Read Online Soldier Girl by Annie Murray - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Annie Murray
Tags: Saga, Family Life
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table, picking at hers with an expression of real disgust.
‘She ain’t gunna last long in this lot,’ Lena decreed, loading her fork with more of the pale stodge. ‘She hardly looks strong enough to pick up ’er own clothes off the floor.’
‘Probably ain’t never ’ad to,’ Molly said. But there was something about Honor that also made her feel sorry for her. She looked so pitifully out of place, and even the more middle-class girls seemed to have given up attempts at conversation with her and were chatting instead with each other at the far end of the table. Honor’s obvious loneliness and desperation pricked through all Molly’s defences. But she couldn’t think of a thing to say to her. She seemed to come from another world. She turned her attention back to Cath, who was telling a revoltingly graphic story about cows giving birth, and joined in the loud laughter.
The hut was warmer when they got back to it, with the coal stove lit in the middle. The girls undressed with careful modesty, wriggling out of one set of clothes and pulling on another without showing much bare flesh. Molly put her striped army-issue pyjamas on, finding them a bit scratchy, but lovely and warm, and they fitted all right, as she was tall. She had never had any proper nightwear before, other than the one nightdress which Jenny Button had given her during her stay with them. Otherwise she’d had to make do with sleeping in her underwear.
‘You could fit three of me in these!’ Cath said, pulling out the waistband. Lena had had to roll the legs and sleeves of hers up. She was already sitting cross-legged on her bed, writing on a pad in her lap.
A few of the others also put on the army issue, but some girls had brought nightdresses from home. Honor, who was already lying in bed with her eyes closed as if she never wanted to open them again, was clad in a pair of mauve silk pyjamas. Cath had rolled her eyes comically behind the girl’s back as she was putting them on.
‘Right girls – lights out!’ The dark-haired girl in the bed next to Ruth was called Win, and she seemed to be self-appointed head of the hut. She was standing by the switch, overseeing them all. She had a pleasant, friendly face and a manner of natural authority that suggested she was used to being in charge. ‘Everybody ready? Right – I’m putting them out now.’
Molly got into bed. It was one of the best beds she’d ever slept in, and with far more bedding. She found she was looking forward to snuggling up on the sagging mattress, with all those blankets and pillows!
‘Night, you two,’ Cath said, and they called back to her. There was something so good-natured about Cath that Molly had warmed to her immediately. She seemed to accept everyone just as they were, not like those other snobby Misses along the hut!
Molly lay between the stiff sheets. Her temples were throbbing, the bedclothes were heavy and everything felt strange. The hut had a dank, musty atmosphere and the blankets had their own, slightly rubbery storeroom smell. There was a faint glow from the coals in the stove. She was overcome suddenly by astonishment that she had actually left home – was it only this morning she had told Iris and Bert, had caught that train? She and the others had all been given an army-issue postcard to send home, ‘to let your people know you’ve arrived safely’. Hah – your people! What people did she have? None of them cared a straw for her. She wouldn’t bother to send it off.
But her high spirits had sunk as the day went by, despite her loudness. Fear was taking over, along with her usual sense of not measuring up, ever, wherever she went. All this newness, and these alien, toffee-nosed girls around her: how was she ever going to manage? Doom-laden thoughts filled her mind. Would she just be little Molly Fox again, the one no one ever wanted? Those other girls had obviously already formed a very low opinion of her, the stuck-up cows!
The thought
‘She ain’t gunna last long in this lot,’ Lena decreed, loading her fork with more of the pale stodge. ‘She hardly looks strong enough to pick up ’er own clothes off the floor.’
‘Probably ain’t never ’ad to,’ Molly said. But there was something about Honor that also made her feel sorry for her. She looked so pitifully out of place, and even the more middle-class girls seemed to have given up attempts at conversation with her and were chatting instead with each other at the far end of the table. Honor’s obvious loneliness and desperation pricked through all Molly’s defences. But she couldn’t think of a thing to say to her. She seemed to come from another world. She turned her attention back to Cath, who was telling a revoltingly graphic story about cows giving birth, and joined in the loud laughter.
The hut was warmer when they got back to it, with the coal stove lit in the middle. The girls undressed with careful modesty, wriggling out of one set of clothes and pulling on another without showing much bare flesh. Molly put her striped army-issue pyjamas on, finding them a bit scratchy, but lovely and warm, and they fitted all right, as she was tall. She had never had any proper nightwear before, other than the one nightdress which Jenny Button had given her during her stay with them. Otherwise she’d had to make do with sleeping in her underwear.
‘You could fit three of me in these!’ Cath said, pulling out the waistband. Lena had had to roll the legs and sleeves of hers up. She was already sitting cross-legged on her bed, writing on a pad in her lap.
A few of the others also put on the army issue, but some girls had brought nightdresses from home. Honor, who was already lying in bed with her eyes closed as if she never wanted to open them again, was clad in a pair of mauve silk pyjamas. Cath had rolled her eyes comically behind the girl’s back as she was putting them on.
‘Right girls – lights out!’ The dark-haired girl in the bed next to Ruth was called Win, and she seemed to be self-appointed head of the hut. She was standing by the switch, overseeing them all. She had a pleasant, friendly face and a manner of natural authority that suggested she was used to being in charge. ‘Everybody ready? Right – I’m putting them out now.’
Molly got into bed. It was one of the best beds she’d ever slept in, and with far more bedding. She found she was looking forward to snuggling up on the sagging mattress, with all those blankets and pillows!
‘Night, you two,’ Cath said, and they called back to her. There was something so good-natured about Cath that Molly had warmed to her immediately. She seemed to accept everyone just as they were, not like those other snobby Misses along the hut!
Molly lay between the stiff sheets. Her temples were throbbing, the bedclothes were heavy and everything felt strange. The hut had a dank, musty atmosphere and the blankets had their own, slightly rubbery storeroom smell. There was a faint glow from the coals in the stove. She was overcome suddenly by astonishment that she had actually left home – was it only this morning she had told Iris and Bert, had caught that train? She and the others had all been given an army-issue postcard to send home, ‘to let your people know you’ve arrived safely’. Hah – your people! What people did she have? None of them cared a straw for her. She wouldn’t bother to send it off.
But her high spirits had sunk as the day went by, despite her loudness. Fear was taking over, along with her usual sense of not measuring up, ever, wherever she went. All this newness, and these alien, toffee-nosed girls around her: how was she ever going to manage? Doom-laden thoughts filled her mind. Would she just be little Molly Fox again, the one no one ever wanted? Those other girls had obviously already formed a very low opinion of her, the stuck-up cows!
The thought
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