Chapter X - The Battle in the Sky

The kids were in Darryl’s van. They were on their way to the airfield at Halleyford, about thirty kilometres from Lychford. Darryl was very interested in Glen’s message.
‘I argee with Tom and Frankie,’ he said. ‘There is something important under Lychford Green airfield. Glen wants you find it.’
Suddenly, there was a loud noise in the sky above them. For a moment, a dark shape covered the sun.
‘It’s a Spitfire!’ Tom said.
‘It’s Glen!’ Regan whispered.
Darryl laughed and shook his head.
‘No, it isn’t Glen,’ he said. ‘That’s a real Spitfire. It flies from Halleyford airfield? Good,’ Jack said. ‘The past and the present are getting very mixed up!’
Darryl and the kids were going to fly in an old plane – a De Havilland Dragon Rapide. There were eight seats for passengers in the plane, but they were very close together. Darryl and the kids climbed in. The heaviest people sat at the back, the lighest in the front. The pilot got in last. Regan was sitting nearest to him.
The pilot started the engines and the old plane began to move. And then they were in the air.
The children looked down. The cars on the roads were tiny. The little fields were green, yellow and brown squares.
‘We’ll soon be over Lychford Green airfield,’ Darryl shouted after ten minutes. The noise of the engines was loud and he had to shout. ‘Get your camera ready, Tom.’
The pilot took the plane lower. Now they could all see the airfield. They could see the old control tower and the other broken buildings. They could see the little round hill above the underground Ops Room. There were the three runways. And there were the Facelift Construction trucks. But there were no people working on the airfield.
‘Facelift Construction hasn’t started work yet,’ Jack said to himself. ‘Perhaps we will be able to use the metal detector. We really must get onto the airfield again.’
‘Have you taken your photos, Tom?’ the pilot shouted.
‘Yes, thanks. I’ve used all the film,’ Tom said.
‘OK. I’m turning back now. We don’t …’

Suddenly, there was complete silence. Had the plane’s engines stopped? Frankie turned round quickly. Jack was shouting at her. She could see his mouth moving, but she couldn’t hear his words. Behind Jack, Darryl was sitting very still. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t seeing anything.
Regan and Tom were shouting now, but Frankie couldn’t hear them either. Jack pointed at the pilot. Regan touched the man on the arm. The pilot didn’t move, but the plane flew on. What was happening?
There was a dark shape in the sky, coming towards them. Then there were two dark shapes. And close behind them were two more. They were planes.
Tom knew what the planes were. They were Messerschmitt 109s – German fighter planes from the Second World War! The Messerschmitts had guns and now they were shooting at the Dragon Rapide. The kids saw the bullets hitting the wings of the plane. But there was still no sound.
‘Is this happening now or in the past?’ Jack asked himself.
The Dragon Rapide turned slowly. Now it was going down. The ground was coming nearer and nearer.
Frankie quickly unfastened her seat belt. She moved carefully towards the pilot. He was holding the control column in his hands, but he was not controlling the plane. Frankie put her hands over his hands, and tried to pull the column back. It was very difficult, but at last the control column moved. Soon, the plane was flying straight ahead again.
And now there were three more planes in the sky. They were Spitfires! The first Spitfires fired its guns. Its bullets hit one of the German planes and the Messerschmitt began to fall.

Then suddenly, the sky was empty. The Dragon Rapide’s engines were roaring loudly. The children could hear the wind again. And the pilot was speaking.
‘… have much fuel,’ the pilot was saying. ‘Have you all enjoyed the flight? Was it exciting?’
‘Oh, yes, we enjoyed it very much,’ Frankie replied. ‘It was very exciting.’ And the kids all laughed.

When they were back in Darryl’s van, the four friends told him what had happened.
‘Was that battle another Psychic Stain?’ Jack asked him.
‘No, Glen made that happen,’ Darryl said. ‘He was probably telling you to do something. But what?’
‘If Glen can do that, he must be very powerful,’ Regan said. ‘He can take us into the past whenever ha wants to.’
‘Perhaps we are giving Glen his power,’ Jack said.
‘Yes, that’s possible,’ Darryl replied. ‘Well, I’m going to get that metal detector for you this evening. Where do you want to go now?’
‘Take us to Radnor Road, please,’ Jack said. ‘I want to visit Mr Terry Bowles.’
‘Why?’ Regan asked.
‘I want to see that diary,’ Jack replied. ‘The diary is very important. I’m sure about that!’

