Home Front Girls

explosions sounded. And then the roar of the planes could be heard again as they turned from wherever they had been bombing and flew back directly over them. The roar became a drone before fading to a distant buzz, then dying away altogether.
    ‘Do yer reckon they’ve gone?’ A woman’s terrified voice broke the silence but for a while no one answered.
    And then someone said, ‘Do yer think it’s safe to go back out there yet?’
    ‘Not until the all-clear sounds,’ someone else warned. ‘They might come back again.’
    The woman clutching the baby began to cry, yet strangely the child was silent; he had fallen fast asleep impervious to the danger they were all in.
    And then at last the sound they had all been waiting for came and two men wrestled to pull the heavy metal doors open. It was growing dusk by now but even so, the dim light that flooded the shelter was the most welcome sight that Dotty had ever seen.
    They staggered out into the cooling evening and looked about, then someone said, ‘Over there – look. Seems they’ve hit Ansty Aerodrome from the direction o’ the smoke.’
    In the distance a great pall of smoke was rising into the sky like some ugly great giant, but thankfully, the area around them appeared to be untouched.
    People began to drift away, intent on getting home in case the Germans should return. Dotty stood for a time silently staring at the smoke in the distance and then she too set off, her shaking legs barely able to take her weight. She headed for the bus station, relieved to see that this, too, was untouched, and soon after she boarded the bus.
    When her home came into sight, Dotty rushed towards it and as she climbed the stairs Mrs Cousins came out to meet her on the landing.
    ‘Oh love, I’m so pleased to see yer,’ she babbled. ‘It says on the wireless that the bastards ’ave bombed Ansty Aerodrome, but no one’s said if anyone was hurt yet.’
    ‘I can’t see how there couldn’t have been any casualties,’ Dotty answered sombrely. ‘I got dragged into the shelter up by the station, but even from there we all clearly heard five explosions. Are the children all right?’
    ‘They’re all fine. Thankfully the oldest two were fast asleep an’ the little ’un is too young to understand what was happenin’.’
    ‘But didn’t you get them all down into the cellar?’ Dotty asked.
    Mrs Cousins shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t. If I’d woken ’em up they’d ’ave been terrified so I decided to risk it an’ stay where we were.’
    ‘But you wouldn’t have stood a chance up here,’ Dotty pointed out and Mrs Cousins shrugged.
    ‘At least we’d ’ave all gone together,’ she muttered. ‘The older two won’t be around fer much longer anyway. I’ve agreed they can go wi’ the next lot of evacuees, then I’ll only ’ave the little ’un to worry about.’
    ‘It might be wise,’ Dotty agreed, but she felt so sad for the woman. She’d already lost her husband and soon she would be losing two of her children too, for a time at least.
    She had been at home for less than an hour when she heard someone clattering up the stairs and Miss Timms burst into the room without knocking. Dotty had been so shaken up that she had forgotten to lock the door.
    ‘Oh thank God you’re all right,’ the woman croaked breathlessly when she saw Dotty. ‘I was so worried that something might have happened to you. I’ve left Mother with a neighbour while I came to check.’
    The woman was red in the face and breathless and Dotty led her to a chair before fetching her a drink of water. She was deeply touched that Miss Timms had been so concerned about her.
    ‘I’m fine, as you can see,’ she assured her, ‘although I have to say when the siren went off it nearly scared me to death. I’d just seen Robert off at the railway station and started for home when it happened, but some man dragged me into a shelter and I stayed there until the all-clear sounded.’
    Miss Timms gulped at the water and nodded, then was instantly on her feet again. ‘Well, I can’t stay, dear. The sirens shook Mother up too and I don’t want to leave her alone for too long. But promise me that if this happens again, you’ll take shelter.’
    ‘Of course I will.’ Dotty saw her to the door where she kissed her on the cheek, deciding she would give it another couple of hours and then she would walk to the phone box and ring Robert just to make sure that he had arrived home safely. The day