Friend or Foe. Michael Morpurgo
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miss. I’m here, miss.’ David spoke out, pleased at the strength in his voice.
‘Here’s Tucky, miss. He’s just coming.’
‘Right then.’ Miss Evers folded her piece of paper. ‘We’re all here, and it’s time to go. Say goodbye as quick as ever you can. The train leaves Paddington at half past eight, and we have to be there at least an hour before. So hurry it up now – and don’t forget your gas masks.’
David felt the case being handed to him. ‘Goodbye, David. And don’t worry. It’ll be all right. I’ll send a letter as soon as I can. God bless.’ She kissed him quickly on the cheek and turned away. He watched her until she disappeared at the end of the street. All around him there was crying: boys he’d never dreamt could cry, weeping openly, and mothers holding on to each other as they walked away. He was glad his mother hadn’t cried, and it helped him to see so many of his friends as miserable as he felt himself. He blinked back the tears that had gathered in his eyes and wiped his face before turning towards the station.
The warmth of the Underground came up to meet them as the school trooped down the silent, unmoving escalator. They followed Miss Evers along the tunnels, down the stairways and out on to the platform. Tucky came up alongside David and dropped his suitcase.
‘H’lo, Davey.’
‘H’lo, Tucky.’ They were old friends and there was nothing more to be said.
They did not have long to wait. There was a distant rumble and then a rush of warm, oily wind that blew their eyes closed as it rushed into the platform. Miss Evers counted them as they pushed and jostled into the carriage, herding them in like sheep, so that every corner of the carriage was filled. The doors clicked and hissed shut, and the train jerked forward, throwing everyone against each other.
David watched the last Highbury and Islington sign as long as he could, craning his neck until the carriage plunged into the darkness of the tunnel and it was gone.
‘That’s that, then,’ said Tucky next to him. David nodded and looked up at the parallel rows of handles that swung from the roof of the carriage, always out of reach. And he remembered his father lifting him up high above everyone, and how he’d hung on to the strap next to his father’s looking down on a sea of upturned faces.
Miss Evers was shouting at them again. ‘Boys, boys. Can you all hear me, boys? Sam, you’re not listening. I can see you’re not listening. You can’t listen and talk at the same time – it’s not possible. Now, we’ve been through all this many times before, but I’ll do it just once more to make sure. We’re going to . . . where are we going, Tucky?’
‘Devon, miss.’
‘What station do we have to go to, to get to Devon, Tucky?’
‘Don’t know, miss.’
‘Paddington, Tucky. We’re going to Paddington Station.’ Whenever Miss Evers wanted to tell them all something, she always asked Tucky first; and when Tucky didn’t know, and he never did know, that was her excuse to tell them herself. She picked on Tucky mercilessly, and David hated her for it.
‘And what am I going to give you at Paddington Station, Tucky? Can you remember that, Tucky?’
‘No, miss.’
‘Your placards, Tucky. With your name and address on. Remember? In case you get lost.’
‘And the string, miss,’ someone else said. Tucky was already sniffing, his hands screwed into his eyes. Another question from Miss Evers and he would dissolve into floods of tears.
‘Well, I’m glad someone was paying attention. Placards and string. You’ll be wearing the placards round your neck. Remember now, Tucky?’ Tucky nodded into his raincoat sleeve, and Miss Evers left him alone after that.
They had to change trains once and Sam left his case behind on the train. Miss Evers screamed at the guard and the doors hissed open again and she went back in for it. When she came out she screamed at Sam, but Sam braved it out and then grinned sheepishly as soon as her back was turned.
Placards strung round their necks, and two by two, the boys climbed the long stairs up into Paddington Station. David and Tucky were almost last in the crocodile and as far away from Miss Evers as possible.
Up to that moment it had been just his school that was being evacuated, but now David discovered that every other child in London seemed to be at the station. Miss Ever shouted back at them to hold onto the belt of the boy in front and they wound their way like a long snake through the crowds of milling children and screaming teachers, who paused only to blow their whistles. And above it all came the thunder and rhythmic pounding of steam engines, and the rich, exciting smell of the smoke.
David had been on a train once before. Just before the war started he’d been on a school journey to Birchington, but then his mother and father had been on the platform waving him off. He felt the belt in his hand jerk and the crocodile stuttered forward again towards the platform.
Miss Roberts, the headmistress, was waiting for them by the ticket barrier; and so was Miss Hardy. Miss Roberts was in her usual bird’s nest hat, and Miss Hardy, as usual, was clucking around her like a worried hen. Miss Evers seemed relieved to see them, and smiled for the first time that morning. Miss Roberts took charge and beckoned everyone closer.
‘The train’s at least two hours late, boys, so we’ll have to wait. Put your cases down and sit on them.’ It was good to have Miss Roberts there in her hat and bright clothes. There wasn’t a boy in the school who didn’t like her, and now her smiles and laughter were familiar and comforting in the strangeness and noise of the station.
David spent the two hours chatting to Tucky and looking at everyone else – that was all there was to do. The marches blared out of the loudspeakers, but they were so loud he could hardly make out the tune – and when there was a tune he recognised, a great explosion of steam would ruin it for him. Miss Hardy gave everyone a roll and jam with a mug of warm milk, and Miss Roberts sat heavily on her suitcase and smoked her way through a packet of cigarettes.
It seemed as if the train would never leave, but it did – three hours late. The boys piled into the train, fourteen to a carriage, and the train stood there, hissing gently.
David and Tucky found themselves sitting in Miss Roberts’ carriage. They knew it would mean cigarette smoke all the way to Devon, but that was better than Miss Hardy’s fussing, and a lot better than Miss Evers’ waspish tongue. Miss Roberts collected all their placards and put them in the luggage rack above their heads.
‘You won’t need those for a bit. I think I know who you all are.’ Miss Roberts sat down next to Tucky, and the seat sank. ‘You’ll need them again when we get to Devon – if we ever do.’ She took off her bird’s nest hat with a flourish and shook out her red hair, and then settled down to a packet of Senior Service cigarettes and a pile of orange paperbacks.
She was a huge lady, and Tucky wondered if he would ever be able to stop himself from sliding down towards her into the crater she had made in the cushioned seat.
Doors were banging all the way down the train and a group of sailors ran past waving and shouting. More banging, the shrill whistle, the pressure building up in short blasts of steam; and then the train heaved forward, the engine settling into a slow pulling rhythm as they watched the platform slip away.
‘We’re off,’ said Tucky.
‘On our way, boys,’ said Miss Roberts. ‘Say goodbye to London, and good luck. Not for ever, you know. We’ll be back.’
David stared out of the window and wondered what his mother was doing at that moment and how long it would be before he’d see her again.
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