Read Online The Girl on the Beach by Mary Nichols - Free Book Online

they had not been used. They had been told they would have to register at a grocer’s for all their rationed goods and Julie had dutifully registered with a small shop in the Old Kent Road, where she did most of her food shopping.
    They were halfway through tea when they heard someone come in the back door. Before Hilda could go and investigate, the dining room door opened and Roland put his head round it. ‘Is this a party and can anyone join in?’
    ‘Roly!’ Hilda flew across the room to hug him and drag him into the room. ‘You’re just in time for tea. Are you on leave?’
    ‘Forty-eight hours. Hallo, everyone.’ He kissed his sister and Julie and stood looking at his nephew and niece. ‘My, they’ve grown.’ He delved in his kitbag and produced a little aeroplane carved in wood, which he presented to George. ‘There, little fellow, happy birthday.’ Then he went to his kitbag again. ‘Can’t leave the other little monster out, even if it’s not her birthday.’ This time he produced a rag doll for Dorothy.
    ‘Sit down and have some tea,’ Hilda said. ‘Tell us what you’ve been doing.’
    He pulled up another chair while his mother fetched out more crockery and cutlery. ‘Flying about the countryside, patrolling the Channel looking for enemy shipping, whizzing over to France – nothing very exciting.’
    ‘That won’t last,’ his father said.
    ‘No, I don’t suppose it will, but all this waiting about is making everyone jittery.’
    ‘We’re not hanging about,’ Harry said. ‘The factory is working round the clock.’
    ‘Yes, well, there’s some catching up to do.’ He paused. ‘What are your plans? Going to stay at home and wait to be called or are you going to enlist?’
    ‘He’s in a reserved occupation,’ Julie put in. ‘Radios are needed urgently.’
    ‘So they are, but I reckon women can make them as easily as men. That right, Pa?’
    ‘Yes,’ his father agreed. ‘Chalfont’s has already taken on a lot of women as the men leave for the forces. Harry knows that.’
    ‘Well, one of you in uniform is more than enough,’ Hilda said. ‘So let’s drop the subject.’
    They dutifully obeyed but the conversation left Harry musing. Was it cowardly of him to want to stay at home and look after his wife and child? After all, he was doing a useful job, and how did he know he would be able to do any good in the forces? He’d probably get called up anyway and then he wouldn’t have a choice. Wait or go? He looked at his wife, laughing and wiping chocolate icing from George’s face, and his heart almost burst with pride and joy, mixed with a feeling of helplessness that he did not know how to keep them safe.
    It was after tea was over and he and Roly wandered out into the garden that the subject was brought up again. ‘Do you think I should enlist?’ he asked his brother, as he flicked the wheel of his lighter and held it out for Roly to light his cigarette and then lit his own.
    ‘It’s up to you, old man, but if you wait until you’re conscripted you probably won’t get your choice of service.’
    ‘Does that matter?’
    ‘Of course it matters. Just think about it. The poor bloody infantry get the worst of it and if it’s anythinglike the last lot it will be hell. As for the navy, they are at the mercy of the U-boats. Being blown up at sea, perhaps floating about on a bit of wreckage for days and dying of exposure, is not a nice way to go.’
    ‘How cheerful you are! You can get blown up in an aeroplane.’
    ‘Yes, but at least it’s quick. And if you survive you do get to come back to base every night, and if you’re lucky and near enough, you can get home more often. There’s something about flying, being up among the clouds, swooping about like a bird, that gets to you. You can’t beat it.’
    ‘Mum will climb the wall if we’re both in uniform, you heard what she said. As for Julie, I dread to think what she’d say …’
    ‘Your decision, old