Home Front Girls

what we need? Half of the shops don’t have anything worth buying in them any more!’
    ‘It’s a case of make do and mend at the moment,’ her father answered, uncharacteristically sharply. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a war on. Even as we speak, young men are being killed. And here you are, Annabelle, worrying about the lack of choice of clothes in the shops. Why, if you didn’t buy another single thing, you would have enough to last most people for the next ten years. I happen to know that your wardrobe is bulging at the seams.’
    ‘But I just had to have a new outfit for tonight,’ Annabelle said resentfully. ‘It’s Jessica’s birthday party and you wouldn’t want me to go looking a mess, would you?’
    When her father didn’t respond as he usually did, Annabelle looked towards her mother for support, but for the first time in her life she didn’t find it. Deciding to try a different tack she lowered her head and said quietly, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think. But don’t worry – I’ll be really careful from now on, honestly I will. You’re quite right – I don’t need any more new clothes and I won’t buy anything else for ages.’
    ‘I’m pleased to hear it, because as your mother has informed you, things are going to have to change around here for the foreseeable future.’
    ‘I know, but you didn’t really mean what Mummy said, did you? About me getting a job?’
    ‘I’m afraid I did,’ Richard said firmly. ‘And I suggest you go about it as soon as possible, because as from now, I am stopping your allowance. I have no choice, I’m sorry.’
    Annabelle’s mouth gaped open. Things were not going at all as she had planned, but she guessed that she would only annoy her father more if she pursued it now, so she swallowed her temper and asked instead, ‘Could you give me a lift to the party, please, Daddy?’
    ‘No, I can’t, dear. Petrol is getting very hard to obtain and Jessica only lives ten minutes’ walk away.’
    ‘But I can’t be expected to walk there in these shoes,’ Annabelle gasped. ‘And it’s so dark outside.’
    ‘Then stay in. It’s not wise to go out after dark at the moment anyway. And if you must go, don’t forget to take your gas mask.’
    Her new resolution forgotten, Annabelle stamped her daintily shod foot. ‘Now you’re just being mean!’
    ‘No, I am not. It’s called being sensible. And if the air-raid sirens go off before you get to Jessica’s, make sure that you head for the nearest shelter.’
    Annabelle had never seen her father in this mood before, and realising that for now at least he was not going to be swayed, she turned on her heel and marched off to fetch her new coat and the hated gas mask. She detested having to carry it everywhere with her and saw little point in it anyway. Word had it that the Germans would be targeting the factories on the other side of the city, so she didn’t see why she should have to lug the damn thing everywhere. For a moment, a sense of the enormity of what was happening to them all overwhelmed her in a wave of fear about the future. Then she pulled herself together and brushed her feelings to one side.
    Blasted war – I’ll be glad when it’s over and things can get back to normal, she thought, and in no time at all she had slammed the door and was making her way through the icy, darkened streets.

Chapter Two
     
    ‘Come along, Miss Kent. Get this lot tidied away now. An untidy counter will not do, now will it?’
    ‘No, Mrs Broadstairs,’ the mousy-haired girl muttered as she hastily shuffled the gloves the customer had tried on into pairs. The woman had been difficult to say the very least, trying on nearly every pair of gloves available and then leaving without even buying any – a fact of which Mrs Broadstairs was acutely aware. Not that she was surprised. Dorothy Kent was a timid little thing, hardly suited to serving the public in her opinion, with barely any social graces at all, but then if Mr Bradley felt that Miss Kent was up to serving, who was she to argue?
    Percival Bradley, the manager, ruled his shop like a sergeant-major – not that he could do any wrong in Mrs Broadstairs’s eyes. She had been in awe of the man, and more than a little enamoured of him, ever since the day she had started at Owen Owen as his assistant. Unfortunately, he never seemed to notice her – which was a shame as she’d been widowed for the last four years and now felt ready to look for