Women on the Home Front (74 page)

‘Can you see a rubber tube coming down, darling?' Connie lay on the boards looking down. ‘If you put it in your mouth, we're going to put some water down for you.'

Once they'd made sure Mandy was able to reach the other end, Roger dripped a little water down the tube for her to drink. At least, he reasoned to himself, her arms must be relatively free, and she wasn't too tightly wedged in. The one thing he had to make sure of was that she didn't flap about too much and cause the earth to slip or the bomb to shift. The longer she was there, the greater the danger that the whole thing would go up. He was very concerned about Mandy and the way he felt about Connie made the thought that she might be hurt unbearable.

Mr and Mrs Craig had been taken in by some people further down the hill. The houses nearest the UXB had been cleared by PC Noble and his sergeant who had turned up soon after he'd been informed about what was going on. Plenty of people further down the hill were only too willing to open their doors to give the onlookers shelter. It wasn't until later that the first sign of trouble came when a large formidable woman climbed out of a taxi and demanded to see whoever was in charge. She was followed by a smaller woman who looked rather overdressed for the occasion. It was Ga and Aunt Aggie.

PC Noble came to see what was happening as Ga boomed and shouted, hardly giving any of them the chance to speak. ‘Someone told me Mandy had fallen down a hole. So why aren't you getting her out? Don't just stand there, young man, take me to her. She was supposed to be in the care of that drippy girl from the vicarage, but she's come back home without her. Where is the child? And where's Constance?'

Connie and Roger, thinking the commotion might be the arrival of the bomb disposal unit, came down the hill to see what was going on.

‘There you are,' Ga shouted as soon as she saw her. ‘Where's Mandy?'

‘Ga, this is Roger,' Connie began. ‘He's been helping us with the rescue and …'

‘So why isn't he still down there getting her out?'

‘We have to wait …' Roger began.

‘Wait? Whatever for?' she fumed. ‘You get back there right this minute, young man.'

Roger seemed taken aback being spoken to like that. ‘Madam, I have no equipment,' he said. ‘As soon as my unit comes from Horsham …'

‘Horsham?' Ga gasped angrily. ‘But that's miles away.'

‘Olive, dear,' said Aggie. ‘Keep calm.'

‘Keep calm?' roared Ga. ‘That's what they told us all through the bloody war. Keep calm and carry on. Well, this isn't bloody Hitler we're talking about. This is a member of my family.'

‘The bomb disposal squad will be here at any minute,' said Roger stiffly.

‘Bomb disposal …' Ga choked. ‘Constance, what is he talking about?'

Connie took her great aunt's arm.

‘Let go of me, Constance,' Ga snapped. ‘I don't need holding up.'

‘Mandy has fallen underneath an unexploded bomb,' said Connie, struggling to be civil. ‘Roger is a bomb disposal officer.' There was a stunned silence. ‘It has to be defused.'

‘Then tell him to get on with it.'

‘And he will, Ga,' said Connie. ‘As soon as the team get here.'

Roger marvelled at her patience. Clearly the aunt was used to saying ‘jump' and everybody saying ‘how high'. She was a monster. He turned to look for the unit and spotted his mother and sister walking up the hill. He waved but didn't wait. Before they came, he decided to check one more time that everything was still as it was at the site.

The five women met in the lane.

‘What's she doing here?' Ga demanded when she saw Eva's mother and addressing Eva she said, ‘Been cavorting half-naked in any more fountains lately?'

‘Olive, dear …' Aunt Aggie began again.

‘Oh, shut up, Aggie,' Ga retorted.

‘Ga,' Connie scolded. ‘Please.'

Eva pretended she hadn't heard and gave Connie a hug. Theirs was a mutual sense of shared concern. Ga harrumphed and moved away from them.

‘Hello Olive, Aggie,' said Cissy. ‘How are you both?'

‘Don't you speak to me,' said Aggie stiffly.

‘Can't we let bygones be bygones?' said Cissy. ‘Especially under the circumstances …'

Ga wrinkled her nose. ‘Did you hear something just then, Aggie? I thought I heard a sheep farting.'

‘For God's sake!' Connie snapped. ‘Can't you let up for just a minute?'

