11

The RAF were fed up and started the lorry with a jerk so as to throw the blasted bunch of officers out of the back. It was a short flight; I was decanted out at Croydon airport. Then Southbourne and the baby – a cheerful little mite and apparently glad to see me. My mother and father were anxious as if they expected me to be in a bad way. Would I consent to have the baby adopted? Of course there would be formalities. . .. I was too outraged to understand that it was intended to be a serious question. Thick, slow-witted as ever, I undid the mass of ordnance towels I had been allowed to buy – and, crowning glory, zip fasteners! How Betty would have . .. she had mentioned how awkward it was never to be able to get zip fasteners for a number of jobs she would have to do – especially when the baby was born. When? That was now.