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by Bruce.
Rated: 18+ · Chapter · Drama · #2291493
More bad news for Elsie.
WAAF=Women's Auxiliary Air Force. MT=Motor Transport. NAAFI=Navy Army & Air Force Institute. ACW=Aircraftwoman. ACW2=Aircraftwoman 2nd Class. LACW=Leading Aircraftwoman. LAC=Leading Aircraftman.

Chapter 14


I picked up my kit bag, said my goodbyes to the girls in the barrack room and set off to Euston station for the train to Chester. The train did not seem to travel very fast. I thought maybe they were running at restricted speed in case of bomb damage. And then I didn’t really want to think of that and my thoughts returned to that wonderful American soldier and I didn’t even know his name.

         I got to Chester General Station and my instructions said I had to transfer to Chester Northgate Station. A station porter gave me directions saying it was a ten minute walk. It took me a bit longer than that though struggling with my bulging kit bag.

         It was a short journey from Northgate to Sealand and I was soon at the guardroom. The corporal at the guard room directed me to the WAAF quarters as he called them. The door was locked so I rang the bell push.

         A young looking ACW opened the door and she seemed very nervous. “I’m the duty WAAF,” she said. “I don’t know you.”

         “I’m LACW, Elsie Godsalve. I’m a MT driver and have been posted here from Uxbridge.”

         “I’m sorry. I have to ask for your I.D.”

         “Go on then," I said.

         “What?”

         “Ask for my I D.”

         “Sorry, can I see your I D.”

         “No, I said.”

         “Oh! But I’ll get in trouble.”

         “Only joking,” I said and handed my card. “So what’s your name?”

         “AC2, Mary Houseman. You’re not going to report me, are you?”

         “Of course not, but can I come in?”

         We got in and she pointed to the room on the right. This is the office where the duty WAAF stays at night. She pointed to the door opposite. That is the transit room. You’ll be given a proper place by the Admin officer in the morning. The toilets, sorry, the ablutions are down there.”

         “How long have you been a WAAF?” I asked.

         “Twelve weeks,” she replied. “I’ll put the kettle on and bring you a cup of tea.”

         “That’s very nice of you, Mary.” I walked into the transit room. There were two unoccupied beds in there with beds packs neatly placed at the ends. This is good I thought; a room to myself. I made up the bed and my tea arrived.

         At seven in the morning the Section Officer looked into the room. “This is not a holiday camp, Godsalve. Get yourself dressed and over to my office.”

         I hurriedly dressed. The office door was open and I walked in and saluted. “LACW Godsalve, Ma’am.”

         “I know who you are, Godsalve. Give me your ID and paperwork. Mary,” she shouted. “Take her bedding and find a free bed space.”

         I watched Mary struggle off with the bedding while the officer was checking my paperwork. “I didn’t think she would still be on duty,” I said.

         “Is that how you talk to officers at Uxbridge, Godsalve?”

         “Sorry, Ma’am.”

         She went though the station standing orders and facilities with me. Mary soon returned. “Houseman, show Godsalve to her bed space then take her round to the MT section.”

         The block was much the same as at Uxbridge but was only two floors. I was on the ground floor this time.

         Mary took me to the entrance to the Motor Transport Yard and I walked across and into the transport office lobby. There was a small square hatch looking into the control room. A sergeant and a corporal were in the room and although they obviously knew I was there they totally ignored me.

         I called loudly through the hatch. “LACW, Godsalve reporting for duty, sergeant.”

         The sergeant looked over. It was not a friendly welcoming look. “I’ve been expecting you. What I want to know is what have we done to get lumbered with another WAAF?”

         “Sergeant?”

         “Outside, Godsalve.” He walked out from the control office and I walked out from the lobby. “And how many vehicles have you wrecked?” he said.

         “None, sergeant, but then I have only been a WAAF for two years.”

         He gave a brief hostile stare. “Huh,” he muttered. There was an LAC walking across the yard. The sergeant called out to him. “Aldridge, where are you going?”

         “I have to take the crew bus to the wash bay, Sergeant.”

         “Leave that for now. Show this bloody WAAF around the section.”

         “I checked my uniform this morning, Sergeant," I said, "and there’s no blood on it.”

