The Girl Under the Olive Tree Read Online Free PDF Page A

types. Why are our children so disobedient?’ she sighed. ‘Evadne was so sensible, so reasonable, not with dizzy ideas like this one,’ she added, glancing in Penny’s direction. ‘It’s your turn next, young lady. Let’s hope you can cast your net closer to home.’
    ‘I’m more worried about things in Europe hotting up . . . Wouldn’t like her caught up in anything nasty out there,’ said Papa, gazing out over the water. ‘Athens is no place to be if there’s war coming.’
    ‘Oh, I hope not. I don’t want Penelope missing out on her due if all the boys enlist. Must get her out well before that. I shall speak to Lady March about renting her house for the season.’
    We’ll see about that, Penny smiled to herself. Mother might hatch her plans but she’d got ideas of her own. Diane’s words at the dressmakers were still racing through her mind. Surely no one would deny her the right to do something useful, should the emergency arise.
    As she looked around at all Evadne and Walter’s friends relaxing in the sunshine, the flash of gold braid on Zan’s uniform glinting in the light, she prayed there’d be no war, no more slaughter and heartache. No one talked much about the Great War but the village memorial had a long list of local names on it, including two of Papa’s cousins. She hoped it wouldn’t start up again, but what if it did and it affected where the newlyweds were going? Walter wouldn’t risk bringing Effy into danger.
    Yet even with this shock news there was a flicker of excitement coursing through her. That handsome New Zealander in the borrowed kilt had presented a memorable slide show, and he’d told her that the British School of Archaeology in Athens took girls. If Evadne was safely housed in that city, she could travel there even though a million objections would be lodged. Maybe her dreams were now beginning to find some reality at last.
    But first she must gain some independence, and signing on for the Red Cross lectures was a start. Who knew where that might lead?

2001
     
    It wasn’t worry about the trip that had disturbed my sleep. It was the thought that I was returning to a place I’d deliberately shoved to the back drawer of my mind like a forgotten garment. How would I feel to see it all changed, like the face of a once-young friend ravaged by time?
    Stop being fanciful . . . What does it matter, no one will know you or care.
I flopped down, suddenly wearied, in my favourite armchair, gazing at a photo in a silver frame, a snapshot of Evadne and Walter smiling into the sun.
    ‘It’s all your fault, Sis,’ I whispered. ‘Little did we know Walter’s diplomatic posting would change my life for ever, tipping my secure little world off its axis, spinning it out of control. Oh, those were the glory days, Effy. If only we’d known how precious and short-lived was the time we had together . . .’

Athens, 1937
     
    True to her word, Diane signed up herself and Penny for Red Cross lectures on first aid, and even persuaded Penny’s mother to grace the local committee with her patronage, organizing flag days and country excursions for sick children.
    The lectures were thorough and more interesting than Penny had expected. She learned how to stem bleeding from a wound, to make splints from anything to hand for broken bones, to bandage elbows, and how to give resuscitation after drowning. Penny was always a willing volunteer when it came to both playing the role of patient and administering to the sick. She took notes, passed tests and got her proficiency certificate. Soon, she was being measured for a uniform and proudly stood by their ambulance at the County Show, hoping someone would faint and require her services. She particularly wanted to test her squeamishness should something really nasty happen.
    There was talk of volunteering in hospitals as Voluntary Aid Detachments, giving extra support to local hospitals, should war come. No one could miss the growing sense that