Ellen Blake Destined To Return

17 - Kitty and Molly

'Billy! Hello Billy!' screamed a girl when the group reached the end of the street and turned the corner.

'Great,' Billy said under his breath and then spoke louder. 'Hello Kitty.'

'Ayup! It's your girlfriend Billy,' joked Marianne.

Smiling in Kitty's direction, Billy spoke harshly to his sister through gritted teeth.

'Shut up!'

Marianne turned to Ellen and spoke with a hushed voice so Billy couldn't hear her.

'Kitty's in his class and he's infatuated with her. Obviously they're not courting or anything. She's probably not even aware how he feels.'

Ellen smirked and saw how wide-eyed Billy had become as the girl with blonde ringlets came closer.

'I see!'

'How come you're in town, Billy?' asked Kitty, spotting Ellen and Aaron.

'Oh, we're ... we're ...'

Marianne covered Billy's inability to invent quick-fire lies.

'We're just taking our cousins to the station,' she said. 'They've been visiting and now they going home.'

'Yes, this is Ellen ... and this is Aaron. They're from Nottingham,' said Billy, finding his words again.

'Pleased to meet you. I'm Kitty ... and this is Molly,' said Kitty, indicating her slightly shorter companion and thrusting a hand in Aaron's direction, to shake his.

Thrown by Kitty's directness, Aaron shook her hand.

'Oh yes, hi ... nice hat Molly.'

Molly, who looked half the age of Kitty, was already feeling a little intimidated by the group of strangers and now felt more so by being addressed directly, so she hid behind her sister's back.

'Mum's in the fabric shop. She's going to make some new frocks for us for when school starts again. She'll be in there for hours. Only an air raid would stop her and Mrs Cosgrove from gossiping. Thankfully she let us runs some errands whilst she's nattering, so we've just been to the bakers. As we have a penny ha'penny left we're going to buy some liquorice.'

Kitty was so pumped up with excitement that Ellen wondered whether she'd been to a sweet shop and consumed vast quantities already.

Whilst Kitty was talking, Molly tucked herself further behind her sister, pulling on her dress belt.

'Stop that Molly-Polly. Stop being such a scaredy-cat.'

She turned to the others and explained.

'She's a bit worried because we had two strange men accost us outside the bakers asking questions about a couple of children they were looking for. Granted, they were odd but they weren't threatening. They just wondered if we'd seen some children who looked unfamiliar and wearing unusual clothing. But when we told them we hadn't seen any they left us alone.'

Molly then decided to break her silence and poked her head around the side of her sister.

'They were scary.'

She looked at Ellen and whispered cautiously.

'They looked sick!'

'I was right,' chocked Billy, looking at his brother and sister.

Trying to not look perturbed, Marianne glanced at her wristwatch and spoke aloud.

'Goodness, look at the time. We'd best be on our way, you've got a train to catch. Well Kitty ... Molly,' then turning to the twins, 'shall we go?'

'Nice to meet you,' said Kitty, only looking at Aaron. 'Bye Billy. See you back at school.'

Copyright © Dean Constable 2016