Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson

Author:Derek Robinson [Robinson, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2013-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Killion saw the three men come in, and turned his back on them. He was sitting at a corner table with an English girl called Rose Franklin. She was a nurse at a hospital on the other side of the village, and Killion had met her the previous evening by simply walking into the hospital and asking the first girl he saw if she would come out with him. Because Killion was young and trembling with desperation, Rose Franklin had agreed. She had laughed very loudly, but she had agreed. Rose was a strikingly handsome girl, big-breasted, high-colored, dancing-eyed. It was Killion’s bad luck that she was boisterous, unromantic, insensitive and recently married. Nevertheless, her presence was potent, and he persevered.

“F-funny,” he said, his sexual hunger overcoming his stutter, “I knew as soon as I saw you.”

“Did you, now,” Rose said brightly. “And what did you know, may I ask?”

Killion frowned with terrible sincerity. “Well, you know,” he said, clenching his fists on the table. “Y-you and me.”

“I certainly don’t know. Are they friends of yours, over there? They seemed to recognize you.”

“I bet you’re j-jolly good at s-s-swimming. Anyone can t-tell just by looking. Are you k-keen on swimming?”

She laughed, more for the exercise than anything else. “Well, if you go to the seaside you have to bathe, don’t you?”

“Not half!” Killion spread his hands on the table, in the hope that she would rest an arm within stroking range. “D’you like that? I think bathing is jolly good f-fun. Especially when you don’t have to w-wear anything.”

She laughed again, but reproachfully. “I really couldn’t say about that.”

“They have s-swimming pools where you can swim in the b-b-b-buff. It f-feels awfully g-good. You ought to t-try it.”

Rose re-arranged her gloves and purse. “How stuffy it gets in here!” she said. “It quite affects my head.”

“Have some m-more wine,” Killion urged. He tried to add to her full glass.

“Golly! The very idea. If anyone from the hospital sees me I’ll never hear the last of it.” She stared unblinkingly over his shoulder.

“No, honestly, I m-mean it,” Killion tried to smile, but felt foolish, so he went back to looking sincere. “You really are the m-most m-marvelous girl.”

“There’s something written on the wall over there.” She tilted her head and frowned. “Do you read French?”

“No,” said Killion. “Not a bloody word.” That made her jump.

“Yes, it’s definitely him,” Callaghan said.

“If you ask me, it’s a grave mistake for a chap in our position to get too involved with women,” Blunt said. He sipped his wine. “Not too dry for you, is it? I can always make them change it …” Blunt had ordered the wine. The others told him it was just right.

“Actually, I prefer my wine on the dry side,” Peacock said. “I’ve never been one for a sweet wine. Never.”

“I think you’ll like this one,” Blunt said. He picked up the bottle and studied the label. “You have to be awfully careful with some of them.”

“Can it be his wife?” Callaghan asked.

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