Noticing that she seemed somewhat upset following the visit to Hastings, Mrs Garsteng had decided that the best thing for Ivy to do would be to keep busy. It was a view shared by Mrs Beckwith, and so for the past month or so, she had been teaching Ivy basic First Aid with the WVS. Ivy was quite good now, at rolling bandages and making slings, as well as dealing with burns and sprains. As a result, she was on duty herself during the raid that took place on her birthday that year.

While most were not particularly damaging, on this occasion, an oil tanker had docked just down the coast, and supply trucks were in position to take the oil from the ship to the storage facility outside Walmington, and it appeared that someone in the German Air Command knew about it. The day itself was quiet, a dull, dark November's afternoon sliding into a cold, clear night, but at around half past nine, the heaviest raid the town had yet seen began.

Sitting in a sandbagged hut with a recently acquired tin hat and red cross haversack, Ivy stared up at the flashes outside the window, and tried not to flinch at the sudden bangs and aircraft gunfire overhead. She couldn't help it though, and thought of her home, her shop, being hit. What would she do then? She didn't have much money of her own, and if they were hit, nowhere to live. And as she still did, she hoped that Pike was safe, even though she knew he was out there too, watching the skies as she was.

Her eyes suddenly widened, as both a huge flash lit up the street below and the sight of a woman, frantically pedalling came into view. The corresponding whine and crash behind her threw her off the bicycle and scattered the contents of the bag she was carrying.

Ivy grabbed her own bag and rushed out. Fortunately, as she reached her, the woman got unsteadily to her feet and, catching hold of Ivy's arm, managed to half walk, half run, back towards the shelter. She got there, in fact, before Ivy did. Ivy was nearly there, when there was a sudden screech, and another explosion threw her backwards, skidding along the asphalt, skinning the length of her leg and arm where she fell.

'Ivy!' Mrs Beckwith, and one of the other ladies, rushed out then, stretcher in hand. Under fire themselves, they brought her back in, and bandaged her wounds as best they could. As they did so, there was a sharp blast on a whistle, and a banging at the door.

'What's going on here?' Mr Hodges, in his role as Chief Warden, asked. 'What's this?'

'Two injured,' Mrs Beckwith replied, and as Hodges recognised the other woman, his breath seemed to catch in his throat.

'Ada!' he said, rushing over to the older woman. 'Ada, you all right? What were you doing out there?'

Apart from a few cuts and bruises, Ada Hodges didn't seem too bad, just shaken. She was, however, his sister-in-law, and he'd promised his brother he'd look after her, before he died.

'Young Mrs Drury…she's due…'

'Mr Hodges,' Mrs Beckwith interrupted them anxiously. 'It's Miss Samways. She's worse. We've got her bandaged up, for now, but she needs an ambulance. We don't have a telephone anymore, not since the line went down, where's the nearest one to here?'

Hodges considered briefly. 'The Home Guard post, on the front. They'll have one.' With that, he got on his own bicycle, and made for the Jolly Rodger Ice Cream Parlour.

He banged even harder on that door than he had on the First Aid post.

'Listen here, Napoleon,' Hodges wasted no time, addressing Mainwaring as soon as he got through the door.

'There's a girl, over at the First Aid post down by Gardenia Gardens. She's hurt – needs an ambulance now.'

'Which girl?' Mainwaring asked. He had no time for the Chief Warden, generally speaking, but this was an emergency.

'Ivy Samways – bleeding all up her arm, leg…' As he said it, Hodges realised that if Ivy died, she'd done it so Ada might be saved. 'Get on to the hospital now!'

'What…?' Pike had been on watch, looking out to sea.

'Get back out there, Pike!' Mainwaring commanded, halfway through dialling the number. He mustn't know – not yet.

'Wilson,' he continued, 'go out with him, and keep him out there!'

'Yes Sir,' Wilson replied, moving with uncharacteristic urgency.

As Wilson stepped on to the sea front, Pike asked him, concerned. 'Uncle Arthur? What's going on?'

'It's nothing.' Wilson took a deep breath. 'Mr Mainwaring just needs to telephone for an ambulance, that's all, for someone caught out in the raid.'

'Who?' This was unusual. Most people weren't out during raids, and those that were, so far, had generally not been badly hurt.

'Who is it?' he repeated, starting to worry.

Wilson paused for a moment. While he hadn't heard as much about Miss Samways recently, she was still no doubt special to Pike, and he wasn't sure what to say.

'Now, listen to me, Frank,' he began, 'You must stay out here, for now. She's being looked after, at the WVS First Aid post, and the ambulance is on its way…'

'Who though? Not Mum?'

'No, goodness, no…' Wilson replied hastily. 'Not your mother.' He paused again. 'Frank, would you please pass me your rifle, now?'

Somewhat warily, Pike handed it over. Wilson unloaded it, and then set it against the wall.

'We can't do that!' Pike began. 'Mr Mainwaring says, we've got to have them loaded on duty, at all times!' and made to grab for it back.

Wilson caught his arm and said, 'It's Ivy.'

'What?' No-one close to him had yet been seriously hurt.

'What happened? Is she going to be all right?' He sounded panicked, and to Wilson, suddenly very young, like he had done years ago when he was upset over something or other, but much worse.

'Pike!' The door slammed, and Mainwaring emerged, with Godfrey in tow. 'As you probably know,' he glanced briefly at Wilson. 'Miss Samways is injured. She's in the best place though, until the ambulance gets here. The best thing you can do, is to stay put, and Chief Warden Hodges will inform us when it arrives.'

He turned, almost imperceptibly to Wilson, and asked in low voice 'Did you unload it?' indicating the rifle. Wilson nodded.

'Good.' Speaking more loudly now, Mainwaring announced that he would take Pike's rifle, and Godfrey offered some tea as he and Wilson continued to sit with the younger man, looking out the flares of gunfire dancing across the waves.

It was her birthday. Strangely, that was all Pike could think, at the moment. Her birthday. He'd sent a card, and hoped she wouldn't be upset, or angry with him for sending it.

He might never know what she thought. In a raid like this, the few county ambulances would be busy. There was no guarantee they would get there in time.

She couldn't die, he thought then, and then was sure, certain, of how much Ivy meant. Of course he'd loved her, and still did…and he didn't want her to die.