The Blitz Girls by Johanna Bell

Author:Johanna Bell [Bell, Johanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399708760
Google: e52BzwEACAAJ
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2023-07-24T23:00:00+00:00

18

B

y the time Peggy reached her boarding house, everybody had cleared the dining room and gone back to their bedrooms or set off for work. She was relieved – she wasn’t sure how she would have coped walking in to find them all camped out again. But she also didn’t know what to advise them all to do for the best anymore. She had made Lilli go to the public shelter and look how that had turned out. Fresh tears welled in her eyes as her friend’s beautiful face, once so vibrant and full of life, flashed into her mind. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get over what she had done. But what could she have done differently? Nowhere felt safe anymore. It felt as though it was just a matter of finding the most comfortable place to take your chances in. She wandered through the house in a daze, every corner of it throwing up a fresh memory of Lilli and bringing with it a fresh sense of grief, until she found Mrs Martin in the communal lounge, reading a newspaper.

‘Have you heard about Buckingham Palace?’ the elderly woman asked, putting the newspaper to one side. ‘Day before last, it was. It isn’t in the papers yet, but Mrs Skilling from down the road knows one of the wardens who was on duty round there at the time. They did it in broad daylight! Can you believe it? He reckons it was deliberate, an’ all. Third time, too,’ she added, shaking her head. ‘Nearly got ’em, too.’

She finally looked up at Peggy, who was standing staring at her, tears flowing freely down her cheeks now, unable to stop them from falling. Peggy also found herself unable to respond to Mrs Martin. She didn’t know how to talk about anything else after what had just happened.

‘Whatever’s the matter, dear?’ Mrs Martin gasped, slowly getting to her feet. ‘Oh, my love. Did you see something dreadful last night? It sounded like we got a good battering.’ She put her arm around her and guided her to one of the armchairs, where Peggy slumped down and put her head in her hands. Mrs Martin stood next to her, rubbing Peggy’s back as she spoke. ‘I keep saying you young ’uns shouldn’t be having to go through all of this. It’s just too much. You’re no age to be witnessing all this death and loss. Someone needs to stop that blasted man and his murdering followers. Otherwise, where will it all end? There’ll be no England left for him to take over!’

‘She’s gone,’ Peggy whispered, looking up and into Mrs Martin’s eyes. Mrs Martin searched Peggy’s face as if she was looking for more information, but she didn’t say anything. ‘Lilli,’ Peggy croaked before bursting into tears again and throwing her arms around her neighbour’s waist. As she wept, she could feel Mrs Martin’s body shuddering with shock and grief at the same time.

They stayed that way for quite some time although Peggy had no idea how long.

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.