‘You’ll have to keep it to the regimented five inches of water, I’m afraid. I’ve already marked the tub up to help me remember. But you’re welcome to it.’
‘Do you mean it?’ squealed Lizzie, her eyes widening.
‘I do,’ nodded Julia.
‘I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.’
‘Look, it’s no trouble. Least I can do for two women out there fighting for our nation. It’s the smallest way I can pay you back for coming from all over the country to help us fight the war here.’
‘I’ll take it,’ said Lizzie, jumping to her feet. ‘Lead me to the bathroom, Macduff.’
‘I also have a little shampoo up there,’ added Julia.
‘God, shampoo,’ said Lizzie. ‘I feel like I’m at the Hilton. I’ve been having to use the Lifebuoy soap on my hair and look at it. It’s a frizzy mess. Diana has promised to cut it for me. But I, for some reason, had some leisurely idea that we’d have actual time to do that.’
‘Are you a hairdresser, Diana?’
‘I was.’
‘Have you got your scissors with you?’ enquired Lizzie, with a gleam in her eye.
‘I told you,’ reminded Diana, ‘I don’t go anywhere without my scissors.’ She tapped her handbag.
‘Would you mind if she cut my hair while she was here, Julia?’
‘Of course not.’
Lizzie yipped with delight, running up the stairs. The girls could hear her giggle as she made her way into the bathroom.
Thirty minutes later she was back down, her head wrapped in a towel, her face flushed red with the hot water and with a delighted look on her face, she sank into a chair. Julia brought a kitchen chair into the front room so Diana could cut her friend’s hair.
‘Where were you a hairdresser?’
‘I’m from Birmingham.’
‘I didn’t detect an accent.’
‘She’s practising her posh one in case she meets the queen,’ added Lizzie, unfurling the towel from her hair.
As Diana cut Lizzie’s hair, Julia put on the wireless, and the three of them sang along to the Andrew Sisters’ new song.
As she watched the two girls in front of her, Julia thought for a minute that this could be the beginning of something, a friendship. A friendship born out of all their necessity, doing what they were doing for this war. But it’d be nice to have friends, somebody who understood what she was going through, and Julia started to have a glimmer of hope that she might make it after all.
12
At the beginning of July, Diana and Lizzie sat nervously on their bunks, waiting for the test results after finishing their basic training. In the past two weeks, they’d been tested to see what would be the best placement for them both. Over time, their skills had become more prominent. Diana had become physically stronger, excelling in her athletic abilities, which surprised her most of all. She put it down to having to always carry Lizzie when she got exhausted on their long runs. Lizzie had tested very strong in her verbal reasoning.
Now they both sat waiting nervously for their commanding officer to pin up the results of the tests on the board in the hallway. One of the other recruits poked her head into their room.
‘Results are in,’ she stated cheerily. Diana grabbed Lizzie’s hand and squeezed it tightly as they made their way into the hallway. All the other girls were crowded around the noticeboard looking for their assignments.
Finally reaching the board, Diana ran her finger down the list and, with a sinking heart, saw they were not being placed together. Diana, with her strength and height, had been recommended to work on the barrage balloons, and Lizzie was going to be working as something called a filter plotter in Kenley.
‘Well, at least we’ll still be in London,’ stated Lizzie, trying to be positive as they sidled back to their room to continue packing. Today was Friday, and they had the night off; they would leave on Sunday for their new assignments. Julia had promised them they could come over and celebrate the end of their training together at her house and stay the night. It would be the last time all the girls would be together before they left to start their new work, but it was with a heavy heart that the two girls made their way into London that day.
However, their sadness was short-lived as when they got to Julia’s house, she was in a jovial mood, and had somehow managed to get all the ingredients to make a cake and was ready