Rosie Goes to War (15 page)

Oh no, May's dress is absolutely wrecked. I brush some of the dust and muck off, but can't do much about the rips and stains. I hope she's not going to be angry with me. I'll have to look and see if the money I've got is enough to buy her a new one.

When I'm done I take a deep breath and open the ambulance door. Bill catches me round the waist and lifts me down.

‘You all right, old girl?'

I laugh. ‘Oh, right. I look so awful you're calling me old now?'

He shakes his head. ‘Not true. You look l–'

I put a hand up. ‘Don't even think of saying I look lovely, because I know you'd be lying.'

He tuts and says ‘What are you like? I was going to say you look like you've been digging in an hole.'

‘Right.' Now it's my turn to blush. ‘You know how to make a girl feel good, Bill, don't you?'

He shakes his head, his eyes smiling. ‘Ah, Rosie, you are priceless. Of course you look lovely. A bit bashed up, but that just makes it better, don't it?' He brushes a strand of hair off my face. His touch is so gentle it makes me want to cry again. ‘You're a very special girl, you know?'

‘That's so sweet. Will you give me a hug?'

He frowns at me, searching my face for something. I don't know if he finds it, but he opens his arms and I fall against his chest. Ah, that's better. With his arms around me, and the steady beat of his heart against my ear I feel a bit better. But not much. I put my arms around his waist and hang on. I'm shaking. There's so much stuff swirling round my head. I can't believe I had the chance to get back home and I didn't take it. But I couldn't leave Shirley down there, could I? But what if I was
meant
to leave her there? I might have just changed history, and because Shirley and her baby survive, things will be so different in the future. Maybe I won't even exist? How will I know? Will I just start fading from photos and collapse into nothing? If I just could figure out how I got here, I might be able to work out how to get back –
if
I can get back. I just want to go home. To see Gran and Great-aunt Eleanor, and Mum and Dad, and even Jess. None of them will believe where I've been. I doubt if anyone will.

I feel a soft kiss on the top of my head. ‘Come on then, I'd better get you home. Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you?'

‘I can walk,' I say. ‘I'm too heavy to carry.'

‘Nah, you're as light as a feather, you. It'll be like carrying a baby.'

Suddenly I remember a photo that Gran keeps on her sideboard. It's of me and my grandpa when I was a few months old. The old man is laughing at me, and I'm giving him a big gummy grin, like we're sharing a great joke. My Grandpa Bill. I look up at the younger version of him and see those same eyes smiling at me.

I've got to tell him. If I don't tell someone I'll go mad.

‘Look, while we walk I need to explain something to you. Promise me you'll listen, and even if it sounds totally mad, you have to listen to it all. It's so weird you won't know what to think, but I really need you to hear it, OK?'

‘You don't need to tell me anything now, Rosie. You've had a rotten time of it tonight, and you've been a real trouper. Let's get you home to bed and worry about it tomorrow, eh?'

If he pats me on the head I'm going to smack him.

‘Don't patronise me, Bill. I need to tell you this now. Trust me. It's now or never. I'm not likely to have the nerve to say anything in the cold light of day, and if I don't tell someone soon I'll go completely out of my mind.'

He does that eyebrow thing. ‘All right. Tell me.'

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

We walk slowly away from the bombsite, our way lit by the fires that continue to burn, and I tell Bill everything. From catching Jess snogging with Simon, to being with Gran and Great-aunt Eleanor and falling into May and Nelly's lives. Occasionally he opens his mouth to say something, then shuts it again, keeping his promise to hear me out.

‘So you're not from the country?' he asks when I eventually stop talking.

‘Yes, I am from the country. But not from this time. You know, 1940. I was born after the millennium. May is my gran. When I left my time she was in her nineties.

‘Bloody hell! Are you sure that bang on your head ain't brought all this on? I've heard stories about people being changed by a knock on the bonce.'