Chapter IX - 'Glen Did This'

Back at their house, Jack and Tom were talking about Glen's strangle message - TRAITOR. What was the phan-tom airman trying to tell them?
‘Perhaps there was a traitor on the airfield,’ Tom said. ‘I want to see the Squadron Leader’s diary. We might learn about the traitor from that.’
‘Yes,’ Jack replied. ‘But there’s something strange about the diary. I’m sure of that.’
‘Let’s phone the Squadron Leader’s grandson, Terry Bowles. Give me the phone book, Jack,’ his brother said.
Tom read out the number and Jack dialled it. In a few moments, a woman’s voice answered. Jack asked for Mr Bowles.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Bowles isn’t here at the moment,’ the woman said. ‘I’m his wife. Can I help you?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Jack said. ‘My name is Jack Christmas. My friends and I are doing a project about Lychford airfield in 1940. someone in the RAF was working for the Germans. But we don’t know who it was. We’d like to see Squadron Learder Leightbridge-Smith’s diary. Can we speak to your husband about it when he comes home?’
Mrs Bowles laughed.
‘There was no traitor,’ she said, ‘I’ve been helping my husband with his work on the diary. There’s nothing in it about a traitor. You’ve watched too many spy films, Jack! But tell me your number. I’ll ask my husband to phone you, when he has time. He’s very busy at the moment.’
Jack put down the phone.
‘We won’t get any help from Mr or Mrs Bowles,’ he said. ‘Let’s finish putting out notes onto the computer. We’ll talk to the girls about this in the morning.’

In the middle of the night, Regan woke up suddenly. Something strange washappening. She was falling through the air and her room was full of smoke.
She fell to the ground, but she wasn’t hurt. She had fallen very gently. But now, part of her bedroom was on fire. She saw flames moving through the room.
The flames moved nearer and nearer to the terrified girl. And then they covered her.
Now Frankie was awake too. She heard noises – guns firing, and loud explosions that shook the room. Huge flames were anywhere. They were on the walls, on the curtains and all round her bed. And Regan had gone! Where was she?
Frankie opened her mouth, she was going to scream. Then she saw Regan. The American girl was walking through the flames towards her.
‘The flames are cold,’ Regan whispered, as she sat on Frankie’s bed.
Then the bed started to move. And all the other furniture in the room started to move too. It turned round and round. Everything was covered in flames. But the flames were as cold as ice!
Suddenly there was silence. No noise. No flames. The two girls sat on the bed and looked at each other. The room was wrecked. Everything was on the floor – books, clothes, magazines.
Regan pushed her long black hair away from her face.
‘Hi!’ she said.
‘What happened?’ Frankie gasped.
‘Glen did this,’ Regan replied. ‘He’s angry because we didn’t get all of his message. Perhaps …’
She didn’t finish her sentence because they heard a terrible scream outside the door.
‘Jennie!’ Regan shouted. She ran to the door and pulled it open.
Outside the bedroom, Regan and Frankie saw Jennie.
She was floating above their heads. She was turning round and round in a strong wind. And as they watched, the wind pushed Jennie to the top of the stairs.
‘No. Glen! No!’ Regan shouted. ‘Don’t hurt her!’
The wind stopped and Jennie fell gently to the floor. She stared at the two friends for a moment. Then, without speaking, she got up and walked into her own room. She shut the door behind her.
Regan and Frankie went back into Regan’s room. Together, they put everything in its place. Nothing had been broken. Nothing had been burnt.
Then the two girls lay on their beds and fell asleep immediately.

