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felt
herself on the brink of something profound and powerful, some forbidden knowledge, deep and carnal, from which there could be no return, and despite her parent’s oft-repeated warnings about
‘not bringing any trouble to this door’ running through her mind, she couldn’t summon the will to resist. She let him push her onto her back. Oh, well, to hell with it, she
thought. Let nature take its course . . .
    The wail of the air-raid siren jolted her back to sanity. With her senses aflame and knees trembling, she pushed Charles away and got up unsteadily. Laughing with relief at her escape, she threw
a bucket of slack on the fire and put the fireguard up.
    ‘There’s still some hot water in the kettle, Chas. Boil it again, will you, and chuck a couple of spoons of coffee in the Thermos flask? You’ll find it in the cupboard nearest
the outside door. I’ll get us a blanket apiece.’
    ‘Relax. It might be a false alarm.’
    ‘Relax nothing!’ she said, beginning to feel even more jittery than usual when anticipating a raid. ‘It’s coming, I tell you, and seeing I’m off duty I want to be
in the shelter. Especially if it’s as bad as the one we had a fortnight ago.’
    ‘Bugger! Bugger! Buggeration!’ Charles swore. ‘Bloody Hitler, bloody Goering, bugger them all!’
    Poor Chas! Nearly reached his promised land, then foiled by the Luftwaffe. Her honour, saved by Herr Hitler! Marie exploded into laughter and ran upstairs for the blankets. Life, survival, first
and foremost. And virginity keeps pretty well, she thought. She was beginning to think she’d kept hers almost too long, but maybe it wouldn’t hurt to preserve it a bit longer, seeing
that, for all his protestations of undying love, Chas had made no serious commitment as yet. And going by all that talk about bare thighs and suspenders she wasn’t his first. ‘Who runs
for a bus they’ve already caught?’ she’d once heard said, and Chas had caught one or two, by the sound of it. No, if he was a very good boy, he could have her honour at a more
convenient time – maybe
after
he’d given her that engagement ring – and she wanted one just as good as Nancy’s. ‘Do you good to wait, my lad,’ she
murmured. ‘Nobody values anything they get too easily.’
    On her return downstairs she threw the blankets down by the front door and then put on her coat and went into the kitchen to lock the back door and toss the first-aid kit, a torch and a bottle
of brandy into a bag. Charles was still waiting for the kettle to boil.
    ‘Just like a nurse,’ he said, looking at the first-aid kit, and then at the brandy. ‘Are we going to get sozzled?’
    ‘Medicinal purposes,’ Marie answered, listening to the fearsome rising and falling of the sirens. ‘I wish that kettle would hurry up. You get your coat on while I wait for
it.’
    ‘We could go without the flask.’
    ‘You’ve changed your tune. I thought you didn’t want to go at all. Better hang on till it’s boiled. It might be hours before the all clear. We might be glad of a hot
drink. Where’s Smut?’
    Charles went to get his coat, and find the kitten. Marie was just filling the flask when she heard a howl of pain followed by a string of curses. He returned to the kitchen holding Smut by his
scruff.
    ‘I guessed you’d found him,’ she grinned.
    ‘Vicious little beast,’ he said. ‘He’s scratched my hands to ribbons. Here, you can have him. I’ll carry everything else.’
    Marie followed him out, flicking off the lights as she went.

Chapter 3
    It was ten o’clock by the time they left the house and joined a group of neighbours trooping to the communal shelter. Feeling even more jittery than usual during a raid,
Marie looked skyward at a moon that was a week past full.
    One of the neighbours gave a sardonic laugh. ‘Aye, a lovely bomber’s moon that, lass! I wonder what they’ve got in store for us this time.’
    ‘At least Pam and Alfie are safe,’ she