Read Online East End Angel by Carol Rivers - Free Book Online Page A

alarm,’ he nodded. ‘They got her this time. Eighteen of our lads are missing. S’pose we got to be thankful it ain’t as bad as the Hood. Nearly fifteen ’undred went down on her.’
    Pearl remembered only too well the heart-dropping morning in May when news came through that the German battleship Bismarck had sunk the prestigious Hood. So many lives had been lost. Jim had come round to Roper’s Way with the news and they’d all sat in silence as he’d read out the gruesome details of the battle cruiser’s demise.
    Pearl could hardly bring herself to read on. But there it was in black and white. The Ark Royal had been torpedoed and sunk just off Gibraltar. So many claims had been made by the Axis forces before, but now she had finally gone.
    ‘Our navy ain’t gonna find that sub,’ pointed out the vendor angrily. ‘Not like they cornered the Bismarck after chasing her for two days. Crippled by a torpedo bomber attack, she was. Didn’t have nowhere to run with our navy and airforce at her heels. But a sub! Who’s gonna know what one it was? Long gorn by now, anyway.’
    Pearl walked away with a heavy heart. Not only for the loss of the great aircraft carrier and crew but for all their families. It was a terrible tragedy, and just before Christmas too. Then she remembered Ricky, on a ship in the Arctic. Was it bad of her to wish that he too would go down on his ship? Ruby hadn’t said she’d heard from him lately. The U-boats were picking off the convoys’ escorts and then the merchant ships. The papers said that the German submarines had our navy at their mercy. Any survivors from the sunken ships were often left in the ocean to die. She thought of Ricky slipping below the freezing waves, but then felt ashamed. How could she wish someone dead? It was a dreadful thing to think.
    When Gwen and Fitz beckoned her into the shop, Pearl knew that it would be to discuss the tragic happening at sea. Fitz was very upset and put up the closed sign. They stood listening to the Home Service news on the wireless. Pearl and Gwen had tears in their eyes. Half an hour later, as she climbed the stairs and stood on the landing outside her door, the mist was thickening around the yard. There were fog horns sounding on the river. Slowly the roof tops disappeared under a yellow fog. The strong smell of smoking chimneys was mixed with an undercurrent of disinfectant. That meant the bugs were rampant. The use of naphtha was an attempt to kill them as they hugged the wet patches on walls. Pearl shivered.
    Quietly she said a prayer for all the souls who had died at sea, then let herself in. The kitchen smelled of mould. Despite all Jim had done to improve it, the walls were spawning a fungus. The yellow gingham curtains were stained at their hems and she looked cautiously round for scuttling black bodies.
    Suddenly the door opened and Jim stood there, his broad shoulders buried under his donkey jacket. He rammed the door shut, giving a sigh of relief to be inside.
    ‘Christ, love, you gave me a shock, sitting there in the gloom. Why don’t you put the light on?’
    ‘Have you heard the news?’ she replied half-heartedly.
    ‘The Ark Royal ?’ He nodded and flicked down the light switch.
    Pearl felt an uncontrollable sob in her chest. She put her hands up to her face.
    In a moment Jim was beside her. He took her in his arms and pushed back the lock of hair on her face. ‘What’s up, Pearly-girl?’ He held her so tightly she could hardly breathe.
    ‘War does such terrible things,’ she mumbled, leaning in to him. ‘All those poor sailors and their families . . .’ She still felt guilty about secretly wishing Ricky was dead.
    ‘It’s something we have to live with, love.’
    ‘But how long will it all go on?’
    ‘Come on, now,’ he said, holding her away from him and wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb. ‘This ain’t like you.’
    She nodded. ‘Daft, ain’t I?’
    ‘Now, there’s nothing that can be done,