‘So chop-chop!’ She walked to the door, then turned, eyes narrowed. ‘And smarten up! Caps on and look lively, or I’ll line you up and you can all march around the place!’
‘Y’know, this estate is lovely,’ Evie Turner sighed. ‘I wouldn’t like anyone to take it off me if it were mine.’
‘Then, if you ask me,’ Nan flopped on her bed, ‘any feller what has so much deserves to have it took off him!’
‘Nan Morrissey! You’re a communist!’ ‘Nah. Just believe in fair shares for all. Them houses we’ve just seen, f’r instance. It’s just like a little village and it all belonged to his lordship. Now me, I come from a grotty dump, with an outside lavvy and muck and soot all over everything. It’s goin’ to be like living in the country as far as I’m concerned, and it wouldn’t bother me if I stayed here for the duration.’
Southgate Lodge looked almost lived in, Carrie thought, now beds were made up and photographs arranged on locker tops. And a jamjar filled with roses and honeysuckle on the mantelpiece.
‘Well, I’m going to write to Bob,’ Evie smiled.
‘Your husband?’ Nan had noticed the lance-corporal’s wedding ring. ‘Where is he?’
‘RAF. Overseas – the Middle East, I’m almost sure. We got married on his embarkation leave. Seven days of heaven, as the song goes, then back to the ATS again. You two got boyfriends?’
‘Not me. Wasn’t allowed to go out with fellers. Had to stay at home and look after me brother -stepbrother -’ Nan amended firmly. ‘My real mum died and me dad married again. Then he got killed in the bombing, so I wasn’t stoppin’. Shoved off to mum’s sister in Leeds. Me Auntie Mim. Best thing I ever did; that, and joining up.’
‘So life in the ATS suits you?’ Carrie liked the frankly-spoken girl with beautiful eyes.
‘You bet! Bed and board and no clothing coupons to worry about. Pay day every fortnight, and every brass farthing of it mine! But what about you, Carrie? Courting, are you?’
‘I’m – er – engaged, actually. Jeffrey. He’s in the Navy.’
‘And he didn’t buy you a ring? It’s unofficial, then?’
‘No. I’ve got a ring. But there was so much dirty work to do when I was training that I put it with my identity tag around my neck. Afraid it’s still there.’
‘Ar. I see…’
Nan did not see. If she had an engagement ring, no way would she shove it out of sight. ‘And I’ll take the letters to the post when you’ve written them, if you like. I’ll just do a quick one to Auntie Mim – let her know I’ve landed on me feet.’
For never before had Nan Morrissey seen so many trees and hedgerows, nor heard birds singing so loudly and so late, nor picked roses and honeysuckle to scent this diddy little room in this diddy little house, she thought with pure affection.
‘It’s smashing here, Dad.’ She sent her thoughts high and wide. ‘You’re not to worry about me one bit, ’cause I’m living in the country, now, like I always wanted to…’
She hoped he could hear her. She thought reluctantly about the Queer One in Cyprian Court and about Georgie, then blanked them from her mind as if they had never existed.
Dear Auntie Mim,
This is to let you know my new address so you can write to me. I think I will be here for some time; wouldn’t mind being here for the duration, it is so nice. Just three of us in a billet like a doll’s house. I’ll write more, later. Please write back to me, soon.
Love, Nan X X
‘Well, that’s mine written.’ She laid the envelope on the windowsill. ‘Think I’ll have a bit of a walk, till youse two have finished.’
Remembering to put on her cap she walked down the front path, taking deep breaths of air, marvelling at her luck, and though she had not grasped just what she would be doing here, she was content to be part of a set-up that was as different as could be from the barracks she had reported to, and the just as awful teleprinter training school. All bull it had been, and everything at the double.
Here, it was as if life had slowed down now the hectic weeks of her training were over, though not even in her dreams had she thought to be sent to such a place.
The gateposts either side of the drive that led to Heronflete were ornately patterned in stone and there had obviously been gates there. Probably, Nan thought, taken away to be melted down for war weapons, like gates and railings all over the country. The government in London took anything they wanted; for the war effort, they said, and if you told them it wasn’t on, they took not one blind bit of notice, and accused you of being unpatriotic!
She thought about the lord, and if he had been a bit miffed when the War Office took his house and all the estate, and it made her wonder what had happened to the workers and the farmers and their animals, because they had had to get out, too.
A funny old war, you had to admit, but she was glad she had joined it and met up with Evie and Carrie, though Sergeant James was a bit of a martinet, Nan brooded.
She gazed up a wide driveway with oak trees on either side and which turned abruptly to the left about two hundred yards on. Round that bend she might be able to see Heronflete, even though one big, empty house was probably the same as another. It intrigued her, though, for the simple reason that they had been told it was none of their business, though if it were none of their business, why was she and four others – and the sergeant an’ all – here in the first place?
The gravel of the drive crunched beneath her feet so she stepped onto the verge, walking slowly, carefully. The grass was damp with evening dew, and long. Probably because there were no gardeners now, to cut it. Must have upset a lot of people, having to pack up and find somewhere else to live. Not fair, really, but what was fair, when you thought, about a war?
She reached the curve in the drive and crouched in the shelter of the trees. Just a quick peep. See what all the mystery was about.
‘You there! Halt!’ yelled a voice behind her.
She swung round, gasping at the sight of a soldier holding a rifle, and though he wasn’t pointing it at her, she was all at once afraid.
‘What are you doing here, then? What’s your name, girl?’
‘304848 Morrissey N,’ she gasped, eyes wide. ‘Didn’t mean to intrude. Was getting a bit of country air.’
‘All right. I believe you. But somebody ought to have told you that up here is out of bounds.’
He jabbed a forefinger at a red and white barrier and the sentry boxes either side of it.
‘I’m sorry. You won’t say nuthin’ to Sergeant James, will you? I’ll be in dead trouble if you do.’ Nan fixed him with a wide-eyed stare.
‘Is that what she’s called? Her that goes around thinking she can give orders, you mean? Face that’d crack, if she smiled?’
‘That sounds exactly like our sergeant,’ Nan breathed. ‘I don’t want to land myself in trouble, first day here. You’ll not tell on me? I won’t ever come up here again.’
‘You can come up this drive, but only if you have a pass saying it’s all right, ’cause you’ll have to get past me and my mate over there, and we’re very particular who we let in! Now on yer way, girlie, and don’t try it on again without permission or you’ll be on a charge – see?’
‘Yes. Much obliged, I’m sure.’
Nan turned and ran, not caring about the noisy gravel, still shocked by the sentry, and his gun.
‘Hey, you two!’ She burst breathless into the lodge. ‘Up that