Heartwarming and emotional story of one girl's courage in WW2 Fenella Miller (best books for 8th graders txt) 📖

old chap, you will be well remunerated for your trouble. Just keep turning out well trained pilots and the RAF will be happy to pay. We’re going to need as many young men as we can lay our hands on. Someone will accompany the trainees with the necessary paperwork. Toodle-pip.’

The phone disconnected. Mrs B was lurking at the end of the passageway waiting to hear why a government official had been ringing him.

She was as thrilled as he was when he told her. ‘Well I never! Imagine that! There will be brave RAF boys protecting this country because of our Ellie. Fred will be ever so proud.’

‘She doesn’t know yet. I hope Ellie will still be able to take time off. A young girl like her shouldn’t have to spend every waking minute working.’

‘When the war starts everyone will have to do their bit and I’m sure Ellie will be happy to do whatever she’s asked. A fine young man like you, Mr Reynolds, will be volunteering yourself I expect.’

‘Not initially, my job is to train pilots. I’ll be doing far more good for the war effort turning out half a dozen every couple of months.’

‘Will you have to teach them all the technical things as well?’

‘I don’t know until I meet up with the men in charge on Monday. Good job I brought back the appointment book – I’ve got to cancel everything in here.’

It took him the remainder of the afternoon to get messages and speak to everyone. One or two had been disgruntled, but mostly they’d understood that the defence of the country came first.

The blokes doing the Anderson shelter had finished so he thought he’d go and have a look at where they might be spending a considerable amount of time in the not too distant future. From what he’d heard Romford was close enough to both London and the RAF base at Hornchurch to be considered in danger from bombing when it started.

Fred had been talking about the leaflets he’d been getting on a regular basis from the Ministry of Agriculture telling him what he should be doing to prepare. Every spare bit of land was to be ploughed and planted with cereal crops or vegetables of some sort – especially potatoes. The fact that all his farms now had tractors would make things a lot easier.

Jack glanced at his watch. He had an hour before he needed to leave to meet the train. He could do with a pint and had plenty of time to visit the boozer near the station.

The door to the Anderson shelter had been left open but the daylight didn’t penetrate the dismal, dark depths. There were wooden benches running down either side, and one at table height across the back. Presumably this was for candles and flasks of tea.

He stood at the top of the three steps but didn’t venture any lower. He’d ask Mrs B to make sure there were blankets and pillows stored by the back door. There would be no point in leaving them down here as they would soon become damp and mouldy. Probably be a good idea to have a bucket with a lid just in case anyone wanted a pee. The thought of either Ellie or Mrs B using it made him smile. They would have to be bloody desperate.

Tea was being pushed back and replaced by supper – a cold meal tonight – as neither he nor Ellie would be back before five thirty. Fred was visiting one of his tenants after he’d finished work so had been quite happy with the arrangement.

Later at the pub he took his pint outside and sat on the wooden bench in the bit of scrubby grass that grandly called itself a garden. The interior of the pub was filled with miserable sods moaning about shortages, being called up, the bloody war and so on. It was far more pleasant to sit in the early evening sunshine and sip his warm beer and enjoy his own company.

*

Ellie enjoyed her day out with her erstwhile friends but came to the reluctant conclusion she no longer had anything in common with them. Although she’d been a qualified pilot while still at school she had kept that side of her life quiet. Mainly because her mother had only agreed to her being at the airfield if nobody else knew.

Elizabeth and Anna wanted only two things – to enjoy themselves and find a rich husband. Neither of those was of any interest to Ellie. As she’d already agreed to go to London and meet Greg – and had spent a lot of money on suitable clothes to go in – she wouldn’t cancel this arrangement. However, she would make it perfectly clear she wouldn’t be seeing him again.

She travelled in a ladies-only compartment and was relieved that nobody else got in with her. She’d deliberately chosen to come home before the rush hour. Tramping about shops and trying on clothes wasn’t her idea of fun but at least she now had a lovely evening gown in oyster silk and two pretty cotton dresses.

The train steamed into the station on time and she was waiting at a door with the boxes containing her new purchases, plus her handbag hanging over her arm. She’d require the help of a porter to get everything off the train and she hoped Jack had bought a platform ticket and would be waiting to meet her.

Opening the carriage door was going to be tricky. This required her to put down the boxes in order to unhook the leather strap and lower the window so she could lean out and turn the handle on the outside. At least if the carriage door was open the train wouldn’t depart with her still inside.

She was halfway through her tricky manoeuvre when he appeared in front of her. ‘You’re making a dog’s dinner out of that, Ellie, let me help.’ He lifted her out of the train as if