Page 19 of The London Girls
FLORENCE
Florence stood outside the ambulance station, a few minutes early and taking a moment to catch her breath. It wasn’t that the walk from the tube to the West End had been that taxing – she could barely catch her breath due to her nervousness. Her attempt to ride a motorcycle had crippled her confidence; she could still hardly believe she’d been so brazen in taking the van and driving it, and she could only hope that she had a better day today than she’d had then.
Heaven help me if I can’t impress anyone here with my driving skills.
She glanced at her watch and saw there was only a minute to go before she was due to report for duty, so she squared her shoulders and forced her feet forwards.You can do this. You’re a great driver, they’re going to love you.But Florence knew that it wasn’t her driving skills that were troubling her; it was the reality of what she was signing up for. She’d given up her dream of becoming a nurse after her family had perished; she could no longer stomach the idea of seeing pain and death on a daily basis, of having to confront others suffering as her own family had. It was why she’d become a Wren in the first place, because she’d be able to help withoutseeingthe war. Something had changed in her, though, when she’d first seenthat flyer for the motorcycle riders. She’d realised she had more to give, that she needed to go above and beyond to help the war effort, that what she was doing was no longer enough,. that she couldn’t let what had happened to her continue to hold her back. Which was exactly why she needed to be brave and ignore her fears now – London needed as many ambulances on the road as possible, and if she could save even one family from the fate hers had suffered, then it would be worth every painful memory she had to endure.
‘Florence?’
She was surprised to hear her name called. She looked up, not seeing anyone, before she noticed legs poking out from beneath an ambulance. The vehicle had been lifted up slightly, and she watched as a man slid out.
‘Yes, that’s me.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Reporting for duty.’ Florence cringed as she heard the words come out of her mouth – if he knew her name, he certainly knew why she was there!
The man didn’t reply as he stood and dusted himself off, and she couldn’t help but notice how tall he was. He was broad-shouldered too, which made him appear a bear of a man as he took a few steps towards her, his eyebrows drawn together slightly as if he were studying her as much as she was studying him. And he had a pronounced limp, his body hefting to one side each time he took a step.
He held out a hand, and although she noticed the grease embedded into his skin, she didn’t hesitate in holding out her own and clasping it. She was worried he was going to crush her fingers, but his shake was surprisingly light, despite her hand being lost in his.
‘Jack,’ he said. ‘You’re stuck with me for the next few weeks.’
Florence laughed, stopping herself when she saw he wasn’t smiling. She clasped her fingers together for something to do, suddenly feeling even more out of her depth than before she’d walked in.
‘There’s no one else here?’ Florence asked as she looked around, surprised by how quiet it was. ‘I thought you must be training a group of new recruits, not just me?’
He grunted. ‘It’s just you. We’re going to start today with working on that ambulance over there.’ He hooked his thumb at the vehicle he’d been beneath when she’d walked in. ‘Once you know how to look after her, then we’ll get you out on the road.’
‘I don’t have to drive first? To prove myself to you?’
Her last questionalmostelicited a smile from him, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. ‘We’re not exactly being overrun with women volunteering to drive ambulances, although the ATS have recruited a fair few. The job is tough, we’re in serious danger whenever we’re called out, and it’s damn hard work,’ he said. ‘I’ve heard you drive like a man, so that’s all I need to know. My job is to get you on the tools and train you in mechanics.’
‘Right, understood,’ she said brusquely, looking around for somewhere to set her bag, and then glancing down at her WRN uniform and wondering what on earth she was going to do to protect it. Jack seemed to be one step ahead of her though, because he disappeared and came back a few minutes later, brandishing a pair of overalls. They looked enormous, but she thanked him and quickly took off her jacket, leaving her skirt on despite it being nearly impossible to put the overalls on over the top. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Jack was politely facing away, and she managed to hitch her skirt up a little higher before doing up the overalls. The legs needed to be folded up and the arms too, and despite it feeling like they would have been a better fit on him than her, she ignored how ridiculous she must look and bravely walked over to him. There was no time to worry about her appearance, not today.
She’d made the decision to volunteer, and she wasn’t about to back out now.
‘Let’s get started then, shall we?’
Jack nodded and led the way. ‘This is going to be your ambulance.’
Florence looked at the small van, wondering if it was some sort of a test. The sturdy vehicle had the wordsThackery Family Flowersprinted on the side in a sturdy, easy-to-read font. It wasn’t the type of ambulance she’d seen the ATS women driving, but she wasn’t about to complain.
‘Outside London they’re using buses for ambulances now,’ Jack said. ‘Truth is we’re short on vehicles, and the owner of this one offered it to us. I don’t think there are any Thackerys here in London to deliver flowers right now.’
She walked along one side, studying it. She supposed it was perfect for an ambulance, with plenty of room to fit patients inside. ‘Do we repaint her?’ Florence asked. ‘Or does she just get a new interior fit-out?’
‘Just the interior. No one cares what she looks like, so long as she can do the job.’
Even though it was nothing like the van her father had driven, it still made her feel nostalgic. Just as there were no Thackerys to deliver flowers any more, there were no Hugheses to deliver vegetables, either.
It’s why you’re here, Flo. Keep that chin up.
She watched Jack as he lifted the bonnet and turned to her. ‘You ever changed the oil or checked the water in a vehicle before?’ he asked.
She smiled. ‘Yes, I have actually. My daddy didn’t like his girls to be useless.’
Jack grunted, and she half expected a smile again although it never came. ‘Good. I’ll show you once where to look, and then you can do both. It’s good practice.’
‘I haven’t done any of this for a while, so I apologise if I’m a little rusty,’ she said, nudging her sleeves back up and standing on tiptoe to see what she was looking for. Jack pointed to the oil and then the water, and she took an old cloth he passed her and took out the oil dipstick, happy with the colour of the oil as she wiped the dipstick on the cloth then replaced it.
‘The oil is fine,’ she said, as much to fill the silence between them than anything. ‘Now let’s check that water.’
