Winter on the Mersey(43)

‘You can’t make me!’ Tommy shouted, his face reddening with emotion. ‘If I’m old enough to leave school, I’m old enough to decide what I do!’

Danny grimaced and tried to keep his temper. He reminded himself that Tommy was far from being a grown-up, no matter what the boy thought, and it was his job to protect his little brother, even if he didn’t want any protecting. ‘It’s no good, Tommy,’ he said as calmly as he could. ‘You are not joining the Merchant Navy. We didn’t send you off to Freshfield for all those years just so’s you could come back and get yourself killed.’

‘It’s not fair!’ Tommy protested, throwing himself angrily into the back kitchen. ‘You’ve all done what you wanted. You all started work when you were my age. Now it’s my turn. The country needs fit young men like me – there’s a war on.’

Danny counted to ten and tried again. ‘I know. It’s hard to avoid. But that doesn’t mean you go and put yourself in the line of fire the minute you get out of short trousers. It was different for Jack and me. Now I wish I’d paid more attention at school. I’ve spent the last two years catching up. No, don’t look like that, try to listen to what I’m saying and get the benefit of my experience rather than throwing a hissy fit.’

Tommy grabbed the handle of the back door. ‘I’m going out. I don’t care what you say, you’re just trying to stop me doing my bit.’

‘Tommy, no, it isn’t like that at all.’ Danny desperately tried to think what would stop his little brother storming off and signing his life away. ‘Look, the thing is, the country does need everyone to do their bit—’

‘That’s what I meant!’ shouted Tommy. ‘Don’t try to tell me what I just told you!’

‘… but everyone has to do what they are best at,’ Danny went on. ‘When you were younger you helped on the farm, and that meant more of us got proper food, so that was the right thing for you to do then. So it’s a matter of deciding what’s the best thing for you now.’

‘Joining the Merchant Navy!’

‘If you won’t listen to me, then listen to Jack,’ Danny went on, picking up the letter that had started the latest row. ‘He doesn’t want you out there putting your life at risk.’

Tommy bunched his fists in frustration. ‘Jack would say that. What does he know about it?’

‘Well, seeing as he’s been in the Fleet Air Arm protecting all the ships of the Merchant Navy for these past five years, he probably knows more than most,’ Danny said, unable to keep the asperity from his voice. ‘That’s exactly why he’s written to say you’re not to join up. Think what happened to Eddy. You have to listen to Jack. You’re not twenty-one yet and he’s head of the household, no matter where he is at this moment.’ Truth be told, the letter was so heavily censored that Danny had no idea where Jack had sent it from. What he did know was that some of the Fleet Air Arm squadrons had been involved in D-day, and he was not sure if Jack had been seconded to one of those. He was very experienced; he might well have been chosen. If that was the case, Danny didn’t know how he could face writing the letter to say that Tommy had run away to sea. It didn’t bear thinking about.

‘I’ll lie about my age,’ threatened Tommy.

‘You go ahead and try,’ Danny countered. ‘They might at a push accept you are fifteen, but that’s it. And anyway, everyone round here knows your name. They’ll all recognise you’re Jack’s brother and know all about you, so they won’t take you on.’

‘I’ll run away and sign up somewhere else!’

Danny shook his head, although it wouldn’t have been the first time Tommy had run away. The first place he’d been evacuated to had been a cold, cruel household, and he’d made his own way back home from there, although he’d been barely ten at the time. He wasn’t short of courage or resourcefulness, that was for sure. Danny decided to take a step back and let his brother talk it through, rather than push him to run off as he’d threatened.

‘Come back inside and sit down, then we’ll discuss it like adults,’ he suggested. ‘Can’t say fairer than that. We’ll sit down at the table and talk about it man to man, and then if you still feel like signing up after the end of that, we’ll have to see.’

Tommy looked at him dubiously, but then accepted the flattery of being called a man and pushed past his brother to reach the table first. He pulled out a chair and turned it round so he could rest his elbows on the back. His expression was still mutinous.

Danny sat down opposite him and put Jack’s letter back in its envelope, folding it carefully, playing for time. He had a strong sense that if he gave his little brother a few minutes he would calm down and not follow through on his rash threat.

‘Right,’ he said slowly. ‘Before you commit yourself to anything, let’s see what the options are.’ He paused but Tommy just glared, not saying anything. ‘There are lots of other things you could do that would be equally useful, you know – vital to the war effort.’

In reply, Tommy just kicked his foot against the table leg.

‘For example,’ Danny said, ‘Sarah says they’re always short of porters at the hospital.’

Tommy looked up sharply. ‘Well, if Sarah says it then it must be true,’ he snapped.