Free The Bomb Girls by Daisy Styles Page A

off for the canteen a good few hours before her friends.
    ‘I’ve got meat and potato pies to cook for two hundred!’ she said cheerfully, heading for the door in her old canteen overalls. It was so nice to be preparing for such a joyful occasion when they’d had such a gruelling few months of long, exhausting shifts.
    ‘Please tell me you won’t be dancing in
that
?’ Lillian gasped in dismay.
    ‘No, Alice is bringing my glad rags over to the Phoenix later,’ Emily said with a cheeky wink. ‘I won’t let you down, Lillian, I promise!’
    At the final hour, Elsie shocked them all by having a tantrum. With her hair softly waved and her pretty heart-shaped face skilfully rouged, she looked lovely. The months of regular square meals at the Phoenix had put flesh on her bones. No longer skeletal, she now had a small bust and gently curving hips. The dress she’d borrowed from Lillian, a soft sage silk, brought out the green tones of her eyes and Alice’s ballroom shoes
added height to her short stature. But when she saw herself in the mirror her face changed and she refused point-blank to leave their digs.
    ‘I can’t go!’ she cried, looking utterly miserable.
    Her friends did a complete double-take at the sound of Elsie’s angry, raised voice. This was not the little Gateshead mouse of a girl they were used to.
    ‘Why on earth not?’ Agnes gently asked.
    Elsie bit her lip then burst into tears.
    ‘I canna dance!’
    ‘Don’t cry, for God’s sake!’ Lillian exclaimed. ‘You’ll ruin your make-up!’
    ‘I don’t care!’ Elsie sobbed. ‘I canna go out done up like a dog’s dinner and mek a fool of miself on the dance floor.’
    ‘You don’t have to dance,’ Agnes assured her.
    ‘You can just sit there looking pretty,’ Alice quickly added.
    Elsie looked from Agnes to Alice and back again.
    ‘For sure … ?’
    Her friends quickly nodded.
    ‘Okay …’ she said slowly. ‘No dancing – and definitely no lads!’
    Arm in arm the four girls skipped down the dark cobbled lane to the Phoenix canteen, which was decorated not only with balloons and banners but with large, twirling silver balls hanging from the ceiling at each corner of the room. The cold outside contrasted with the warmth inside, and the mirrored balls scattered beams of silvery moonlight onto the dance floor, transforming it into a romantic ballroom. Giggling excitedly, the four friends
swung open the doors and rushed into the room, where they were met by dozens of eager Canadian airmen dressed in smart new grey and navy-blue uniforms. The girls stopped in their tracks: there were men everywhere! Handsome, young, excited men, and all curious to meet them. It was quite a shock after all the months of female-only companionship at the Phoenix, and among the smiling faces were those of black servicemen, the likes of whom Lillian, Alice and Elsie had never come across in their entire lives.
    ‘You’re not telling me that you’ve never seen black men before?’ Agnes asked incredulously.
    ‘We’re not from London like you, Agnes,’ Alice reminded her.
    Lillian’s dark eyes roved over a couple of stunning black guys drinking at the bar.
    ‘WOW!’ she gasped. ‘I’m definitely going to make up for lost time!’
    Holding her unlit cigarette aloft, she sashayed towards the bar.
    ‘Hi, there,’ she cooed. ‘Anybody got a light?’
    Agnes picked up two lemonades then settled blushing Elsie in a quiet corner from where she could observe the fun of the party without being overwhelmed and embarrassed.
    Alice found Emily, hot and flushed, in the canteen kitchen, ready to serve up her delicious meat and potato pie.
    ‘Let’s dance our socks off later, Al,’ Emily cried over the clattering noise of pots and pans.
    Standing at the edge of the ballroom, looking lovely in a dusty-pink crêpe dress that clung to her waist then
swirled out in a series of tiny pleats from her slender hips, Alice wondered whether to join Elsie and Agnes in