Read an Excerpt
Chapter
1
May 1940
“You
think they’re the boys from Dunkirk?” Sharon put her hands between the rock and
a backside that was complaining about the rough edges of several
stones.
“Their kit looks new,” Linda said. “Their boots are
new. Supposedly, they left the beaches with little more than the clothes on
their backs. It’s being called a victory. Our army plucked off the beach and
saved from certain defeat by the Nazis. By the looks on their faces, they don’t
feel like victors.” Linda looked over her shoulder. The fog was sifting away
from the grass of the airfield. She could make out a low, red building with
white window frames. “It’s lifting.” She carefully tapped the hot end of her
cigarette against a stone, touched it with her fingertips, and put the
remainder in the pocket of her flight suit. “Come on. If we get through today,
we’ll be off to White Waltham. It’s a little airfield next to London where the
ATA is beginning its operations.”
“ATA? How come you British
never speak English? It’s all ATA, RAF, BBF, WC,” Sharon
said.
“Air Transport Auxiliary. We get to fly all the kites
the big boys get to play with. The difference is, we’re not supposed to have
Jerry shooting at us.”
I’ll never get used to this
place, Sharon thought. Nobody speaks English. Jerry means German. RAF means
Royal Air Force. Git means asshole. It’s like learning a new
language.
An engine sputtered and
caught.
Sharon swung around, using her arms to push herself
away from the wall. She landed softly in the long grass. It swished against her
flying boots as she walked. She looked down. The toes were already coated with
dew. She zipped up her leather RAF Irvin sheepskin jacket as she walked against
the wind. She watched the wings of a Tiger Moth shiver as its engine ticked
over. The newly camouflaged green and grey biplane looked about as awkward on
the ground as it did in the air. She turned to her friend. “Any news of
Michael’s whereabouts?” Why are you so interested in her brother?
Linda
shook her head as she zipped up her flight suit. “Not a word. My mother is
beginning to fear he’s been captured by the Germans.”
Sharon
nodded. We can’t speak about the other possibility. The possibility
that he won’t be coming back.
