Free Children in Her Shadow by Keith Pearson Page B

makeup to ensure she looked her best. She flirted and was skilled at getting the attention she seemed to crave. Nonetheless, in Sarah’s less self centred moments she did have time for Ruth and there was always the prospect that Sarah would bring her friend Edward, who Ruth really rather cared for.
    Ruth occasionally broached the subject of Edward and discovered from Sarah that their relationship had been going on for more than a year, beginning when Edward had been working at Dick Kerr’s in Preston.
    Ruth was curious about why Edward, a twenty two year old fit and healthy looking man was not serving on the front line. Sarah explained that all she knew about Edward was that he had served in the Merchant Navy as a wireless operator on the SS Malakand between April and September nineteen forty. The Malakand was a ship most people here in the north of England would remember at the time as the one that blew up in Liverpool docks.
    On the worst night of the Liverpool Blitz, on the third of May nineteen forty one, the S.S. Malakand, loaded with over one thousand tons of shells and bombs, was destroyed. It was thought that a deflated barrage balloon fell onto her deck and burst into flames. Despite all attempts to put out the fire, the Malakand had to be abandoned. The resulting explosions from the ship completely destroyed the dock and it was said that parts of the ship were thrown up to two and a half miles away.
    Sarah went on to explain to Ruth that Edward returned to his parents’ home in Blackpool having left the ship and had since then worked at the Vickers Armstrong factory as an engineer working on the Wellington bombers. This intrigued Ruth because when she had in passing mentioned to Edward that she worked at Vickers, he had never once remarked upon the coincidence.
    Sarah’s final comments struck a chord with Ruth when she described Edward as a man of mystery, always guarded, never saying more than he needed particularly on the subject of his work and especially what he did outside work. Over the following weeks, Ruth continued her conversations with Sarah and probed to see if her relationship with Edward was one that might lead to marriage.
    On most of the occasions when Ruth and Sarah met, Edward would be present and Ruth’s fascination with ‘are they aren’t they’ a couple continued. Ruth noticed that on the face of it they seemed close, they would kiss and make small talk and gave all the outward signs that they were in love. But Ruth also noticed that when Sarah was not present Edward paid considerable attention to her, flirting and often getting rather closer to her than she thought appropriate to someone that seemed on the verge of marriage.
    On one occasion when Edward was not present, Sarah explained to Ruth that it seemed inevitable that Edward and she should marry. She said that they were deeply in love and had even discussed when a marriage should take place. Sarah explained that she was a Catholic and Edward was a Protestant and that unless Edward was prepared to convert to the Catholic faith there would be no marriage.
    It seemed that Sarah was not simply a Catholic but a devout Catholic and could see no prospect for their relationship going further if Edward did not soon indicate his willingness to convert. Although Ruth too was Catholic she could not quite comprehend why one’s faith should get in the way of true love.
    Ruth was never quite sure after her conversations about Edward whether Sarah saw her as a friend or a possible rival. She therefore tried to arrange to see Sarah only when Edward was not present on the pretence that ‘three’s a crowd’. This cemented their relationship as friends and avoided the potential for embarrassment.
    It still however remained that Ruth was intrigued by Edward, his flirtatious nature concealed in an overly secretive aloof personality. This did not stop Ruth from trying to find out where Edward worked on the Vickers site in part to satisfy her