Page 4 of The London Girls
‘What are you lot whispering about?’ she asked.
‘Ava here wants to ride motorcycles,’ Lucy said. ‘I don’t think we’re exciting enough for her any more.’
They all laughed, but Ava ignored them. She stared at the memorandum in her hand and slowly read the words, excitementbuilding within her. They were looking for motorcyclists, and it appeared that they were first wanting to recruit women who already had experience; however, they were prepared to provide training if required, and that was the part she couldn’t stop rereading. She had not the faintest clue how to ride a motorcycle, but she was certainly willing to learn. How much harder could it be than sitting astride a horse, anyway?
She took a big breath and looked up at the other women in the small room, who were all watching her, as if waiting for some big announcement.They likely all thought she was mad.
‘Well?’ Catherine asked.
Ava glanced at Catherine, then Lucy, and then the other woman, whose name she couldn’t remember.
‘I’m going to apply,’ she said, surprising herself with how convincing she sounded.
‘You’re not!’ Lucy gasped.
‘I am,’ Ava said firmly. ‘Can I keep this?’
‘No.’ Catherine groaned when she tucked it into her pocket anyway. ‘Ava, no!’ she cried. ‘I’ll have to type it all over again.’
‘I’ll bring you in lunch tomorrow to say thank you,’ Ava promised. ‘Please?’
‘Fine. But it had better be something good.’
Ava gave her a quick hug then spun around to make the cup of tea she’d come for. She had the general’s secret stash of sugar in her pocket and she pulled it out, not realising immediately that the other girls had all gone silent.
‘Where did you get all that sugar from!’
She slowly turned, seeing Catherine’s arched brow. ‘Ah, it’s the general’s. He keeps a personal supply.’
She watched as Catherine moved closer and took down a cup, holding it out. ‘Half a teaspoonful. For the memo.’
Ava looked down at the jar, knowing it wasn’t hers to give but also knowing that he’d never find out. She sighed. ‘Fine. But if I disappear, you’ll know why. He’s very protective of his sugar.’
‘Howisit going with the handsome general?’ Catherine asked, waggling her eyebrows. ‘You’re the envy of everyone being put on his service, you know.’
Ava shrugged, as if she hadn’t fallen head over heels in love with the man. She’d certainly done her fair share of fantasising about smoothing her palm down his jacket lapel as he kissed her, and with the idea of this job rattling around in her head, her anticipation had increased tenfold.
‘I can’t complain,’ she said nonchalantly. ‘But I’ll be finished with him soon, and this sounds far more exciting that sitting here at a typewriter all bloody day. Give me an adventure any day of the week.’
Catherine laughed at her, and Ava finished making the tea, walking back to her office as quickly as she could without spilling it, the memo burning a hole in her breast pocket. Despite her outward confidence, she was nervous. Being a Wren had changed her life; it meant she could leave home for long stretches every day instead of being so tightly controlled by her parents, not to mention she had her own income, which she’d never had before. She would hate to lose what she had, but surely it wouldn’t affect her existing position if she wasn’t accepted?
Tomorrow. I’ll apply tomorrow.Although she had a feeling that applying wasn’t going to be the most challenging part of her plan; now she had to tell her father.
She’d waited all night to tell them, but it wasn’t until Ava’s mother rose to collect the dinner plates that she finally cleared her throatto speak. Her father reached for his glass, sitting back in his chair, his eyes fixed on his daughter. They weren’t unused to her speaking her mind at the dinner table, but usually it turned into an argument that had her father threatening to send her packing. She took a deep breath.
‘I wanted to talk to you both about a new, er,promotionthat I’ve decided to put myself forward for.’
Her mother sat, still holding the plates she’d collected. ‘Oh? What kind of promotion?’
‘As you know, my work for the general comes to an end next week,’ she said.
‘You’ll be back in the Navy section after that?’ her father asked, reaching for the newspaper he’d left folded beside him while he ate. He glanced at her over his glasses, before seeming to switch his attention to the newspaper, clearly disinterested.
‘The Navy are actually looking to recruit women for quite an extraordinary new role,’ Ava said carefully. ‘They need Wrens to become motorcycle dispatch riders, delivering important memorandums all over England by the sounds of it.’
‘Absolutely not!’ her mother cried, dropping the plates to the table with a clatter as she looked at Ava in horror. ‘Of all the hare-brained things you’ve said in your life, this, this—’
Ava looked to her father, thinking for one naïve second that he might support her, before he began to laugh. ‘Ava, that’s the most hilarious thing I’ve heard all day. A motorcycle rider? Your mother’s right, it might be your most hare-brained idea yet.’
