Blackout. Part 57

"Yes." It's a good thing we're not having this conversation out in the station or we'd be arrested for being German spies It's a good thing we're not having this conversation out in the station or we'd be arrested for being German spies, she thought. "Why are you asking me all this?"

"Because Dunkirk's a divergence point."

"But-"

"Shh." He put his finger to his lips. Polly listened. There was a faint clanking from below them.

"She's coming back," Michael said. He released her wrist and motioned for her to go up the stairs, and she ran up them on tiptoe, trying not to make any noise. And to make sense of what he'd said. Had he seen something which didn't match what he'd read about the Blitz? Or the evacuation of Dunkirk?

Could he think that his having been at Dunkirk had altered history, and that was why their drops wouldn't open? But it was impossible, and if he weren't so unnerved over all the bad news he'd had tonight, he'd realize how ridiculous a theory like that was.

And what about you? she thought. she thought. Is that why you're imagining the worst, too? Because, as Miss Snelgrove would say, you've had a bad shock? Perhaps the situation's not as bad as you think Is that why you're imagining the worst, too? Because, as Miss Snelgrove would say, you've had a bad shock? Perhaps the situation's not as bad as you think.

Or perhaps it was worse. She had to talk to Merope. Alone. But how? Send Michael on some errand? He'd already scolded her for going off without them.

She went up as far as the next landing with a door and opened it a tiny crack to peer out. A row of toddlers lay wrapped like coc.o.o.ns in blankets in front of the door. Good, no one could get in that way.

She ran up two more flights, peered up into the long darkness above, then ran back down to where Merope and Michael were sitting. "All clear," she said, sitting down on the step beside them. "Was there anyone down below, Merope?"

"No. Now, Michael, I want to hear-"

"Not Michael. And not Merope. You're Eileen O'Reilly and I'm Mike Davis, and you're Polly-what last name are you using?"

"Sebastian."

"Sebastian," he repeated. "I wish I'd known that. I'd have been able to find you a lot sooner. You're Polly Sebastian, and those are our names for as long as we're here. Even when we're alone. Understood? We can't afford to have somebody overhear us calling each other by some other name."

Merope nodded. "Yes, Michael-I mean, Mike."

"Good," he said. "Now, the first thing we have to do-"

"-is get something to eat," Polly said. "I haven't had any supper. Have either of you?"

"I haven't eaten since breakfast," Merope-correction, Eileen-said. "I spent my entire lunch break waiting on Mrs. Sadler and that wretched son of hers. I'm starving!"

"Can't this wait, Polly?" Michael-Mike said.

"No, I don't know how long the canteen stays open."

"Okay, but we shouldn't all go. One of us needs to stay here. Polly, you hold down the fort, and Eileen and I'll go," and before she could think of a reason she needed to be the one to accompany Eileen, they'd started down the stairs.

"Oh, I just thought of something," she heard Eileen say below. "I haven't any money."

And now you haven't got a job either, Polly thought. She wondered if Mike had one. Probably not-he'd just got out of hospital. How are we going to live? How are we going to live? she wondered. she wondered.

Below her she heard the door shut and, after a moment, the clank of feet on the stairs. Was it the children who'd used this stairway before? Or a guard? Or a guard? she thought, remembering the No Admittance notice. she thought, remembering the No Admittance notice.

It was Mike. "I told Eileen I wasn't sure I had enough money. I gave her two shillings and told her to go get in line, and I'd be there in a minute."

"Oh." Polly reached for her bag.

He stopped her. "It was just an excuse so we could finish our conversation. You didn't answer my question before. Has anything been hit that wasn't supposed to be?"

"No. Mike-"

"What about something that was supposed to be hit that wasn't?" he persisted. "Or some night when there were supposed to be raids and there weren't?"

"There were raids every night till November," Polly said, "and they've all been on schedule. Is this because you were at Dunkirk?"

"I wasn't just there. I did something that may have altered events."

"But you know as well as I do that we can't do that. The time travel laws won't let us."

"The time travel laws don't let historians anywhere near a divergence point either, but I was right there in the middle of one."

"And you think that's why our drops won't open? But that's impossible. If your being there would have changed things, the net would have kept you from getting there."

"That's just it. It sent me through thirty miles from where I was supposed to be and five days late, so I missed the bus and couldn't get to Dover." He told her the story of how he'd ended up in Dunkirk. "The slippage was trying to stop me. If I hadn't gotten on the Lady Jane- Lady Jane-"

"But if your being at Dunkirk was going to alter events, it would would have stopped you. It would have sent you through after the evacuation. Or to Wales or somewhere. Historians can't change the course of history. You know that." have stopped you. It would have sent you through after the evacuation. Or to Wales or somewhere. Historians can't change the course of history. You know that."

