Home Front Girls

particularly difficult afternoon. One customer made her lift down almost every bolt of material in the shop before finally deciding on a length of pale blue satin. She then spent the next hour poring over the patterns, dismissing every one that Dotty suggested would suit the fabric before finally deciding on one that Dotty was sure would be totally unsuitable. By then Dotty had gone past caring and was just glad to see the back of her. It took her almost half an hour to replace all the different materials, and by then she was thoroughly cheesed off and longing for her afternoon break, although she was still looking forward to going around to Lucy’s that evening. Anything beat sitting in an empty flat.
    When they finally met up in the canteen it appeared that the other two hadn’t had a very good day either.
    ‘I had this one woman who had me spray at least eight different perfumes,’ Annabelle complained. ‘And then at the end of all that, she still couldn’t make her mind up and left without buying a thing! Between you and me, I just wonder if she ever intended to in the first place. And they were all expensive ones too.’
    ‘Well, you can’t win ’em all,’ Lucy said matter-of-factly, grinning as she spotted the tiny bit of mistletoe that had dropped into Annabelle’s hair, behind her ear. ‘It’s been manic in the children’s department too and I heard one girl say that they’ve been run off their feet in the food hall. I reckon people are beginning to hoard stuff before the food rationing comes properly into force. They’re stocking up on packets, tins and bottles and jars of things like there’s no tomorrow.’
    ‘That’s all down to this bloody war again,’ Annabelle said crossly. ‘They’re calling it “the phoney war” now so why is everyone panicking? It’s not as if it’s affected us yet, is it? And now we’re all going to be issued with identity cards. I mean, for God’s sake! It’s bad enough having to cart those damn gas masks about everywhere.’
    ‘Better to be safe than sorry,’ Lucy said sensibly. ‘I still have an awful feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better.’
    Annabelle lit a cigarette and stared morosely down into her tea as the other two chatted about this and that.
    The rest of the afternoon proved to be as busy as before, and by the time the end of their shift came around, the girls were all worn out. Then, to crown it all, they ended up having to stay behind for fifteen minutes extra to do the tidying up that they had been unable to do whilst the customers were milling about. Admittedly the cleaners came in once the shop was shut, but the staff were still expected to put everything neatly away before they left.
    ‘We’ll have missed the six-fifteen bus now,’ Lucy wailed as they put their outdoor clothes on in the staff cloakroom. ‘And I only have tonight with Joel too. He’ll be gone again in the morning.’
    Dotty nodded sympathetically. Joel and Lucy seemed to be very close and she must be so worried about him being shipped off somewhere.
    ‘I’m sure he’ll write to you regularly to let you know how he’s getting on,’ she said comfortingly.
    Lucy nodded although her face was grim.
    They got outside to find it had started to snow, and right on cue, Annabelle groaned, ‘That’s all we need!’
    ‘It might not settle,’ Dotty said hopefully, although the flakes seemed to be as big as dinner plates. She glanced down at Annabelle’s shoes. The heels were not as high as she had used to wear admittedly, but they were still totally unsuitable for walking on slippery pavements. But she didn’t dare say anything. The mood Annabelle was in, she was afraid of getting her head bitten off.
    Just as they had feared, they had missed their bus and the bad weather conditions made the next one late, which meant they didn’t get to Lucy’s until gone seven o’clock.
    Joel sighed with relief when they all trooped into the cosy back room.
    ‘Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick,’ he said as he helped Lucy off with her coat.
    She quickly explained as she crossed to warm her hands at the fire and kiss Mary. She then sniffed at the air appreciatively. Something smelled good and it made her stomach rumble with anticipation.
    ‘So, what culinary delight have we got for tea then?’ she asked with a twinkle in her eye. Her mother had used to tease Joel that he could burn water, before— She stopped her