Free Katy Parker and the House that Cried by Margaret Mulligan Page B

whisked off in opposite directions. Hillary linked arms with Katy and began hurrying her up the stairs and in through the imposing main entrance. Luckily they were able to slip into the back of the school hall unnoticed, joining the other pupils who sat silently in neat rows, waiting for the dreaded Mother Superior to arrive. They had made it just in time. Mere seconds later, a piano began playing and on cue the girls stood up and began to sing,
All things bright and beautiful
. That was Katy’s dad’s favourite hymn. She felt close to tears as she realised how much she missed him. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d reallytalked to him. When she was little, he used to play with her for hours, making up all sorts of games. But work was taking up all of his time now and everything had changed.
    Assembly seemed to drag on for hours. Mother Superior looked very stern in her voluminous black habit. Her pointed features protruding from her tightly bound headdress, reminded Katy of a large crow. Tall and painfully thin she walked with a slight stoop, and on her feet she wore sensible, flat, black lace-ups. Perched on the end of her pointy nose balanced small, round glasses with metal frames.
    I can’t imagine how she is meant to inspire us girls onto great things – she looks terrifying,
thought Katy.
    Mother Superior spent most of the assembly reminding the girls of their duty to King and country. Katy listened, spellbound, to the seemingly endless list of clubs and activities that the girls were expected to join in with. When did they get to just muck about and relax?
    â€œDon’t forget girls, the knitting club meets today in room six. Miss Strauther will be demonstrating how to knit socks for our brave boys overseas. Tomorrow at one o’clock the gardening club will harvest thenew potatoes with Sister Maria. Meet outside the greenhouse at half past twelve sharp. Finally, please remember everyone is required to attend the St John’s Ambulance first aid training on Friday after school at four o’clock. It is imperative you learn basic first aid procedures in case we ever have an incident.”
    She means in case we ever get bombed,
thought Katy.
    On the wall at the front of the assembly hall, Katy could see an enormous map of Europe, with various coloured flags pinned onto it. Mother Superior finished her assembly by telling them about the latest war campaigns whilst moving a couple of flags around. Finally, they all said the school prayer and were dismissed to their classrooms to begin the day’s lessons.
    â€œCome on, Katy, this way. Our classroom is 9B. It’s a bit of a maze around here, but you’ll soon get used to it.”
    Classroom 9B felt familiar to Katy as it had once been her form room. It soon became apparent that the St Hilda’s Katy knew in the future hadn’t spent a great deal of money on modernisation. It was practically unchanged, except for a few minor differences such as tape across the windows. Katy knew from her historylessons that this prevented the glass shattering during a bomb blast.
    Hillary introduced Katy to her teacher, Miss Dobson, “This is Katy, Miss. She’s Mrs Graham’s new evacuee.”
    Katy felt relieved to see that Miss Dobson was neither a nun nor very fierce looking. In fact, she looked very young and rather scared herself.
    â€œGood morning, Katy, welcome to St Hilda’s. I hope you’ll be very happy here,” said Miss Dobson in a gentle voice. “You can sit at the desk next to Hillary for today.”
    Hillary whispered to Katy, “She’s only about twenty but she has to train on the job because of the shortage of teachers. She’s a bit nervous.” Hillary went on to describe Miss Dobson as ‘a good egg’, and a ‘total sport’ – both expressions made Katy giggle helplessly.
    Pupils sat at individual wooden desks, which had lids that lifted up