Home Front Girls

Lucy hated that term. Mary was very slow in her development, admittedly, but Lucy still had high hopes that the little girl would catch up with other children her age, given time. Still, at least she had found someone who was prepared to care for her sister, if and when she found a job. Their kindly neighbour, Mrs Price, affectionately known as Mrs P, was an amazon of a woman with a heart to match, and since the Ford family had moved in next door to the Prices, the woman had been a godsend. The two younger Price children, Barry and Beryl, had been evacuated to the country a couple of months earlier, and now the big woman was happy to pour all the love she usually reserved for them onto Mary.
    Momentarily forgetting her nervousness, Lucy grinned as she thought back to the day she had been told that Mary was ‘backward’ and Mrs P’s indignation.
    ‘Silly buggers,’ she’d declared angrily. ‘What do they know? Happen the poor little mite is just a bit slower at graspin’ things than other kids her age, but she’ll catch up – you’ll see.’
    Lucy’s thoughts were dragged back to the present and the nervousness returned with a vengeance as the door opened and the striking blonde reappeared. She whispered to Lucy as she sailed past in a gust of Chanel No. 5, ‘Looks like I just got myself a job,’ but Lucy had no time to do anything other than nod before the stern-faced woman appeared again.
    ‘Miss Ford,’ she barked.
    Lucy shot to her feet and almost stumbled in her haste to follow the woman into a room where a gentleman with the most enormous bulbous nose she had ever seen was sitting at a desk waiting to interview her.
    Ten minutes later, she left the place in a daze. She was to start as a shop assistant at eight o’clock sharp the following Monday morning.
     
    ‘So ’ow did it go, sweet’eart?’ Mrs P asked when Lucy went to pick Mary up half an hour later.
    ‘I got the job,’ Lucy informed her.
    ‘Well, what yer lookin’ so glum for then?’ Mrs P raised an eyebrow as she jiggled Mary up and down on her plump knee. ‘That’s good, ain’t it?’
    ‘Oh yes,’ Lucy assured her hastily. ‘I suppose I’m just feeling a little . . . Oh, I don’t know – nervous, I suppose. Most of the girls who work there seem very glamorous and pretty. I just wonder how I’ll fit in. And are you quite sure that you won’t mind caring for Mary whilst I’m at work?’
    ‘Huh, I’ve hardly got a lot else to do to pass the time, have I? An’ this little soul is as good as the day is long. It’ll be a pleasure, so don’t you go frettin’ about that. As fer you fittin’ in . . . . Well, yer as good as any o’ them an’ better than most, I don’t mind bettin’,’ Mrs P replied as she eyed the girl up and down.
    Lucy really was an extremely attractive girl, although she appeared to be completely unaware of the fact. She was tall and slim with lovely shoulder-length auburn hair that turned to fiery red in the sunshine, and big green eyes that looked almost too big for her heart-shaped face. Given smarter clothes and with a little bit of make-up on, Mrs P was certain she could have been quite striking. But then she supposed the poor kid didn’t get an awful lot of time for titivating as most girls her age did. She was too busy caring for Mary and keeping her home running, which was a crying shame as far as Mrs P was concerned.
    In actual fact, the Ford family were a little bit of a mystery and very tight-lipped about their past. All Mrs P knew about them was that they had lost both their parents five years ago, although she had no idea how they had died, and whenever she asked any questions about them, Lucy closed up like a clam. Mrs P supposed it was too painful for the girl to talk about. But there was no doubt she was as good as gold to her little sister, like a little mother, and she kept their tiny terraced house as neat as a new pin. Mrs P still felt that it was an awful responsibility for such a young woman, even more so since her brother had been called up. Now Joel was a nice lad an’ all. Good husband material for some lucky girl, although he’d not have much chance for romance now till this damn war was over.
    The big woman sighed as she thought of her own son, who had also gone to fight for his country. With her two youngest sent off to the country too, she and her husband Fred were rattling around like peas in a pod and sometimes she felt that her life had no purpose any more.