Cissy turned to Connie. ‘This must be so awful for you, dear. How is she?'

‘I don't know,' said Connie. Her head was pounding and she had a raging thirst. ‘Asleep, I hope. She's had a dreadful experience.'

‘Someone told us they'd stopped digging,' said Mrs Maxwell. ‘Is that because it's getting dark?'

Connie shook her head. ‘It's because there's an unexploded bomb there.'

Vi Maxwell took in her breath. ‘Then Roger …'

Connie nodded. ‘He's been wonderful but we have to wait for the team to come from Horsham.'

‘But Roger said he didn't want to do it anymore,' said Vi helplessly. ‘He said he didn't feel safe because he had other things on his mind.'

Connie put her hand over her mouth lest she made a sound.

‘You know why, don't you, Ma?' said Eva. ‘It's because he's fallen in love. Roger loves Connie.'

‘Eva,' Connie cautioned. She had just noticed the red glow of a cigarette in the gloom. A group of men, including Eugène and Isaac were leaning against the wall of the shop across the road. ‘Don't.'

Ga had removed herself to the other side of the lane but she was listening to every word they were saying and quickly rounded on Connie. ‘Constance, what is she talking about? Who is that man?'

‘
That man
,' said Vi, her voice steeped in sarcasm, ‘is my son.'

Ga looked as if she was about to have an apoplectic fit. ‘Your son!' She glared at Connie. ‘And here you are hanging around him like a lovesick cow? A Maxwell?'

Connie gritted her teeth. How she hated Ga. It took every ounce of strength Connie had not to lash out at her. She glanced helplessly towards Eva but she had already turned away.

Just then a front door opened and Gwen and Clifford having heard the raised voices came out of the house. ‘What's happening? Any more news?'

Connie went to her mother and gave her a hug. She looked totally distraught. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying and her face was pale. ‘Nothing yet, Mum, but the team should be here at any minute.'

‘What are you doing here, Ga?' said Clifford.

‘Surely you didn't expect me to stay at home and do nothing?' she snapped.

‘Well, there's nothing you can do here,' Clifford said pointedly, ‘so go back home and take Aggie with you.'

‘It's a good job I
am
here,' said Ga. ‘Did you know about Connie and that man?'

Clifford stared at her with a blank expression.

‘She's in love with him,' Ga shrieked. ‘Well, I tell you now, I'm not having a Maxwell as a member of my family. I'm going to put a stop to this once and for all.'

‘For God's sake,' bellowed Clifford.

‘Go home, Ga.' Connie spoke in such an authoritative voice everyone looked at her in shocked surprise. ‘And this is neither the time nor place to fuel your stupid dog-eared family feud.'

‘Dog-eared …' Ga spluttered. ‘I'll have you know …'

‘We don't want to hear it,' said Connie, covering her ears. ‘All we care about is getting Mandy out of that hole alive and I don't care who does it. They can call Hermann Göring and the whole bloody German army for all I care. If they can get Mandy out, I'll cheer them all the way.'

‘Well,' Ga harrumphed. ‘I'll go to sea.'

‘I wish you bloody well would,' muttered Clifford.

Connie turned towards Eva. ‘I'm supposed to be on duty tomorrow,' she said. ‘Can you get a message to Ward Sister?'

‘It's my day off,' said Eva. ‘I'll do the shift for you.'

Connie put her arms around her friend. ‘Thanks, Eva,' she choked. ‘You're a real pal.'

‘Why don't you all come back inside?' called the homeowner. ‘You'll catch your death out here.'

‘I'm not going anywhere with a Maxwell,' said Ga.

‘Suit yourself,' said Clifford, herding everyone inside and waiting until last. Ga glared at him and he closed the door.

The taxi driver was talking to some of the other residents as Ga marched back down the lane. ‘Take us back to Belvedere Nurseries,' she demanded as Aggie hurried after her.

He gave her an old-fashioned look but said nothing. Ga didn't care. She was furious. How dare Constance speak to her like that? Who did she think she was? And as for that cocky Maxwell girl …

‘Everything all right with the little girl then, missus?' said the taxi driver as they sped down the hill.

Ga didn't even hear him. She was still seething. Connie was getting far too big for her boots. What she needed was taking down a peg or two.

