Moonlight and Ashes by Rosie Goodwin

think I might do the same. I have to say, this hot weather takes it out of you. It’s awful in the factory. By dinnertime it’s like a furnace in there.’ Maggie would have said more, but suddenly a steady droning overhead broke the stillness of the early evening.
    ‘What’s that?’ The words had scarcely left her lips when the air-raid siren wailed and the colour drained from her face. ‘Oh, my God. Mam, what’s happening?’
    Seeing that her daughter was on the verge of panic, Ellen took control of the situation. ‘I think this might be it, love, God help us. Now listen to me. We have to get the children into the shelter - an’ quickly. Do you understand me?’
    When Maggie merely stared at her blankly she crossed to her and quickly shook her arm.
    ‘You get the twins an’ I’ll get Lucy. Then, when we’ve got them into the shelter, we’ll pop back in’ an’ fetch some bedding. Now come on, there’s not a minute to lose.’ She pushed Maggie towards the stairs door, and despite the fact that she was almost crippled with arthritis, she sprinted up them two at a time.
    Seconds later, she reappeared on the landing with Lucy, who was still fast asleep, tucked warmly in a cot blanket. Maggie had hold of the twins, who were knuckling the sleep from their eyes and complaining loudly.
    ‘Good girl,’ Ellen encouraged. ‘Now, get them out into the yard an’ into the shelter.’
    Ignoring the twins’ questions, which were coming thick and fast, Maggie pushed them ahead of her, and soon they were all out in the yard. She could hear doors banging and neighbours scurrying everywhere as they too headed for their shelters.
    ‘That’s it, in you go.’ Ellen pushed the children in front of her and after yanking the Anderson door open she nudged them inside. It smelled of damp earth, but there was no time to worry about that now. After depositing Lucy onto one of the makeshift bunk beds that Sam had knocked up out of any old pieces of wood he could get his hands on, she told the twins, ‘Now you sit there an’ keep your eyes on your sister. Me an’ yer mam will be back before you know it.’
    Swinging about, she dived back into the house, closely followed by Maggie, and between them they soon had two feather mattresses and a pile of pillows stacked at the top of the stairs.
    ‘You get those into the shelter an’ I’ll grab some beddin’,’ Ellen commanded in a voice that brooked no argument. Minutes later, when she staggered back across the yard with her arms full of blankets, she dared to glance up at the sky. It seemed to be full of planes and she shuddered. It looked as if they were in for it tonight, all right.
    Once inside the shelter she hastily closed the door, and for the benefit of the children, who were all wide-eyed with fright, she fixed a smile to her face.
    ‘Now then, we’re going to camp out tonight. That will be nice, won’t it?’
    ‘Don’t want to camp out in here. It smells funny - an’ where’s me dad?’ Tears were glistening on Lizzie’s long lashes and she had to shout to make herself heard above the steady drone of the planes.
    As if Maggie had only just thought about Sam, she glanced fearfully at her mother.
    ‘Your dad will be fine,’ Ellen assured the little girl.
    Maggie was full of admiration for her mother, who was as calm as could be.
    ‘He’ll go into the pub cellar, no doubt,’ she added. ‘Right - let’s get these beds made up for now, eh? We’ll have you as snug as a bug in a rug in no time.’
    For all the world as if this was an everyday occurrence, Ellen Sharp swung the mattresses onto the bedframes and in no time at all she had tucked the children in.
    ‘There, now. You all snuggle down and try to get back to sleep. Everything will be OK, you’ll see.’
    Lizzie, who was lying next to Danny in the top bunk, cuddled up close to her brother, her eyes wide and fearful in the light of a candle that Maggie had lit.
    ‘Are they goin’ to drop bombs on us,