Gunner Girls and Fighter Boys Read Online Free

Dolly deliberately dragged their feet.
    ‘What you all hot and bothered for?’ Dolly asked Bill. ‘You’d think there was a war on!’
    ‘One day it’ll be a real one and then you’ll move yourself!’ he said. Pushing back a strand of dark hair that had fallen across his forehead, he hurried off to clear the lower floors. May, who could do nothing slowly, even when she tried, was well ahead of the rest of the girls as they shuffled down the stone staircase to the basement. She caught up with Bill, who shot her a quick smile, and she realized that his hands weren’t the only lovely thing about him.
    ‘At least someone’s taking it seriously!’ he said.
    They arrived in the basement together and Bill took off his jerkin, tossing it over a chair by a battered old piano that the bosses had installed as a morale booster. Bill beckoned her over.
    ‘First to arrive gets first choice.’
    He clasped together his long fingers and gave an exaggerated stretch before seating himself at the piano. ‘Any requests, madam?’ he said.
    She thought for a minute. ‘Do you know “Happy Days and Lonely Nights”?’
    ‘Only too well,’ he said, looking down with a wry smile, so that for a moment she wondered if he’d broken up with a sweetheart. But as the shelter began to fill, he struck up the opening chords and soon a chorus of voices was joining in. ‘ You broke my heart a million ways, when you took my happy days, and left me lonely nights! ’ They belted it out and Bill didn’t seem to be shedding any tears, so May dismissed the idea. She noticed that he appeared more relaxed now he was sitting at the piano. Seemingly he could play any tune by ear: ‘Old Bull and Bush’ or ‘We’ll Meet Again’ – whatever the request, he picked the tune up in no time – and when the all-clear sounded they were reluctant to leave.
    ‘Bill, are you sure it’s safe for us to go upstairs?’ Dolly asked. It wasn’t just that she was flirting. The game was to string out the practice for as long as possible, anything to avoid the piles of hides stacked up waiting to be hung.
    Bill raised his eyes. ‘I’ve done my bit getting you down here, and entertaining you. I reckon you can get yourself back up whenever you like!’ He shot May a parting look and bounded up the stairs two at a time.
    ‘He likes you,’ Emmy whispered and May let out a groan.
    Although she resented her friends’ constant matchmaking, at the end of the day rather than rushing home as she usually did, she took her time in the cloakroom getting ready to leave Garner’s, and when Emmy asked her to come to the Red Cow with them on Saturday she surprised herself by agreeing.
    *
    May was checking her hair in the mirror above the fireplace when her father paused over his pipe ‘Blimey. You going out?’
    May blushed and her mother shot him a warning look, so that he quickly turned back to his paper.
    ‘You look nice,’ Jack said. ‘Wait till I get ready and I’ll walk you down.’
    ‘No, no, I’m all right. I’m only meeting some girls from work,’ May said, escaping into the passage before she attracted any more attention. As she pulled her coat from the hook she heard her mother say, ‘Well, that’s a turn up!’
    The Red Cow at the corner of The Grange was Emmy and Dolly’s favourite haunt. When May pushed open the corner door she was met by a blackout curtain. She waited there, unseen for an instant, and it crossed her mind to turn round and go home. But then she heard Emmy’s unmistakable throaty laugh, and she pulled aside the curtain.
    She scanned the room and caught sight of the piano. There was no one sitting at it, and May felt an instant of disappointment before realizing the real reason she’d agreed to come here with the girls.
    Dolly spotted her and beckoned her over. They were laughing, Emmy explained, about the last air-raid drill.
    ‘Did you see Bill’s face when he was trying to round us up?’ Emmy laughed.
    ‘Oh, I don’t