is the point?’ Danny said aloud to the street, which, as far as he could make out, was deserted. ‘Why don’t you just finish the job, give me pneumonia and kill me now?’ he added to the black sky.

Sarah Feeny was hurrying to put the milk bottles out on the step and praying there would not be an air raid tonight in this weather. She shivered, terrified of what her brothers might be going through at sea on a night like this. News reached civilians via injured naval personnel and was coming in on an almost daily basis. U-boat and surface ship-laid mines continued to inflict heavy losses on merchant ships and warships alike. Only last week the minelayer Adventure and destroyer Blanche were mined in the Thames Estuary. Blanche was a total loss, said Cyril Arden, who had been reliably informed by a returning sailor.

Sarah thanked the Lord every chance she got that her brothers’ names were not among the serious casualties, and she knew her parents were worried sick even though they tried to carry on as normal. They were going through something called ‘the Phoney War’, the papers said, because Germany was preoccupied with focusing their efforts on Poland. There were signs everywhere, however, that the country would be fully prepared for all-out war when necessary.

Ration books were distributed, identity cards had already gone out and Britain was now being called ‘the Home Front’. On her way home from the St John Ambulance meeting tonight Sarah had slipped into St Mary’s and lighted a candle for both her brothers.

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