Page 17 of The Ship of Brides
‘So what’s the problem?’
She could hear her mother behind her father: ‘It’s the young man. Ten to one it’s the young man.’
And Deanna: ‘Has he told her not to come?’
‘Tell them it’s nothing to do with Ian. It’s the ship.’
‘I don’t understand, Princess.’
‘It’s an aircraft-carrier.’
‘What?’
‘Maureen,’ he hissed. ‘Be quiet. I can’t hear a word she’s saying.’
Avice let out a short sigh.
‘Exactly. It’s an aircraft-carrier. They’re expecting us to sail to England on anaircraft-carrier.’
There was a brief silence. ‘They want her to travel on an aircraft-carrier,’ her father told her mother.
‘What? An aeroplane?’
‘No, you stupid woman. One of the ships they put the planes on.’
‘A warship?’
Avice could almost hear her reeling theatrically in horror. Deanna had started laughing. She would: she hadn’t forgiven Avice for marrying first.
‘You’re going to have to get me on to something else,’ Avice said urgently. ‘Talk to whoever it was who got me on. Tell him I need to travel on something else. Get me on another ship.’
‘You never said anything about an aircraft-carrier!’ her mother was saying now. ‘She can’t travel on one of those. Not with all those planes going off the deck all the time. It’ll be dangerous!’
‘Daddy?’
‘They sank theVyner Brooke, didn’t they?’ her mother clamoured. ‘The Japs might try to sink the aircraft-carrier, like they sank theVyner Brooke.’
‘Shutup, woman.
‘What’s the matter? Are you the only girl on board, Princess?’
‘Me? Oh, no, there’s six hundred or so wives travelling.’ Avice frowned. ‘It’s just that it will be awful. They’ll have us sleeping on bedrolls and there won’t be any facilities. And, Daddy, you should see the kind of girls they’ve got me going over with – the language! I can hardly say—’
Her mother broke through on to the line. ‘I knew it, Avice. They’re just not your sort. I really don’t think this is a good idea.’
‘Daddy? Can you sort it out?’
Her father sighed heavily. ‘Well, it’s not as easy as that, Princess. I had to pull quite a few strings to get you on board. And most of the brides have gone now, anyway. I’m not sure how many more transports there are going to be.’
‘Well, fly me over. I’ll go with Qantas.’
‘It’s not as easy as that, Avice.’
‘I can’t go on that awful ship!’
‘Listen, Avice, I paid a lot of money to get you on to it, you hear me? And I’m shelling out a damn sight more to keep you in that ruddy hotel because you didn’t fancy naval lodgings. I can’t pay out even more for a flight to Blighty just because you don’t like the facilities on board the ship.’
‘But, Daddy—’
