The Last Letter from Juliet - Melanie Hudson Page 0,88

in fact – was that, without humans on Earth, without the human brain and soul to see it all, nothing really existed. Not the sun, nor the moon or the stars – nothing. Because without our distinctly human ability to see it all – to pause, to consider – none of it, nothing that existed in the whole of the universe and beyond, was really there at all. Once the human race was lost, there would be no one left to wonder at life and all that was amazing and wonderful and frightening, would be gone. The whole universe would no longer exist, simply because there would be no one around to look up and see it. Humans were the most important part of the universe, because they were the only thing that made it real.

And this was why, once upon a time, a young woman called Katherine Henderson (or Jones, as I was then), a free-thinking history student, had wanted to write books about ‘then and now’ and make television programmes and inspire children. But that was all before she fell desperately in love with her university professor, married him, moved into his house, and absorbed herself into his life, at which point there had been no room for two sparkling careers behind the green door of that leafy Exeter street. Love had persuaded me to take a seat on the reserves bench – supporting my husband, promoting and encouraging his ideas (which were sprinkled with more than a smattering of my own) – and I had never regretted walking away from my own chance to make my own history.

Until now.

Until a woman called Juliet had brought me back to life, handing me a ladder.

Juliet.

I suddenly wanted to see her. To make the most of her, while I still had the chance.

I ran back to the cottage, jumped into the car, shot up the hill and drove through the pillared gates for Lanyon, all the while wanting to take a pin and stick it in the earth, to slow it down in its relentless journey through the universe or even to spin it backwards a few marching paces, to be given just a little more time. And as I jumped out of the car, my pace began to speed even quicker, because Time, it turned out, was so very precious indeed.

Chapter 31

Juliet

Over the Rainbow

‘I’ve been fired.’

Marie was laying on the sofa in the dark. The blackout blinds up even though it was early afternoon. She was chain-smoking and listening to the wireless when Anna and I, having dropped our bags in the hallway, walked in the living room.

‘Fired?’ I repeated, putting on the light and taking off my coat. ‘From the ATA? Never!’

Marie sat up and stubbed out her cigarette. She looked utterly dreadful. It was the first time Anna and I had seen her in anything but a perfectly put together state.

‘Sonofabitch from the Home Office got an eyeful of me and Jimmy at the 400 Club. He blew the whistle to the newspapers and before we knew it flashbulbs were going off in our faces and guess what? I’m being encouraged to move on.’

‘But that’s crazy,’ Anna said, taking a seat next to Marie. ‘They’re desperate for good pilots, how can they even think of letting you go? Why should anyone care if you were out with Jimmy at the club? I don’t understand. You can do what the hell you like, surely?’

Marie glanced up at me. I knew exactly what she was going to say.

‘Jimmy’s married.’

Anna dropped her head.

‘Oh, Marie.’

‘Oh, stop your chiding Miss Prim! They’ve been looking for a reason to get rid of me since I flew under that bridge.’

Anna and I looked at each other. ‘Bridge?’ we said in unison.

‘Oh, it was nothing, not to me anyhow, but you Brits are always so damn straight-laced all the damn time …’

We waited for an explanation. If Marie had been knowingly reckless in an aircraft, there was no way the ATA would swallow it. This we had to hear.

‘Well, OK, I’ll tell you. I know you’ll understand, Juliet, what with being a stunt pilot and all – but promise you won’t glower at me, Anna! You know how prissy you can be!’

Anna’s jaw fell open. She looked at me and mouthed, ‘Prissy?’ I shook my head to reassure her.

‘It was the day you gals went to Cornwall. I met some RAF guys in town and we got to talking and they said they’d flown under