The driver pulled up outside the darkened house. He didn't get out to open the door for her so she had to do it herself. She baulked at the idea of shelling out 10/6 for the fare as well. ‘It was only five minutes up the road,' she snapped.

‘Twenty,' said the driver, his face expressionless. ‘It was a round trip and there was two of you.'

She slapped the money in his hand. ‘Don't go looking for a tip,' she said, ‘and I shan't be using this taxi service again.' She stamped to the door and fumbled for her keys.

The driver checked the money, exactly right. ‘I wouldn't take you anyway, you miserable old bat,' he mumbled.

Aggie went inside first and Ga turned to glare at the taxi driver one more time. As soon as she was sure he was looking at her, she stuck her nose firmly into the air. The taxi driver pushed the taxi into gear and stuck up two fingers.

The team arrived about fifteen minutes later. Roger briefed them and they set about working out a plan of action. Major Owen was in charge and he invited suggestions.

‘Can we carry on digging underneath, sir?' said Lance Corporal Parker. ‘One of us could crawl in and work on it from underneath.'

‘Too dangerous with the child still in there,' said Roger. ‘If the earth started moving she's just as likely to panic or distract you at a crucial moment.'

‘First, we need to fix a stethoscope on it to check there's no timer,' said Major Owen.

‘It's doubtful that the timing mechanism is still intact,' Roger said, looking at his watch. Usually there was a half hour or an hour's delay before detonation. They had passed both.

‘That's what Lofty Greenways thought in Hastings,' said Private Taylor grimly.

They stopped talking for a couple of seconds as they remembered Private Greenways, blown to bits when a chance tap on the casing of a bomb restarted the timing device leaving him with no time to get clear.

‘All right, so we'd better strap a magnet to the bugger to prevent any clock starting up again,' said Major Owen. ‘Then what? Cut a hole in the casing?'

‘And use the steam steriliser you mean?' said Roger.

Major Owen nodded.

‘I'll get on to it right away, sir,' said Roger, standing up.

‘Not you, Captain Maxwell,' said the Major.

‘This has been my case from the start, sir,' Roger protested. ‘I should like to see it through.'

‘Not possible, I'm afraid,' said the Major. ‘You're too emotionally involved. You've just said the child is your girlfriend's baby sister.' He shook his head. ‘Absolutely not.'

‘She's not actually my girlfriend,' Roger lied, desperate not to be sent away. ‘Just a friend.'

‘Nevertheless,' said the Major. ‘No.'

Roger had no alternative. He was outranked.

They set up arc lights run from a generator and got to work. Roger stood above them in the lane, the recommended two hundred yards distance between the UXB and the team, wishing that he could be hands on. The sappers had laid down a sandbag barrier. It was small comfort because Roger fretted knowing that Mandy didn't have that sort of protection. However, they were a well-oiled machine and beautiful to watch. The idea was to dissolve the explosive filling with steam until it was rendered harmless. He could only hope and pray that they managed to get it all away before the detonator activated.

As the first light of dawn trickled over the horizon, they heard the child crying. At least she's alive, he thought, but as Mandy's wails grew louder and more desperate, he began to worry again. It sounded as if she was starting to panic. The obvious thing to do was to get the child's mother or Connie but he knew the Major would never allow them that close to the hole until the bomb was safe. It was a mammoth task to stop himself from dashing down there to comfort her, and he could only imagine how devastated the family would be if they could hear her.

A man stood up further down Honeysuckle Lane. Eugène Étienne yawned sleepily. Isaac was still snoring gently as he sat up. PC Noble had tried to move them on but they had been reluctant to go, so they had bedded down against the wall. Connie meant too much to both of them to leave. Isaac had come to realise for the first time what she had done for him and his family and he didn't want to let her down. Eugène had his own reasons for being there. He had known as soon as they'd laid together on that horsehair sofa that he would never feel about another woman the way he felt for Connie. As they made love, his passion for her only grew stronger. He didn't just love her, he adored her. He had wanted to tell her that morning but then she had pre-empted him by telling him she'd made a terrible mistake. He couldn't have her, he knew that now. She was with Roger. It cut him to ribbons to see them together but if Roger made her happy that was all that mattered. He got up and came sleepily towards him.