Free War Babies by Annie Murray Page B

– we’ll go back to your mom in a tick –’ Having to hurry made Rachel bolder. Suddenly nothing mattered except reaching Gladys. Drawing nearer to her pitch
she stood on tiptoe, trying to see if Danny was there. She couldn’t hear him. There was no sign of him.
    Lilian was getting cross.
    ‘Rach – come
on
. Mom told us not to go off –’ She broke away. ‘I’m going back to her. Come with me or you’ll get lost.’
    Lilian folded herself back into the crowd, but Rachel ploughed on. When she reached the Poulters’ pitch, Gladys showed no sign of recognition at first. Speaking quickly, before the woman
sizing up a black dress could get there first, Rachel said, ‘Mrs Poulter?’
    Gladys looked at her, and a smile spread over her face.
    ‘I’m Rachel – Peggy’s daughter,’ Rachel said.
    ‘Course you are. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you – you’ve grown up a bit, ain’t you, eh?’ Although it was only a few months since they had stopped
working on the market and gone to Fred Horton’s house, it felt like a lifetime to Rachel. ‘How’s your mother?’
    ‘She’s all right,’ Rachel said. Gladys and Peggy had never really got on. Rachel knew that her mother looked down on Gladys. And she didn’t want to talk about Mom –
there was something far more important to ask. ‘Did Danny ever come back?’
    ‘Our Danny? Oh – there’s a tale.’ There was angry grit in her voice. ‘He did, bab – two months ago. He’s working with me now, Sat’d’ys,
taking on more of the gents’ clothes . . . Look, there ’e is – just coming over.’
    Heart racing with excitement, Rachel looked round, seeking out the bold little lad she remembered. Gradually, a tall, thin, wiry figure jostled towards them through the crowd, carrying a bundle
of dark clothing. She realized with a lurch inside her that this must be him. She was thirteen, so Danny must be getting on for fifteen now. His face was no longer round and cheeky-looking but
gaunt, so that his eyes seemed bigger than she remembered. While he looked pale and stretched tall now, there was still something of the sparking energy about him that she remembered. But as he
came closer, she could see that there was something very different about him, a hard, closed-off look. She felt immediately both excited and very shy.
    ‘Eh, Danny,’ Gladys Poulter said. ‘This is little Rachel – d’you remember her? Used to come and buy your comics off of you.’
    Rachel felt Danny’s big blue eyes fasten on her, blankly at first, then with a slight sense of recognition. He gave the faintest nod and started to turn away again, completely aloof from
her.
    ‘D’you remember?’ Gladys asked. ‘You and your comics?’
    ‘Yeah.’ Danny nodded. He obviously didn’t want to speak to her.
    ‘He’s not much of a talker these days, our Danny,’ Gladys joked, but there was a sadness in the way she said it. ‘We’re trying to teach him how to do it
again!’
    ‘I’d better go,’ Rachel said.
    ‘Come and see us again when you’re about,’ Gladys said. ‘We’d like that, wouldn’t we, Danny?’
    He was facing the other way, undoing the bundle. He made no response.
    ‘’Ere – have one of these.’ Rachel found a little bag of red cough candy held under her nose. She reached for one of the pungent sweets. ‘Take one for your little
pal as well.’ She nodded at Lilian who had turned back to find her. She was waiting, looking bewildered.
    ‘Thank you, Mrs Poulter,’ Rachel said.
    ‘Nice to see you, bab. Ta-ra-abit. See you again.’
    ‘Come
on
,’ Lilian urged her, her cheek bulging with cough candy. ‘We got to find Mom. Who was that?’ She sounded resentful.
    ‘Just someone,’ Rachel said. Her mouth was too crammed full for any explanations, and she did not feel like giving them anyway. This was hers. Suddenly it mattered more than anything
– more, even, than Lilian. She kept turning back as they jostled their way across to