Page 24 (1/2)

Her voice had dropped, become conteotten to feel sick She sat up a bit ‘Don’t you think?’

So odd happened to Frances’s expression: it closed over, became neutral, ht as well have said that the sky had gone green She felt unbalanced and irritated, as if her gesture towards intimacy had been deliberately rebuffed She was al to that effect but at thata tea tray Propped in her e vanilla ice-cream, the third she had eaten since they had sat there

‘Listen to this, girls Old Jean will love it There’s going to be a crossing-the-line cere the equator, and there’s going to be all sorts of fun on the flight deck The guy at the tea urn just told et dressed up?’ Avice’s hand had risen to her hair

‘Dunno I know nothing about it – they’re going to post soh, right? So in Not with aret had bitten the top off her cone A small blob of ice-cream was stuck to the tip of her nose

‘I don’t know’

‘Ah, coaret The chair creaked in protest as she sat down ‘Let your hair dooave her a tentative sht even, Avice saith a start, be beautiful ‘Perhaps,’ she said

Frances had thought she would resent the ht he had stood there, on the other side of their door, she had been unable to sleep, conscious of the stranger’s proximity Of her own state of undress, her vulnerability Of the fact that, in theory at least, he was in authority over her She had been acutely conscious of his every h, the sound of his voice as itor instruction to a passer-by Occasionally, lying in the dark, she would ponder on his significance: his presence highlighted the fact that they were cargo, a consignment to be ferried safely from one side of the world to the other, in many cases from fathers to husbands, one set of id stance, the rifle told her they were to be constrained, iuarded, protected from the unknown forces below Soe men, tealad that he was stationed outside the door Buther feel like a possession, souarded

The others seee in little such philosophical consideration In fact, they didn’t notice hihtly furniture, so past, or even the downstairs to another party As they were tonight Margaret and Jean were off toin surreptitious whispers as they brushed their hair, fiddled with stockings and shoes and, in Jean’s case, borrowed everyone else’s cosh to confine the to the curfew, but after both supper shifts: late enough to warrant a legiti, should their movement be noticed

‘You sure you won’t come with us, Frances?’ They had been to several parties now Jean had stayed sober during at least one

Frances shook her head

‘You don’t need to behave like a nun’ Margaret finished doing up her shoe ‘I’ a bit of cooodness’ sake’

‘We won’t tell,’ said Jean, shaping her aret lifted her dog on to what re in here, you know’

‘They’ll have to walk you off in a straitjacket e get to Ply the side of her head with a forefinger ‘They’ll think you’ve got kangaroos loose in the top paddock’

‘I’ll take my chances’ Frances s’ Avice’s nausea had worsened again, and she lay, pale and li her book ‘If you could keep the dog well away fro me feel even worse’

They had not expected theoutside He had not been there the previous evening, and none of thenalled his arrival Jean, then Margaret, stopped dead in the doorway ‘Ohwe’re just going for so the door behind her

‘We’ll be back by eleven,’ said Jean

‘Or thereabouts’

Frances, who had stood up to retrieve her dressing-gown fro the ht strain in the women’s