Free The Girl on the Beach by Mary Nichols Page B

the other hand, had been loved and cosseted by her parents and had everything a child might need: a good education, clothes, toys, books, music and tennis lessons. Coming to London had been a nerve-racking experience in one way, but a huge adventure in another. ‘I’m glad I met you,’ she told Julie, one day when they were walking in the park with George in his pushchair. The area in which he could play was sadly depleted because of a huge ack-ack gun, pointing skywards. They had heard it firing on one or two occasions when the siren went and it made them feel safer to know it was there. ‘I might have been very lonely otherwise.’
    ‘Haven’t you made friends with anyone at the factory?’
    ‘One or two, but it’s difficult when you’re on shift work.’
    ‘I understand. Harry was always coming home at all sorts of strange times. I never knew quite when to expect him for his dinner.’
    ‘Have you heard from him?’
    ‘Yes, almost every day. He’s somewhere up in the north of Scotland now but he can’t tell me exactly where. When his training is done he’ll get some leave, then I’ll hear all about it and where he’s going to be stationed.’
    He had been gone six weeks and in that time Hitler had overrun the whole of Europe and thrown the BritishExpeditionary Force out of France. The evacuation of three hundred thousand troops from the beaches of Dunkirk had been a truly heroic episode, but it could not disguise the fact that German troops were poised on the other side of the Channel, ready to strike. Julie couldn’t believe she was the only one terrified of the prospect, yet everyone else seemed to be going about their business, pretending everything was normal. She felt she had to do the same and hide her fear.
    ‘Do you think Hitler will invade?’ Rosie asked. ‘Everyone at the factory is talking about it and a lot of the men have joined the Local Defence Volunteers. I don’t know which is more frightening, the prospect of air raids or of being overrun by German troops.’
    ‘Harry is convinced they won’t come, the air force will stop them.’
    Rosie laughed. ‘And as far as you are concerned Harry is always right.’
    ‘He has been up to now.’ They turned round and started back. ‘What time do you have to be back at work?’
    ‘Eight o’clock. I’m on nights.’
    ‘Then you have time for a bite of supper with me before you go.’
    ‘I don’t want to take your rations.’
    ‘Don’t be silly, you provide me with a lot of it. I don’t know how I’d manage without your contribution. I owe you for the last lot anyway. I’ll pay you when we get home.’
    Paying Rosie was becoming a bit of a problem because the cost had gone up so much, but she didn’t know how she could manage on her rations and non-rationed goods were so hard to come by she had come to rely on what Rosie brought. Even the price of rationed goods had rocketed. Milk had doubled to fourpence a pint, though George’s washalf price; butter and sugar and syrup were half as much again as they had been when war started. As for bacon, that had shot up to two shillings a pound and many poor families could not afford to buy their rations.
    Her worry about this was temporarily set aside when they approached the house. There was a police van outside the Goldings’ gate and both husband and wife were being escorted none too gently towards it. Each was carrying a small suitcase. She left Rosie with the pushchair and ran to them. ‘What’s happened? What have you done?’
    ‘We are Austrian and we’re Jews,’ Mrs Golding said. ‘That’s enough.’
    Julie turned to the policeman who had hold of the woman’s arm, as if he feared she would try and escape. ‘There must be some mistake. These people are doing no harm. They’ve lived in England for years.’
    ‘So they say,’ he said. ‘But we have orders to round up all enemy aliens.’
    ‘What will happen to them?’
    He shrugged. ‘It’s up to the tribunal.’
    She