‘Bill, I promise you, it has nothing to do with my head wound. Think about it – Nelly's been suspicious of me since the minute I arrived. And I arrived in their hall when the door was locked. How else could I have got there except to fall through a hole in time? I haven't got a clue about what I'm doing here, I was supposed to spending my summer holiday in Italy. Well, till I fell out with my friend Jess.'

‘Don't be daft. Everyone knows we're at war with Italy.'

I shake my head. ‘Not in the 21
^st
century we're not. And you saw me try to dance tonight. I haven't got a clue.' I pull away from him, desperate to make him understand. ‘Nelly wants to report me as a spy.'

‘She wouldn't do that. Would she?'

‘Who knows? I probably would if I was her. I talk different from everyone too – even you've noticed that, haven't you?'

‘I thought that was just how everyone talks in the country.'

‘It's not the same – and I'm seriously not getting most things round here. I mean, I can't even figure out pounds, shillings, and pence. I'd never seen a ha'penny before Monday morning because we've got a decimal system and different money where I come from. I really am from the future, Bill.'

He frowns and we walk on in silence for a bit. I can almost see his brain working, trying to sort this out.

‘So, if you know the future, what happens?'

I laugh. ‘Loads of stuff. I can't tell you everything that's going to happen over the next seventy-odd years. I wasn't born for most of it.'

‘But what about the war? Who wins?'

‘We do. But not for a while.'

‘How long?'

‘1945.'

‘Blimey. That's longer than the Great War.'

‘I know.'

‘So, will the Yanks join in anytime soon?'

‘Yeah, but I can't remember exactly when. I think they came in after Pearl Harbour in 1941. I'm not very good with history, sorry.'

‘What's Pearl Harbour?'

‘A naval base in Hawaii. The Japanese attacked it. We went there a few years ago on holiday; that's how I remember why the Americans joined the war.'

‘Where the blooming heck is Hawaii?' he asks, but I don't get the chance to answer before he goes on. ‘Hang on, did you say the Japs attacked it?'

‘Yes,' I sigh. ‘This war is going to be fought all over the world, Bill, not just Europe, but Asia, and Africa too.'

‘And London? Will Jerry invade? Will we be fighting them here?'

‘No. They'll keep on bombing, but they won't land here.'

‘Thank Christ for that!'

We carry on walking. Bill must be thinking about everything I've said, but doesn't ask any more questions for a while. Down one street our way is blocked by another bombsite, so we find a different route round. I'm starting to feel so tired. I trip over a bit of drainpipe on the path and Bill catches me before I fall flat on my face.

‘Thanks,' I say, giving him a tired smile. It's obvious he doesn't believe me. I feel so alone. I'm welling up when Bill notices.

‘Ah, come here, you daft 'apporth,' he says, pulling me back into his arms.

With a sigh I snuggle up and carry on walking, glad that he's looking after me, even if he does think I'm crazy.

There's damage everywhere – glass from blown out windows, rubble and bits of household goods from people's houses. In some places buildings are still on fire and the roads are criss-crossed with water hoses as teams fight the blazes. As we get nearer to the house the way gets clearer. It looks like our street got off lightly last night. We pass a church. The clock on the tower shows a quarter past six. It's still dark, but it's almost time to leave for work.

‘I hope the girls are all right,' I say.

‘Don't you know?'

‘I think I do, but what if my being here has changed things?'

‘How?'

‘Well, I don't know what I'm doing here, right? What if I change something, and that changes history, and everything ends up different? I mean, I know May and Nelly are supposed to survive, but … if they don't for some reason, then I won't exist at all, will I?'

‘Bloody hell, I can't take all this in.'

‘Tell me about it. How do you think I feel? It's totally doing my head in.'

‘But hang on. If you've come from the future, why haven't loads of other people?'

‘I don't know, do I? There could be thousands of us wandering round like idiots, or I could just be some random freak of nature, one of a kind, some cosmic joke! I could've gone back tonight, you know. It was right there in front of me. I could see an underground car park with modern cars – there was one just like my dad's, so I'm pretty sure it was the right time. All I had to do was step through that hole and I've have been back where I belong. I'd have disappeared into thin air, and someone else would've had to try and rescue Shirley. But I couldn't do it, could I? I could hear her, she was so scared. I had to stay and help her, and the hole just disappeared. I missed my chance, and now I'm scared to death I'm stuck here and I've messed everything up by saving someone who wasn't meant to be saved.'

