Moonlight and Ashes by Rosie Goodwin Page A

Gran?’ she whispered.
    Her grandma smoothed her cheek. ‘I don’t know, sweetheart,’ she answered truthfully. ‘But even if they do, they can’t hurt us while we’re all in here.’ Crossing to Maggie, who was perched on the edge of the old easy chair her mother had given to her, she pressed her hand reassuringly and whispered, ‘Try an’ stay calm now, love. For the sake o’ the kids, eh?’
    She squeezed onto the chair at the side of her daughter and wrapped her arms around her. Maggie nestled her head on her mother’s shoulder as terror swept over her in waves.
    ‘What about me dad?’ she said. ‘He’s over at the house all on his own.’
    ‘He’ll be all right,’ Ellen soothed. ‘Bill is big an’ ugly enough to take care of himself. He’ll go into the cupboard under the stairs, an’ he knows I’m here with you, so stop worrying.’
    The two women fell silent as the racket overhead grew louder by the minute. And then they heard a loud whistling noise followed by the sound of a huge explosion. Maggie almost jumped out of her skin.
    ‘Sshh.’ Ellen cuddled her even closer. ‘Don’t get panicking. They’ll be aiming for Ansty Aerodrome an’ the factories. We should be safe enough. We’ve just got to sit it out.’
    Amazingly, after a time the children drifted off back to sleep. Maggie felt as if she was trapped in a nightmare as she clung to her mother for dear life. The candle sputtered, casting an eerie glow about their tiny sanctuary, and the two women began to pray as they had never prayed before.
    After what seemed an eternity, Ellen rose and approached the door. Inching it open, she peered out into the night and the sight that she saw made her mouth gape in amazement. The sky overhead was as bright as day, as thousands of tiny incendiary bombs drifted down, like tiny multi-coloured fairy-lights on parachutes. The bombs that were raining down shook the ground and she hastily elbowed the door back to.
    ‘What’s happening out there?’
    When Maggie’s terrified voice floated to her she shrugged. ‘Can’t really say. But it’ll be all right. You’ll see.’ But despite her encouraging words, Ellen Sharp’s heart was heavy. She had an awful feeling that many people would lose their lives this night.
    Time seemed to stand still. They had no way of knowing how long they had been trapped in their tiny prison. All they did know was that the night seemed to last for a lifetime. Over and over again, the earth beneath them shook as an explosion ripped through the air. Apart from that, the only other sound that could be heard was the clanging bells of the fire engines and ambulances as they raced towards the fires that were springing up across the city.
    At last, the drone of the planes subsided and after a time, the all clear sounded.
    ‘Is it over?’ Maggie held her breath as she stared through the gloomy light into her mother’s face.
    ‘I think so, love. At least for now. You stay there wi’ the children while I go out an’ see what’s goin’ on.’ Rising painfully, she straightened and lumbered towards the door, half-afraid of what she might see when she opened it. The first thing that struck her was the overpowering smell of burning. Huge columns of smoke darkened the dawn sky, as if they were trying to blot out the sun that was just peeping over the horizon. She could hear doors opening and closing and people running up and down the street as they too emerged from their shelters and hurried away to check on their friends and neighbours.
    Becoming aware of Maggie, who had come to stand at her elbow, she nodded when Maggie told her, ‘I’m just going to pop over the road an’ check that Dad is all right, Mam. You wait there, I’ll be back in a tick.’
    Yanking the yard gate open, Maggie fled down the entry, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw that all the houses opposite were still standing.
    ‘Are you all all right, love?’ Mrs Massey shouted as she emerged from her