Home Front Girls by Rosie Goodwin Page A

from the toy department, and could hardly wait to give it to her.
    And so it was decided, and after their break the girls went back to their departments with smiles on their faces.
    By the time the shop was due to close, all three of them were exhausted. Dotty had been measuring and cutting material all day for people who hoped to make themselves or a family member a new outfit in time for Christmas. She had also spent ages helping customers to choose patterns that would be compatible with the fabric they had bought, and her feet felt as if they were about ready to drop off. Her arms ached too from lugging the heavy bolts of material to the counter.
    Lucy had been equally busy as people rushed in to get their children new outfits to wear on Christmas Day and the sound of the big brass till opening and closing became like background noise by mid-afternoon. But it was Annabelle who made them giggle when she met them outside on the chilly pavement.
    ‘Good grief, I could smell you the minute you stepped out of the door,’ Lucy said, wrinkling her nose.
    ‘I suppose I do smell a bit strong,’ Annabelle admitted, sniffing each wrist in turn. ‘But the men are the worst customers to serve. They come in wanting to buy their wives some perfume for Christmas but can’t choose which one, so I have to spray some on myself for them to choose.’
    ‘Then all I can say is you must have been busy too,’ Lucy joked. ‘You must have a whole bottle-full sprayed up and down your arms.’
    They set off through the chilly streets for the bus station, which as usual was in darkness. They were getting used to it now though.
    ‘So what are you two planning on doing over Christmas then?’ Dotty asked once they were on the bus.
    ‘Well, I wanted to go to London and see a show in the West End,’ Annabelle sighed, ‘but Mummy isn’t keen on me going. She’s such a worrier, especially since Daddy went away. I would have liked to see Ivor Novello’s The Dancing Years but I doubt it will happen. I was hoping my friend, Jessica, would come with me and we could have a couple of nights in a hotel, but she informed me last night that her mother is sending her to stay in Devon with her grandparents next week until this damn war is over. All I can hope for now is that the man of my dreams – tall, dark, handsome and extremely rich – will appear from nowhere and take me away from all this. And of course, I’ll settle for nothing less!’
    She looked so glum that Lucy squeezed her arm and grinned. ‘Well, if it’s any consolation, I shan’t be doing anything special either,’ she remarked. ‘With Joel being away it will be just me and Mary this year.’ In actual fact, she was dreading the holiday and beginning to really worry about her brother now. It was weeks since she had heard from him and she didn’t even know if he had been shipped out to the front yet. But then she tried to console herself that no news was good news. The best Christmas present in the world at that moment in time would have been to arrive home to find a letter on the doormat from him.
    Soon they were tripping towards Mrs P’s house, but when they entered, Lucy’s face fell as she saw that there was no sign of Mary.
    Mrs P herself seemed to be in a high state of excitement.
    ‘Where’s Mary?’ Lucy’s voice was edged with fear but Mrs P only giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘Never you mind about Mary fer now. Get yerself round home an’ happen you’ll find a nice surprise waitin’ for you there.’
    ‘But Mary is all right, isn’t she?’
    ‘Right as ninepence, but now be off wi’ yer. Go on . . . shoo!’
    With her heart pounding, Lucy turned and hurried through Mrs P’s back door as Dotty and Annabelle exchanged a concerned glance and hurried after her.
    Seconds later, Lucy was fiddling with the back-door key, but her hands were shaking so badly that she struggled to get it in the lock. Whatever could Mrs P have meant by ’a nice surprise’? And where