Bill shakes his head and pulls me into a bear hug. ‘Calm down, don't be daft, you ain't changed nothing. If you hadn't saved her, someone else would've. We weren't going to leave her down there. I'm just glad you didn't disappear, or I'd have had to face May and Nelly and tell 'em I'd lost you. They'd have had my guts for garters.'

I laugh. ‘Probably.'

‘So don't you fret. I reckon if this mysterious hole has appeared once, I bet it'll happen again, you'll see.'

I take a deep breath and blow it out, clinging onto him for dear life. ‘You do believe me, don't you, Bill? You're not just humouring me?'

‘To be honest, I don't know what to believe. I know you believe it. And there's definitely something very funny about you, missus.'

I punch him in the stomach. Not that I make a dent, because he's solid muscle. We stand there for a bit, just holding each other.

‘You were great tonight,' I say. ‘You got everyone organised.'

‘Least I could do,' he says. ‘You do what you can, and hope someone'll do the same for you if you're in trouble.'

‘And you're a soldier. That must be scary.'

I feel him shrug.

‘Everyone's scared, Rosie. At least joining up means I'm doing my bit. I couldn't sit back and let Jerry win, could I?'

‘So you chose to be a soldier. You didn't wait to be called up?'

‘Nah. Better to get on with it, I say.'

I'm almost dozing off when he moves back and looks down at me.

‘I don't' suppose you know what happens to me? I mean, you've seen May and Nelly in the future, but … well, it'd be nice to know whether get through this n'all.'

I don't know what to say. I haven't said anything to him about him being my grandpa. Should I say anything? He and May seem like good friends, but what if they need a nudge in the right direction? Or what if that horrible Harry messes it all up?

Bill takes my silence the wrong way. He drops his hands and looks away.

‘Bill, I …'

‘Nah, it's all right, Rosie. Maybe it's best if I don't know.'

‘It's not that. It's …'

‘I mean it, you don't have to tell me.'

‘Oh for God's sake, you are not going to die in the war, Billy McAllister!'

He looks at me again. ‘Really? You're not just saying it? Don't say it if it ain't true.'

‘Just tell me something,' I say. ‘How much do you fancy May?'

He blushes. He actually blushes! In the soft light of the dawn, Billy McAllister goes bright red. ‘Who says I fancy May?'

‘No one. But your reaction is telling me loads, so don't deny it.'

‘All right I won't. But what difference does it make? It ain't never going to happen. I'm the brother she never had.'

‘Well you'd better make it happen, Billy boy, because my life depends on it.'

‘What are you talking about?'

‘My name isn't Rose Smith. I don't have a clue who she is or why I've ended up with her suitcase. My name is Rosie McAllister, and you're my Grandpa.'

He looks completely stunned.

‘I'm your grandpa?'

I nod. ‘And May is my gran. Go figure.'

He's shaking his head and smiling at the same time. ‘Nah, you're having a laugh.'

‘No way. You're going to marry May, and have my dad, who's going to meet my mum, and I'm going to be the happy result.'

‘But May don't see me like that.' He looks miserable again. ‘It don't matter how much I want her to, she'll never take me serious.'

I roll my eyes. ‘It's got to happen. Or I won't be born. But as I have been born, that means it has happened. You've just got to work out what you're going to do about it.'

‘I can't take all this in. You're not kidding me, are you, Rosie. You really think you're from the future, and all that stuff's going to happen?'

‘I am seriously not kidding, Bill.'

He takes a deep breath and nods. ‘Right. Let me think about it for a bit.'

‘OK. I know it's a lot to take it, but I'm really not joking about all this. The thing is, I haven't told anyone else. I mean, Nelly already thinks I'm a spy or something. If I try to tell her the truth she'll have me locked up for sure, and then I'll never get home.'