Darkest Before Dawn Episode 16
It was the first Saturday in September, and Isobel was reflecting on how life had changed over the past year. The store had been quiet for a while and she was looking forward to going home and writing to Jem, who had taken her to the pictures. She missed her letters from Bob. They had always been full of warmth and humour. She had kept the photograph he’d sent her. Opening that letter on the day Peter was born had been a shock. Keeping her feelings hidden had been one of the most difficult things she’d ever had to do. Her feelings for him had run deeper than she’d ever admit to anyone.
It was just after five when the air-raid siren began to wail. It chilled her to the core. Was this it, then? The real thing?
“Everyone to the shelter, please,” Mr Hunter, the store manager, said as the staff moved towards the doors. “Quick as you can.”
“Is it real, Mr Hunter?” Isobel asked.
“We have to assume so,” he said, and he smiled at her. “Don’t look so worried, Miss Pollard. You’ll be safe in the shelter.”
Everyone was calm as they headed for the shelter, but Isobel could hear a thunderous noise. When she looked up, planes filled the sky. Isobel knew they were enemy planes and she thought everyone else must realise that, too.
Their shelter was in the basement of another building on the same road, and several people were making their way there. Isobel had never felt such a peculiar feeling in her life: a mixture of excitement and terror.
When the first bombs dropped, she was safely in the shelter, but her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst. It was terrifying. The noise was deafening as bombs rained down, but her fear was for her family. She hoped they’d all got to the shelter.
The planes seemed to be heading for the East End. She noticed a young woman, not much older than her, hugging her arms around herself and crying.
“Don’t worry,” Isobel said, putting her arm around her. “It will be all right.”
“I’m so frightened.”
“That’s what they want,” Isobel said. “To frighten us. Don’t let them. “You’re from the homeware department, aren’t you? Alice, isn’t it?”
The girl clutched Isobel’s hand.
“That’s right. I’ve seen you at work, but I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”
“It’s Isobel.” They both flinched as the bombing continued. It was louder than Isobel could have imagined. “They won’t dare drop any bombs on us,” Isobel said. “They wouldn’t want to upset Mr Hunter.”
“Oh, Isobel, you’re a case!” Alice laughed. “Thank you.”
Trying to lighten the moment was helping Isobel, too.
“Have you family?” Isobel asked when she saw new panic fill Alice’s eyes.
“Parents. Four brothers.”
“What are their names?” Isobel kept Alice chatting until the noise died down.
After a while the all-clear sounded. The attack had lasted for just over an hour and it felt like the longest hour of Isobel’s life.
“Does that mean it’s over?” Alice asked.
“Yes. We can go home.”
Once outside, they could see smoke rising in the distance and an ambulance sped past. Alice and Isobel walked to the bus stop, and when Isobel told a man waiting there where she was headed, he shook his head.
“You won’t get through on this route tonight.”
“But I have to! My mother will be waiting.”
“The roads are blocked and there’s no knowing when there’ll be another attack.
“It’ll be safer to find yourself somewhere to stay before it gets dark.”
“He’s right,” Alice agreed. “Come home with me. My mum won’t mind.”
“I have to get home,” Isobel insisted, and she felt tears pressing at her eyes.
“Come on,” Alice insisted, taking her arm. “Let’s get you safe. “You won’t be any use to your family if you fall down a hole on your way home, will you?”
Isobel looked down the road and bit her lip. Going with Alice was the sensible thing to do and probably the safest.