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Titty sat at the table watching as Susan boiled the kettle for a second time and washed the stewed tea leaves out from the teapot. John paced back and forth in the hallway. Bridget was doing the washing up, or at least was supposed to be: there hadn't been a noise from the bowl for the last ten minutes. Titty, trying to work out the plot of a short story and getting nowhere, crossed out sentence after sentence with strokes of a rapidly blunting pencil. The newspaper in front of her kept calling her with the headline: "Britain at War". Was it this that had sent Roger away? She bent back to her story, knowing it would not distract her and yet praying that it would.
There were voices at the front door and a key in the lock and all four froze and waited. First through was Mother, her worried frown from earlier replaced with a relieved smile. She ushered Roger in ahead of her, and was followed by a tall figure in a long dark coat.
Roger seemed to be the only one not pleased by this turn of events. The rest of the family rushed to hug him, grateful to have him back in one piece and so soon, but he bore the embraces with a scowl, and pushed past them to sit at the old wooden table. Susan paused but was set in motion by the sound of the kettle boiling, and Titty, knowing something of what he was feeling, sat down beside him and waited. It wouldn't take long. Roger was not the sort to hold things inside.
Then she noticed who the last person was.
"Captain Flint!"
His eyebrows flew up at the use of the old nickname. "Able Seaman! Well met!"
"Did you find Roger?"
He nodded. "Your mother got in touch, and I have some friends around that were able to help. This young rapscallion travelled all the way to Walthamstow and signed up for the Navy. Boys as young as fourteen are allowed to serve on His Majesty's ships with their parents' permission, and if you are eighteen you may decide for yourself. But Roger lied about his age to get around the rules, and that is simply not allowed." The Captain sat at the table and accepted a cup of tea from Susan and a biscuit from a plate offered by a wide-eyed Bridget.
"You're Captain Flint?" Bridget could barely hold the plate in her excitement.
"It has been some years since we last met. Hello there." He took the plate, shook her hand and then gave the plate back, snaffling another biscuit as he did.
"And what did you do?" Bridget bounced a little more, then at a glance from Mother, put the plate on the table as Captain Flint looked around the group.
"That I think is a tale best told with tea. Has everyone got a cup?"
There were affirmations from around the table, although Roger's was no more than a grunt.
"Your mother contacted me, and I had my friends in the various recruitment offices look out for Mr Roger Walker. Not three hours ago I had a call from one saying that a Mr Walker was claiming to be eighteen and could I come and confirm this? So here we are. But before we go on," the Captain said, "I would like Roger to give us his reasons for what he did."
The youth's eyes were dark and flashing. "You don't know? You don't think I want to be a part of this?" He gestured to the newspaper. "Our country needs us. I want to do my part. And if I don't hurry, it'll all be over by Christmas!"
At this, Captain Flint and Mother exchanged looks. Both shook their heads, and Mother came over to Roger, leaned down and hugged him.
"I do appreciate what you want to do." She stroked his hair. "That's what we thought the last time, too. Your father did the same thing – he thought the last war would be over before he had a chance to take part so he rushed off to join the Royal Navy as soon as he could. And then we didn't see each other for nearly a year!" She laughed bitterly. "We were supposed to be married in September of 1914 and have a month's honeymoon sailing from Bristol to the Channel Islands and back. Instead, we were married two years later and barely had two days to spend together before he was due back on board."
Susan gasped. "So you nearly didn't get married at all?"
"If he hadn't performed his duties to his Captain's satisfaction, no." Mother went back to her seat. "But I quite understand, Roger. You want to do your part, just as your sisters and brother do."
"Are you already signed up?" Captain Flint looked over the older Walker children.
John grinned. "I just got my second stripe. Lieutenant Walker of Her Majesty's battleship Royal Oak. Five days shore leave, and I report tomorrow."
"Then I shall be calling you Captain John again in the near future! First Mate Susan?"
"I've signed up to help with the evacuation children." She reached for another biscuit. "It keeps me near home, but there's so much to do. The government had the first ones on the trains and boats yesterday, and I'm due to accompany a school's worth to Wales on Monday."
