Put Out the Fires by Maureen Lee

Author:Maureen Lee [Lee, Maureen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Eileen had been living on the farm less than a week when the letters began to arrive from home. She seemed to get at least one every day; from her dad, from Kate Thomas, from several of her Pearl Street neighbours. Apparently, after a lull over New Year, the raids had begun again, but although some were heavy, none were as bad as those before Christmas. There was a long funny letter from the girls at Dunnings relaying all the latest dirty jokes and including love from the entire workshop. Lil had been offered the job of overseer but had turned it down and Mona Dewar had been appointed, much to Doris’s disgust as she felt the job should be hers.

Sheila had some good news: Sean had begun his training as an airframe fitter, “which means he’ll remain safely on the ground, thank goodness, even though it mightn’t be in this country”. There was a PS: “You’ll never believe this, but Brenda Mahon’s got a sort of boyfriend. He’s a bus conductor, but don’t mention it if you write to anyone, as no-one else knows except me and that Carrie woman.”

Another letter arrived from Sheila before Eileen had a chance to reply to the first, this time enclosing an envelope addressed to 16 Pearl Street. Eileen recognised Nick’s untidy scrawl immediately. Sheila had written on the back, “The girl from your house, Alice Scully, brought this over this morning.”

“I’ve felt so hopeless since Christmas,” Nick complained, and she imagined his dark handsome face twisted bitterly as he wrote. “Please write back straight away and assure me you love me. Please say we’ll be together one day. It’s all I live for. It’s all that keeps me going throughout this damn bloody war.”

Eileen sighed. She felt equally hopeless, and, remembering the promise she’d made to Nick on Christmas Day, wondered if the time would ever come when the promise would be kept. She put the letter to one side and opened the one from Jacob Singerman which had arrived in the same post.

He’d been to see Goodbye, Mr Chips, though he’d had to stand in a queue which was longer than for his weekly rations. “The whole country wants to go to the pictures nowadays to escape from the horrors of war. Even if you are killed, as several were in the Gaiety and the Ritz, what a way to die, with one’s eyes fixed on Laraine Day or Greta Garbo! As for the film, it was rather sad. All in all, I think I prefer a musical. I kept hoping Robert Donat would burst into song, or at least give us a tapdance.” Snowy, he went on, was becoming more agile by the minute. “He can jump on the mantelpiece and sits there making faces at me. I wonder why I never thought of having a cat before. He’s such good company and keeps me amused all day long.”

“Because it took you all your time to keep your own belly half-full, let alone having a cat to feed as well,” Eileen said to herself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.