Free Blackout by Connie Willis Page B

enough shelters when the Blitz began, and the ones they had weren’t particularly safe, so people began sleeping in the tube stations. I’m going to camp out there nights to observe the shelterers,” she said, and Eileen must have been looking as worried as she felt because Polly added, “It’s perfectly safe.”
    “Provided you don’t stay in one of the ones that was hit,” Eileen said dryly. They reached Balliol’s gate. “Polly, I’m not going to go in with you.” She told her her plan, then stepped up to the porter’s lodge. “Mr. Purdy, do you know how late Transport stays open?”
    “I’ve got their hours here somewhere,” the porter said, shuffling through papers. “Six o’clock.”
    Oh, good, there’d be time. “Is Mr. Dunworthy in his office?”
    “I believe so,” Mr. Purdy said. “I only just came on duty, but Mr.McCaffey said Mr. Davies came through an hour ago looking for him, and he’s still here, so I assume he found him.”
    “Michael Davies?”
    Mr. Purdy nodded. “Miss Churchill, you have a message from Colin Templer. He said to tell you he’s looking for you and—”
    “He found me,” Polly said, “but thank you. Eileen, I’ll tell Mr. Dunworthy to ring you at Props—”
    She shook her head. “I’m coming with you.”
    “But I thought you were going over to Props.”
    “I am, but first I want to ask Michael if he’s doing VE-Day, and if he is, if he’ll swap assignments with me. Or he may know who is.” She started across the quad with Polly in her wake.
    Michael was sitting on the steps of Beard, tapping his foot. “Are you waiting to see Mr. Dunworthy, too?” Polly asked.
    “Yes,” he said impatiently. “I’ve
been
waiting for an hour and forty-five minutes. I can’t believe this. First he louses up my assignment, and now—”
    “What’s your assignment?” Eileen asked.
    “It
was
Pearl Harbor, which is why I sound like a damned American—”
    “I thought you sounded odd,” Eileen said.
    “Yes, well, I’ll really sound odd in Dover. I’m doing the evacuation of Dunkirk. With less than three days’ prep. That’s why I’m here—to see if he’ll move it back—”
    “But—” Eileen said confused. “They evacuated children from Dunkirk?”
    “No. Soldiers. The entire British Expeditionary Force, as a matter of fact. Three hundred thousand men in nine days flat. Didn’t you attend any of your first-year history lectures?”
    “Yes,” she said defensively, “but I didn’t decide on World War II till last year.” She hesitated. “The evacuation of Dunkirk
is
in World War II, isn’t it?”
    Michael laughed. “Yes. May twenty-sixth to June fourth, 1940.”
    “Oh, that’s why I don’t know about it—”
    “But Dunkirk was one of the major turning points of the war,” Polly interrupted. “Isn’t it a divergence point?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then how can you—?”
    “I’m not. I’m observing the organizing of the rescue in Dover and then the boats as they come back with the soldiers.”
    “You said you were supposed to go to Pearl Harbor,” Polly said sharply. “Why did Mr. Dunworthy cancel it?”
    “He didn’t,” Michael said. “He just switched the order around. I’m doing several different events.”
    “Is one of them VE-Day?” Eileen asked.
    “No. I’m observing heroes, so it’s all crises—Pearl Harbor, the World Trade Center—”
    “Are any of them near VE-Day?” Eileen asked. “In time, I mean?”
    “No, the Battle of the Bulge is the closest. It was in December of 1944.”
    “How long will you be there for that?” she asked.
    “Two weeks.”
    Then he wasn’t the one doing VE-Day. “Do you know of any historians who are doing assignments in 1945?”
    “Nineteen forty-five…” he said, thinking. “Somebody told me somebody was doing the V-1 and V-2 attacks, but I think those were in 1944—”
    “Did Mr. Dunworthy’s secretary say how long it would be before you could get in to see him?” Polly