Time to Say Goodbye

Author:Katie Flynn [Flynn, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2014-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

THINGS HAD CHANGED considerably since Laurie’s visit, Imogen thought as she got into bed one April night, almost a year later. Jill and Auntie had had a number of discussions and finally it had been agreed that it was Jill’s duty – and wish – to join one of the services. She had become a Waaf and then a plotter, working in a big underground control room outside the city of Norwich, just ten miles from the Linnet, which meant she was able to visit them whenever she had leave.

Naturally enough she wanted to be with Laurie whenever possible, and once or twice they had come to the Linnet together. Imogen noticed that Jill was thinner and looked worn out, though a couple of days’ rest did wonders. The girls had grown used to what were described as ‘hit and run raids’, the heavy bombers roaring overhead on their way to attack ports or factory complexes, and no longer bothered to get up and go down to the Anderson shelter Auntie had insisted on installing the previous year. Sometimes the noise kept them awake, particularly the whine of the air raid siren, which, if the wind was in the right direction, came to them clearly from the village, but the shelter itself would have grown disgustingly damp and smelly had Auntie not decreed that they should give it a thorough spring clean once a month.

Once, there had been no question of aircraft flying at night, but now it was done as a matter of course. America had entered the war at the end of 1941 when the Japanese had bombed their fleet in Pearl Harbor, and their air force had taken over daytime raids, leaving night flying to the British. Auntie had said the Japs should get a medal, because having the Americans on the Allies’ side must, she thought, shorten the war by many months, perhaps even by years.

But now it was 1942 and Imogen awoke to the familiar sound of planes overhead and Rufus’s howling. Auntie often remarked that he was better than any alarm, since he seemed to hear the raiders as soon as they crossed the coast and began to howl at the top of his voice, showing the whites of his eyes and not ceasing his lament until the skies were clear once more. Imogen sighed and burrowed her head into her pillow. It would be another hit and run raid on the airfields, she supposed; no need to get out of bed.

She was just beginning to snooze once more when there was a sound like all the devils in hell screaming at once, followed by a deep boom. Debby, who had actually been snoring, gave a squawk and sat bolt upright, eyes rounding. ‘What was that?’ she quavered. ‘Immy, what was that huge bang?’

Imogen was beginning to answer that it must be a bomb, jettisoned by an enemy plane on its way home to Germany, when it was succeeded by another tremendous, earth-shaking boom, and others began to follow in quick succession.

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