Page 107 of Neighbors at War

Bobby’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He pointed to the attic door, just as she heard footsteps. The door opened and Babs appeared. It took a moment for Helen to wonder what was different about her, then she remembered.

‘Have you been out to collect your Red Cross parcel?’ She asked, excited for her friends – and for herself and Bobby, because she knew without any doubt that the Hamels would insist on sharing with them.

‘We have, and Mum said you’re both to come down. We’re not opening them until you two are present downstairs.’

Helen smiled at Bobby. ‘Well then, we’d better go and see what’s in the boxes.’

The happy faces that met her and Bobby as they entered the kitchen cheered her, reminding her that happy times were possible.

‘Mummy, look,’ Bobby shouted climbing onto a chair and kneeling so he could see what was on the table. He bounced up and down clapping his hands.

‘Careful,’ Helen said, trying to calm him. ‘If you fall off that chair and hurt yourself you won’t be able to watch.’

‘You can help me open mine,’ Ida said, going to stand on his other side. She pulled the box towards Bobby and opened the lid. ‘Have a look inside and take each item out slowly.’

Helen watched proudly as her four-year-old son did as he was asked. He reached in, lifted out one item after another and set them down neatly on the table. Ida gave a running commentary as each box or tin was held up.

‘Five ounces of chocolate. Twelve ounces of biscuits and three of sardines.’

‘I love sardines,’ Peggy sighed.

‘I’m salivating over this chocolate,’ Babs said, holding the package up to her nose and taking a long, slow sniff of the contents. ‘Heavenly.’

‘Yes, well if you’ve any sense you’ll not wolf it all down in one go,’ her mother teased. ‘And don’t forget we’re to share all this with Helen and Bobby.’

Helen was about to speak, but Peggy put a hand up to her mouth. ‘Don’t say whatever it was you were about to, Helen. The three of us will be sharing these things with you. We’ve gone through this war together, the five of us, and we will continue to do so equally. I won’t have any argument, so don’t bother trying to persuade us otherwise.’

‘Thank you,’ Helen said, certain she would never find better friends than these women.

Ida pointed at the box. ‘Come along, Bobby, what else do we have in there?’

They watched as he took out powdered milk, tins of prunes, salmon, Spam and corned beef. There was raisins, sugar, marmalade, butter, pepper and salt, but what made Helen’s heart sing was seeing sugar, cheese and, especially, tea and soap.

‘I’ve never seen anything so glorious,’ she said, picking up the packet of tea and sniffing. ‘Maybe this is the gold at the end of a rainbow.’

Ida was turning the wrapped block of soap in her hand. ‘God bless those who packed these boxes and sent them to us.’

It dawned on Helen as she watched her adopted family enjoying their treats that these Canadian Red Cross parcels meant more to them than just their contents. It was the tangible confirmation that, despite everything they had endured in the past four and a half years, people they had never met cared about them.

Chapter Seventy

PEGGY

February 1945

The joy of receiving the Red Cross boxes lasted a while, but still their basic dietary needs weren’t being met. They read a message in the Evening Post from the Bailiff telling them that if help didn’t reach the island soon the bread ration would run out by the tenth of the month. That had been an especially dismal day as far as Peggy was concerned.

‘If only we had a garden,’ she said to Tony one evening, as they took a walk together, wanting to spend time with each other despite the cold. ‘Or even lived out of town where we could go foraging.’

‘I think you’ll find everything there is to find has been picked. It doesn’t help that the Germans are also starving, and don’t forget they didn’t have the benefit of receiving Red Cross parcels.’ Tony groaned. ‘If they had let the dockers unload the Vega in Guernsey we wouldn’t now be waiting for the next parcels to arrive here. They really want us to suffer in any way possible, don’t they?’

She agreed. ‘It makes you wonder what makes some people act this cruelly.’ She thought of the news her mother had heard a few days before. ‘Maybe they’re frightened.’

‘How so?’

‘Mum heard that a lot of the Jerries are suffering from malnutrition, and others have dysentery or TB. They’re in a bad way, Tony.’

He kissed her cheek. ‘I don’t like to think of anyone suffering, Peggy, but have they bothered about us in all this time?’