The Last Train Home

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The canter cleared my head, albeit only for a little while.

It didn't take long for all thoughts about the evacuation plans and Dad's role in it to come flooding back. When I closed my eyes at night, all I could see was Dad's face and the image of that telegram coming to the door with the announcement that Dad had either been killed or was classified as missing. I waited for that inevitable moment that the notice would arrive, for my worst fear to be realised and I'm away from Mum in a time when we would need each other. With Dad away and officially on deployment, I wanted to be with Mum more than anything.

Two days after Alec had had the genius idea for us to work on a treehouse, reports started to come in the newspaper and radio that the evacuation at Dunkirk had begun. Naval and civilian ships were being sent off across the Atlantic Ocean in the hopes of returning with some of the men fighting in France. Some ships had already returned, but many were being bombed out to sea. I waited for news of Dad and Anthony, good or bad.

Alec tried his best to try and distract me from it once the reports started to come in. I knew he was probably trying to distract himself too since his brothers were being called into action as members of the RAF. We worked to distract each other from the shadows of war that had started to creep closer towards us with every passing day.

"This is going to be a great treehouse if we can pull it off," Alec said, showing me the plans he had created.

"Emphasis on the if. It's going to take a while," I said.

"We have plenty of time. It's the end of May and the weather should hold up until at least mid-September. Loads of time."

"Three and a half months."

"Exactly, plenty of time." He smiled. "I think we can get it done in less time than that, though. Given how fast you were at finishing that sign, this should be a walk in the park for both of us."

"The sign was easy, you're talking about a huge treehouse that's going to involve a lot of wood and nails."

"Don't be such a pessimist, Syb. It's just a treehouse."

It wasn't just a treehouse. It would be the biggest project I had ever attempted without Dad or even Jonathan by my side to help. We would be doing this alone and that scared me more than anything, especially with Alec's track record of hammering his own thumb. If we managed to complete the treehouse by mid-September, it would be a miracle. Time, supplies, and even our own farm chores would work against us when it came to getting it completed in the limited time span Alec had thought up.

Still, we had a plan to work from and plenty of time to do it. Even if we didn't get it completed by mid-September, we would have made decent headway with it and progress would be better than nothing. That, and we both had a pretty good distraction from everything that had started to unfold around us. Jonathan might not think it a good idea for me to pretend like nothing was happening, but what was the alternative? I couldn't spend all my time worrying and the treehouse was a welcomed distraction.

With the plans drawn up, Alec and I had decided to start construction on the treehouse as soon as possible. We had a limited amount of time to complete it and the less we waited around, the better. It had taken me longer than usual to complete my morning chores around the farm and Alec had turned up right before lunch, meaning we only had the afternoon to start on the treehouse. This ended up being delayed even further by Barbara.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for these two to be left alone with a set of tools?" she asked as I grabbed my coat from the strand. Despite Summer approaching, it could still be quite cold.

"They'll be fine. Ron will be around if anything happens and it's only a treehouse."

"Climbing trees can be dangerous."