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The days wereand devotions, for others by lectures and movies, punctuated by walks round the free sections of the blustery deck or by the odd gao With food provided, and their lives dictated by the rules, there were few decisions toisland, they became passive, surrendered the except the slowly changing clily dramatic sunsets, the endless ocean Gradually, inevitably, in the saine the birth, it became harder to look forward to their destination, too ine the unknown
Still harder to think back
In this stilled ath the ship as rapidly and pervasively as a virus The collective irls felt less nauseous, was suddenly, distantly, fraught A ne note of anxiety underlay the conversation in the canteen; a spate of headaches and palpitations presented themselves to the sick bay There was a rapid rise in the number of queries about when the next batch of letters was to arrive At least one bride confided in the chaplain that she thought shethe words, and hearing his reassurance, she could ward off the possibility of her husband doing the same
That one piece of paper, and its four bald words, had brought home to them rudely the reality of their situation It told them that their future was not necessarily their own, that other unseen forces were even now dictating the months and years to follow It reminded them that many had married in haste, and that no matter what they felt, what sacrifices they hadducks, for their husbands to repent at leisure
Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the arrival that afternoon of King Neptune and his cohorts prompted an atmosphere on board that could at best be described as fevered and at worst as ed the others up on to the flight deck Avice had declared she would rather rest on her bunk, that she was feeling too delicate to enjoy herself Frances had said, in her cool little voice, that she didn’t think it was her kind of thing Margaret, who had not failed to notice the chill in the air between the two, and a little unbalanced herself by the discovery in the bathrooirl convinced – in the face of no evidence – that she was about to get a telegrao
Her motives were not entirely selfless: she didn’t want to act as a buffer for the others’ janglingaimlessly between the canteen and the confines of the dor
When they had eht deck – norulls, lost brides, or lonely pairs of sea their way backwards in steady for off the deck around theines as they seated themselves around a newly constructed canvas tank It was several seconds before Margaret noticed the chair suspended above it fro to stick us in that, are they?’ she said
‘Need a dockyard crane for you,’ said Jean, as she pushed, elbows out like elephants’ ears, through the crowd, oblivious to sharp looks and irls Plenty of rooh’
Now that aret could see that the croas mixed It was the first time since they had slipped anchor that so ether without forh, stood apart in their whites The heat on the deck evoked an expectant, festival ath the crowd, she was conscious of the wos, the bolder attention of the nant wo for somewhere to sit, a sun hat on her head, her pale skin ht sight of Margaret and her face twisted into acknowledgement, part smile, part syirl a paper cup, and she thought wistfully of Joe, buying her lemonade at a local fair on one of the first tiether
She lowered herself into the space Jean had cleared for her, trying to prop herself on the hard surface in a way that wouldn’tinelegantly as a large crate was passed over the woineer, whoo,it beside her ‘Sit yourself on that’
‘Very civil of you,’ she said, embarrassed, a small part of her resentful that her conditionlots over there, and none of us wanted the job of hauling you to your feet’
Considering Margaret’s facility with bad language, it was perhaps fortunate that at thatreen He was surrounded by a number of equally outlandishly dressed companions, ere introduced as (a rather hairy) Queen Amphitrite, the Royal Doctor, Dentist and Barber, and the oversized Royal Baby,napkin and slathered in a layer of the grease ine Behind them, accompanied by the red-haired trumpet-player, came a band of bare-chested men, cheered loudly by the assembled troops and women, ere apparently to act as enforcers They were introduced without explanation as ‘Bears’
‘I’d dare to "bear" Hey! I’d "bear all" for you,with excitement ‘Look at hihed Avice
Despite her air of exasperation, it was clear to everyone that Avice was feeling better It was apparent in the way she had spent a full twentyher hair, even without the aid of a proper mirror or hairspray It was apparent in the way that she sprayed herself so liberally with scent that Maude Gonne had sneezed for almost half an hour But it wasin mixed company ‘Look There’s all sorts of ranks here,’ she said happily, neck craned to make out as in the crowd ‘Look at all the stripes! I thought it was just going to be a load of horrid old engineers’
Margaret and Frances exchanged a look
‘And horrid old engineers’ wives?’ said Margaret, drily, but Avice didn’t appear to hear
‘Oh, I wish I’d got out my dress with the blue flowers,’ she said, to no one in particular, as she eyed her cotton skirt ‘It’s so aret’s belly Despite her large, floppy sunhat, she seearet
‘Need a drink or anything? It’s quite wararet, a little i to the canteen’ It was as if Frances was desperate to go
‘Oh, stop fussing,’ said Avice, straightening her he, she’ll ask for it’
‘I’ll speak forto Frances ‘I’ht--’
‘Well, don’t I’ afterher ill-tearet uncomfortably of Letty