"And I'm in the Air Force." Titty grinned. "Finished my degree last term, and signed up in the holidays."
"No wonder Roger wanted to be a part of it all too." Captain Flint sat back, surveying the family. " Mrs Walker has, of course, the deciding word, but would you care to hear my opinion, as an old hand at these matters?"
"Were you in the last war, Captain?" Roger bestirred himself from his gloom. "What did you do?"
"I wasn't a soldier, exactly, but I was doing important war work. And your mother is entirely correct. This war, like the last one, will not be over by Christmas. In fact, I doubt it will be finished in the next three years, and we shall all be the worse off for it." He nodded to Mother. "I believe that our opponents have learnt not to bog themselves down in the fields of France this time. They now have much more powerful tanks and ships and aeroplanes. But they have not learnt to stop throwing themselves against the might of the British. We are somewhat diminished from the heyday of our Empire, but we are not to be trifled with." He pointed at Roger. "Are you still at school?"
"My last year."
"And if there wasn't a war, what were you planning to do?"
"Go to Naval College and learn to be a Naval Officer like father."
"By which time you will be eighteen?"
"Yes." Roger sounded dubious by this time, but willing to listen.
"If you enlist now, you start at the very bottom – not even an Able Seaman. You'll be a cabin boy, and while that was fun when the four of you were on holidays, on a real ship it is a very tiring job." The Captain sighed. "My recommendation to you is to finish at school, gaining the highest marks possible in geography and mathematics. While you are at school, write to the Naval Colleges in Dartmouth, Greenwich and Keyham, asking what they need for you to train there. And then, when you've finished school, if you meet their requirements, that would be the way to go."
"But I won't be fighting for years!" Roger almost looked ready to burst into tears.
"Oh no, that is not the way of it, young man. With a war on, they will start an accelerated program. Did you still want to be an engineer?"
"Definitely."
"Then Keyham is your best chance." Captain Flint nodded. "In fact, I believe we might be able to negotiate an agreement, with your mother's permission of course."
Roger glanced at Mother, who nodded.
"These are hard times," she said, "and only going to get harder. But my mother did not raise a duffer. Let me hear the agreement first, then Roger and I will decide."
"I have friends," responded the Captain. "Friends in many places, doing many things, of whom I cannot talk. But I may say that Lieutenant Shorto is an excellent man and will trust my recommendation. If, Roger, you truly want to be an engineer in the Navy, and you apply yourself to your work as I have suggested, send me your midyear results and I will write to my friend at the college and strongly recommend that you be accepted into the intake next June." At this, Roger perked up as the others almost cheered, until the Captain gestured for quiet. "I am serious about this, though. Lieutenant Shorto will not take kindly to me recommending a duffer."
"I won't be. No, sir. Yes. Yes please." Roger was almost incoherent in his agreement as Captain Flint looked to Mother, who nodded slowly.
"I can't stop him eventually signing up, so we must make the best of it that we can." She sighed. "I know what it is like living through a war when the one you love is in the thick of it. I just never thought I would be doing it again. Very well. Roger?"
"Yes, Mother?"
"If you are in agreement with Mr Turner – I beg your pardon – with Captain Flint, then I am willing to do this too."
"YES!" Roger jumped up from his chair, and the rest of the family went to gather around him.
Except one.
Titty noticed a glance and a beckoning from Captain Flint, and went to join him in the corridor.
"Yes, sir?"
"What is it you want out of the Air Force? You know it is unlikely you will actually fly anything."
"I want to do something active though." She shrugged. "I'm not built to be a Land Girl, and I know the Wrens end up in administration. If not the WAAF, maybe the ATS?"
"I might have something that would suit."
"For me?"
"It's secret. It's likely to be boring for a long time. But we know that Germany has plans for our country. So we need to prepare. But most of all, the secrecy. You won't even be able to tell your family."
"It'll help the country?"
"More than you could possibly know."
It took less than a second.
"Yes."
"I shall have someone contact you. It may be a few weeks, but you will know by Christmas." He held out his hand and she shook it, noticing her mother watching her.
Titty sat back down and looked around the familiar kitchen. Had it changed?
No. But they all had.
No duffers.