         Another hostile stare. “Don’t set off on the wrong foot with me girl, or you will be very sorry.” He went back to his office.

         I walked over to the LAC. “He’s a bit grumpy,” I said. “He doesn’t seem to like WAAFs.”

         “I don’t think he really has anything against WAAFs in general. It’s just that we have another WAAF driver here; an AC2 straight from training. She’s been here three months and has had three prangs already. I’m Mick by the way.”

         “I’m Elsie. I see that there are a lot of big vehicles here, and a small crane. Will I be able to drive them?”

         “Not a chance, Elsie. There are three corporal drivers here and they drive them.”

         He showed me around the yard, the oil bay, the wash bay, the covered and the open bays, the fitters workshop, the storeroom and finally ending up at the fuel pump. He looked at his watch. “Almost time for our break. I’ll show you the driver’s rest room.”

         It was pretty spacious inside and had a tea bar. A room at the side housed two beds. “They are for the duty driver on nights. WAAFs don’t do duty driver.”

         “I know that,” I said. “Where is the WAAF’s room?”

         “The WAAF room?”

         “Yes, the WAAF room, the room for WAAFs.”

         He took me out to the lobby. "Oh, there’s the letter rack. The mail gets brought over every day."

         “Okay,” I said. “And is this door that says WAAF room on it, the door to the WAAF room?” I opened the door and looked in.

         “A bit of a state," Mick said. "It was closed down about a year ago when the WAAF corporal was posted and is only used as a store now.”

         Boxes, old redundant furniture and various vehicle parts filled the small room. I pointed to a door at the end. “And what’s through there?”

         “A sink and a toilet.”

         “And how the hell am I supposed to get in there?”

         “Well, you can’t really, unless you want to spend an hour moving all the stuff. Even the toilet room is probably full of stuff as well.”

         “So, where do I go to use the toilet?”

         “The other WAAF uses the men’s room, but you’ll have to make sure no one is in there first.”

         “Really!”

         “I’ll put the kettle on,” he said. We went into the rest room as some of the other driver’s came in for their break. Mick introduced me and they all seemed pleasant enough.

         “Where’s the other WAAF?” I said.

         “Oh, she’s probably out bending another car,” one of the men said. The men laughed but I didn’t find it funny.

         After our break I helped Mick to clean the coach. “I heard a steam train passing the camp. Is that a busy train line?” I asked.

         “Yes, as well as the passenger service, a lot of freight trains run down to the steel works. That has had the attention from the German bombers a few times.”

         It was soon time for lunch and I went to the mess with Mick. When we had eaten we started walking back. “You carry on and I’ll meet you back there,” I said. “I have to call at the block.”

         I walked in and stood at the open door of the WAAF admin office, waiting.

         “Well, come in, Godsolve.” the Section Officer said.

         I walked in and saluted. “It’s Godsalve, Ma’am.”

         “That’s what I said. Now what do you want?”

         I explained to her about the use of the WAAF room at the MT section as a store room and that the girls had to use the men’s toilets. I must admit I thought she would not care much, but I was wrong.

         “What a liberty,” she said. “I will not have my girl’s treated like that. Leave it with me, Godsalve, and thank you for letting me know.”

         In the afternoon I was doing another menial job with Mick, sweeping a yard that didn’t really need sweeping.

         “Blimey,” Mick said. “What’s she doing here?”

         I looked over to the control office as the Section Officer was leaving. The sergeant followed after her. “Aldridge, Godsalve, get over here,” he shouted across.

         We started hurrying over. “This is like being back at training camp,” I said to Mick.

         “Get the trolley,” the sergeant said, “and move all the stuff out of the WAAF room into the main stores.” As we turned to go for the trolley the sergeant muttered, “I knew she was gonna be trouble,” but muttered it loud enough so I would hear.

         It took quite a while to move all the stuff around to the main store. There was plenty of space in the store and I wondered why they used the WAAF room at all. Maybe it was just laziness. When we were finished, there was just two easy chairs, two wooden chairs and a low table, we also put a mirror on the wall. It was a job well done, but it was very dusty and grimy and would need a good clean.

         Five o’clock and I was about to set off for my evening meal. The other WAAF had driven in and Mick introduced me. She was delighted to find another girl in the section. “So, Kathy,” Mick said. “Have you taken the car straight into the repair bay?”