Frankie and Regan were still asleep when the boys rang the doorbell the next morning. When the girls were dressed, everybody went into the kitchen. Regan told Jack and Tom what had happened.
‘Why did you let Jennie throw away the piece of metal?’ Tom asked Regan. ‘Now we’ve only got half a message. And we can’t understand it.’
At the moment, the kitchen door opened and Jennie came into the room.
‘Hi, Jennie,’ Regan said. ‘You look terrible.’
This was true. Jennie looked tired and frightened.
‘You must tell me something,’ Jennie said. ‘In the middle of the night, did I wake up on the floor outside my room? That’s what I remember. You were there. I saw you. But perhaps I was dreaming. I was dreaming, wasn’t I, Regan? It was all a dream?’
‘Yes,” Regan replied. ‘You were dreaming.’
‘Thanks,’ Jennie said. ‘I’m going back to bed now.’
When Jennie had gone, Regan laughed. ‘We won’t have any more trouble from the Blond Bimbo,’ she said. ‘Now, what are we going to do about Glen?’ She repeated the message again. ‘It says, “Help me rest safe under the air” Perhaps the next letters were going to be f-i-e-l-d. is Glen buried under the airfield? Does he want us to stop the construction work?’
‘No, Glen can’t be buried there,’ Jack said. ‘Perhaps Glen was going to write two sentences. Perhaps he wanted to say, “Help me rest safe. Under the airfield” But he didn’t tell us what under the airfield.’
‘There must be something under the airfield,’ Tom said.
‘And Glen wants us to find it,’ said Frankie went on. ‘Perhaps it’s something about the traitor.’
“We must go to the airfield again,’ Jack told the others. ‘I want to use that metal detector there.’
‘Perhaps Darryl will have some more ideas,’ Regan said.
‘We’ll ask him,’ Jack replied. ‘We’re meeting him at one o’clock. We’re going up in the old plane this afternoon. Tom has bought his camera.’

Chapter VIII – The Message

The kids went back to Regan’s house.

Regan put the piece of twisted metal on a table in the sitting-room. They all looked at it in silence for a few minutes.

‘Come on, do something,’ Regan said to the piece of metal. Nothing happened.

‘Do you want it to talk to you?’ Tom asked.

‘I want it to help us,’ Regan replied.

Ten minutes later, the piece of metal hadn’t done anything.

‘Oh, come on!’ Regan said. ‘Let’s go into the kitchen and get a drink.’

Soon, they were all sitting round the kitchen table with cans of cola.
‘We’re going up in the old plane tomorrow,’ Tom said. ‘I’m glad about that. If I can’t take any more photos on the airfield, I’ll take some from the air above it.’
‘We won’t be able to use the metal detector, though,’ Frankie said sadly.
‘Oh, let’s just forget about the project,’ Regan said angrily. She got up suddenly and went back into the sitting-room. A moment later, the others heard her screaming.
‘Come here! Come here quickly!’ Regan shouted. ‘It’s moved! The metal has moved!’
Frankie, Jack and Tom ran into the sitting-room. They all stared down at the table. One word had been scratched into the shiny wood: TRAITOR.
‘Was there a traitor at the airfield?’ Jack said. ‘Was someone there helping the Germans? Is that what Glen is telling us.’
‘Let’s go back into the kitchen,’ Tom said. ‘The message probably isn’t finished yet. Perhaps the metal will write some more, if we don’t watch it.’
‘It might write some more, but not on this table!’ Regan replied. ‘My parents paid more than two thousand dollars for it in New York City. I’m taking the metal upstairs, to my bedroom.’
She picked up the piece of mental carefully and the others followed her upstairs. Regan put the piece of metal on a desk near the window in her room.
‘We’ll leave it alone now,’ she said. ‘We’ll go back to kitchen and I’ll cook some pizza.’
During the next two hours, Regan went up to her bedroom several times. The metal hadn’t moved.
At last, it was evening. Jack and Tom had to go home. But Frankie decided to stay at Regan’s house for the night. She phoned her mother with this news.
Late in the evening, Jennie St Clair came home. She had been out of the house for most of the day. Now she went straight to her own room.
‘The Blonde Bimbo will be watching TV all night,’ Regan said. ‘She doesn’t care what I do. Why does my father pay her?’

After that, the two friends went up to Regan’s bedroom again. The piece of metal still hadn’t moved.
There were two beds in the room, and each girl sat on one. Later, they heard Jennie go downstairs. Soon the house was quite again.
Then the piece of metal began to move! It moved slowly over the top of the desk – scratch, scratch, scratch. The girls watched it from their beds. They couldn’t speak – they were terrified.
Suddenly, the bedroom door was opened wide.
‘You stupid, stupid kid!’ Jennie St Clair shouted. ‘You’re crazy, that’s what you are. You’ve wrecked that table in the sitting-room. It must have cost your parents thousands of dollars. I’m going to phone your mother about this – now!’The piece of metal had stopped moving at the moment when Jennie came into the room. Regan was glad about that. She didn’t want the au pair to see it.

