Julia sent the children upstairs to get dressed as their two little suitcases waited for them in the hall. Then, brushing their hair for the last time, she hung the tags around their necks, they slung their gas masks over their shoulders and the three of them all trundled out of the door. As they walked up the road and towards the train station, Julia tried to jolly them along, glad she had asked Agnes to say goodbye to them the night before. She didn’t think she could have stood her sorrowful and judgemental expression this early in the morning.
‘I’ve already started writing a newsy letter to you—lots of fun cartoons in it for Tom. As soon as you’re on the train, I’m going to post it. It will be with Aunt Rosalyn in the next few days, and you can look for it there. It’ll have your very own names on it.’
Sullen, the children just nodded.
When they got to the train station, it was bustling, and Maggie’s mood started to sour as her fear started to bubble up again, the new doll already forgotten. People were leaving from all over London now and there were lines and lines of children. As they waited, Julia straightened Tom’s hat on his head. He just looked at her through sad liquid eyes and then back down to the ground.
‘Oh, come on, Tom,’ she encouraged, gently stroking his icy cheek. ‘Put on a brave face, son. It’s what Daddy would have wanted. Look at all these children; they’re all leaving their mummies and daddies, too. And there are even younger children than you, that may need you to be brave for them, and Aunt Rosalyn will take excellent care of you.’
Maggie grabbed her sibling’s hand, defensively. ‘I will take care of my brother,’ she snapped, ‘now you no longer want to care for us.’
Even though Julia knew where this was coming from, her daughter’s words still stung her. ‘Maggie, you know that’s not true.’
‘And you’ll be able to do all the fun things, won’t you? All the fun things here without us now,’ Maggie added.
Julia didn’t continue the argument. She knew Maggie was just hurt and scared. Tugging Tom away from their mother’s side, Maggie stomped towards the line of children waiting on the platform, trying ever so hard not to look back at her mother. Julia quickly raced up and hugged them both tightly, kissing the top of their tiny heads, getting a light waft of flowers from Maggie’s newly washed hair. ‘Take care of each other,’ she whispered, her voice hoarse with her own emotion. ‘Promise me you’ll write and draw lots of pictures.’
Maggie set her chin, though her bottom lip was quivering. She was trying so hard to be brave; it was all coming out as anger though, and Tom just looked so incredibly young. As the children stumbled towards the train, a woman in uniform tapped Julia on the arm. ‘Best if you leave them here, dear,’ she whispered to Julia in a kindly tone. ‘Don’t want any big emotional scenes right next to the train. They’ll be fine with us. Don’t worry. We’ve done this lots of times.’
Julia began to panic and almost pushed past her, but understood the sense in what the woman in the grey and red WVS uniform was saying. But she so desperately wanted one more minute with her children as she watched them disappear into a sea of tiny brown caps and plaited hair.
All at once, the hiss of the air brakes alerted her to the fact this was really happening. Why did she seem to spend all of her time at train stations saying goodbye to the people she loved? Balling up her fists until her nails cut into her palms, she reminded herself this was for the best. Her children needed to be safe. The train whistle sounded, and members of the WVS organized them all into two lines and started to walk them towards the train. Julia bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t show them how upset she was.
‘Please look round,’ she willed her daughter. ‘Maggie, please. Just one more time.’ Maggie didn’t look round but Tom turned and waved pathetically, and even from the distance she could see there were tears in his eyes.
Briskly, she followed them as they walked along the corridor. She watched them until they were escorted into a compartment and sat next to one of the windows.