Free The Girl on the Beach by Mary Nichols Page A

uncertain future. He turned and sat down, taking her hand and pulling her onto his knee as she walked past him to the sink. They had just finished their evening mealand there was a pile of washing-up on the draining board.
    ‘Julie, my love, I have something to tell you,’ he began. ‘And I want you to listen.’
    ‘I’m listening.’
    ‘I went to the recruiting office this afternoon.’
    ‘You’ve been called up! Oh, no, Harry. Didn’t you tell them you were in a reserved occupation?’
    ‘I haven’t been called up and my being at the factory is not making a jot of difference to the war. There are plenty of women who can make radios, your friend Rosie will tell you that. I enlisted.’
    She jumped up from his knee and faced him. ‘I don’t believe you. You are making a joke to frighten me.’
    ‘It’s not a joke, sweetheart. I couldn’t stand by and let others do the fighting for me, could I?’
    ‘Didn’t you think about me at all? And Georgie? It’s not fair of you, Harry.’
    ‘Nothing’s fair in war, my love.’ He tugged at her hand and brought her down onto his knee again and pulled her head against his chest. ‘And I was thinking about you and George. My whole life is devoted to looking after you, and if I can best do that by getting into uniform and helping to win this war, then I must do it.’
    ‘I don’t want you to go. Can’t you change your mind?’
    ‘No, I can’t. It’s done now. I’m going into the RAF like Roly. It has one advantage over the army and the navy: you get to come back to base every night. I’ll be able to come home on leave quite often. Please, Julie, don’t cry.’ He mopped her tears with his handkerchief. ‘It’s not the end of the world.’
    ‘It feels like it. What happens if we get invaded? You won’t be here.’
    ‘Hitler will never invade England,’ he said, far more confidently than he felt. ‘He’s got to cross the Channel and do you think we’ll let him do that? He’ll be bombed to smithereens before he gets halfway across. And I’ll be one of those doing it. Now cheer up and let’s get the washing-up done.’
    ‘When do you go?’ Her voice was still watery, as she stood up to put the kettle on for hot water to wash the dishes.
    ‘When they send for me. In a week or two. I’ll be sent somewhere for training, probably up north somewhere. After that I’ll be posted somewhere south, closer to home.’ He picked up the tea cloth to do the drying. ‘We’ve all got to make sacrifices in this war, Julie. You heard Churchill’s speech on the wireless about having nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. The sooner we get stuck into it, the sooner it will be over and we can go back to normal.’ Churchill had become prime minister after the resignation of Chamberlain. Those who had branded him a loose cannon were now wholeheartedly for him.
    ‘I suppose so.’
    He was relieved the confession was over and she appeared to have accepted it, but it had left him drained. And tomorrow he would have the arguments all over again when he told his mother of his decision. But on the other hand, he felt suddenly uplifted. Whether he could make a difference to the eventual outcome he had no idea, but if everyone pulled together they must surely win.
    They made the most of the time left together and two weeks later he was summoned for a medical examination; the following week his papers arrived requiring him to report to the Recruiting Centre from where he was sent to Harrogate.
    * * *
    Left alone, Julie survived on Harry’s letters and Rosie’s friendship. Although they were of an age and of similar build and colouring, the girls could not have been more different in their backgrounds; Julie’s family had been the other inmates at the orphanage and the adults who ran it, all very impersonal and regimented. Only Grace Paterson had shown any affection for her and that had only really been evident after she was sacked by Lady Chalfont.
    Rosie, on