Girls on the Home Front by Annie Clarke

Author:Annie Clarke
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473564640
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2019-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Fran, Sarah and the rest of their group were really beginning to feel better, for here in the clean room there was good air, the soothing sound of the sewing machines and the scissors cutting through layers of blue cotton. And here they could actually bring in their bottles of water to flush out the chemicals throughout the shift, and nip to the lavatory, which was attached so you didn’t need a guard. Did flushing their bodies with water work? Who knew, but it made them feel as though they were doing something for themselves.

As their break was called, they filed into the canteen and saw there were still jugs of water on the table. Perhaps there always would be. Good for you, Mam, Fran thought. ‘By, you could lead a revolution.’

She must have spoken aloud, for Beth, who had returned today, the very day Bob left said, ‘Aye, she could that.’

They queued for food, taking both mains and pudding, and headed for their table, gobbling it all down with little said now their appetites were back. As the pudding bowls were being scraped clean of sugarless rice, and the spoons licked back and front, Fran saw Miss Ellington heading towards their table. She was waving sheets of music at Fran, who shouted above the din, ‘Howay, ladies, heads up. Remember I said something about the Workers’ Playtime competition? Well, looks like we’re about to hear more.’

The women looked up while Valerie licked her finger, which she’d wiped around her bowl, and the tannoy played music quietly. They waited as Miss Ellington wound her way through the tables, carrying sheet music beneath her arm. Mrs Oborne leaned forward. ‘What the devil are you talking about, Franny Hall?’

Maisie groaned. ‘She were in the next shop, remember, and missed t’news. Then I forgot to tell her later, Fran.’

Miss Ellington distributed a copy of ‘All or Nothing at All’ to each of them, typed up on the back of a list of last year’s food lists. She raised her voice to be heard above the tannoy’s music and the chatter of the other workers while they ate. Mrs Oborne, Valerie and the others read the lyrics, chatting and laughing, ignoring Miss Ellington. Fran wondered if they simply hadn’t heard?

In exasperation, Miss Ellington, standing beside Fran, reached over, snatched up Sarah’s pudding spoon and banged it like a gavel on the Formica-topped table, yelling for silence. Remnants of Sarah’s rice pudding flicked through the air, landing on Mrs Oborne’s bust. She brushed it off and it lay to rest in her smeared pudding bowl. The whole table called, ‘Goal.’

The security officer banged the spoon again and everyone ducked, but then sat up, grinning. They were ready to listen, but Miss Ellington still had to raise her voice against the tinny music and chatter from all around. ‘One sheet for each of you. All the others, whatever shift they’re on, will have, or have had, the same song given to them too. The carbon paper is quite done in, I have to tell you.

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