goat frightened me to death. And I tripped over its dratted chain and fell into the muck and messed up my trousers.’
‘No, pet, I can see it wouldn’t be funny,’ said Joss solemnly, and then spoilt it by bursting out laughing.
Clara tossed her head in the air. ‘I’m off to bed. Mind, don’t make so much noise neither. Think on – my work is just as important as yours, and hard an’ all in that munitions factory.’
‘Yes, Clara. Goodnight, pet.’
Joss managed to keep his face straight while his young sister made a dignified exit, and then he pulled down the corners of his mouth and gazed round at the others wickedly.
‘Aye, well,’ said Matt as he laced up his boots. ‘She’s right there. Mind you, sometimes she comes home with more of that yellow powder on her than I have coal dust. It cannot be good for her. By, it smells like fire-damp gas! But the pay’s good, I’ll give you that. She fetches in more than I do.’
In fact, Clara earned more than any of them, Chuck included, and he was on top wages at the pit, hewing, thought Theda as she too said her goodnights and followed Clara up the stairs. It was a bone of contention with the miners that though they worked an extra day during the war they earned little more than they had done before, unlike other workers. But at last there were some signs of its being put right, the government currently negotiating with the union.
Next morning, when Theda went down to the kitchen, there was a brown paper bag on the table and a note from Joss with her name on it.
‘I thought you could take these for the bairns on the ward,’ was written in his careless scrawl.
Theda picked up the bag and opened it. Inside were six oranges and four bananas. The bananas were slightly over ripe but not spoiled and Theda gazed at them in delight. It was four years since she had last seen a banana and she lifted one to her nose, breathing in the almost forgotten aroma. Smiling, she slipped it back into the bag. She had to get on if she wanted breakfast before she went to work.
The kettle was still warm and she placed it on the gas ring by the side of the range and lit the gas before spreading margarine on a slice of bread she had cut from the loaf and covering it with a smear of jam. There was a small amount of dried egg left in the packet but she would leave it for someone else, and she had eaten her four ounces of bacon on her day off. But the milkman had come early so at least there was real milk for the tea.
‘Gosh!’ said Nurse Elliot, peering over Theda’s shoulder at the exotic fruit she was cutting up and spreading on bread and butter to make it go further. She placed a piece on each of the children’s tea plates along with a section of orange, careful that there was an equal share on each. ‘Don’t bananas look funny, Staff Nurse? I’d forgotten what they were like. Do you know, I used to love banana custard before the war.’
‘We didn’t see many bananas before the war,’ commented Theda. ‘Not even in the local Co-op store. There wasn’t much call for them in a mining village with most of the miners out of work.’
Nurse Elliot, a Red Cross nurse, looked at her blankly. She was not from a mining village, her father was a bank manager in the town.
‘Come on,’ said Theda, ‘let’s get them on the trolley and pass them out. I want to see the children’s faces when they taste the banana.’
The reactions of the children were all she could have hoped for. Only Peter Patterson was not well enough yet for solid food but Theda was thankful that he was at least taking an interest in his surroundings now. He had been to X-ray but no skull fracture had been discerned, though he had been badly concussed. His arm, now plastered and supported in a sling, lay heavily on top of the bedclothes.
‘And lucky for you, young man, that you weren’t killed,’ Sister had said sternly. ‘Or at least suffered a fractured spine. Why, you could have been paralysed
‘No, pet, I can see it wouldn’t be funny,’ said Joss solemnly, and then spoilt it by bursting out laughing.
Clara tossed her head in the air. ‘I’m off to bed. Mind, don’t make so much noise neither. Think on – my work is just as important as yours, and hard an’ all in that munitions factory.’
‘Yes, Clara. Goodnight, pet.’
Joss managed to keep his face straight while his young sister made a dignified exit, and then he pulled down the corners of his mouth and gazed round at the others wickedly.
‘Aye, well,’ said Matt as he laced up his boots. ‘She’s right there. Mind you, sometimes she comes home with more of that yellow powder on her than I have coal dust. It cannot be good for her. By, it smells like fire-damp gas! But the pay’s good, I’ll give you that. She fetches in more than I do.’
In fact, Clara earned more than any of them, Chuck included, and he was on top wages at the pit, hewing, thought Theda as she too said her goodnights and followed Clara up the stairs. It was a bone of contention with the miners that though they worked an extra day during the war they earned little more than they had done before, unlike other workers. But at last there were some signs of its being put right, the government currently negotiating with the union.
Next morning, when Theda went down to the kitchen, there was a brown paper bag on the table and a note from Joss with her name on it.
‘I thought you could take these for the bairns on the ward,’ was written in his careless scrawl.
Theda picked up the bag and opened it. Inside were six oranges and four bananas. The bananas were slightly over ripe but not spoiled and Theda gazed at them in delight. It was four years since she had last seen a banana and she lifted one to her nose, breathing in the almost forgotten aroma. Smiling, she slipped it back into the bag. She had to get on if she wanted breakfast before she went to work.
The kettle was still warm and she placed it on the gas ring by the side of the range and lit the gas before spreading margarine on a slice of bread she had cut from the loaf and covering it with a smear of jam. There was a small amount of dried egg left in the packet but she would leave it for someone else, and she had eaten her four ounces of bacon on her day off. But the milkman had come early so at least there was real milk for the tea.
‘Gosh!’ said Nurse Elliot, peering over Theda’s shoulder at the exotic fruit she was cutting up and spreading on bread and butter to make it go further. She placed a piece on each of the children’s tea plates along with a section of orange, careful that there was an equal share on each. ‘Don’t bananas look funny, Staff Nurse? I’d forgotten what they were like. Do you know, I used to love banana custard before the war.’
‘We didn’t see many bananas before the war,’ commented Theda. ‘Not even in the local Co-op store. There wasn’t much call for them in a mining village with most of the miners out of work.’
Nurse Elliot, a Red Cross nurse, looked at her blankly. She was not from a mining village, her father was a bank manager in the town.
‘Come on,’ said Theda, ‘let’s get them on the trolley and pass them out. I want to see the children’s faces when they taste the banana.’
The reactions of the children were all she could have hoped for. Only Peter Patterson was not well enough yet for solid food but Theda was thankful that he was at least taking an interest in his surroundings now. He had been to X-ray but no skull fracture had been discerned, though he had been badly concussed. His arm, now plastered and supported in a sling, lay heavily on top of the bedclothes.
‘And lucky for you, young man, that you weren’t killed,’ Sister had said sternly. ‘Or at least suffered a fractured spine. Why, you could have been paralysed
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