"Then why did you look so horrified when I told you I'd been to Dunkirk?"

Careful, Polly thought. "Because you'd just told me none of our drops were working. And that your retrieval team hadn't come to pull you out when you were injured. Even if it took them a long time to find you in hospital-"

"No, you don't understand. They'd never even think think to look in hospitals. n.o.body knew I'd gone to Dunkirk except the captain of the boat and his grandson, and they were both killed." to look in hospitals. n.o.body knew I'd gone to Dunkirk except the captain of the boat and his grandson, and they were both killed."

Killed? Polly thought, but he was already hurrying on. "I'd told the people in the village that I was going back to London to file my story, and n.o.body in the hospital knew who I was. Anyway, the point is, there was no way for the retrieval team to find me." Polly thought, but he was already hurrying on. "I'd told the people in the village that I was going back to London to file my story, and n.o.body in the hospital knew who I was. Anyway, the point is, there was no way for the retrieval team to find me."

"Mike, it's time time travel. No matter how long it took for them to find you, they could still have been there." travel. No matter how long it took for them to find you, they could still have been there."

"Not if they're still looking for me. I've spent the last three and a half weeks looking for you in stores on Oxford Street and couldn't find you. Which store do do you work in?" you work in?"

"Townsend Brothers."

"I was on every floor of Townsend Brothers twice twice and never found you, and neither did Merope-I mean, Eileen-and she works four blocks away. And you couldn't find Eileen even though you went to Backbury." and never found you, and neither did Merope-I mean, Eileen-and she works four blocks away. And you couldn't find Eileen even though you went to Backbury."

"But this is-"

"I know, time travel. And part of time travel is slippage."

"Five months' months' worth?" worth?"

"No, just enough for our retrieval teams to lose the trail. If they came through after I was moved from the hospital in Dover or Eileen left for London-"

He was right. They'd have no way of knowing Eileen was working at Padgett's, and if the hospital hadn't known who Mike was, they could easily have lost the trail. "But what about all those weeks when Eileen was quarantined?" she asked. "They knew exactly where she was then."

"I don't know. Maybe the quarantine was some kind of divergence point. Measles can kill people, right? Maybe the retrieval team wasn't allowed to come through because they'd have caught the measles and infected some general who played a critical role at D-Day."

It sounded just like the arguments she'd used these last few weeks as she'd tried to convince herself they'd be here any day. She wondered if that was what Mike was doing, trying to convince himself. And it still didn't explain the drops.

"I never said mine wasn't working," Mike said. "I just said I couldn't get to it. And the same goes for Eileen's. If there were evacuees in the woods, they could have kept it from opening, or someone from the village could have-"

There was a pounding on the door below them. "Stay here," Mike said and ran down to see who was knocking.

It was Eileen. "I only had enough money for sandwiches and two teas," Polly heard her say. "But I thought we could share." She heard them start up the stairs. "The queue was endless." endless."

Polly waited where she was, thinking over what Mike had said. If there'd been two or three days' slippage on her team's drop, they'd have come through before she found a job, and when they went to Townsend Brothers, they'd have been told she didn't work there. And they wouldn't have been able to find her at night because she was at St. George's rather than a tube shelter. Mike was right. They might still be looking for her.

Eileen came up the stairs, carrying oiled-paper-wrapped sandwiches, followed by Mike with cartons of tea. "Cheese sandwiches were the cheapest thing they had," she said, pa.s.sing them out. "What happened to you, Mike? Why didn't you come?"

"Polly and I were discussing what we're going to do."

"Which is what?" Eileen said, unwrapping her sandwich and taking a huge bite out of it.

"Well, first we're going to eat our supper." He took the lid off the carton of tea.

"And you're going to tell me how you got shanghaied," Eileen said, "and, Polly, you're going to tell me why you told me Padgett's was safe."

She did, and then they recounted their adventures. Polly was horrified to find out that Mike had been living in Fleet Street and that Eileen had been living in Stepney. "Stepney?" "Stepney?" she said. "It had one of the highest casualty rates of all of London. No wonder you're frightened of the bombs." she said. "It had one of the highest casualty rates of all of London. No wonder you're frightened of the bombs."

"We have to get you out of there immediately," Mike said.

"She can move in with me," Polly said. "My room's a double."

"Good. And ask your landlady if she has any vacant rooms. It'll make it a lot easier for us to be found if we're all at the same address."

And safer, Polly thought. She didn't say that. Eileen was looking better now that she'd had something to eat, but as she told them about her attempts to find Polly, it was clear she'd had a bad time these last few weeks, and when Mike said she needed to go fetch her things first thing in the morning, she looked absolutely stricken. "Alone?" "Alone?" she said. "But what if we get separated again?" she said. "But what if we get separated again?"

