War did not arrive with gunfire, but with the slow realisation that nothing felt safe anymore.
No one noticed it at first and that was what made it dangerous. I was only eight when Hitler started this nightmare – people thought he was a joke at first, 1933 was when he came to power.
Chapter One – Clara
“Papa, can we go to the training today, please, please” I continued. I wanted to train to become a pilot one day– Papa says girls can’t be pilots, shocking! My sister Valeria is really smart and cool– I wish to be like her one day.
“Cla, with everything happening I can’t risk losing you– not you too…” I looked away from Pa giving him a small nod, Val was now mouthing the word, “come.” I followed her into the control room of the lighthouse– many people think that furniture in a lighthouse all have to be circular, a lighthouse is like any other home – isn’t it?
“Clara wanna go together?” Val asked.
“Where?” I replied.
“Pilot training silly!”
“But–”
“It doesn’t matter what Pa says, we’re responsible for ourselves now Cla.” Val gave me one of those serious adult looks. “Five o’clock sharp, I’m not waiting!” I made my way down the stairs to the kitchen. Mutti was glancing at the ration book and told me to get some fish and vegetables. The disadvantage to being the youngest is that no one really cares about your opinions and they hardly ever listen to you. I walked slowly past the charming sea and the towering mountains. The advantage to living in a lighthouse is that you feel as if you’re in heaven, above the clouds, above the chaos. I went to the market and got the things Mutti asked for. I saw Mr Baron waving at me about thirty meters away– I waved back and approached him.
“Good morning Miss Clara!”
“Good morning to you too Mr Baron!”
“Want some fresh bread?” He asked. ‘I’ll slip it in for free’ I looked at him and smiled. Mr Baron was a good, respected man in our village, he was very clever indeed– he worked with the local police to catch any traitors lurking about.
“Thank you!”I added while smiling. In the bakery, I saw an unfamiliar man dressed neatly in a black suit with a dark hood – he stood tall and asked for a VB loaf of bread. I didn’t know what that meant, maybe it was how grown–ups spoke…
After I left with the warm bag of bread, he locked the bakery quite earlier than usual. At home, I followed Val,
“Do you think they’ll let us?” I asked.
“Let us do what?” Val replied while asking me if she looked nice.
“Be a pilot, after all we’re just girls.”
“Cla, it doesn’t matter what they say, we are humans just like boys, why shouldn’t we do what they do?”She had an angry tone now, “ It’s time to go” In the RAF training centre, we approached a young gentleman at the front desk.
“Good afternoon sir, is there space for two trainees?” Val asked with a gentle, calm voice.
He examined us carefully and then he said, “A girl!?” “Oh for God’s sake, you creatures can’t even handle the kitchen!”
“Hey pipsqueak! Don’t you dare talk to my sister like that, you understand? Now I would like to talk to your manager!”
The man ran to get the manager, I could see the fear in his eyes.
“And that’s how you do it.” My sister said, we started laughing uncontrollably.
A tall man sat in front of us now– I thought he looked familiar…
I then remembered that it was the mysterious man from the bakery, he had a tag on, ‘Vincent.’ We could see his face clearly now, he had a very handsome face, with clear skin, a straight nose, and calm eyes. His dark hair was neatly kept, and his expression was kept neutral. Val started stuttering, I could see that she fell for him at first sight.
“H–hello.”
“Hello Madam, what can I do for you today?” A benign smile was shown on his face.
“W–we were asking if you take women to train as pilots.”
“Im afraid you won’t be able to fly a plane but we do have space in the WAAF which means Women’s Auxiliary Air Force if you didn’t know, I’ll give you a list of what they do.”
He gave us a piece of paper which had roles that we didn’t want.
LIST OF ROLES:
- Radar operators
- Plotters
- Intelligence officers
- Mechanics
- Drivers
- Meteorologists
