22nd July 1941

Mary Poppins walked trough the park on her day off and enjoyed the weather. It was not too hot but not too cold- just perfect for her.

During her walk, she noticed that some men were looking around for her. In the past she enjoyed it in a certain way. She knew that she was an absolute beauty to many, but nowadays she found it uncomfortable. Subconsciously she walked faster and it was not long before she arrived at the apartment.

The sight she saw her made her smile:
Elizabeth stood at the easel with a overall in the living room, painting.
Painting - a hobby that the orphan has been doing lately.

"'ey Mary," she said without taking her eyes off the painting.

This made the nanny curious and she examined the latest work: it showed the one and only Mary Poppins herself.
Her likeness was drawn in profile and she looked gracefully at the starry sky. She almost looked like an untouchable goddess.
What surprised her was that the whole picture was done in black, white and shades of grey - no blob of paint could be seen. Although Elizabeth could not paint quite realistically, there was still a certain talent.

While Mary inspected the artwork, the artist secretly studied her all the time, hoping to read something in her eyes. But that was not the case.

"An'? What d' ya think?"

"I am impressed! You can definitely see who it is," Mary said with a wink.

"Yea'? I was afraid that ya wouldn't recognise Jane," but this sarcastic comment made her lightly get the umbrella against her shin.

Jane Banks ... She helped out in the hospital, too. Liz and she got along very well and often worked together.

"Speaking of Jane... how is she?"

Elizabeth put aside her brush and overall and walked towards the window. "Very well. She still worries about Michael. Understandably. But she keeps saying that it's 'is own fault. After all, 'e does it voluntarily, unlike most others... "

Mary sat down on the sofa and just nodded. When she learned about half a year ago that Michael was a Brigadier at the front, a cold shiver ran down her spine. After all, she still saw the Banks in some ways as the little kids she had met in 1910.

"Damn!", Elizabeth whirled around, "I forgot something at the 'ospital!"

She ran to the clothes rack, took her cap, and shouted, "I'll be right back," before she slammed the door.

Elizabeth jogged to the hospital because she had forgotten her necklace there! She was not a person who put much value on material things. But it was the necklace that Bert had given her almost exactly ten years ago.

In the nurses' room, she stormed wordlessly to a desk and tore open the drawer, which caught her questioning looks.

"Thank God," she murmured as the jewel sparkled in it.

Relieved, she pulled on the chain and left the room without comment.
She only knew the sisters in the room briefly, because she never, or very rarely, had a shift with them.

On the way back to the apartment, which luckily was only a few minutes away, the call of her name reached her ear.

"Elizabeth!", it was Jeremy, the postman.

With a friendly smile, Liz turned around and saw the young man rummaging in his pocket. "I have something for you .. wait, I have to look for it."

"Just take ya time," she examined the bag, "more letters than usual, right?"

The brown-haired man nodded: "At the moment it's very much... I don't know what's going on but it seems to me, as everyone has the need to write tons of letters. Ah, there he is," he handed her a letter, "Here... I would like to talk to you but- "

"Lots to do, I understand... See ya soon Jeremy."

"See you soon!"

Elizabeth watched the young postman for a moment as he hurried to the next house. 22-year-old Jeremy Thompson was a loveable and extremely handsome guy. He was about the size of Liz, had slightly curly brown hair and shiny light brown eyes.
Over the last few months, he has become a good acquaintance of Elizabeth.

But after a few seconds her eyes fell on the letter in her hands and she examined the unmistakable handwriting on it: over the address stood in curved letters "To Elizabeth and Mary Poppins"

Liz had two guesses why she always came first:

1. Bert just wanted to arrange it alphabetically

2. Bert wrote it that it seems that Elizabeth also has a surname. Because... she did not have one.

She also found it incredibly sweet that there were usually two letters in it - one for her and one for Mary. But then she frowned. She weighed the letter in her hand: it was surprisingly light and thin, considering it was addressed to both.

The orphan walked the last few yards to the house and slowly went up the stairs.
She did not know what was going on, because normally she would have run up the stairs with the letter! A strange feeling spread through her- something was different.

"Mary," Elizabeth said as she entered the apartment and just held up the letter.

The Nanny, who was still sitting on the sofa, was about to ask if the letter was from Bert when she saw the young woman's expression: "Everything alright?"

"We'll see," she said as she opened the letter and handed it to Mary.

With her small, elegant fingers, the nanny took the paper out of the envelope and let her eyes wander over the lines.
Elizabeth leaned on the back and read as well.

But then both women petrified at the same moment:

I will officially go to the front by the end of the month.

As Mary finished the letter, Liz got up, "Shit!"

Furious, she paced up and down the room before she finally threw the easel to the ground. After that she sat down on the floor and started crying.

Meanwhile, everything passed Mary Poppins. She stared silently out the window after reading the letter. She was in a trance.

After a few minutes, she was brought back into the here and now by the slamming of the door.
Only then did she notice that the easel and the painting utensils were lying on the floor.

"Elizabeth?"

However, no answer came.

I think I'll be able to write a Christmas chapter until Christmas Eve xD

As always I'm looking forward to read your reviews :)