The Heart of the Family by Annie Groves

Author:Annie Groves [Groves, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007322695
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2009-11-01T11:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

‘They’ve come. Look.’ Sasha danced excitedly round the kitchen as she waved the two official-looking envelopes in front of Lou and Jean, the expression on her face one of both hope and apprehension.

Lou said nothing, but there was a tight uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

‘Here’s yours.’ Sasha handed Lou one of the envelopes and then started to open her own, only to stop and shake her head.

‘I can’t. You open yours first, Lou.’

Now it was Lou’s turn to shake her head.

‘Oh, give them here,’ Jean demanded, her own nerves on edge on the twins’ behalf, but whilst Lou passed their mother hers, Sasha opened her envelope, pulled out the letter and read it quickly before looking at her twin and her mother, her face alight with relief.

‘They’ve accepted me,’ she told them unnecessarily. ‘Hurry up and open yours, Lou.’

‘You do it, Mum.’

Jean told herself that it was Lou’s anxiety in case she hadn’t been accepted that was making her look so glum, but even when Jean had opened the letter and given her the good news that she too had got a job as a trainee telephonist, Lou’s smile wasn’t anywhere near as wide as Sasha’s.

‘We’ve got to celebrate,’ Sasha announced. ‘I know, let’s go to the Grafton tonight.’ When Jean frowned Sasha told her quickly, ‘We’re old enough now, Mum, and besides, Katie and Luke are going. Katie said so.’

‘Very well then,’ Jean agreed, giving them each a fierce hug. ‘I’m ever so pleased for you both and ever so proud of you as well. Just wait until your dad hears.’

‘It will only take us ten minutes to walk to the exchange, and once we’ve done our training and we’re not probationers any more then we’ll be in reserved occupations so we can stay here in Liverpool, and we’ll be doing our bit for the war effort,’ Sasha announced happily.

With every word that Sasha said, Lou’s heart grew heavier. She felt both guilty and scared because she couldn’t share her twin’s enthusiasm. What was happening to them?

The Naafi was filled with the low buzz of urgent conversation, as more men came in, wanting to talk about the ‘Orders’ that had been made known to the troops just over an hour ago.

‘We all knew it had to happen and that we wouldn’t get to sit the whole war out here,’ Luke heard one of the other corporals saying.

Out of the blue they had been told that they were being sent into combat, and that within a week they would be on troop ships on their way to an unnamed destination.

They were all pretty sure that that destination must be the desert, and Luke was filled with conflicting emotions and thoughts. As a soldier he itched to do his bit in a proper arena of war, instead of being on home defence duties. It was what he had trained for, after all. But then he was also worried that he wouldn’t be up to the demands that going into action would place on him when it came to his responsibility towards his men.

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