‘My name’s Lizzie Mackenzie, by the way,’ she continued as she sat down again. ‘And as you’ve probably gathered by my accent, I’m from Scotland. It’s not too strong, is it?’ she asked, concern furrowing her brows. ‘You can understand what I’m saying, right?’
Diana shook her head. ‘Sorry? You’ll have to say that again. I can’t understand a word you’re saying.’ Then she raised her eyebrows to acknowledge she was joking.
Both girls descended into a fit of laughter and Diana was grateful for a light moment. She had not enjoyed saying goodbye to her mother at the station and was concerned she would fret about her parents all the way to London, but now she was gladdened by this new carriage friend to chat to. It would make the journey go quicker and help stem the homesickness she had already been feeling.
‘Ach, get away with ye, you’re pulling my leg,’ Lizzie joked back.
Diana said, ‘And it’s no good asking me about strong accents. I’m a Brummie. They probably won’t understand either of us down there.’
‘You don’t have an accent at all to me,’ responded the wiry Scottish girl, with surprise. ‘I think you sound just like one of those BBC wireless announcers.’
‘That’s because I’m practising my posh accent,’ Diana continued, another smile creeping across her face. ‘Just in case I get invited over to Buckingham Palace for a cup of tea with the queen while I am down in London.’
‘I’m off to London myself to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force,’ continued Lizzie with a great sense of pride.
‘So am I!’ responded Diana as she slipped off her hat and coat. ‘I’m joining up as well.’
‘Fancy that! That’s wonderful,’ said Lizzie. ‘At least I’ve made one friend. I think…’ she said warily, raising an eyebrow with hopeful expectancy and pushing back a silky red curl from her eyes.
‘Well, we’ll just have to see about that,’ responded Diana. ‘It depends if you try to kill me in basic training.’
Lizzie shook her head and corkscrew spirals of copper curls bounced around her face. ‘I wouldn’t put it past me. On the farm, we had so much more room. I’m worried about the big city. All those people. I’ve never even left Scotland. At least you’re from Birmingham, where you’re used to people.’
Diana nodded. ‘I was not looking forward to leaving my family behind, my mum and dad and all my customers at the hairdressers.’
‘Is that what you were before?’ asked Lizzie, her eyes widening.
Diana nodded with a smile.
‘I could do with a cut myself,’ Lizzie said, running her hands through her thick mane of hair. ‘You didn’t happen to bring your scissors with you, did you?’
Diana nodded. ‘I always bring my scissors with me.’
‘I want something short. Like they wear it in the city?’ Lizzie said, pointing at Diana’s fashionable curls. ‘A bit like Betty Grable, you know?’
Diana nodded. ‘I did four Betty Grables last week,’ she chuckled. ‘I’m sure we could sort you out. Let’s hope they bunk us close together.’
Diana suddenly felt calmer. Everything had been far from fun while she’d been getting ready, and now here she was on the train talking about things that were familiar to her: hair and American film stars. Suddenly she was struck by the adventure of it all. She had wanted to serve her country. She also wanted to have new experiences, and was now having her first. She took in the young woman in front of her who continued to chat about the problems she had with long curly flyaway hair. She was a good six inches shorter than Diana, maybe five foot one or five foot two, with the most beautiful green eyes Diana had ever seen, a pixie chin, and a smile that lit up her whole face. And there was a warmth about her as she talked. But also, there was a sadness behind her eyes, Diana could see. Her new friend was wearing a green tartan skirt and a thick green cardigan, emphasizing the emerald in her eyes and bringing out the pinkness in her cheeks.
‘You would look incredible with those eyes and that shaped face with a shorter cut,’ she said to her.
All at once Diana’s stomach grumbled and both girls laughed again.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Diana, putting her hand on her waist. ‘I did eat a little lunch, but I was so nervous, you know?’
‘Don’t you worry yourself,’ said Lizzie as, pulling down her red tartan carpet bag again, she plunged into it and pulled out sandwiches wrapped in paper and two boiled eggs. ‘I think my Aunt Marion was packing enough food for the whole air force.’ She handed half of them over to Diana with one of the eggs, and Diana looked down at them in surprise.
‘Eggs?’ she said with shock.
‘And ham,’ said Lizzie, proudly.
‘We haven’t seen ham and eggs in Birmingham in forever, not in a sandwich like this.’
‘Well, that’s the perks of living on a farm,’ said Lizzie, smoothing out a napkin on her lap. ‘Go on, tuck in. Who knows what they’re going to feed us down there.’
Diana took a bite of the sandwich, it was delicious.
‘Is that where you were living then, on a farm?’ she asked, wiping the crumbs from the corner of her mouth that were clinging to her crimson red lipstick.
Lizzie nodded. ‘Up in the Highlands in the middle of three large hills and overlooking a beautiful loch. I would tell you the Gaelic name for it, but you’ll no’ be able to say it. I’ve been staying with my aunt and uncle and their two girls. Uncle Hamish mainly farms sheep, but they have a whole plethora of animals. It’s absolutely beautiful up there,’ she mused, staring wistfully out of the window and taking a bite out of her own egg. ‘I am going to miss it a lot, but our new prime minister Mr Churchill put the call out and we’ve all got to do our bit.’
Diana nodded.
‘“Arm yourselves and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar,”’ said Lizzie, quoting parts of the parliamentary speech from a week before as she thrust a fist into the air, doing an impression of their new prime minister, albeit a Scottish version.
Diana chuckled and knew she was going to love this person. She was so grateful to have met her already.
‘I didn’t think much about it when I signed up, did you?’ continued Lizzie. ‘But it’s nerve-wracking, isn’t it? Now I’m actually on the train. I was fretting before you got on, wondering about whether I’d make any new friends in a big city. All the friends I have, I grew up with, and I was worried to death I would be lonely and I’m hoping to God I make it back. And now look at me here, tripping up perfectly innocent people just to make a friend.’
They finished their lunch and continued to talk about their lives before the war, as Lizzie started to knit methodically and Diana stared out at the country that rushed by the window. Everywhere looked so different now. Every train station they stopped at was nameless, because the signs had all been taken down to confuse the Jerries if they ever made it on to British soil. At every station there were dozens of people, many in military uniforms, up and down every platform, and as they went through cities, they passed large municipal buildings, each of them now masked with taped windows and surrounded with barbed wire fences and sandbags around entrances piled high in case the Germans ever attacked the towns.