Page 41 of The Island Girls

Darrell. How was she supposed to get closer to Charlie without offending Darrell? She absolutely could not risk their budding romance, yet now she was sworn to secrecy. But so was Darrell, she suspected, being part of the RAAF. He wasn’t allowed to tell her too much about where he’d been or what he’d been doing. Could she say something vague, and just ask him to trust her? What man would agree to that?

‘Penny for your thoughts, Peggy?’ Charlie’s voice broke into her mind’s wanderings like the sharp point of a knife. She felt as though time stopped then, for an indefinite period. She seemed to have enough time to think through all the possible ramifications of what she was about to say, accept the outcome, compose her answer, and begin the play-acting role of a secret spy, all in the time it took for her to draw breath and turn to look into Charlie’s face.

‘I was just thinking how unusual this all is, Charlie. Meeting three such important people, then the air raid the other night, and now seeing these passengers off to who knows where on this very secretive flight. These are strange times we live in, don’t you agree?’ she asked him.

‘It certainly is peculiar. Imagine them trusting us – simple boatmen as we are – with the job of protecting such importantcharacters. I’d have thought they’d need, at the very least, an army or navy escort,’ Charlie said thoughtfully.

‘I wonder why they travelled with BOAC, rather than on one of the Sandringhams at the RAF base?’ Peggy asked, thinking out loud as much as asking Charlie. She was surprised when he answered.

‘Perhaps they thought it less of a safety risk this way. I would think any enemy attack would be directed at the defence bases and transports, rather than civilian ones, wouldn’t you?’

‘I suppose so, if they know where to find them,’ Peggy answered, as she slowed the launch on the approach to Poole Quay. ‘Here, Charlie – you take the helm from here. You’re more than confident,’ she said stepping back and giving him room. ‘Tell me again where it was that you got your experience with boats. You’re so confident with this launch, I’d hazard a guess you’ve handled plenty like her before,’ Peggy said, encouraging him to talk about himself.

She noticed that Charlie hesitated for a discernible moment before he answered.

‘Mostly on the docks in London, but before the war, I spent some time on the continent too.’

‘And where’s your family? Are they in London?’ she pried, and this time, she saw his face twitch with something like pain, or hate, or possibly even regret.

‘I don’t have any family any more, Peggy. The war took them all. The war’s taken all I had left that was precious to me,’ he said, avoiding her question in a way that made it impossible to probe any further without offending him.

He brought the launch in to the quay and Nora and Peggy worked to secure it, while Charlie shut down the engines. The three of them walked over to the offices to return the key and look at the schedule for the rest of the day.

‘You all get an early dinner break, today,’ said Patricia as she checked the flying boat itineraries. ‘There’s nothing due in now until four o’clock, and Rose doesn’t even have any driving jobs for you today.’

Nora took no time at all to act on the good news and head home to her mother, looking forwards to a hot dinner and an afternoon tending the vegetables in the garden before coming back on duty again. Peggy looked at her watch and made a proposition to Charlie.

‘Far too early for me to go home, Charlie, and I don’t expect your landlady will want you hanging around under her feet while she cooks, either. Why don’t we pop into the pub for a quick drink before dinner time?’ she asked him, knowing full well she was pushing into unusual territory. She would never have dared asked a male workmate for a drink before this morning. What other new and strange behaviours might this peculiar mission lead her into? Peggy wondered.

Charlie bought a pint and a half of beer and carried the two glasses over to the table in the back corner of the Jolly Sailor where Peggy waited for him. She had suggested the Jolly Sailor, but he said he’d preferred this pub, and seemed to be glancing around him looking for someone he either did or didn’t want to see, Peggy thought as she watched him. She tried again to find out a little more about how he spent his time when he wasn’t working.

‘So, with no family here, Charlie, and living in digs as you do, how do you spend your free time?’

Charlie looked at her with a confused expression and she tried again.

‘What do you do to relax, I mean? I have my parents and sister, and the garden to tend, and there’s always something to be doing on a boat with my dad,’ she prompted.

‘And you spend a bit of time with that airman, too, I’ve noticed,’ he said with a sideways glance in her direction. She knew he was really asking her what she thought Darrell would think of her spending time with Charlie in a pub, in the middle of the day, alone.

‘Yes, that’s right. The Australians seem to have made the Antelope their Poole local, and that’s where my family goes most often,’ she said, trying to generalise her attachment to Darrell as being to the whole of the Australian Squadron. ‘I’ve danced with them all, Charlie. I’m nobody’s girl in particular,’ she lied and was shocked at how easily it slipped off her tongue.

By the time Peggy walked home alone for the hot dinner that awaited her there, she had learnt that Charlie spent most of his spare time thinking of his late wife and child who had both died in an air raid, and he had readily admitted that he had spent some time somewhere on the continent before the war. And even though she had been tasked with finding out if Charlie might be lying about any of his past and could in fact be a German spy, she still found that hard to believe and dearly hoped she might be able to prove otherwise. But when she thought of her brother and Molly’s husband and the peril they faced at the hands of the Nazis, she was reminded how important it was to do everything possible to eliminate the enemy. Whoever he was.

One other interesting thing she had learnt from Charlie was that he now lived with a Mrs Rogers in Blue Boar Lane, but this was probably not new information to Fletcher. However, what neither Charlie nor Fletcher knew was that Mrs Rogers was the widow of one of Peggy’s mother’s cousins. This gave Peggy a clear line to finding out more about Charlie without him even knowing.

As she opened the front door at home, the welcome aroma of oxtail soup greeted her and she could hear her family already gathered in the kitchen.

‘Sorry I’m a bit later, Mum. I was catching up with Charlie, our new hand on the launch,’ Peggy explained. ‘Did you know he is boarding with Aunty Joan?’ Peggy asked her mother.

‘Our Barry’s Joan, you mean, down Blue Boar Lane? That poor woman’s had such a tough life, you know. Well, I’m happy for her that she’s able to get boarders in. That’ll help her make ends meet,’ Mrs Symonds said as she ladled out the soup and Molly sliced and buttered some bread to go with it.

‘Once this war is over, and I move out with Bill and this little one, you’ll have a room here you can let out to a lodger, Mum. And perhaps our Peggy will be making a home with an Australian airman we know,’ Molly said with a wink.

Peggy smiled at the idea but was keen to turn the conversation back to the task at hand. She already feared that the happy ending she’d so easily imagined just days ago might never come to pass. She didn’t need reminding of it now. She had to stay focused on the mission.

‘Do you see Aunty Joan to talk to very much, Mum? It’s just that me and the other girls would be interested to know a little more about Charlie, working with him as we do, and what with him coming from out of town. He doesn’t seem to have any family to speak of,’ she said.

‘You’re not a bit sweet on him then love? I thought Darrell was the one who’d caught your eye,’ Mrs Symonds said.

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