Safe Harbour Read Online Free Page A

crisp and cool outside. She would walk today and save money. There was a queue outside Baxters, the high-street grocers. The women were standing patiently with their shopping bags, gossiping. Sugar and some baconand maybe cheese, that’s what they were hoping would be on offer today. That’s what the rumours had said anyway. Normally Sophie would have joined the line, but now she didn’t need to. She was forced to slow down as part of the street had given way to a curious pattern of holes and cracks. The path would occasionally give a strange wobble under the weight of her feet, threatening to send her sprawling in the dust.
    Work crews were busy trying to salvage gas pipes which lay twisted and torn amid the concrete. The railings all along Windsor Terrace were gone, obviously off to a munitions factory to be melted down. Things were getting worse all over Europe, with sea battles, air battles, land battles. What would they do if the Germans invaded Britain? wondered Sophie.
     
    The doctor and matron were busy in her mother’s ward. Sophie would have to wait, and she decided to pop down to see Mrs Abercorn. This ward was much bigger than her mother’s, with about sixteen old ladies arranged around the room in beds, and a few sitting in wheelchairs.
    Mrs Abercorn hugged her tight.
    ‘Oh Sophie, pet! I’m ever so pleased to see you. How is your poor mother?’
    ‘She’s a little better. She opened her eyes last time. I think she knew me because she said my name,’ Sophie confided.
    ‘Oh, thank God!’ the old lady smiled.
    Sophie suddenly realised that Mrs Abercorn was indeed avery old lady. She seemed to have shrunk, and her hands and arms and neck were far bonier than Sophie remembered.
    ‘I’ll be getting my marching orders in a few days,’ Mrs Abercorn announced.
    ‘Are you going home?’ Sophie asked.
    ‘No, no, pet! The old place is all bombed out, just like yours – unsafe, they tell me. No, I’m going to Eastbourne, to a convalescent home for old folks like myself. My sister Millie and her husband Ron live about twenty miles from there.’
    ‘Oh!’ said Sophie.
    ‘We all have to do our bit, part of the war effort. Have to put up with things. You know something, love, I haven’t stayed a night out of London since I was sixteen. Young Joe was always trying to coax me to come over to Canada, said he wanted to show off his old Mum, but I couldn’t do it, just couldn’t leave London. I reckon old Adolf has changed my mind for me. Still, there’s life in the old bird yet. They haven’t finished me off yet!’
    Sophie grinned to herself, Mrs Abercorn was a tough old girl, and she would miss her terribly.
     
    ‘Aunt Jessie!’ Sophie couldn’t believe it. Jessie, her mother’s younger sister, was sitting in the chair beside Mum’s bed. She almost squashed the breath out of Sophie with a tight squeezing hug. ‘I’m so glad to see you, Sophie!’
    Mum was half-sitting up, propped up with pillows againstthe bed-rest. She opened her eyes drowsily and tried to smile.
    ‘Oh Libby! You smiled at me!’ Aunt Jessie murmured proudly.
    Sophie was so relieved to see her aunt. It didn’t matter that she was a scatterbrain and not to be relied on. She was an adult member of the family, and she had turned up.
    They sat by her mother’s bed for over an hour. Aunt Jessie kept telling stories of when they were children, and the trouble they used to get into, and talked about how beautiful Mum was on her wedding day. Sophie gave her a kick when she mentioned the house. Sometimes Mum would nod, and her sister would squeeze her fingers and pat her arm.
    Mum was tired and eventually the blue eyes closed heavily and her breathing became deeper and she slept.
    ‘Let’s go get a cup of tea!’ mouthed her aunt.
    They walked silently from the hospital, and found a small tea shop round the corner. After a few minutes, the waitress, in her black uniform and starched white apron, got them a seat near the window. Aunt