My Soldier.

Two.

That evening in the Kirren household, Peggy was just in the lounge with her husband, Jimmy, whilst listening to the Wireless when Jimmy said, "I say, have you heard of the dance tonight at the church hall?" Peggy was knitting and stopped as her husband spoke. She recalled how she hadn't heard about the dance. "Well yes, almost everyone is going." Jimmy continued as he stood up to lower the volume of the Wireless. Peggy suddenly chuckled as Anne walked in. "What are you laughing at, Peggy?" Anne scorned. Peggy looked at her younger sister and then at Jimmy. Anne knew what that meant. "By Jove! Really? A dance? Oh Gosh!" she clapped her hands together and then, out of nowhere, she started to dance with Jimmy. He laughed along with her as they danced. Peggy sighed heavily. Anne was a child at heart and always saw the positivity in others. Anne stopped the moment Jimmy stepped out of their little dance and left the room to go upstairs. "She's a energetic young woman." Jimmy breathed as he sat back down on the armchair. Peggy looked at her husband and laughed, "She's still a child." Jimmy just shrugged and picked up the newspaper. HITLER INVADES RUSSIA was the headline. Peggy shuffled uncomfortably in her position. The talk of the war scared her. It definitely scared her and Anne's mother. She had been a child during the First World War, or the Great War, as everyone now called it.

—•••••—

At half past six; Peggy, Jimmy, and Anne were walking into the church hall. There were lots of their friends dancing, drinking, smoking, and mostly having a good time. Anne looked around the tops of heads. "So you did come." an voice spoke up. Anne stopped glancing at a familiar dark haired man and smiled down on him. Peggy and Jimmy were already down on the dance floor when Anne walked down to greet the owner of the voice. Rafe stood at the foot of the stairs, leaning with his arms across his chest, grinning from ear to ear. He was wearing a light khaki coloured shirt and darker trousers. As Anne walked down she registered them as the uniform of an American fighter pilot. His hair was quite messy as if he had just rolled out of bed, into uniform, and left. "Of course I came. Peggy and Jimmy were coming." Anne said as she came closer to Rafe. Rafe laughed and held out his arm. Anne bit her lip and took it. Walking through the crowd of dancers, Anne found herself being led towards the same group of men, she and Peggy had seen and laughed with earlier that day. Eddie was smoking a cigarette and had his arm around a girl with very blonde hair. They were laughing about something. Funny how the war brings everyone together yet forces them apart. "This is Danny. He's the baby." Rafe said breaking up Anne's thoughts. Danny was the same age as Anne but had lied when joining the army. He had dark, mud brown hair and matching eyes. He had a slight tan and strong arms. "I'm no baby! I'm nineteen- well Uncle Sam thinks I'm twenty two," Danny protested as he tilted his cap to greet Anne. He had the same cheeky smirk as Rafe. His accent was Texan. Anne laughed as he spoke. "There's Eddie, he's a real flirt. Oi Ed!" Rafe continued as he threw a scrunched up napkin in the direction of Eddie and the unknown girl. Eddie's face turned just in time to have the napkin hit him in the face. "He shoots. He scores." The unknown girl exclaimed. Anne later learned that her name was Rebekah. She was very beautiful. Her sun-kissed blonde hair was cut short, just below the jawline. Her complexion was flawless and her lips were stained deep burgundy. 'This is going to be a good evening' thought Anne.