Chapter 31 #2
Dilys flashed Bobby a suspicious glance. ‘Are you sure we can trust her? She might tell.’
‘Don’t be silly, Dil,’ Mike said. ‘Let her have a look.’
Dilys passed it over, somewhat resentfully. Bobby took it, intrigued as to what could be on this contraband piece of paper.
The illustration on the front showed a woman sitting on a bed half undressed, her breasts exposed while she rolled down her stockings. Nearby, a foreign serviceman – American, Bobby thought from the uniform – was smirking as he loosened his tie. Underneath, it bore the legend While you are away…
‘It’s a riot, isn’t it?’ Mike said. ‘David would just scream if he could see it. It’s completely illegal for us to have it, of course, so you mustn’t say a word. Carol smuggled it back.’
‘I borrowed it from Mavis, the NCO I’ve been getting friendly with,’ Carol told Bobby, looking rather smug over this influential new pal. ‘The sergeant pilot she’s walking out with brought it back from North Africa.’
‘But what is it?’ Bobby asked, staring wonderingly at the lewd, highly detailed image. It looked like the cigarette cards of pin-up girls she sometimes used to find hidden while tidying her younger brothers’ room.
‘A Joe Goebbels special, in honour of the Yanks coming over,’ Carol said.
‘Propaganda leaflet Jerry’s been dropping on our troops out in Africa.
The idea is to damage morale by making them think their women are all having it away with foreign soldiers at home.
Of course it backfires completely, Mavis says, because the men just roar their heads off, thank old Joe for the picture and tear out the part with the nudey lady to pin up in their bunks. ’
‘Don’t you think it’s funny, Bobsy?’ Dilys demanded, watching her through narrowed eyes. ‘Or will you go running to Stewpot and get us all put on a charge?’
‘Of course I do. It’s an absolute scream.’ Bobby forced a laugh, handing the lurid propaganda leaflet back to Carol.
But she couldn’t really find anything amusing in it.
The sight of the half-dressed woman, preparing to go to bed with her foreign lover while her man was away, unsettled her.
It made her think of Charlie, and her still-simmering guilt over Ernie King, and everything Mike had said about the assumption of infidelity during wartime.
Perhaps the women here were right. Perhaps she was too sensitive; too serious; too naive. She knew she was prone to thinking too much. Unfortunately it was the only way she knew how to be.
‘I’d love to meet a real-life American,’ Carol said dreamily, gazing at the male figure on the leaflet. ‘I bet they’re just like out of the pictures.’
‘My David knows a couple. Eagle Squadron,’ Mike told them. ‘He says they’re a pair of thugs. Anyway, Car, I’m sure you’ll get your chance soon enough. The papers say there are GIs pouring in by the hundreds now.’
Dilys sat up. ‘Come on, let’s go to the rec hut and play records until dinner. Might as well, since that’s the only fun we’re allowed to have.’
Mike lowered her voice. ‘Unless we sneak out after lights out. One of the girls in 19 told me there’s a pub in the village. It’s not a long walk.’
Carol snorted. ‘Stewpot never mentioned a pub when she was telling us about tea rooms and chip shops, did she?’
‘Some of the men are bound to hang around there. What do you think, girls?’
‘We shouldn’t,’ Bobby said. ‘What if we got caught?’
Dilys rolled her eyes. ‘How did I know you were going to say that?’
‘Come on, Bobsy.’ Mike hung over the edge of her bunk to peer at her. ‘Live a little, eh?’
‘No, honestly, I couldn’t. You all go if you want.’
‘Not going to tell on us, are you?’ Dilys demanded.
‘Of course not,’ Bobby said. ‘I’ll try to cover for you if anyone asks questions. Still, I wish you wouldn’t. We only just got here.’
‘She’s right, you know.’ Carol, to Bobby’s surprise, came to her aid.
‘I wouldn’t half feel small if I got put on a fizzer my second day.
Being absent without leave is a damn sight more serious than smuggling Jerry leaflets, and it’d go on our records too.
Our dad’d wear me out if he heard about it. ’
‘And Stewpot might lock you in for even longer as punishment,’ Bobby pointed out. ‘She might even confine you to camp for the whole training period.’
Carol nodded. ‘I bet she would an’ all. Rubbing her hands with glee while she fastened on the manacles.’
‘How can she rub her hands if she’s fastening manacles?’ Mike asked.
‘All right, clever clogs. It’s a figure of speech.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ Dilys muttered. ‘The old cow looks like she’d be jankers-happy. Oh, but two weeks without a single dance or date! I swear I’ll actually die of boredom.’
‘It’s all right for you, Carol,’ Mike said, glaring at her. ‘You’ll be waiting on the officers, won’t you? Have them all to yourself while we’re locked up here in our sackcloth and chastity knickers.’
Carol grinned. ‘Don’t worry, girls, I’ll be sure to save the best talent for us. I’ll give you a full report tomorrow night and tell you which ones I’ve earmarked for each of you. As soon as we’re free, we’ll have dates ready and waiting while the other lasses are scrabbling for our leftovers.’
‘Very kind, but I’ll waive my share of the favour,’ Bobby said, smiling as she waggled her engagement ring.
‘Oh, come on,’ Dilys said, rolling her eyes. ‘You’re not going to be a spoilsport about everything, are you? You’re as bad as Stewpot, with her “great and glorious pride of the WAAF” crap.’
‘I’m not going to be a spoilsport. I can’t go on dates, that’s all,’ Bobby said, flushing as she remembered the picture on the leaflet. ‘I know you see it differently than I do, but I won’t judge you if you don’t judge me.’
‘That’s fair enough,’ Mike said to the other women.
‘Still, Bobsy, I don’t see why you shouldn’t get yourself a little camp boyfriend to keep you company.
You don’t have to do anything, if you’re absolutely convinced the fiancé’s keeping himself pure for you.
A dance and a flirt is the least a young woman deserves.
It’s necessary for our self-esteem – and our purses, come to that. ’
‘You said it,’ Carol agreed. ‘An innocent fling never hurt anyone. You need an officer to pay for stuff with a training wage of one and four a day.’
‘And what if this officer expects payment in return?’ Bobby asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘You know what I mean.’
‘Just make sure you’ve got your blackouts on,’ Dilys said with a grin. ‘They’ll quench his ardour.’
‘Ha bloody ha.’
Carol shrugged. ‘You can tell him to sod off if he tries owt. He can’t make you, can he? Well, he can, but he won’t. Us three would look after you.’
Bobby smiled, touched. She knew she was the outlier in this new group she had somehow become a part of.
She knew they had adopted her more for reasons of proximity than fellow-feeling.
She knew that Dilys, at least, didn’t like her, and tolerated her only because of her admiration for Mike.
She half-suspected that the nickname they had given her, Bobsy, was at least as mocking as it was playful, especially given it was Dilys who had started it.
It was nice to know that Carol, at least, saw her as one of the gang.
‘I really don’t want a date,’ Bobby said. ‘But I would like to have some fun when they let us out. I’ve got no intention of sitting by myself every night for the next six weeks, and I don’t see why I need a man on my arm to enjoy myself.’
Mike grinned. ‘That’s the spirit.’
‘I’m still going to pick you out an officer tomorrow though,’ Carol said, flopping back on her bunk. ‘Just in case you change your mind.’