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father asked as he passed her bicycle over, lightly knocking on the top of her head with his knuckles as he did so.
    â€œNothing.” She beamed at him again. Ellie liked nothing better than to spend time alone with her father, to get him all to herself. “Where shall we go first?”
    â€œLet’s call by the library to see who’s there. Then, though it pains me to say it, I think at this hour on a Friday, the pub might be our best bet.”
    As they pedalled past leafy hedgerows, under arching tree branches and into the village – at a much more sedate pace than when she was with Jack – Ellie asked her father more about the war, what had led to it and what it would mean for them all. They had begun to talk about it many times before at home, but Mother always said that Ellie was involving herself in things that didn’t concern her. It was easier when she wasn’t there.
    Now, as they rode along Father attempted an explanation of the events that had caused the war: complex alliances between the European powers, the growing threat of German military might and the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Serbia. It was all a bit of a mess, he admitted that, but he was very clear that Britain owed a duty to her friends to stand beside them against the bullying of the Kaiser. It was simply the right thing to do.
    As he had promised, Father had signed up to join the army at the earliest opportunity and had spent every spare moment going round the village urging the other local men to do the same. Ellie still couldn’t bear the thought of him leaving, but he was certainly persuasive. She had begun to wish she could join up herself, rather than being stuck at home, left behind as usual.
    As they approached the library, Ellie recognized Jack’s lanky frame standing outside. He was staring fixedly at something on the wall. Ellie and her father called out to him. Jack glanced round for long enough to throw a distracted wave in their direction, before turning back to look at the wall. As they pulled up behind him, they saw that the object of his intense concentration was a huge poster bearing the face of Lord Kitchener, the famous army officer, his expression fierce beneath his bushy brow and moustache, his finger stabbing out towards them.
    BRITONS! YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU! it proclaimed.
    Without taking his eyes away, Jack whispered, “I swear, he’s pointing right at me!”
    Ellie’s father laughed loudly, clapping Jack on the back. “I don’t think he can hear you, lad!”
    The village library had been turned into a recruitment office for the army, and as they stood teasing Jack, the doors opened and Stephen Chase and Billie Farrow emerged. The two boys had been a few years ahead of Ellie and Jack at school, until they had left at twelve to start work in the factory. Jack had followed them when he turned twelve four years later. Since they left school, they’d got taller and broader; Billie had an impressive shadow of stubble, while Stephen was never seen without a cigarette in hand (except when his mother was around). Nonetheless, they never seemed to Ellie to have changed much at all.
    â€œHello, Dr Phillips!” Billie exclaimed. He was the more chatty of the pair, popular among the young boys of the village, whose football team he coached. “We did like you said. We joined up!”
    â€œWell done, lads, well done. All of Endstone will be very proud of you. All of England!”
    Only Jack was scowling. “What changed your mind, Bill?” he asked. “You didn’t seem particularly keen earlier!”
    â€œWhen the doctor told us we could come back to the factory when the war’s all over, it sounded all right. I don’t want to be in the Army for ever!”
    â€œWhen it’s all over or after three years, whichever is the longer,” Wesley corrected him.
    â€œI think I can persuade my Moll to wait that long before