innit, the way you can lose your way in the dark, ’specially in a strange place?’
‘Hmm. I wonder what travellers did hundreds of years ago when there were no proper roads and no streetlights or signposts?’
‘They spent the night at an inn, if they’d any sense.’ Lucinda laughed. A nervous laugh, because she was beginning to feel uneasy. And everything was too quiet, though it was an accepted fact that if one stood very still in the blackout and listened intently, there were always footsteps out there, somewhere. Or the intimate glow of two cigarettes and the soft, low laughter of unseen lovers.
‘Well we,’ said Vi firmly, ‘are goin’ to spend the night on the Craigiebur ferry, all nice and comfortable, and we’ll be at Ardneavie in time for breakfast. So let’s get it right this time, eh?’
They did not find the canteen, nor any building like it, nor any doorway that even vaguely resembled the one through which they had left.
‘We’ve got ourselves lost,’ Vi said. ‘That’s what we’ve gone and done.’
Around them the darkness was absolute, the silence oppressive. It pressed in on them from all sides, menacing, frightening.
‘What do we do now?’ Jane whispered, her mouth suddenly dry.
‘Do you suppose that if we stood still and listened, we might hear someone? Well,’ Lucinda shrugged, ‘they say you’re never alone in the blackout, even though you can’t actually see anyone.’
‘Ar, hey,’ Vi said uneasily, ‘don’t be saying that, queen. It’s a pity we can’t see the street names, though I don’t suppose it would do us a lot of good if we could – well, not without a street map.’
‘Then let’s stand still for a little while and listen. Someone is bound to come this way eventually.’
‘Or we could try keeping going. Maybe that way we’ll hit civilization.’
‘I think we should stand here,’ Vi decided. ‘Stay still and listen and try not to panic.’
‘Quiet!’ It was Jane who heard the footsteps first, and they stood unmoving, ears straining, hardly breathing.
‘Yes!’ gasped Lucinda. Heavy footsteps, coming nearer, slow and measured.
‘I think it’s a man,’ Vi whispered, ‘but don’t worry. There’s three of us and only one of him.’
‘Shall I call out?’ Lucinda asked.
‘Okay. Or maybe a whistle would be better.’
‘Right.’ Lucinda ran her tongue round her suddenly dry lips and let out a long, slow whistle. ‘Hullo? Anybody there?’
They waited, breath indrawn, but there was no answering whistle, no reassuring call. And now the footsteps had stopped.
‘Where is he?’ Jane demanded.
‘Probably surrounding us.’
‘Now listen, don’t be worryin’. I don’t know what he’s doin’, but if the worst comes to the worst, scream for all you’re worth. It puts ’em off, does screamin’.’
‘Never mind about him,’ Jane choked. ‘What about the time!’
‘Oh, Lord!’ Lucinda flicked her lighter. ‘The train!’
‘Get that light out!’ The voice was deep and masculine.
‘It’s him!’ Vi gasped. ‘Try again.’
Lucinda held the lighter above her head and flicked it again. ‘Help us! We’re lost!’
‘Okay. Stay there.’ The voice was nearer now, the footfalls heavier, quicker. ‘And put that light out!’
He came suddenly out of the blackness, looming large above them.
‘Who is it?’ Vi demanded.
‘Police.’ Briefly he shone a torch on his face and they glimpsed a uniform and the black and white chequered band around his cap. Then he shone the light on them, laughing softly. ‘Well now, if it isn’t three wee Wrens.’
‘Thank goodness you’ve come, officer. We’re lost and we’ve got to get back to the station.’ Lucinda’s relief was obvious.
‘Now which station would that be?’
‘Central. And our train leaves at midnight. Can you tell us how we get there? A short cut, perhaps.’
‘Short cuts, is it? Are you no lost enough already? No, no. Best you stay with me till we get to Argyle Street – you’ll no be able to miss the station then.’
‘Is it far?’ Vi was anxious.
‘Och, no. You’ll soon be there. Just follow me and mind your step.’
They followed him blindly, hands clasped, until he called to them to stop.
‘There now, this is where I leave you. Here’s the Queen Street corner, and you just turn right and keep going full steam ahead. The station’s no far.’
He stood listening to their uncertain footsteps, shaking his head as the night closed in around them.
What was this war coming to and where would it all end when they were taking on lassies to help fight it? Aye, and lassies who couldn’t walk a few hundred yards without getting themselves lost. And as for that train – he shone his torch on the watch at his wrist. Well, they’d missed that, and no mistake. Dearie me, he chuckled out loud, where would it all end?
The policeman was right, Vi brooded. It hadn’t taken them long, but she knew instinctively as they hurried into the hollow gloom of the station that they had missed yet another train.
‘Flippin’ heck,’ she hissed. ‘Twenty past twelve!’
‘Maybe it’s still there,’ Lucinda panted as they retrieved their kit and heaved it, gasping, to platform 8.
‘An’ maybe pigs’ll start flyin’,’ Vi snapped. ‘I mean, miss one train – that’s fair enough; but two?’
‘Bordering on carelessness, I’d say.’ Lucinda nodded soberly. ‘Not to mention what’s going to happen when we get there. If ever we do, that is.’
‘That’s it, then.’ Morosely they regarded the deserted platform. ‘The next train leaves at six for the eight o’clock ferry. Six in the mornin’, that is.’
‘Then I suppose it’s the RTO again,’ Lucinda ventured.
‘You what?’ Vi exploded. ‘Face ’im with the ’ook again? Tell ’im we got lost in the blackout? Oh, that’d make ’is day, that would. “Been to the ale house, ’ave yer?” that’s what he’d say. We’d be in the rattle before you could say wet Nelly!’
‘You’re