It was an accident, Jennie,’ Regan said. ‘Someone can repair the table. I’ll pay for the work myself.’ Suddenly her voice was angry. ‘Don’t phone my mother, Jennie,’ she said. ‘If you do, I’ll tell her a few things about you. You watch TV all the time and phone people in the US. You don’t look after me at all. I’ll tell my mother that!’
Jennie was very angry. She went towards Regan’s bed, but then she saw the scratches on the desk.
‘You’re wrecking the furniture in here too!’ she shouted. She ran to the desk and picked up the piece of metal. Then she turned and left the room with it. She closed the door behind her with a loud noise.
‘Come back here! Give me that!’ Regan shouted. She opened the door and ran downstairs after Jennie.
Frankie got up and walked over to the desk. She wanted to see what the piece of metal had written now.
She saw a line of letters, scratched into the wood. HELPMERESTSAFEUNDERTHEAR
‘Help – me – rest – safe – under – the – air,’ Frankie read.
‘What does that mean? I don’t understand,’ she said to herself.
She heard the front door close with a loud coise. Regan was coming back upstairs. A moment later, she came into the bedroom.
‘Do you know what Jennie has done?’ Regan shouted. ‘She ran out of the house. Then she threw that piece of metal into a truck that was passing. Can you believe that? The metal has gone for ever. How can we help Glen now?’
‘Well, the metal did write several words,’ said Frankie. ‘They might help us. Come and see.’
Regan looked at the letters on the top of the desk.
‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘I’m tired. Let’s go to the bed now. We’ll phone the boys about this in the morning.’

Chapter VII – The Phantom Airman

The four friends met again in the afternoon. They had a lot to talk about.

‘That diary sounds interesting,’ Frankie said. ‘I’d like to see it.’

‘We could phone Mr Bowles,’ Jack said.

Regan had been very quiet. She suddenly stood up and began to speak.

‘I’ve got to go to the airfield,’ she said. ‘I’ve got to find our what Glen wants.’

‘When will you go?’ Jack asked.

‘Not at night,’ she replied.’I’m too scared to go at night. I’m going now.’

‘Then we’ll all go with you,’ Frankie said.

‘Well, thanks,’ Regan said.’But please remember this. Glen’s face is frightening. You haven’t seen it, I have.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Jack said. ‘We’ll all do this together.’

‘Come on,’ Frankie said. ‘We’ll all go on our bikes.’

But when they got to the airfield, everything there had changed. They got off their bikes by the old airfield gates.

‘What’s happening?’ Tom asked.

There was a big sign on the gates.

FACELIFT CONSTRUCTION is building Lychford Green Industrial Estate here. We’re building a new future for Lychford. PRIVATE – KEEP OUT

Some of the fence had gone. There were trucks and a big bulldozer standing by the ruins of the control tower. There were some mechanical diggers and a big roll of new fence wire. But there were no workmen anywhere.

‘What about our archeology project?’ Frankie said. ‘We won’t be able to get onto the airfield when these people start work.’

‘And what about Glen?’ Regan asked. ‘I’ve got to speak to him again. I’m going to do it now.’

Regan started to walk across the airfield.

‘Come on!’ she called to the others. ‘This is our last chance!’

Frankie, Jack and Tom followed her.

‘That little hill on the right is where the Ops Room was,’ Tom said. ‘We found out about it at the museum. The RAF built the Ops Room and some offices under the ground. Then they covered the roof with earth. They tried to make it safe. But the bomb hit it on the 28th of August, 1940, and several people were killed. We can’t get in now. The entrance was covered with earth years ago.’

Regan went on walking for a moment. Then she stopped and shouted into the air.

‘Glen! I’m here. I want to help you.’

There was silence. The four friends waited. Suddenly, a shape appeared in front of them.

‘Look!’ Regan whispered. ‘It’s Glen.’

Regan began to run towards the ghost.

Glen was wearing his leather jacket and helmet. But this time, this leather helmet covered is face.

‘He done that to help me’ Regan said to herself. ‘He doesn’t want to frighten me.’

The phantom airman pointed across the airfield.

‘Yes, that’s where it happened,’ Regan said. ‘What do you want me to do?’

The ghost began to fade away.

‘Glen! Don’t disappear!’ Regan shouted. ‘Please don’t go, Glen! What do you want? You must tell me!’

But the phantom airman had gone.

‘He wants you to look over there,’ Jack said. ‘He was pointing to the ruins of the old house.’

Regan walked on towards the ruins, looking down at the grass. She left a hand on her shoulder and she turned quickly. But there was no one there.

‘Glen?’ she said quietly.

Regan pushed at the earth with her foot. She could see a piece of metal in the ground. She bent down and pulled a piece of twisted metal from the earth. The metal was very, very cold.

‘Did you want me to find this, Glen?’ she asked.

