‘He’s out past curfew a lot these days,’ Mrs Grant admitted.
‘I know,’ Persey said sadly. But she couldn’t think about Jack at the moment.
‘You pack. I’ll brew some bramble leaf tea up for us and then I’ll come and help. Then we’ll sit up and wait for Jack together.’
Mrs Grant nodded, a blank expression filtering across her face.
Germany. A camp.
‘If I could take your place I would,’ Persey said. ‘You know that, don’t you?’ She meant it. A camp was no place for a woman in her sixties. How would Mrs Grant survive it? It didn’t bear thinking about.
‘How long are you going for? Did that soldier say?’ Persey asked but she knew the answer to the question before she’d finished asking it.
Mrs Grant shook her head uncertainly. ‘I think until the end.’
‘You’ve got your thick winter coat, haven’t you?’ Dido asked Mrs Grant as they entered St Peter Port the next day, Dido on one side of the housekeeper and Persephone on the other, each carrying a small suitcase for her. They headed towards the Weighbridge where the clock tower loomed, indicating it was nearly time for people to board. ‘Because I know it’s summer now, but you must be prepared for winter.’
‘Yes,’ Mrs Grant said.
‘And those thermal socks I gave you. Both pairs?’ Persey added.
‘Yes,’ Mrs Grant said.
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ Dido said. She had arrived home yesterday full of the joys of an evening singing, to be confronted with her sister and Mrs Grant solemnly folding things into suitcases.
‘Where is Jack?’ Mrs Grant mumbled after realising her son had not returned home to sleep. She’d asked the question almost twenty times an hour since she’d got up that morning. So much so that Persey had gone to the camera shop the moment it opened to find that Jack wasn’t due in today. She left a message for Jack to telephone Deux Tourelles if he did make an appearance at the shop, but knew it was fruitless. Who went in to work if it was their day off?
‘He’ll be all right. I’ll find him. I’ll make sure he’s fine,’ Persey said as they rounded the corner to find hundreds of Islanders, queuing and clutching suitcases by the harbour side.
‘Bloody hell,’ Dido cried on seeing them all.
Mrs Grant didn’t issue a call to Dido to watch her language, instead saying, ‘So many of us …?’
Persey’s mouth dropped open. She’d expected only about fifty people at most. But there were hundreds and hundreds of Islanders of all ages, some elderly, some young with small children.
The noise was incredible and the island’s St John Ambulance service had put up a makeshift area serving what passed for tea and soup to anyone who needed it. The camaraderie brought tears to Persey’s eyes.
Germans stood on patrol in full kit, rifles ready, but instead of civilians rioting, someone somewhere began singing and those surrounding them soon took it up. To all intents and purposes, patriotism had been banned in Guernsey since the beginning of the war. British flags had been ordered down from flagpoles. And in homes, flags were forced to be packed up and put away. The national anthem was banned and ‘God Save the King’ never said in church anymore. But now, British songs were being sung with gusto. Persey wondered if the Germans would put a stop to it. But how do you stop hundreds of people singing ‘There’ll Always Be An England’? It was clear the Germans didn’t know how.
Persey clutched Mrs Grant’s hand as she began singing and on the other side, Dido did the same. Persey looked over the crowds towards one of the taller soldiers, a smile pulling at the sides of his mouth. If it had been almost any other occasion, it could have been joyous. But as the crowd shuffled towards the boats, Persey and Dido were forced to let go of Mrs Grant’s hands and watch as the soldiers took the housekeeper’s papers, checked her name from a list and ushered her through the barricade. They’d barely had time to hug her and wish her well.
‘Look after my Jack,’ Mrs Grant called as Dido and Persey were pushed away from the barricade to let more people through to the waiting boats.
‘We will,’ Persey called desperately, as she tried to stay strong and hold back tears. Dido pulled her sister away from the crush of people. ‘We will.’
‘What do we do now?’ Dido asked as she herself wiped tears from her cheeks. Mrs Grant became enclosed by the crowd and disappeared from view.
‘Let’s wait for the boats to leave. If she looks back, I want her to see us. I want her to know we stayed here,’ Persey said emphatically as they moved through the people to find a higher place to stand and wave.
It took hours to load everyone onto the waiting boats and Didoand Persey found space on a low wall along with so many other people, waiting to wave to their loved ones.
When the boats finally left, the people on board held hands in solidarity, waving goodbye to those remaining on the island, held back behind the barriers the Germans had put in place. The sisters could not see the housekeeper in amongst those on deck, but they waved towards the boats regardless.
‘Goodbye, Mrs Grant,’ Persey whispered as their friend headed towards the European mainland and out of sight.
Chapter 23
Persey and Dido sat on the wall long after everyone else had dispersed, staring out across the azure blue sea and into the distance towards the islands of Jethou and Herm. Persey wondered what life was like for the residents who had stayed on Herm, the larger island. Had they also just had to say goodbye to their non-island-born community? She looked to the skies, at the deepening blue and the soft, white clouds as they passed aimlessly. How the world kept spinning throughout all of this mania was beyond Persey. So many people being separated by this war, by one man’s burning desire for power. None of it made sense.
