Lizzie's War Read Online Free PDF Page A

was wonderful to know that at last she had a few things that had belonged to her mother.
    â€˜You needn’t worry, Lizzie,’ Mrs Court assured her, taking Betty in her arms, ‘your little love is never any trouble.’
    It was a wrench leaving her daughter every day, but Lizzie knew she was lucky to have someone like Beth’s mother to look after her.
    â€˜We’ll get off then, Mum,’ Beth said. ‘I might be a bit later this evening. Lizzie was followed to the tram stop last night, so we shall come home together – you won’t mind another half an hour?’
    â€˜No, of course not – but, Lizzie, that’s awful; if it happens again you must go to the police,’ Mrs Court looked anxious.
    â€˜I shall do,’ Lizzie assured her. ‘I could ask Ed to see me to the tram stop – but if he saw anyone following me, he would probably go after whoever it is and knock him down, and Beth offered to wait…’
    â€˜I’ll keep them until you get here,’ Beth’s mother said. ‘Get off and open that shop of yours up, Lizzie – but don’t ignore this. If someone is threatening you, the sooner it’s dealt with the better.’
    â€˜Yes…’ Lizzie hesitated, not wanting to bother Mrs Court with her other worries, but Beth came straight out with it.
    â€˜A woman stole two hats from the showroom last night too. Lizzie went to fetch her a new one and when she came back the woman had run off with two hats.’
    â€˜What are we coming to?’ Mrs Court exclaimed and shook her head. ‘I blame the war, you know – the restrictions are making people depressed and some will do anything. All these black market people, selling stuff under the counter – and where is the good in that I ask you? It has to be stolen stuff and that’s just not right. I don’t mind an extra bit of sugar or meat if I can get it from my regular grocer, but I wouldn’t buy pinched stuff.’
    â€˜Dad would have a fit,’ Beth said. ‘I’m sure he gets offered pinched stuff on his market stall, but I know he won’t take it.’
    â€˜No, he won’t, and you should hear him going on about those that do,’ her mother said. ‘He knew that butcher that got done for selling stolen meat last week. He said Alfie was a decent bloke before the war, but it’s all the extra profit that has corrupted him.’
    The girls knew that Mr Court took the war seriously; he’d been turned down when he offered his services to the Army, but he’d been accepted as an air raid warden and went out six nights a week wearing a tin hat with ARP on the front; it was one of his jobs to warn people about lights showing through the blackout curtains and he spent a lot of time helping to pull the injured from bombed buildings.
    â€˜We’ve got to go, Mum,’ Beth said and kissed her cheek, then grabbed Lizzie by the arm and hurried her out. She grimaced when they were clear of the house. ‘Once she gets on her high horse there’s no stopping her. I know she’s right, but it’s so tempting and it’s not like stealing hats, is it? I mean if you’re offered a couple of sausages under the counter it seems like nothing. I used to go to Mr Henry and he was always slipping an extra chop in my bag – for the children he said, but they don’t eat much meat yet, unless it’s minced.’
    â€˜I think he fancied you,’ Lizzie said and raised her brows teasingly.
    â€˜He’s got a wife and two kids – poor woman,’ Beth said. ‘How must she feel, now that her husband has been given ten months in prison for receiving?’
    â€˜Awful, I should think. You know how people talk; it won’t do his business any good, even though his wife has managed to keep it open…’ Lizzie glanced over her shoulder as they climbed on board the tram. The conductor was a young woman