Home Front Girls

drone of the planes sounded above the sirens. ‘Christ Almighty, they’re droppin’ incendiaries. Get into the shelter quick!’ Mrs P pushed Lucy ahead of her but not before the girl had time to see the first bomb float down towards the city. The sight was followed by the sound of a deafening explosion and Harry began to whimper pathetically as Lucy sat down and pulled him to her.
    ‘Bastards!’ Mrs P shouted as her husband managed to slam the door shut, and then the shelter shook as another bomb dropped dangerously close to them. Lucy felt about for the candles and matches that Mrs P always kept in there, and once she had located them she lit two candles with trembling fingers. She had never known the bombs to drop so close before. Normally the Germans targeted the factories, but tonight it appeared that they were aiming for the city centre. Once, when Fred dared to peek outside, he saw wave after wave of bombers flying overhead and dropping their loads with terrifying regularity. Within minutes the smell of fires reached them and he could see flames licking up into the sky. The Bofors and the ack-acks had growled into life now and searchlights probed the sky as they swept this way and that, but the attack was so severe that the guns on the ground were having little effect. They heard the bells on the fire engines as the men raced to do what they could, but somehow they all knew that whilst so many bombs were dropping, the firemen would be fighting a losing battle.
    Then came the sound of the high-explosive bombs, and Mr P said worriedly. ‘If they hit the water-pipes, the firemen will have nothin’ to fight the fires with. They’re droppin’ them to make holes in the roofs. Then it sounds like they’re droppin’ the incendiaries to light the fires.’
    He placed his arm protectively around his wife’s shaking shoulders and they sat there feeling totally useless as the lovely city of Coventry was destroyed around their ears.
     
    Over at Primrose Lodge, Annabelle and her mother were down in the cellar.
    ‘Here, put this round your shoulders to keep you warm,’ Miranda told her daughter.
    The girl took the blanket from her without a word, showing no emotion whatsoever. But then Miranda was not surprised. Annabelle had been like this ever since the disclosure about her birth at her twenty-first party.
    ‘Don’t worry, darling, it will be over soon,’ Miranda told her as they listened to the terrifying drone overhead, followed by a loud bang.
    Annabelle shrugged. She wasn’t much bothered how long it went on now; in fact, she wasn’t much bothered about anything any more. Admittedly her mother still treated her exactly the same as she had before, but as far as Annabelle was concerned nothing was the same now that she knew about her true parentage. And so they sat on in silence as Miranda desperately tried to think of something to say that would bring her daughter back to her. At last, however, Miranda rose, saying apologetically, ‘I shall have to leave you now, sweetheart. I shall be needed tonight and I must get to the church hall. But you should be quite safe here.’
    ‘I’ll come with you,’ Annabelle said dully. ‘Anything is better than just sitting here not knowing what’s going on, and I dare say it will be a case of the more hands the merrier if the bombing continues.’
    Miranda chewed on her lips, hating the thought of this precious girl being out on the streets during a raid. But she knew better than to argue with Annabelle once she had made her mind up, so she allowed the girl to follow her up the cellar steps.
     
    Over on the Kenilworth Road Miss Timms and Dotty were also sheltering in their cellar. Dotty was almost beside herself with fear as she thought of Robert in London. Was he safe? And then she finally had to admit to herself that she loved him, truly loved him, and she knew that if anything should happen to him there would be no point in living. It was funny when she came to think of it; she had seen so many hurdles between them – his age, his upbringing – and yet none of that mattered now, and had he been there, she would have told him how she felt even if she risked learning that her feelings were not returned.
    When she began to cry, Miss Timms cuddled her.
    ‘Don’t cry, sweetheart,’ she urged tenderly. ‘I’ve got you safe and I won’t let anything happen to you.’
    ‘I – I wasn’t crying for me,’ Dotty whimpered. ‘I was crying for Robert. Oh