The German appeared to be sated, but Jack continued and Persey wanted to scream at him to stop. ‘I’m not sure what’s worse, now I think about it,’ Jack blundered on. ‘Staying on the island pretending I never went. Or being back here, medically unfit, with my tail between my legs.’
‘Well … yes. I think I understand,’ Stefan volunteered. ‘It must be … I am very sorry you are unwell. When did you return?’
Why was Stefan pushing this? Persey wanted to ask out loud but daren’t. Stefan was a Nazi officer. Of course he was pushing it.
Jack drank a mouthful of wine and then responded. ‘Not long before you chaps all arrived. Snuck in on the last boat. Lucky I did or else I’d still be in Weymouth Harbour looking towards my beloved island without a cat’s chance in hell of getting here.’
‘But you did not want to stay?’ Stefan asked.
‘In England? Why on earth would I do that?’ Jack replied.
‘To help win the war.’
‘From a desk? From the sidelines? No thank you. I can barely organise my way out of bed in the mornings, I’m not sure I should be in charge of serious administration. Plus, also, bit boring, no?’
‘It’s what I do,’ Stefan said kindly.
Jack took a sip of his wine and replied bitterly, ‘My point exactly.’
The next day Persephone and Dido walked through St Peter Port in time to witness what Persey thought was one of the most horrific things she’d ever see in her life – a brass band of German soldiers goose-stepping through the town as the girls turned the corner past Lloyds Bank.
‘Good God,’ Persey exclaimed as they followed the noise and the soldiers came into view. The two backed against the wall of the bank. Dido clasped Persey’s hand tightly but the older sister barely noticed. The cacophony shocked other shoppers into silence. Persey stared, mouth partly open until her tongue went dry and she closed it and swallowed. The band moved down the High Street and people began speaking in hushed tones.
Persey and Dido looked at each other, neither quite sure what to say to the other until Persey squeezed Dido’s hand gently and said, ‘Come on.’
Around them, as they walked, German notices had been placed in prominent locations: the latest rules and orders by which Islanders had to abide. She felt as sick as she had when she’d watched Luftwaffe planes land at the airfield.
‘Do you think we’ll find anything suitable to wear for Mother’s funeral?’ Dido asked.
‘Hmm?’ Persey asked distractedly.
‘At Creasey’s,’ Dido clarified.
Persey wondered if the department store would be open, if it would have sold out of items because all the German soldiers had allegedly bought so many of the available luxury goods and sent them home to their mothers, sisters, wives. ‘I just don’t know.’
‘I should like a new hat,’ Dido said as they approached the shopand looked at the window, the mannequins wearing the latest fashions in greens, yellows and taupe, thick Guernsey jumpers folded prominently in the window to herald the coming chilly season. ‘Do you think we ought to stock up?’
‘What for?’ Persey said.
‘We might not get another chance to shop. We’re cut off from the mainland now.’
‘But not from the European mainland,’ Persey said.
‘True,’ Dido mused. ‘We might still get some things through from Paris. Imagine that.’
‘Actually, I doubt it now I think about it. All the factories there must be given over to war production. For the Germans,’ Persey reminded her as they entered the shop and were confronted with a milieu of German soldiers busily shopping along with a handful of Islanders.
One soldier appraised Dido and Persey and Dido looked kindly back at him, smiled and blushed. Persey pulled her sister away. ‘Dido, don’t,’ she chastised. ‘Just don’t.’
‘I only smiled,’ Dido replied, pulling away from her sister and moving towards the millinery department. ‘Even though they’re the enemy, they’re very good-looking, don’t you think?’
‘No,’ Persey said sternly. ‘I don’t.’
‘So blond,’ Dido said. ‘So tall.’
The girls queued to purchase Dido a new hat although it wasn’t at all as fashionable as either of the girls would have liked. On leaving Dido whispered to Persey, ‘Have you managed to get to the airport for Jack?’
‘Shh, for heaven’s sake, not so loud.’
