Chapter
15
"I'm
off to the shop" Jennifer yelled to Ian who was sorting out the barn with
help from Chrissie and Lindsey,
"Ok
sweetheart I will see you later, remember back before dinner please" Ian
replied as Jennifer walked towards the gate. Jennifer was running the shop by
herself for the next week whilst Ellie was away on her honeymoon, but had
reduced the opening hours for the time being due to her age. She was walking up
the lane enjoying the heat of the sun, when she got to the shop there were a
few customers standing outside the shop,
"I
will be open in five minutes everyone" Jennifer told them, she went inside
and hung her bag on a hook on the wall in the clock room and opened the till
ready for the next few hours. She turned the open/close sign round to open and
let the customers in,
"How
can I help you today" Jennifer asked the first customer
"Can
I have four meters of the sky blue fabric with the roses on please" the
customer asked, Jennifer climbed a ladder and took the fabric of the shelf,
rolled it out and measured four meters, cut it and wrapped it up in a bag,
"There
you go" Jennifer handed the bag to the customer as she paid,
"Thank
you Jenny"
"You're
welcome; how can I help" the second customer approached the counter,
"Three
roles of yellow wool please"
Jennifer
continued working throughout the afternoon taking a fifteen minute break
halfway through then closed up the shop at four o'clock as her father had
instructed her. She made her way home the sun still in the sky, heat bearing
down on top of her, though it was starting to cool down a bit she knew she was
in for a hot sleepless night. As she turned into the drive she was almost
struck with a cricket ball and screamed, she looked to see who had the bat in
their hands,
"Louis"
"Sorry"
he shouted back "didn't see you there"
"Louis
what have I told you about hitting the ball that far" Ian told him
"I
said sorry"
"Right
let's put everything away and get dinner on"
The
week went by very quickly, everyone had to put in a bit more work due to only
having few people on the farm, Jennifer only had the shop open in the afternoon
from twelve so she could help out on the farm. Soon it was Sunday night,
"Ellie
and Martin get back tomorrow" Chrissie was really excited and kept jumping
up and down on her bed as she got ready for bed. Jennifer and Ian had spent the
weekend redoing Ellie's room so it was suitable for her and Martin when they
got back, they had put in a double bed and another wardrobe, they had painted
the walls with fresh paint and put in another bedside table which had been
decorated with flowers from the fields which Chrissie and Lindsey had picked,
"Come
on now Chrissie, its bed time" Ian came into Chrissie's room to tucked her
in
"But
I'm too excited to sleep" Chrissie couldn't keep still
"I
know but the sooner you go to sleep the sooner tomorrow will come and..."
"Dad, Dad" Jennifer ran into the room
"What
is it Jenny" Ian looked at the worried look on Jennifer's face "Jenny
what's wrong"
"I've
just been reading today's newspaper, there was an air raid in Edinburgh last
night" Jennifer showed her father the paper "No one's been killed but
a lot of people got hurt, I don't know if Ellie and Martin will be home
tomorrow" And Jennifer was right Martin and Ellie didn't return home the
next day. Chrissie sat on the window sill in the dining room looking out of the
window hoping they would come round the corner any minutes. The day was another
hot, bright, sunny one but everyone on the farm seemed so dull, they were
worried, not knowing if they had been hurt or not, even Meg was sad, she spent
all day sat outside on the doorstep, Louis made sure her water bowl was full
and next to her so she didn't dehydrate.
A few days past and there was still no
news, Jennifer kept checking the paper but there was nothing else,
"There's
been no reports on deaths, since the last report"
"You
said there were no deaths" Lindsey said looking at Jennifer
"Yes
that was on the night of the air raid but people could have died because of
injuries but like I said no deaths, but their train might have been delayed"
Jennifer folded up the paper" They should be fine, home in no time, if
nothing else happens"
"You
said 'but' to many time" Lindsey said, Jennifer looked at her, she then
looked out of the window. A few days went by and still Ellie and Martin had not
come home,
"I'm
not going to bed" Chrissie told Ian as she started out of the window
"Chrissie
I know you are worried...
"Worried, worried, of course I'm worried,
I can't sleep not knowing if my sister is alright" Chrissie had turned her
head away from the window,
"I
know it's hard but you need to sleep, you are only a little girl"
"I
can't sleep, all I do is lie there staring at the ceiling and it's scary in the
dark"
"You've
never mentioned that before"
"Well
it's not that scary when I know Ellie is in the house, or when I know she is
coming back,
"Of
course she's coming back" Ian looked at Chrissie "you really love
your sister don't you" he had knelt down to Chrissie's level
"Well
yes, she helped look after me when Mummy was all depressed"
"I
never knew that"
"Daddy
never told anyone, he did whatever it took to make her feel better"
"Ok
well how about to help you sleep we move Lindsey into your room so you're not
alone" Chrissie's face lit up
"Yes
that sounds great" she jumped up and ran out of the room "Lindsey,
Lindsay" she ran up the stairs and in to Lindsey's and Jennifer's room
"What
is it Chrissie" Lindsey was sat on her bed finishing her homework
"Your
Dad said you can move in to my room, we get to share a room" Lindsey
looked at her
"Bye
Jenny" she jumped up and started to move her bed, Chrissie helped. As they
were trying to get the bed though the door Ian and Louis approached from
opposite ends of the landing
"Oh
you want to move now" Ian said as the girls struggles with the bed
"Jenny
come and help us" Lindsey said from inside the room. Jennifer jumped up
and started to help
"Hi
Dad, hi Louis some help would be nice" Everyone pitched in to get
Lindsey's bed in to Chrissie's room. Once the bed was sorted Lindsey moved her
clothes into the spare draws,
"Hey
everyone, ooh someone moving bedrooms" Everyone looked round to see Ellie
and Martin stood in the doorway,
"Ellie"
Chrissie ran and gave her sister a hug, Ian hugged his son
"Are
you two ok, What happened, are you hurt?"
"No
we're fine, we tried sending a letter but it was really difficult getting
everything in and out of the city. They eventually got us on a bus and took us
to the nearest operational train station. Took a few days but we made it
back"
"So
apart from the air raid how was the honeymoon" Jennifer jumped onto
Lindsey's bed,
"Well"
Ellie went to sit on Chrissie's bed "it was so romantic, we went to see
the Castle, saw a show and went shopping in Jenner's and Martin bought me this
dress" she stood up and did a little twirl
"That's
so beautiful, it really suits you"
"Thank
you Jenny, right bed time I think, We'll talk more in the morning"
"Ok
goodnight Ellie" Chrissie kissed her sister and climbed into bed, Lindsey
climbed into the bed next to her
"Goodnight
Ellie, goodnight Martin" Lindsey shouted before Ellie closed the door.
Louis said goodnight and went off to bed himself, Jennifer and Ian showed Ellie
and Martin to their room
"We
made some changes to your room I hope you don't mind" They set foot into
the room and were amazed. It looked so beautiful and Ellie hardly recognised
it,
"It
looks amazing, thank you so much" Ellie hugged both Jenny and Ian
"We
will see you in the morning" Jennifer and Ian closed the door behind them,
"I
am so glad to be home, I thought we were going to be stuck there for a really
long time" Ellie had put her bags down and sat on the bed
"I
know, back to reality tomorrow" Martin sat next to her
"About
time as well. Our first night at home together as husband and wife"
"I
know" Martin kissed her and laid her out on the bed.
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