         “No!” she said. Mick laughed but neither Kathy nor I laughed with him.

         “Come on, Kathy,” I said. “I want to show you something.” We walked into the small WAAF room and Kathy’s face lit up with a gorgeous smile. I thought she was going to start crying.

         “Oh, Elsie,” she said. “This is wonderful.” She walked through and looked into the toilet. “Oh my word. I didn’t even know this was here.”

         “Come on, I’ll walk down to the mess with you,” I said.

         “I’ll go later,” she said. “This needs a good clean and I think I’ll stay behind and do it.”

         “Then I think I’ll stay behind and help you,” I said.

         Three months later two of our airmen were sent to France. Two replacements came and they were both WAAFs, Jane and Eve. I was so pleased to see them but the sergeant was not happy.

         It was coming up to Christmas and I was looking forward to going to the dance with the girls.

         “Get the crew bus ready,” the sergeant said. “Then get out to the airfield. There’s a Wellington coming in. Pick up the crew and take them to hanger for de-brief and get them to the relevant messes.”

         I liked driving the crew bus and I seemed to get the job quite often. I drove to the edge of the runway with a corporal driving a tractor behind me. The driver came up and sat in the bus next to me.

         “You know something, Elsie,” he said. “I have always fancied you.”

         “Have you really?”

         “There is a great party tonight at a friend's place in Chester and we could have a smashing time there. Afterwards there is a nice hotel that I go to sometimes. What do you say?”

         “If you are going to the hotel, how will I get back here on my own?”

         “We will share the hotel room. You know what I mean?”

         “I think so. Is it going to be a threesome.”

         “A threesome, what do you mean a threesome?”

         “Well, is your wife going?”

         “Don’t worry about her, we don’t get on. So what do you say?”

         “What I say is, my Section Officer has told me if I get any sexual harassment I’m to let her know and she will see he is posted to France. Fancy a trip to France do you?”

         He got out of the bus. “You know what you need, Elsie? You need a man to take down your drawers and give you a right good seeing to.”

         “Maybe I do, but it won’t be you, you bloody creep.”

         The Wellington landed and I went out to get the crew. The corporal went out to get attached to the aircraft and pull it into the maintenance hangar.

         A week later the corporal approached me in the yard. “I’m going to France next Tuesday,” he said. “You bitch, you’ve got me sent to France.”

         “Nothing to do with me,” I said and I meant it. “Perhaps you’ve been reported by some other young girl that you have abused.” I started to laugh and he stormed off.

         The Christmas dance at the NAAFI was a grand affair with a live six piece band playing all the popular songs. I recognised the opening to The Lambeth Walk.”

         “Come on, Kathy,” I said. “Let’s get up for the Lambeth Walk.”

         “No, Elsie. I’ll look a fool I have never done the dance.”

         “I pulled her up off the chair. Just copy everyone.” I called Colin and Mark over. They were two lads I knew from the aircraft maintenance hangar and were eager to dance with us. The dance was great fun and Kathy soon picked it up and we all enjoyed each other’s company for the rest of the night. Later we walked back to the blocks and I gave Colin a goodnight kiss. I waited for Kathy, but their goodnight kiss had turned into a serious embrace. Colin had gone in and I stood for a moment. “Come, on Kathy, or we’ll be locked out and have to ring the bell with a charge following.”

         “Just a minute,” she said. They continued with their embrace for a moment and then Kathy walked over and Mark went inside.

         “You look a bit flushed, Kathy.”

         “I like him, Elsie. I really do. He is meeting me in the NAAFI tomorrow night. Do you fancy coming as well with Colin?”

         “No thanks.” I said.

         Two weeks later I noticed a letter for me in the rack. It was from London, but it was not my sister Alice’s handwriting. I opened it up and saw it was from my mother. Well, that’s a first, I thought.

         Dear Girl,

          I have bad news. A buzz-bomb hit the dance hall last week and there were many casualties.

          I am sorry to have to tell you that your sister Alice was in there and was killed.


         I stopped reading. I could read no more because of the tears filling my eyes.

 
STATIC
The Girl From Mile End. Ch 15.  (18+)
Elsie gets a weekend pass to go home.
#2291502 by Bruce.
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