Bobby smiled. ‘Daft lad.’
‘But you love me.’
‘More than I ever did.’
A voice behind Charlie called out that his time on the telephone was up.
‘Sorry, I have to go. There’s a queue of lads behind me waiting for their turn,’ Charlie said. ‘I wish we had longer. Did you decide what to do, darling? About your call-up?’
Bobby was silent for a moment.
‘Yes,’ she said at last. ‘Yes, I think I did.’
When she arrived home, Bobby went straight to her room and took up the postponement form that lay under Charlie’s photograph. She tore it into two halves and put it in the dustbin.
Chapter 17
There was much to do, now Bobby had made up her mind where her duty lay. She spoke with Reg and Mary the next day to tell them what she had decided. Reg was disappointed, of course, but he accepted it as graciously as someone of his temperament was able to. Which was to say, he grumbled rather a lot but didn’t try to change her mind.
‘I distinctly remember you saying when you convinced me to give you this job – much against my better judgement – that one advantage to having a lass on my staff was that she couldn’t be called up,’ he muttered when Bobby broke the news.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know this would happen, did I? But now it has, I have to do what my conscience tells me is right.’
‘Huh,’ was the only answer she got.
Mary only looked rather wistful.
‘Things are going to be so quiet without you, Charlie and the bairns,’ she said. ‘It won’t feel like a home at all with no young folk around. Do come back whenever you can, Bobby. You’ll be missed more than you know.’
Bobby pressed her hand. ‘Whenever I can get leave, I’ll be here.’
‘What made up your mind in the end?’
‘It was last night, when I spoke to Charlie on the telephone. He was talking in that strange new way he has, telling me how he felt about flying ops. How afraid he was, but how proud to do his duty.’ She smiled. ‘He said he felt like he was going out there to save the world.’
‘Delusions of grandeur,’ Reg muttered. ‘The lad was always prone to them.’ All the same, he looked proud.
‘That was when I knew going was the right thing to do. Because Charlie’s right, isn’t he?’ Bobby said. ‘This is about saving the world. I am still worried about leaving my father. God knows I don’t want to go away from the Dales, or leave my job, or both of you. But none of those things will matter if we don’t win this thing, and I have to do my bit in spite of what I want. I know it’s only admin, but that’s a part of saving the world too.’
‘Have you told your old man yet?’ Reg asked.
‘No. I’m going to wait until after the weekend. I doubt I’ll be summoned for enrolment until at least Tuesday, and… well, there’s something else I need to tell him that has to wait until Monday.’ She looked up at him. ‘You won’t forget what I asked, will you, Reg? You’ll hold off advertising for a new reporter until I’ve spoken to my friend?’
‘Aye, I’ll hold off. Just remember—’
‘You can’t make any promises. I know.’
In fact, it was Monday morning when Bobby received the official letter summoning her to enrol at the recruiting centre in Bradford in one week’s time. She found it on the mat when she got home from Moorside.
She had known it was coming, but it still felt like a shock to see it there in black and white with the official RAF letterhead at the top.
In accordance with the National Service (No. 2) Act, 1941, you are called upon to enrol in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force on Monday the 19th of January, 1942…
This was it, then. There could be no going back. In one week’s time she would be enrolled officially as an airwoman, and herdays as a civilian would be numbered. She would be leaving her home and her life in the Dales and going off to a new life serving her country. It hadn’t felt quite real until she had seen it written down.
Bobby felt a shiver pass through her – someone walking over her grave, as her mam used to say. What was it? She certainly felt anxious about this strange new future, and worried for her father, but there was pride mixed in with the other emotions. For the first time, she understood what Charlie had meant when he had said he felt like he was going out there to save the world.
There was one other letter for her, but it wasn’t in her sister’s writing. Bobby had been thinking about Lilian all day, wondering if it was done yet. Lil had promised to send a telegram as soon as she was officially Mrs Scott.