‘Hey! You over there!’ a man’s voice shouted. Regan turned quickly. A fat man was walking towards her. He wasn’t a ghost! Jack, Frankie and Tom walked over to Regan. The four friends stood close together.

‘What are you doing here?’ the fat man shouted. ‘This land is private!’

The man was about forty. he had a round, red face and he looked very angry.

‘Can’t you children read the sign?’ the fat man shouted. ‘What do they teach you at the school these days?’

‘They teach us to find out about things. They teach us to think,’ Regan said, with a smile. ‘We are working on an important archeology project about the Second World War. We haven’t finished studying this airfield yet.’

‘Oh, yes, you have,’ the man said angrily. ‘This land belongs to Facelift Construction now.’

The man took a mobile phone out of his pocket.

‘Are you going to leave, or shall i call the police?’ he asked.

Regan opened her mouth, but Jack spoke quickly.

‘Please don’t do that,’ he said. ’We’re leaving now.’

The four friends walked slowly back to their bikes. The man stood and watched them.

CAN CALL ME

If one day, you feel like crying

Call me, i don’t promise you

that i will make you laugh

But i can cry with you.

 

If one day, you wanna run away

Don’t be afraid to call me

I don’t promise to ask you stop

But i can run with you

 

If one day you don’t want to listen to any body

Call me and i promise to be very quiet

 

But

If one day you call me

And there is no answer

Come fast to see me

Perhaps i need you.

Stone Age

The Stone Age was a period of history which began in approximately 2 million B.C and lasted until 3000 B.C. Its name was derived from the stone tools and weapons that modern scientists found. This period was divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Ages. During the first period, (2 million to 8000 B.C.) the fist hatchet and use of fire for heating and cooking were developed. As a result of the Ice Age, which evolved about 1 million years into the Paleolithic Age, people were forced to seek shelter in caves, wear clothing, and develop new tools.

During the Mesolithic Age (8000 to 6000 B.C.) people made crude pottery and the first fish hooks, took dogs hunting, and developed a bow and arow, which was used until the fourteenth century A.D.

The Neolithic Age (6000 to 3000 B.C.) saw humankind domesticating sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle, being less nomadic than in previous eras, establishing permanents, and creating governments.

Thời đại đồ đá là một giai đoạn lịch sử bắt đầu vào khoảng 2.000.000 năm trước Thiên Chúa và kéo dài đến năm 3000 trước Thiên Chúa. Tên của thời đại là do từ những dụng cụ và vũ khí bằng đá mà các nhà khoa học hiện nay tìm thấy được. Giai đoạn này được chia ra làm thời kỳ đồ đá cũ, thời kỳ đồ đá giữa và thời kỳ đồ đá mới. Trong giai đoạn đầu tiên (2 triệu năm đến 8.000 năm trước Thiên Chúa) chiếc rìu tay và việc dùng lửa để sưởi nóng và nấu ăn đã phát triển. Do hậu quả của thời đại băng hà phát triển khoảng 1 triệu năm tiến vào thời kỳ đồ đá cũ, con người bị bó buộc phải tìm chỗ cư trú trong hang động, mặc quần áo và làm ra các đồ dùng mới.

Vào tời kỳ đồi đá giữa (từ 8000 đến 6000 trước Thiên Chúa) con người đã làm được những đồ gốm và những lưỡi câu cá đầu tiên, đã biết dẫn chó đi săn và làm ra được cung, tên, loại vũ khí nầy đã được dùng cho đến thế kỷ 14 sau Thiên Chúa.

Thời kỳ đồ đá mới (6000 đến 3000 năm trước Thiên Chúa) đã chứng kiến nhân loại thuần hóa được cừu, dê, heo và trâu bò, và ít có tính chất du mục hơn những thời kỳ trước, đã thiết lập được những nơi định cư ổn định và tạo lập ra bộ máy chính quyền

Chapter VI – The Museum

Jack and Tom were standing the little museum at the Lychford Country Club. Outside, the members of the club were playing tennis and swimming in the pool.

And old gentleman with a big white moustache was smiling at the boys.

‘My name is George Ballard,’ he said ‘I worked at the airfield during the war. It was a Flight Sergeant in the Royal Air Force. Please look around the museum. Asked me the questions if you want to.’

‘Thanks,’ Tom said. ‘Look at these picture, Jack!’ He pointed to some photos which were hanging on a wall. ‘This is a Spitfire fighter plane. And this one is a Lancaster bomber.’

