Bobby shrugged, feeling it better to remain non-committal. There was a definite ‘us and them’ between the officers and other ranks, and she didn’t want to cement the view that she had become Mulligan’s pet erk.
‘She has her moments,’ she whispered back.
‘Now, now, ladies, settle down,’ Mulligan said, actually smiling for once. ‘Return to your quarters, please, and prepare for today’s march. Then you will have the remainder of the day to catch up with news from home.’
Chapter 35
Bobby had dreaded the route marches before she had experienced one, and it was certainly true that there was little worse than a wet, windy, muddy tramp over the hills with no home comforts to come back to. But when the weather cooperated, they were her favourite part of her new life.
On the fells, she didn’t feel homesick. She could shut out the sound of chatter and pretend she was striding up Great Bowside with Charlie by her side, or imagine she was hiking to see her friend Andy Jessop in his farmhouse at Newby Top. From a certain vantage point she even thought she could make out the tiny dot of Silverdale in the far distance, and smiled as she thought of her friends and family there, going about their day.
Bobby found it hard to enjoy today’s hike though, in spite of the sunshine, the birdsong and the spring flowers bursting out all over. Her head was too full of thoughts of Charlie, and what might be waiting for her when the women were finally allowed their post. All the fells did was remind her of him.
The WAAFs weren’t sent on long-distance marches – at least, not compared to the RAF recruits, who might go as far as twenty miles in a day. Today’s hike was to be a mere six miles. Still, that was more than enough for Bobby’s less countrified companions.
‘Ugh,’ Carol said, wrinkling her nose as she wiped something off her shoe. ‘Cow muck. Hope I don’t stink of it for the dance tonight. How does a ruddy cow get up here?’
‘That’s sheep muck,’ Bobby told her. ‘Dales sheep are like mountain goats. They can get everywhere.’
‘Since when did you become an expert in the difference between cow and sheep muck?’ Dilys demanded.
Bobby shrugged. ‘I like walking. You quickly learn that sort of thing here.’
‘Never catch me traipsing through fields of muck, ruining my stockings,’ Dilys muttered.
Bobby smiled. ‘Is this not what your people do? I thought Wales was all running through the valleys in those funny hats on the trail of feral herds of male voice choirs.’
Dilys gave her a dirty look before marching off. She had tried to hide it, but Bobby saw her face crumple as she walked away, almost as if she was going to cry.
‘What did I say?’ Bobby asked, turning to the others. ‘I didn’t mean to be nasty. I was trying to make her laugh, that’s all. I keep trying to make friends, but she just looks daggers at me.’
Carol shrugged. ‘I guess Welsh people get a bit sick of the English taking the mickey. There’s no need for her to be that sensitive about it though. She’s said a lot worse to you.’
‘I don’t think it’s that,’ Mike said quietly. ‘She’s got something on her mind. I wouldn’t take it personally, Bobby.’
Bobby watched Dilys striding off. ‘What is it?’
‘It isn’t for me to say.’ Mike sighed. ‘Poor kid.’
They walked on, Bobby wondering what it could all be about.
She had learnt a little about her companions over the past two weeks, and had soon found there was more to them than she had assumed. All were volunteers rather than conscripts – in the WAAF by choice, unlike her.
Violet Carmichael, known as Mike, was twenty-seven years old, curvy, platinum blonde, fun-loving and glamorous. On first meeting her, Bobby had marked her down as a good-time girl with a somewhat cynical outlook on life and love. She had been surprised to learn, however, that despite her aversion to having children, Mike had a strong motherly streak. It was she who had taken the other three under her wing, and helped them find their feet in this strange new life. Bobby had also discovered thatin spite of the unconventional arrangement at the heart of her marriage, Mike had a deep love for her husband David.
Carol, too, had her secrets. She had told Bobby at her medical that she had followed her sister Trish to the Air Force in search of a husband, but Bobby had seen the bruises on her friend’s skin when they had been changing. Dark references to wanting to escape a stern father had quickly pointed Bobby to the real reason the Boyes sisters had been keen to leave home and find men who could protect them.
Dilys Baines’s boyfriend Richie sounded just such another. At only eighteen, Dilys had joined up to escape his jealous rages and his fists, hoping to meet someone better.
Dilys continued walking apart. Even when they stopped on a stretch of limestone pavement for a cup of tea from their Thermos flasks, she sat a little distance away.
‘She’s still cross with me for teasing her,’ Bobby said to Mike and Carol. ‘I ought to go make it right.’
‘Be careful,’ Mike said as Bobby stood up. ‘She’s liable to bite someone’s head off today. Possibly literally.’
Bobby headed to where Dilys was sitting. She wasn’t drinking tea but writing in a notebook.
‘Hello,’ Bobby said, taking a seat by her.
