Unwise Promises by Grace Thompson

Author:Grace Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

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Andy Probert, alias Larry Carver, was fifty miles away. Setting up a stall alongside a small roadside market, he brought out the goods he had collected the previous night from his lockup. Scattered among the remnants of his china sale was the stuff he had been given in St David’s Well by Audrey Thomas and others. It was far enough from home not to be recognized. At a time when luxury was little more than a dream, items such as those given by Audrey were snatched up as soon as they were placed on display.

He’d had a good week and it was fun work and certainly better than joining the army. The story he had told his family about being unsuitable, was not really the truth. He had been on the move, changing his name and even his appearance, and so far had evaded being dragged protestingly into custody and dressed in khaki. He had to stay one step ahead all the time, but instead of being tedious it only added to the excitement of his life.

The basis of his determination to stay out of the army was pure, inexcusable fear. He’d had a recurring dream since before he had become eligible for conscription. He saw himself in khaki unifonn and drowning in a sea filled with men unable to see him or hear his cries for help. He had been startled out of sleep – sweating, gasping for breath, his heart pumping – many times and every time the dream ended with his slipping below the water.

Whatever happened and whatever he had to do, he was determined to stay out of uniform, even though his brother Reggie, the one person he’d confided in, had told him it was not a premonition, only a dream brought on by apprehension and fear.

Packing the few goods he hadn’t sold into his van, changing the number plate to a local one, he drove off to find a place to sleep. Perhaps he’d sleep in the van tonight if he could find a quiet lane somewhere. Then he would travel north to another of his contacts to buy some fresh stock. This time he had been promised some food. He’d have to be particularly careful where he sold that, with so many people employed to look out for anyone selling black market foodstuffs and too ready to inform the police. He wouldn’t get away with it a second time and he promised himself he would never again allow his brother Reggie to take the blame.

He parked in a lane which led to a disused church and, after changing out of his smart ‘selling’ clothes and into a jumper and a pair of dungarees, he slept the sleep of the innocent and pure minded, undisturbed by guilt. The world was filled with the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. He was simply balancing the levels a bit, that’s all.

In the town where he and Shirley had met for the third time. the market manager was trying to trace him.

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