PEACH STONES, band of brothers

three, ITTY BITTY WINNIE

          "What a load of rubbish! You do flatter me greatly, Winnie, but I'm far too old to have any place in all that youthful business of yours. Where are you from, anyway? Surely you had a sweetheart before you came to work here."

          "Oh, no, never a sweetheart, especially not from up in Yorkshire. I was stationed up there when I worked as part of the Women's Land Army. Trust me, the title sounds more glamorous than the content — all we did was shovel dirt clods and kill rats for the farmers. But in terms of courting, it wasn't easy pickings, especially being up there with so many other women of my age. They all looked as bonny as pin-ups — and then there's me, all gob and no grace."

          "Eh, looks always fade. Whoever those Yorkshire men are, they don't know what they're missing out on. You're a complete corker, Winnie, and I think it's safe to say that you'll make a wonderful mother when the time comes."

          "Goody."

          With a pompous clatter, it could have only been one person who burst into the nursery at full force; Miss Millicent Hamilton barrelled through the double doors with a mauve pashmina swathing her upper torso. The pearls around her neck clinked together and she jogged in, tottering in her heels. She smacked her perfect lips and said, "Here's the wheels, Robin Winifred — as long as your ball and chain lets you off the hook, we're going to the pictures tonight."

          "You and I? Tonight?"

          "Who else? We're the youth of this household, you don't want to spend another evening with your boring ol' grand-pàpa, do you?"

          "I suppose not, but —"

          "Then it's settled. We can leave here in an hour or so, at around seven, which mean's we'll leave Reggie's Reels and be home safely in time for curfew."

          "But why curfew? Everyone will have their blackout curtains pulled by then — we'll be walking back blind as bats."

          "Nevermind why —! Everything will be fine. Mother won't let me go unless I have someone responsible with me. She doesn't trust me not to run off and get knocked up by one of the Yanks."

          "Someone responsible? And she picked me?"

          "No, I picked you."

          "OK, well, what's screening up there?"

          "So you're coming."

          "If it is my duty to do so."

          "Thanks Robin Winifred, you're a real brick. We'll go and see Sweet Rosie O'Grady, it's in technicolour, too. A real treat, no?"

          "Why — all of a sudden, — do you want to go to the pictures?"

          "Wayne asked me there on a date."

          "I'm sorry, who?"

          "Private Wayne Sisk asked me there, and you may be my chaperone."

          "What happened to Shifty Powers?"

          "Agony Aunt says to keep your options open. I want to assess any possibilities before I settle with my final choice."