Cousins at War Read Online Free Page B

the opportunity of the slight lull to say, ‘We were in the thick of it.’
    Olive could tell that her father had been badly shocked by what he had seen. ‘It was nothing, Dad. We got a scare, but I don’t think we were in any real danger.’
    Mrs Mavor, Gracie’s neighbour on the same landing, came to her door in the afternoon. ‘Did you hear aboot the folk that was machine-gunned in Union Terrace at
dinnertime? Doesn’t your Patsy work there?’
    Gracie’s heart raced uncontrollably. ‘Her office is about halfway along . . . oh, I hope she’s all right.’
    Regretting having upset her, Mrs Mavor tried to reassure her. ‘You’d have heard by this time if she wasna.’
    ‘I suppose so.’ Gracie, grateful for her concern, gave her a cup of tea, and having been warned, was more able to face the other tenants in the building when they came to tell her
the same thing. They were only being neighbourly after all, rallying round her as they would to anyone in trouble. But even although Mrs Mavor stayed with her for almost an hour, she felt nauseous
until Patsy came home, unharmed but eager to tell her mother what had happened.
    Gracie was horrified when she heard how close her daughter had come to death, and when Joe came in with the news that Hall Russell’s shipyard had been bombed, and that the single aircraft
had caused mayhem all over Aberdeen, she telephoned to ask Hetty if any of her family had been hurt. ‘Olive and Raymond were machine-gunned, as well,’ she told Joe in a few minutes,
‘but they weren’t hit either, thank God. Oh, that damned German, putting the fear of death in folk.’
    Knowing how much his wife was against even the mildest of swearwords, Joe let it go. It just showed how upset she was.
    Neither that night’s
Evening Express
nor the following morning’s
Press and Journal
reported the full story, which spread by word of mouth, exaggerated a little more
each time it was passed on. Gracie’s conviction that this would put the final nail in the coffin of Neil’s plan to join up was very wide of the mark. Her son was harbouring a deep
hatred of the enemy for this act of barbarism and was all the more determined to enter the fight against the Axis powers.
    Over the next few weeks, as the newspapers reported repeated attacks on London, Gracie felt anxious about her brother and his family. Croydon was one of the places mentioned that had been
severely hit by bombs, but with so many enemy planes shot down, she believed that the Germans would abandon their fruitless attempts to force Britain’s capital to its knees. It came as a
shock, therefore, when she received a note from Donnie’s wife, Helene.
    Thursday.
    Dear Gracie and Joe,
    I hope you don’t mind, but I’m taking Queenie away from the bombing. We have had air raids nearly every night for weeks, and we hardly get any sleep.
     We’re taking the night train on Friday, and we’ll arrive in Aberdeen early Saturday morning. I’m sorry not to give you more warning, but I don’t want to wait any
     longer.
    Love as always, Helene.
    ‘It must be terrible for them,’ Gracie wailed, returning the letter to the envelope, ‘and Donnie should give up his shop and come up here with them.’
    Joe shook his head. ‘It’s all very well saying that, but the newsagent’s is his livelihood and he’s worked hard to build up a trade. I wouldn’t leave if I was him,
but I’m glad he’s had the sense to get Helene and Queenie away.’
    Gracie’s mind had already jumped ahead. ‘I’ll have to give them Neil’s room – I’ll give it a good going over – and he can sleep on the bed-settee.
I’m sure he won’t mind in the circumstances and it’ll just be for a wee while.’
    ‘No, Gracie, it’ll be longer than a wee while. Look, I can sleep with Neil, Helene can sleep with you, and Queenie and Patsy’ll manage on the three-quarter bed.’
    Although it was into August, Saturday morning was cold and misty – the damp even