A Band of Steel by Rosie Goodwin

Author:Rosie Goodwin [Goodwin, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780755383825
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2011-05-11T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

The following morning, after being presented with a hearty breakfast that she couldn’t face, Adina accompanied Theo and Fliss to St Thomas’s Primary, the school where they worked. It was just a few streets away and well within walking distance.

Thankfully the old woman had not put in an appearance, and when Adina commented on it, she was told that Mrs Montgomery was always served breakfast in bed. Adina stifled a grin at the thought of it and the banter that was bound to pass between Beattie and her employer.

The school was dismally rundown but luckily had missed being bombed. Many of the pupils were Londoners, but two classrooms had been set aside for the Jewish children who eyed her curiously when Theo introduced her.

‘This is Miss Schwartz, children,’ he informed them. ‘And during the next few months she will be working closely with the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to try and trace your families in your home countries.’

Adina’s heart ached as she was confronted with a sea of pale little faces. The more fortunate amongst them had been living with foster families, but the majority of them had spent the war closeted in North London orphanages. Theo had told her that the majority of the children were German Jews like herself, so now she addressed them in their native language. ‘Good morning, children. How are you today?’

Instantly, many faces brightened and she knew that most of them had understood her. In fairness, after living in London for so long, they now had a grasp of basic English, but to have someone speak to them in their own tongue was a special treat.

Seeing the smiling faces, Theo left her to it and the rest of the day passed in a blur as Adina spoke to the children and liaised with the Red Cross and the Salvation Army, who were now constantly in and out of the school in their quest to trace the children’s families.

When the bell rang later that afternoon it was Fliss who came to fetch her, and Adina was grateful as she wasn’t sure that she would find her way home alone yet. All the streets looked similar, and she had visions of getting lost.

‘So how did your first day go?’ Fliss asked, as they walked along side by side.

‘I think it went quite well,’ Adina told her. ‘The Red Cross are working hard but it’s going to be awful for the children who have no parents left to go home to. What will happen to them?’

‘I dare say the poor little mites will be transferred back to orphanages in their own country, or they’ll stay here.’

Adina felt sad. A handful of the children had already wormed their way into her heart, and she hoped that their stories would have a happy ending. However deep down she feared that the majority of the children’s families who had refused to flee their homes might well have been sent to Hitler’s death camps.

Two of the little girls had clung to her skirts all day, and it was Rebekah and Esther that she thought of now.

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