’ow to splash their money about.’ She reached into her handbag and pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. ‘Look what I got last night,’ she breathed.
Sally eyed the silk stockings. They were beautiful, but she could imagine how Iris had come to have such a gift. ‘Not tonight,’ she replied pleasantly. ‘I got things to do.’
‘Nothing’s more important than ’aving a good time. The blokes will pay, it won’t cost yer nothing.’
‘Don’t make no difference,’ replied Sally. ‘I still got other things to do.’
‘What about you, Pearl?’ The brown eyes were daring her to refuse.
‘I got a date already,’ she said.
‘I ain’t one to take no for an answer,’ Iris said evenly. ‘Bring ’im along, if you must, but I expect you and Sal to meet us outside the Town Hall at seven.’
Sally glanced at Pearl and could see she was wavering. ‘We already gave you our answer, Iris,’ she said quietly.
‘So you’re refusing to come out with us?’ Iris put her hands on her hips as she stood and viciously crushed the cigarette beneath the toe of her fancy shoe.
‘That’s right,’ said Sally. ‘I got a little brother to look after, and Pearl’s got a date.’
‘Then get a babysitter,’ snapped Iris.
‘I already left him all morning. I ain’t leaving ’im again.’ She stood and tipped out the dregs of tea from the cup and screwed it back on to the flask as the whistle signalled the end of the break.
Iris sniffed with derision as she eyed both girls.
‘You’d only cramp our style anyway.’ Her sneering gaze swept over Sally’s shoes and socks, and Pearl’s threadbare coat. ‘Your bloke can’t be up to much, Pearl Dawkins, cos no-one decent would want to get within half a mile of you and your smelly clothes. As fer you,’ her eyes bored into Sally, ‘you’ll regret this. And that’s a promise.’
She linked arms with the other two and headed for the factory door. A muttered exchange between them had them shrieking with laughter again.
‘Blimey, you got some nerve, Sal,’ breathed Pearl. ‘No-one says no to Iris.’
‘Then it’s time someone did.’
‘You’re very brave,’ said Pearl, as they hurried indoors. ‘But you’d better watch yer back from now on. That Iris is a spiteful piece and no mistake.’
‘I’ve met ’er kind before,’ said Sally, ‘and she don’t frighten me.’
‘Well, she does me,’ muttered Pearl, as they weaved their way back to their work-station. ‘She can be a right cow when someone upsets ’er – and the other two are just as bad, cos they do what she tells ’em.’
‘If you’re up for it, what you say we stick together?’ said Sally, as they took their places in front of the machines. ‘There’s strength in numbers, and if we keep firm, and make friends with some of the other girls, then they’ll just ’ave to accept we don’t want to get involved.’
‘Yea, why not?’ Pearl smiled. ‘I’m glad you came to work ’ere.’
Sally smiled back. ‘So am I,’ she replied – but she was all too aware of Iris on the other end of a far table, shooting her hostile glances. Pearl’s advice was valid; she’d definitely have to watch her back.
Aleksy had been at the airfield all morning, struggling like the others with the English language. The teacher was a retired college lecturer who liked the sound of his own voice, and Aleksy had spent most of the lesson staring out of the window at the grey skies and the windswept grass, his thoughts drifting.
There were no planes as yet, for they were all still based at the old airfield on the other side of the hills. This new airfield had been sited on a requisitioned farm which sprawled across the broad, flat lands that swept northward for many miles beyond Cliffehaven. It would soon be operational with a proper runway, flight-tower and hangars. The barracks were almost completed, the offices, canteen and workshops at the point where they were being fitted out. There was a great deal of activity outside as men from the Royal Engineers dug and built and hammered and sawed, but he missed the roar of the Spitfires and Hurricanes.
He was restless and on edge, impatient to be in the thick of things instead of hanging about. All this inactivity gave him too much time to think and fret over the lack of news coming out of Poland. The new group of Polish airmen had nothing to add to what he already knew, but at least it meant he had