"We won't," Polly rea.s.sured her and wrote out Mrs. Rickett's address for her and Mike. "I work on the third floor of Townsend Brothers. And if I'm not there-"

"I know," Eileen said. "I'm to go to the foot of the escalator on the lowest level of Oxford Circus."

Mike laid out what they were to do. Polly was to make a list for him and Eileen of when and where the raids were for the next week, and Eileen was to write the manor and everyone she'd known there and give them Mrs. Rickett's address. "So if your retrieval team comes, they'll know where you are," Mike said. "And write the postmistress in Backbury. And the stationmaster."

"I've met the stationmaster," Polly said. "I don't think there's anything to be gained by writing him."

"Well, the local clergyman then."

"I wrote the vicar as soon as I arrived in London to tell him I'd delivered the children to their parents," Eileen said.

The vicar knew Eileen was in London, Polly thought. And if that wretched train had been late like the stationmaster said it always was and she'd been able to stay till after the service, she'd have found Eileen a month ago, and Eileen would never have been in danger of being killed at Padgett's.

"Write him again," Mike was saying. "And contact the parents of the other evacuees you delivered."

"Alf and Binnie?" Eileen said, sounding horrified.

"Yes, and whoever was in charge of the evacuation. We need every contact we can think of. And we need to find a drop-"

He stopped, listening. A door opened somewhere above them and then slammed, and someone rattled down the steps. Whoever it was must be running. The footsteps clanked down toward them at an enormous rate, and Polly could hear giggling.

Those children who were running from the guard, Polly thought. "I do hope the raids won't last very long tonight," she said loudly.

The footsteps halted abruptly and then clanked back up the steps. The door opened and slammed again. "They're gone," Mike said. "Now where were we?"

"You said we need to find a drop," Eileen said.

"Right, preferably one that isn't under the gun, so to speak," he said cheerfully.

He was sounding and looking much better, too. She must have convinced him that he hadn't altered events. I wish he'd managed to convince me that nothing's happened to Oxford I wish he'd managed to convince me that nothing's happened to Oxford, she thought.

"We need to find one of the other historians who's here besides us," Mike went on.

"There was someone who was going to the Battle of the Bulge," Eileen said.

"That was me," Mike said. "And I'm glad this didn't happen while I was there. The Ardennes in winter would have been a nasty place to be stuck."

"Whereas this..." Polly said, spreading her hands to indicate the dim stairwell.

"At least no one's shooting prisoners here," he said, "and it's not snowing."

"It might as well be," Eileen said, hugging her arms to herself. "I wish I had my coat. It's simply freezing freezing in here." in here."

Mike took off his suit jacket and draped it around her shoulders. "Thank you," "Thank you," Eileen said. "But won't you be cold-? Oh, I just thought of something," she said, sounding dismayed. "How am I going to buy another coat? And pay Theodore's mother the room and board I owe her? All the money I had was in my handbag. I was supposed to collect my pay packet tomorrow, but if Padgett's-" Eileen said. "But won't you be cold-? Oh, I just thought of something," she said, sounding dismayed. "How am I going to buy another coat? And pay Theodore's mother the room and board I owe her? All the money I had was in my handbag. I was supposed to collect my pay packet tomorrow, but if Padgett's-"

"Was the store totally destroyed?" Mike asked. "Maybe-"

Polly shook her head. "Direct hit. A thousand-pound HE."

"Has it already been hit?" Eileen asked, glancing up at the stairs spiraling above them.

"Yes, I don't know exactly when. I wasn't supposed to still be here when it hit, so I don't know the details. Only that it was early this evening and that there were three fatalities."

"But if it had had already been hit, wouldn't we have heard it?" Eileen asked. "Or the fire bells or something?" already been hit, wouldn't we have heard it?" Eileen asked. "Or the fire bells or something?"

"Not in here," Polly said. "Don't worry about the coat. Mrs. Wyvern-she's one of the people I sit with in the shelter-helps distribute clothing to people who've been bombed out. I'll see if I can arrange a coat for you from her."

"Do you think you could talk her out of one for me, too?" Mike asked. "I hocked mine."

Polly nodded. "You'll both need one-1940 was one of the coldest and rainiest winters on record."

"Then let's try not to spend more time in it than we have to," Mike said. "There's at least one historian here now. Both times I was in the lab, Linna was on the phone giving someone a list of historians currently on a.s.signment. I only heard s.n.a.t.c.hes, but one of them was October 1940."

"Are you certain it wasn't me?" Polly asked. "I was supposed to go back October twenty-second."

He shook his head. "October was the arrival date. The departure date was December eighteenth."

"Which means whoever it is is here right now," Eileen said. "You didn't hear the name?"