‘You’re quite right,'’ George Ballard said. ‘Now look at this ….. ‘

--------------------------

The old man was happy to talk to the boys. He wanted to show them everything in the museum. Jack wrote notes and Tom asked a lot of questions.

At the far end of he room, George Ballard stopped in front of a big photo of the airfield. The photo had been taken from the air.

‘This picture was given to us by some friends in Germany,’ George Ballard said. ‘It was taken by a German airman in a Dornier bomber, just after the Luftwaffe attacked the airfield on the 28th of August, 1940. Look, you can see the three runways very clearly.’

‘What are all those white marks?’ Tom asked.

‘Those are bomb craters – the big holes made by the German bombs,’ George Ballard replied, ‘The Operations Room – we called it the Ops Room – was hit by a bug bomb too. A lot of people died on the 28th of August. The Station Commander died too. His name was Squadron Leder Alfred Leighbridge-Smith. This is a photograph of him. ‘George Ballard pointed to a smaller picture. It showed a middle-aged man wearing RAF uniform.

‘So the Squadron Leader was in charge of the airfield when the Spitfire crashed onto the house by the fence,’ Tom said.

‘How do you know about that?’ he asked.

‘We found out about it for our school project,’ Jack said quickly.

‘It was sad,’ George Ballard said. ‘The pilot made a mistake. he was a young man and he’d only flown a Spitfire a few times. And the weather was terrible too. He was unlucky.’

Jack moved on. He looked down into a cabinet with a glass top. Inside it, there were more photos, an old watch, a leather flying helmet and then – an empty space! In the space was a small card with the words:

NOTEBOOK BORROWED BY MR TERRY BOWLES

Jack put this hand on the glass. It was very, very cold. Suddenly he knew something. The notebook that had been in the cabinet was very important.

‘What was here, Mr Ballard?’ he asked.

‘Squadron Leader Leighbridge- Smith’s diary,’ George Ballard replied. ‘The Squadron Leader’s grandson, Mr Terry Bowles, has borrowed it. He’s a businessman. He’s a very clever man too. The diary was written in a secret of the code. He’s going to write a book about his grandfather. The diary will help him with that. But he hasn’t told anyone what’s in the diary yet.

-----

Regan and Frankie were at the old people’s home, talking to Florrie Skinner. The old lady was blind – she could no longer see anything. But her mind was clear. She remembered many things about the War. She remembered the Luftwaffe’s attack on the airfield on the 28th of August, 1940.

‘I was working in the Ops Room when the bomb hit it,’ Florrie said. ‘I was lucky, but some of my friends were killed. That was a terrible day. I had bad dreams about it for years afterwards.’

‘You must have some very sad memories,’ Regan said.

The old lady smiled. ‘Yes. But they aren’t all sad.’ she replied. ‘I had a lovely boyfriend. He was Canadian and he was very good-looking. I’ll never forget him.’

‘A Canadian,’ Regan said. ‘What was his name?’

‘Was his name – Glen Loosthawk?’ Frankie asked quietly.

Florrie Skinner smiled again. ‘Glen,’ she said. ‘Yes, that’s right, Glen. I’ve got a photo of him. Would you like to see it?’

‘Oh, yes, please,’ the two girls said together.

The old lady walked slowly across the room. She sat down on her bed. Her fingers found an old red box on the small table beside it. She opened the box and took out a big envelope.

‘Here are my photos,’ she said. ‘Come here and sit on the bed. Find the picture of Glen.’

Frankie opened the envelope and looked through the old photos. The first ones showed Florrie as a little girl. Then there was one which showed her as pretty young woman in WAAF uniform. And next, there was a photo of a young airman. He was tall and very good-looking. Frankie turned the picture over. On the back were the words: GLEN – 21ST JULY, 1940.

Regan took the photograph and looked at it. The American girl’s eyes were full of tears.

‘Have you found the picture of Glen?’ Florrie Skinner asked.

‘Yes, we’ve found it,’ Regan said quietly.

‘That was the last picture that i took of him,’ Florrie said. ‘He was killed soon afterwards. And four children died the same day. They were evacuees. They were lovely children. Glen and i had become good friends with them. They died on the same day as Glen, but i saw them in the Ops Room, four days later. That was the day of the German attack.’

‘You saw the evacuees after they were dead?’ Frankie said.

‘Yes, they were wearing strange clothes, but i knew them,’ Florrie replied. ‘They looked like living children, but they were ghosts. Poor little ghosts!’