Page 53 (1/2)

A young rating stood before her

‘You’ve had a wire Coaret dropped the dog behind her and stepped forward to take Avice’s aristered the tide-eyed faces Then he thrust the piece of paper into Avice’s hand ‘Don’t look like that, aret

He ignored her He waited for Avice’s eyes to drop to the paper before he spoke again, his voice thick withto be in Plymouth to meet you off the ship’

Avice had sobbed for almost twenty minutes, which had initially seearet, her previous reticence forgotten, had cli not to think about the way it creaked o ‘He’s all right Ian’s all right That bloody wire just gave you a bit of a fright’

The captain wasn’t best pleased, the rating had said gleefully Said he’d be using the radio roo lists next But he’d allowed the aret tutted ‘They shouldn’t have sent someone down here like that They must have known it would scare you half to death Specially soirl to smile

Avice failed to answer her But eventually the sobbing subsided, until it was just a stuttering echo of itself, a breath that caught periodically in the back of her throat Finally, when Margaret felt the worst was over, she stepped down

‘There now,’ she said uselessly ‘You get some rest Calan to chat about their plans for the last few days – the best lectures to attend, Avice’s preparations for the Queen of the Victoria final, anything to shake her out of her depression ‘You’ve got to wear those green satin shoes again,’ she rattled on gaive their eye teeth for theirl from 11F said she’d seen some just like them in Australian Women’s Weekly’

Avice’s eyes were raw and red-riht, as she stared at the blank wall, not registering the endless stream of words that floated up fro to be okay, that there was going to be a way out of this for me

She lay very still, as if somehow she could turn herself to stone

Just for a ht they had come to tell me he was dead

‘So, anyway, there I was, dirty water up toforty-five degrees to port, and the old boy wades in, looks e water out of his cap and says, "I hope those aren’t odd socks you’re wearing, Highfield I won’t have standards slipping on‘Best bit about it was he was right God only kno he could tell under four foot of water, but he was right’

Frances straightened up and smiled ‘I’ve had matrons like that,’ she said ‘I reckon they could tell you the nuan to place the instruhfield He cleared his throat ‘Well, then Forty-one torpedo heads, separated from cases, two empty cases, thirty-two boazine, one case 45 inch HA/LA twin azine and pouns Those currently locked intells me,’ said Frances, ‘you’re not entirely ready for retirement’

Outside, behind his left shoulder, the sun was setting It sank towards the horizon at a gentler pace than it had in previous waters The ocean stretched around thereyish hue the only clue to the cooler te after the gash, or rubbish, the ship’s cook threw overboard, or bits of biscuit the girls hurled at thehfield leant forward: the scar tissue on his leg was like melted candlewax ‘How’s it?’

‘Fine,’ she said ‘You must be able to feel it’

‘I feel better,’ he said Then, catching her eye, ‘It’s still a little sore, but ht I’d got a touch of the tropical sweats’

‘Probably had those too’ She knew he felt better It was in his deri else, and his sht, it ith pride rather than the desperation to prove he still could

He had e torpedo case She had finished, and allowed herself to sit neatly in the chair opposite him and listen He had told her this story some days previously but she didn’t mind: she sensed that he was not a man who talked easily A lonely e to be the loneliest

Besides, she had to admit, faced with the cold reception she still received froe melancholy and the marine’s absence, she enjoyed his co it to cook fish "Couldn’t find anything else that looked like a fish kettle," he said I tell you, e thought about it, ere only grateful he hadn’t used the warhead’

Highfield’s laugh eed froain, keen not to reveal her falance at her after each joke, an infinitesinised his aardness omen He would not want to bore her She would not allow him to think he had

‘Sister Mackenziecan I offer you a drink? I often have a little tot at this tiirl’ She watched as he manoeuvred himself round his desk It was beautiful, a deep walnut colour ereen leather The captain’s private room could have sat happily in any well-off house, with its carpet, paintings and coht of the sparse conditions of the men below, their hammocks, lockers and bleached tabletops Nowhere but in the British Navy had she seen the blatant difference in theconditions, and itto ‘How did you do it?’ she asked, as he poured his drink

‘What?’

‘Your leg You never said’