Page 18 of Neighbors at War

‘Don’t be too long, will you?’ Babs said, chucking Bobby under his chin and leaving.

As soon as the front door closed Helen looked at her. ‘Is there something you want to speak to me about?’

Peggy was impressed she had noticed. ‘You’re very perceptive. Even my own sister didn’t pick up on that.’ She arched an eyebrow. ‘There is.’

Helen listened in fascination as Peggy suggested teaching her a few specific German words.

‘What do you think?’ Peggy asked, hoping Helen wouldn’t feel overwhelmed. ‘I don’t want you to feel you have to, but if you are still willing to help, this might be a way of doing it.’ She watched as Helen briefly mulled over her suggestion.

‘I definitely want to help and I think this could be a perfect solution.’

Peggy didn’t want to alarm Helen by mentioning Tony’s part in it. She beamed. ‘That’s settled then. I’ll come up with a list of words and phrases for you to learn and if you hear any of them you can let me know. Taking note of the tone of their voices will also help for context.’

She saw Helen’s shoulders straighten and a smile cross her face and knew she had done the right thing in sharing Tony’s suggestion.

‘I’m nervous about doing it,’ Helen said. ‘But I’m excited to put your idea into action.’

‘Great, then I’ll get that list to you as soon as I can.’

Chapter Ten

HELEN

Helen was grateful to Mrs Hamel for offering to look after Bobby again for the day. She was lucky to have such caring neighbours, and for the first time she felt that she was becoming accepted as one of their own. She thought back to Peggy’s idea. It was a brilliant one and gave her back a tiny speck of power, knowing she was doing something, however small, to help defy these overconfident men.

The tips of her fingers touched the small piece of paper in her pocket. On it were a few words Peggy had slipped to her that morning when they met outside their front doors. She had spent her thirty-minute walk to work learning the words – including ‘prisoner’, ‘spy’, ‘informer’ and ‘arrest’ – by heart as Peggy had requested. Now she was eager to burn the paper as soon as she had the opportunity. Helen hadn’t felt this excited for a long time and looked forward to doing something useful.

Arriving at the entrance to the house, Helen waited for the barrier to be raised. The officer waved her through. She thought of the Hauptmann with the deep scar on his cheek and how uncomfortable he had made her. She was glad she hadn’t seen him recently. Maybe he had been billeted elsewhere, she thought hopefully.

Relieved to reach the kitchen without being stopped, Helen hung up her coat and, taking the slip of paper from her pocket, put on her apron.

‘You’re looking chirpy this morning,’ Cook said, indicating a pan of eggs in water Helen needed to keep an eye on. ‘Your aunt back home now, then?’

‘Later today, hopefully. I don’t think she’ll be able to look after Bobby for a while, though.’ Helen smiled; her aunt might have her own ideas about that. ‘But my neighbour has offered to babysit again tomorrow.’

‘I’m glad you have good neighbours,’ Cook said pointedly. ‘We all need them, especially now.

‘We do.’ Helen watched the older woman go to the meat safe, open it and look inside. Whilst Cook’s attention was distracted, Helen moved the pan and dropped the piece of paper into the flames underneath.

‘Those should be ready now,’ Cook said, making Helen jump. She was going to need to calm her nerves if she was to be any use to Peggy. ‘Peel them, then they can go into a serving bowl. Put a lid on and take them through to the dining room with those cold cuts of meat on that tray. I’ve no idea why they requested boiled eggs today, but who am I to question these people?’ She took a large pan from a hook to her right. ‘One of the girls has already taken through the bread, butter and coffee, so you’d better hurry along.’

Helen changed her apron to a pinny and put on a lace cap, irritated to have to serve in the dining room.

‘Ahh, here is the little mother,’ one of them said as she entered, carrying the heavy tray over to the oak sideboard. She didn’t recognise his voice and supposed one of the others must have been talking about her. Probably that Hauptmann, she thought, suppressing a shiver.

The other waitress, Mabel, gave her a sympathetic look before taking a tray of empty bowls from the room. Why did she leave her alone? Helen wondered, noticing there were three soldiers sitting at the dining-room table.

Mrs Edwards entered the room as Helen was putting the food onto plates ready to serve. ‘Hauptmann Schneider, there is a telephone call for you.’

The man stood and left the room with Mrs Edwards.

Helen served the others, anxious to return to the kitchen as quickly as possible. Leutnant Müller usually said hello. He seemed shy and was pleasant-looking in a fresh-faced way, with his pink cheeks, fair hair and blue eyes, but he had a way of staring at her that was a little unnerving.

‘How is your little boy today?’ an officer she had seen a few times asked. ‘He is here?’

They must have been talking about her, she realised, the thought making her feel unsettled. She would much rather they left her alone to do her job rather than insist on speaking to her. Surely they knew how uncomfortable it made her having to converse with them? Maybe it hadn’t occurred to them, or could it simply be that her feelings were irrelevant to them?

‘No, he’s not here today. He is well, though.’ She fetched the coffee pot and held it up. ‘Would you like more coffee?’