Later, Tom lay in bed thinking about the planes, so many of them and so big. He turns to look at Ruby who is asleep, she looks so peaceful, so beautiful lying there. The light of the moon beamed through the window lighting up her face. He starts to drift off himself and finally falls asleep.
He was dreaming about the planes he saw, hundreds of them. They just seem to multiply until the sky is filled with planes that blot out the sun. Slowly, the Heinkels morph into Gothas. Thousands of them are filling the sky. He turns to see Dennis standing next to Mister French, but they are outside the Carlton pub.
“Run to the trenches” he shouts as he runs across the road and jumps into a trench. There are so many planes that it became dark now but he could still see his son standing at the entrance of the pub. A flare goes up and he pushes himself flat against the corrugated iron wall, as he had done on many occasions but he notices he was now wearing his army uniform. An explosion goes off, the dirt flies over Tom, the pieces of mud and stones rain down on him. He slides down the wall to a sitting position where he clutches his gun. The mud squelches as his backside reaches the floor. He sits rocking back and forth.
“No, I want to go home” he wails
Another explosion and he waits for the dirt to come over, but none come. Instead, a bunch of bananas fall on the trench floor.
“Oh no!” he wails
Another explosion, Tom waits for the debris to fall on him but a boot falls into the mud. Tom looks at it, he sits back as he realises that the owner’s foot is still in it. Then a hand falls right next to him, he recoils in horror. He calms down a bit when a head falls on his lap. It’s Big Bob, then the eyes open.
“Why didn’t you get here earlier Tom?” says Bob’s head
Tom pushes it off his lap where it comes to a rest on the mud, still looking at him.
“If you had come earlier Tom, I wouldn’t have been killed”
“No, I came when I was ordered, I had no choice”
“Many men died because you weren’t there Tom, men who could have been saved”
“I would have made no difference Bob”
“All those men, in the trenches while you were at home enjoying yourself”
“I’m just doing my job. GO AWAY!”
He sits up quickly, sweat pouring down his forehead.
“I’m just doing my job” he whispers
“What?” murmurs Ruby
“It’s alright Love, just a bad dream Go back to sleep”
He gets up and walks into the children’s bedroom. He checks Dennis is asleep, then over to check Brenda is safe in her bed. He desperately wants to send both girls away, to safety. They shouldn’t be here, London is bombed almost everyday in some weeks. She had wriggled during the night so that the blanket had moved down, leaving her exposed to the cold. He reaches over and pulls the blanket up over Brenda.
He walks back to his own bedroom and quickly checks on Frances. She is awake, waving her arms around; she doesn’t make a sound but just stares into open air. She notices her father creeping up on her and smiles a toothless grin. Tom picks her up and walks to the window, there are no lights anywhere but an eerie orange glow in the sky.
“That’s London on fire” he whispers to the baby.
Frances gurgles.
“Those people. Those poor people”