Page 35 of Neighbors at War

HELEN

Helen was surprised she felt as excited as she did. This wasn’t a perfect way to spend Christmas but it was her little boy’s second Christmas and she intended to make it special for him and her aunt in whatever way she could. Aunt Sylvia and she had exchanged gifts earlier, amused to discover they had chosen matching bars of soap.

‘At least we know we like our gifts,’ Aunt Sylvia had exclaimed, sniffing the fresh lavender scent. ‘Where did you find this? Boots?’

Helen nodded. ‘Babs helped me.’

Her aunt laughed. ‘The dear girl did the same for me.’

Helen was grateful to Babs for her cleverness. She thought of the wooden train Peggy had given Bobby on his birthday two days before, explaining that a friend of Tony’s had made it for him. How kind people were. She had given Bobby a small teddy that Mrs Edwards had brought into work to sell for a friend who was hoping to make a few pfennigs to spend on their family Christmas. ‘She’s a very particular woman,’ Mrs Edwards had explained. ‘And I know the bear will have been well looked after, otherwise I would never have suggested it.’

Helen had thanked her profusely, delighted to have something Bobby could cuddle when she wasn’t around. She found a new ribbon in her aunt’s sewing basket and tied it neatly around the bear’s neck. Bobby had been playing with it ever since that morning and now they were having to take it with them to the Hamels’ home.

She knew that however difficult her circumstances might be, she was luckier than a lot of people. At least she and Bobby shared a home with someone who loved them, and never made Helen feel as if they were imposing.

‘I wanted to ask you something,’ Aunt Sylvia said, interrupting Helen’s thoughts as they covered the plates of food they were taking next door with clean tea towels.

Helen had a feeling she might know what was worrying her aunt. ‘Yes?’

‘You haven’t replied to Richard’s telegram yet, have you?’

She hadn’t, and despite everything couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. He was fighting for his country, after all. ‘Not yet, no.’

‘Do you think you will?’

Helen shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Part of me wants to, but then I think about what happened and can’t help being angry towards him all over again.’

Her aunt rested a hand on Helen’s shoulder. ‘You must do what feels right for you, lovey. Shall we go next door? We don’t want to delay lunch by being late.’

* * *

‘You’re here,’ Ida Hamel announced cheerfully as she opened her front door with a welcoming smile. ‘We’ve been dying to see this little one. Here, let me take those plates from you,’ she said, relieving them of their offerings and stepping back to let them pass. She beamed at Bobby. ‘Look at you, all wrapped up.’

Helen hoped her face wasn’t showing how embarrassed she was to have put a blanket around Bobby to bring him the few steps from their home. She had attempted to put his coat on again, but he had protested loudly and she had given up, not wishing to upset him.

She couldn’t imagine ever wearing anything too small again. Unlike Bobby, the few clothes she possessed were now several sizes too big. Even her aunt looked as if her clothes were borrowed from someone larger than her. Helen felt a pang in her heart, remembering the immaculately dressed woman she had known before the war changed everything. It couldn’t be helped, though, not with the scanty food they were all having to survive on these days.

Helen carried Bobby through to the parlour and smiled at the sound of Babs’s familiar voice as she walked in. ‘This looks festive.’

‘I’m glad you think so,’ Babs said cheerfully. ‘It’s not as we would ordinarily have it, but we’ve replaced the holly we usually have over our pictures with ivy.’

Mrs Hamel entered the room and motioned for Sylvia to hand her her coat. ‘Babs found the ivy on a wall on her way home the other day. An old disused house along a back street, wasn’t it, Babs love?’’

‘That’s right. On a side wall.’ She grinned. ‘I checked no one could see me before taking a length of it. Thankfully I had little else in my shopping bag so could slip it in there.’

‘It looks very festive,’ Aunt Sylvia said, reaching to take Bobby from Helen. ‘Let me take the little one so you can take off your coat.’

Helen passed her son to her aunt and unwrapped him carefully as soon as she saw that he was firmly in Sylvia’s arms. She hurriedly folded the blanket and, unsure where to put it, held onto it. She noticed an amused look pass between Ida and her daughter and embarrassment surged through her. Helen opened her mouth to explain why she had used a blanket but before she could speak, Babs left the room and Ida motioned them towards the square table set up in the middle of the front room. She pulled out one of the chairs. ‘Take a seat here, Sylvia. We’re going to be a little squashed together, I’m afraid.’

‘It’ll be cosy,’ Sylvia assured her. ‘The table looks beautiful.’

Helen noticed the flower-patterned plates and white napkins that someone had embroidered with forget-me-nots to match the ones on the crockery. ‘It does.’

‘We don’t often use this set,’ Peggy said, who had joined them, ‘but Mum thought today was the perfect day to do it.’

Ida grinned. ‘What I actually said was I thought we all needed reminding that however dreadful these times are, one day the world will be a happier, more cheerful place again. I thought making the table pretty and sharing our food with close friends was the perfect way to do it.’

Helen swallowed the lump in her throat at her neighbour’s words. ‘What a wonderful idea,’ she whispered, her voice hoarse from the tightness in her throat.