see how it made her feel so different. The regimented uniform she’d been wearing for over a fortnight had been stiff and uncomfortable. The shoes were practically matronly. Suddenly she started to feel like herself again as she sprayed on perfume and started to put make-up on, running a comb through her curly hair. Painting on her ruby red lipstick, she smacked her lips together in the mirror. That will have to do, she thought, even though she still looked a bit tired around the eyes.
Half an hour later, the two of them were bumping along in an air-force truck on the way into central London. They were a jovial pair, laughing and joking about their first weeks and anticipating the first evening out in the West End. The driver dropped them off in Trafalgar Square, and the intrepid pair looked at everything around them in awe, particularly Lizzie. It was still light, so they wandered about the streets looking in all the shop windows, then stopped to have tea and cakes and ate until they were full. After tea they then decided to go to the pictures. A comedy was playing in one of the cinemas, and both of them liked the idea of relaxing and watching something funny for the evening.
‘I’ve never even really been to a proper cinema before,’ enthused Lizzie, her eyes wide as they walked into the foyer. ‘We had a local fella in Scotland who would come once a month and bring us a film, which he played in the church hall, but I’ve never really been in anything like this before.’
As they stood in the queue to go into the auditorium, Lizzie turned to Diana. ‘I’m just going to powder my nose. I won’t be a minute.’ Diana nodded as she waited in line, and Lizzie darted back into the hallway. Diana had second thoughts and decided maybe she would pop to the ladies too, and check her make-up. She started to follow Lizzie when she noted that instead of heading towards the toilets, Lizzie had stopped at the phone box in the foyer. Diana observed her friend promptly pull out the telephone directory and after searching the pages, write down something on a slip of paper then thrust it into her bag. Diana watched with interest. Why was she being so secretive? Was is something to do with the sadness she saw in her friend? Lizzie took a deep breath, apparently to steady herself, before heading back to join the line. Not wanting to let Lizzie know she’d seen her, Diana slipped quickly back into the queue. Lizzie arrived back just in time for them to walk into the darkened room. The film hadn’t started yet so they made their way into the centre of the cinema and took their seats in the middle of the row. Diana waited to see if Lizzie would elaborate about what she had just witnessed but she didn’t. Instead, Lizzie just enthused about her anticipation for the film to begin and Diana realized there was still much about this new friend she didn’t know yet.
11
On Friday evening, Julia left work early and made her way home after an exhausting week working in the war rooms, sometimes being there late into the night. She’d only actually seen Mr Churchill once, and that was as he’d rushed by, requesting Carol for the work that he needed. She had worked hard, and the hours went quickly but strangely, and she felt like a mole underground with no windows to inform them all if it was morning or evening. But even though she had barely come up for air all week, she willingly preferred to be at work than at home, which was an echo of a shell of what it had been without her family and with only Agnes waiting for her.
With that thought, Julia’s stomach tightened. Since John had left, Agnes had been even needier than before and had become very clingy with her. And without the children to keep her busy, all she did was worry about the war all the time. Julia had tried to help her find other things to do with her time. Still, she didn’t seem to care about rolling bandages or volunteering for the WVS; she just screwed up her nose and shook her head when Julia encouraged her to do something with all the nervous energy that she seemed to need to wring out of her hands all the time. Julia