from the front of the queue, June came hurrying up to her, pulling a face and complaining, ‘I was hoping you’d have been served by now …’
‘Did you find a pattern?’ Molly asked her.
‘Yes, but I wanted you to come and have a look at it with me and there won’t be time now. Here, come on, it’s our turn next,’ she warned, digging Molly in the ribs.
‘By, but this stuff is heavy,’ June complained, stopping to push her hair off her hot face.
‘We should have left it until tonight and then gone straight home on the bus,’ Molly told her.
‘Oh, give over saying that, will you, our Molly?’
It was just gone one o’clock when they finally trudged wearily into the factory yard, but when Molly would have made straight for the workroom, June shook her head at her.
‘What are you doing?’ Molly asked worriedly when she saw her sister heading determinedly for Mr Harding’s office.
‘Wait and see. And here, take hold of this lot for a mo, will yer?’ June thrust her own parcel on top of Molly’s, before knocking firmly on the office door.
‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr Harding,’ Molly heard June announcing when the factory owner opened the door, ‘only I thought as how we should explain ourselves on account of us being late back from our dinner break.’
‘You’re late?’ Molly saw him frown as he looked at his watch.
‘Yes,’ June confirmed, ‘and I’m right sorry about it, only I felt it was our duty to go down to Lewis’s just as soon as we could to get our blackout material, what with us getting notices about it from the Government, and all.’
‘Well, yes, quite right. We must all be aware of our duty from now on,’ Mr Harding agreed immediately.
‘Of course we’ll make up the time by working late,’ June continued.
‘No, that won’t be necessary … June, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, Mr Harding. And this is me sister, Molly.’
‘Very good, very good … Back to your machines now, both of you.’
‘What did you do that for?’ Molly asked curiously as they hurried away. It wasn’t like June to admit to doing something wrong.
‘By, you’ve got a lot of learning to do, our Molly,’ June told her, shaking her head. ‘Wait and see.’
The unfamiliar silence when they walked into the workroom almost caused Molly to miss a step and cannon into her sister.
All the girls were seated at their machines but none of them was working. Instead, they were all staring straight ahead whilst Miss Jenner stood in front of the machines watching them.
‘And what time do you call this?’ She pounced immediately on Molly and June.
‘I’m sorry we’re a bit late only there was a bigger queue at Lewis’s than we were expecting,’ June apologised.
‘You are five minutes late, and since no work has been done by anyone whilst we have waited for you to return, that means that thirty lots of five minutes have been lost – the cost of that amount of time will be deducted from your wages, just as soon as I have spoken with Mr Harding.’
‘Well, I’ve already seen him and he has said as how it was our duty to go and get our blackout material,’ June told her, ‘and if you don’t believe me you can go and ask him yourself.’
Molly watched as an ugly red flush of anger spread up over Miss Jenner’s thin neck, and then held her breath, fearing that her sister had gone too far. But the new supervisor didn’t say anything, leaving June to give the other girls a triumphant wink behind Miss Jenner’s back before sitting down at her machine.
‘By, June Dearden, you’ve gorra lorra cheek,’ Sheila Williams commented admiringly when the afternoon whistle had gone and they were all getting ready to leave.
‘Aye, and you’ll have made yourself an enemy as well,’ Irene warned her darkly. ‘She’s not the sort who’s gonna forget what you’ve done – she’s gonna have it in for you an’ for your Molly from now on, mark my words.’
‘I’m not walking all the way home lugging this stuff,’ Molly told June as they left the factory carrying the fabric. ‘It’s too hot.’
‘All right then, we’ll get the bus, but you’re going to be doing the paying, mind,’ June warned her. ‘I wonder how long it will be before we get word from Frank and Johnny.’
The boys had been gone only a day but it had already affected the girls – though in very different ways. Underneath her bright exterior, Molly could tell that June was missing Frank keenly, while she herself felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders with Johnny’s absence – albeit with some guilt attached.
‘I’ve told Frank as how he’s got to write to me as soon as he can. I was thinking this afternoon that one of them uniforms we’re going to be making could be for Frank. It gave me a rare old turn, an’ all,’ June admitted.
‘Hannah’s very upset that we’re going to be making uniforms,’ Molly commented sympathetically.
‘Aye, well, she’s got to snap out of that, otherwise she’s going to find herself out of a job and she can’t afford that. All she’s got is that bit of a pension.’
‘It must be awful for her, though, June. I was talking to her for a bit this morning and she was saying as how she’d been married only a few weeks when her husband was killed.’
‘Maybe so, but that was nearly twenty years ago,’ June responded bracingly. ‘Things are different now.’
Their bus arrived and they both climbed on board, Molly paying both fares before slumping thankfully into an empty seat.
‘What you got there, girls?’ the conductor ribbed them jovially.
‘Blackout material, that’s what,’ June answered.
‘Want me to come round and give you a hand putting it up?’ he offered, winking at Molly.
‘Give over with yer cheek,’ June told him firmly, but she was still smiling at him, Molly noticed with amusement.
The bus set them down on the corner of the cul-de-sac and they walked up it together in their normal manner, Molly pausing frequently to admire the flowers growing in the small, neatly tended front gardens whilst June hurried her along, her attention concentrated on reaching home.
As they drew level with Frank’s mother’s house, Molly stopped walking and suggested warmly, ‘Why don’t you give Frank’s mam a knock, our June, and see if she wants a hand with making up her blackout curtains? Those big windows of hers will take a lot of covering and we could easily run the curtains up for her on our Singer.’
‘Why should I put meself out to do her any favours?’ June demanded belligerently.
‘You’d
