The Docklands Girls Read Online Free PDF

movement it offered him and it delighted Belle to watch him grow.
    They went into town and sat in a corner of the SpaTavern, talking quietly, drinking their beer. Belle was aware of the hostile glances from some of the customers seeing her sitting with a black GI. She was used to this, it happened frequently when they were together and, most times, she chose to ignore it, but there was one couple sitting nearby and the woman was making her feelings very clear and in a loud enough voice to cause others to look round to see what she was complaining about.
    ‘Well, I think it’s disgusting!’ said the woman. ‘A white woman going out with a darkie! It isn’t proper!’
    Jackson, sensing Belle’s anger rising, said quietly, ‘Let’s go.’
    She flatly refused. ‘No! You and I have as much right to sit here together as anyone else in this bar.’ She glared at the woman. The chatter in the bar stopped.
    Belle spoke up. ‘What gives you the right to criticise? This soldier has come to fight in this war, to help to defend this country, your country! Soon he’ll be sent over to France to face the enemy. He could be killed like so many others. If his blood is spilt, it will be red, like yours, not black, yellow or green. The colour of his skin won’t matter then, madam!’
    The woman was shocked at this heartfelt outburst. There was a deathly hush and then a voice was heard.
    ‘Well said, young lady! We need all the help we can get to beat the Germans. Let me buy you both a drink!’
    Belle having vented her spleen was astonished, as was the woman who had started the whole thing. She got to her feet and dragged her husband out of the pub, muttering beneath her breath.
    The gentleman who had come to her rescue came across the room, shook Jackson by the hand and asked, ‘What are you both drinking?’
    The bar chatter started up again and Belle smiled at the stranger.
    ‘Two halves of bitter – and thank you.’
    The stranger just winked at her and ordered the beer.
    Jackson took her hand. ‘You really are a feisty woman, Belle!’
    She started laughing. ‘No one tells me how to run my life, who I can go out with, who I can speak to. No one.’
    ‘Calm down, honey, it’s over with. I’ve received such treatment all my life, you get used to it.’
    ‘Not in this country when you’re with me, Jackson love.’
    He looked thoughtful. ‘When I do get shipped out, Belle, will you write to me? Keep in touch?’
    She squeezed his hand. ‘Of course I will.’ As she looked into his large brown eyes, she knew that to her he was someone special. Someone she was growing fond of despite their differences. She’d not felt this way about any man ever since she and her husband had divorced. She knew she would miss him terribly when eventually he left these shores.
     
    Plans for the invasion were now well under way with General Dwight Eisenhower in command. All coastal areas had been banned to visitors. Large scale military exercises began. Amphibious operations were being practised as were airborne landings. Minesweepers were clearing enemy laid mines. The atmosphere within the town became tense with expectation. Leave was restricted but when the troops did manage a few hours out of camp, they made the most of it, which led to many a fracas in the dockland pubs as the men were letting their inner turmoil loose. Others sat in corners in quiet contemplation of what was ahead of them.
    Hildy and Milt managed to see one another whenever he was free, which wasn’t that often, and that pleased her mother, who made her feelings very clear.
    ‘Good job when they all go! Then we can get back to normal,’ she snapped one evening when Hildy was at home. ‘I said as much at work this morning.’
    Hildy’s eyes flashed in anger. ‘How can you say that? These men are facing untold odds. Many of them won’t be coming back!’
    This was her one fear. She and Milt had become close during the previous weeks and their relationship had