The Shadow of War by Jack Murray (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

spoke on behalf of theboys and introduced all of them. The man seemed unimpressed and desirous to beanywhere else; however, with innate good manners he replied, ‘My name is Carruthers.Are you chaps all from the same town?’

‘Yes,’ replied Danny and told Carrutherswhere.

‘I’ve heard of it but neverbeen. I’m from Lincoln. I must confess, I don’t know why I’ve been called up. Itseems a frightful mistake. I manage a shoe factory. I would have thought aprofession such as mine would have been held back.’

Danny suppressed a smile andwas tempted to take the rise out of their fellow passenger. But he realisedquickly that he was merely displaying outwardly the nervousness that they allfelt but could not reveal. In fact, each of the boys would probably have takena bullet before admitting any kind of fear for the future. This wasparticularly true in front of the friends they had grown up with, foughtagainst and played with over the course of their lives.

A few moments later, the carriagedoor was opened by another man. He was a little older than the boys and seemedvery ill at ease.

‘Is there room here, chaps?’

‘Yes,’ chorused the carriagewith the notable exception of Carruthers.

‘My name’s Harn,’ said theyoung man.

The rest of the journey toLondon was taken up with the grousing from Carruthers and his ardent desire to speakto someone in command to set them straight on the mistake from the Ministry. Alook from Danny stopped any ribbing from the other boys. None gave him a badpenny for his likelihood of success. Harn said little on the journey but seemedsympathetic to the situation Carruthers found himself in. His rarecontributions to the conversation revealed him to be cynical rather than amoaner like Carruthers.

-

The boys were glued to thewindow as the train travelled through London. Overhead they could see barrageballoons so large they seemed to block out the sun. They looked at one anothergrimly. The war was coming closer. They disembarked at Kings Cross station.

‘It’s big,’ commented HughGissing. There was no denying the accuracy of this statement. Carruthers hadbeen to London before and they happily followed him. He led them to theunderground station, and they made their way to London Bridge. As there washalf an hour before their train to Caterham departed, most took a strolloutside the station to see the city. There were sandbags all around theentrance. The street was mobbed with people, many in uniform: police, airwardens and army. Danny and Tom looked at each other.

‘Different world,’ said Tom.

Not just a different world,thought Danny. A terrifying one. The sandbags, the barrage balloons, the heavypresence of uniformed men and women was suffocating. He had never been toLondon before but everything he’d read spoke of a city with an extraordinaryhistory. But now, standing on the street he saw and felt the fear of a city atwar.

The train to the barracks wasdue to depart in ten minutes. With some relief Danny trotted back down thesteps into the station. His feelings about what he had seen were mixed. Thefirst sight of London had been disappointing. But he also wanted to come back and see the cityproperly; experience it. The first opportunity he could manage, he promisedhimself he would return.

-

Around ten hours after theirdeparture from the village, the boys were met at Caterham train station by aman who introduced himself as Corporal Lawrence. The last part of their journeywas made on a three-ton truck that took them to the army barracks. It was lateafternoon. Despite being summer the sky overhead was distinctly unseasonable.At the gates they were greeted by a burly sergeant who waved them throughdismissively.

The new recruits looked at oneanother as the truck drove into the centre of the camp. It finally came to astop. One by one they hopped out. The corporal hopped out of the driver’s caband quickly lined them up into three ranks of ten.

‘Follow me,’ ordered the Corporal.He seemed to know what he was about. So they followed him. Danny looked at Lawrence.He was perhaps three or four years older than him, but he was already a man.Alongside him, Danny felt that he and his friends were like little boys. Thiswould change. Part of him welcomed this. Another part, he knew, feared theresponsibility that adulthood would bring. Danny glanced down at the rolled upsleeves of the corporal. He was wearing at strange looking watch.

‘Mickey Mouse,’ said CorporalLawrence, spying the direction of Danny’s gaze. He held the watch up for Dannyand Bob to see. Their grins turned to laughter when Lawrence added, ‘It’s areminder of the army I’ve joined.’

-

The new recruits walked towardsthe barracks in something that was never going to be mistaken for close orderdrill.

‘I thought it was supposed tobe hot here,’ said Bob.

‘Why did you say that? askedBert Gissing.

‘Because we’re nearer theequator, you big lug,’ came the reply.

The group laughed and Bobearned a not unfriendly biff around the head from Bert’s cap.

‘Not very welcoming weather,’ whisperedTom to Danny. He was clearly a little nervous as they walked into the camp. Thegroup was directed towards a large hut accompanied by a Sergeant who looked unimpressedwith the new intake.

‘I doubt the welcome will beany better inside.’

The men made their way to theQuartermaster Store. It was a large thin hut, an Ali Baba’s cave of armyequipment. Behind the counter were dozens of shelves stacked with boots andarmy uniforms. Along the counter were army men waiting to hand out the kit.

One by one the men marched downthe counter collecting first, their kit bag and then the uniform, based on thequartermaster staff’s assessment of their needs. This evaluation often causedmuch amusement and irritation as the results were, invariably, a combination oftoo-small boots and over-sized uniforms.

They also received items ofequipment from mess tins to a brush. Danny looked at this particular implementin much confusion. Carruthers smiled and whispered, ‘Clothes brush.’

Danny nodded his thanks. Thefinal item they collected acted  to sharpen each man’s sense of where he wasand what his new life would entail. It was a bayonet. Danny felt his heart missa beat as he was handed the weapon. It may have been excitement, but Danny knewit