The Tobacco Girls by Lizzie Lane

Author:Lizzie Lane [LANE, LIZZIE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

She was still thinking about what Alf had said on her way to meet Sid at the bus stop but it was all very well telling her to get out, to marry, to do anything rather than stay, but it wasn’t so easy if you didn’t have anywhere to go.

Halfway along Midland Road, she passed a car. It was black and shiny and a man she vaguely recognised was leaning against it. On seeing her, he straightened and banged on the roof of the car. She couldn’t hear what he said but instinctively she broke into a run.

The car started up and she knew it was following her.

Her legs pumped the pavement as hard as her heart pumped against her ribs.

Ahead of her was the bus stop where Sid was waiting.

‘Maisie!’ he shouted and came towards her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted another figure walking steadily and firmly along the front of the shops. In time he became a figure in uniform, a blank blur of navy serge and silver buttons.

The car passed in a blur of black and chrome and shot ahead of her in the direction of Old Market.

Her footsteps slowed. Her chest hurt and she was still panting heavily from running.

‘Are you all right?’ Sid was a picture of concern.

Hand held against her racing heart, she nodded.

Sid glanced in the direction of the car. ‘What were they up to?’

‘Are you all right, miss?’

Again a series of nods. ‘I think so,’ she managed to say at last. ‘They saw you,’ she said to the policeman. ‘That’s why they drove away.’

‘Thank goodness they did,’ he said, poking a finger beneath the peak of his helmet so it sat a bit further back on his head, the strap tight against his chin. ‘I couldn’t have done much by myself.’

Sid said that he could have given him a hand. ‘Landing punches on two blokes is a bit more difficult than punching one,’ he pointed out, though, quite frankly, Maisie couldn’t see him being in the least bit aggressive.

The policeman seemed to see the same in Sid and grinned. ‘Us or them?’

There was something sombre about their shared laughter, almost as though the occasion should be regarded with more respect.

‘Off somewhere nice?’ asked the constable.

‘A bus ride to the country,’ said Sid. ‘Might be the last chance we get now war’s been declared.’

The policeman adjusted his chinstrap. ‘True. Have a good time.’

Maisie didn’t admit that she’d not heard that morning’s declaration. To do so would have meant explaining about her father smashing the wireless and she felt ashamed about it – almost as though it was her fault.

Instead she listened to Sid talking about the fact that he would soon be off to fight.

‘I’d like you to write to me while I’m away,’ he said to her. ‘If you don’t mind that is.’

She looked up at him and smiled. ‘I don’t mind. Unless I join up as well. I’d certainly like to.’

Joining up would solve all her problems, get

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