Gibber’s Creek Gazette, 10 September 1943
Sugarless Desserts for Sweet Tooths
Fruit Salad in Jelly
Prepare two thinly sliced bananas sprinkled with lemon juice in a mould and cover with the pulp of four passionfruit. Dissolve a dessertspoon of gelatine in a cup of hot water. Add the juice of a lemon. Pour into a fluted mould and allow to set. Unmould by running under the hot water for a few seconds. Arrange on a plate and decorate with fresh passionfruit.
Contributed by
Mrs Councillor Bullant
Easy Desserts for Busy Women
Get the kids to dig a strawberry patch. Ask Gran for some strawberry runners. Send the kids out to pick berries after dinner. Tell them to pick some for their parents while they’re at it then ask the cow for cream.
Contributed by
Mrs Councillor Ellis
GIBBER’S CREEK, 10 SEPTEMBER 1943
BLUE
The man was waiting for her in her office, a stranger in a blue suit — the wrong kind of blue — and brown shoes. No gentleman would wear brown shoes with a blue suit. Why isn’t he in uniform? wondered Blue.
‘Can I help you?’
He grinned, showing a gold tooth. ‘It’s me as can help you, little lady.’
‘I am not little, and I am the owner and manager of this factory.’ Blue tried not to let her anger show. ‘But I am a lady, so I will ask you again, politely. How can I help you?’
‘You won’t be like that when you hear what I’ve got to offer you.’ The man oozed confidence. ‘What would you say to another four gallons of petrol a week, eh? Might be useful to a businesswoman like you.’ He took her shocked expression for acceptance, and winked. ‘Could throw in a pair of silk stockings too. Might even be able to get me hands on some lipstick.’
She made herself smile politely. ‘How would you manage that, Mr …?’
‘Just call me Sport. Always like to be a good sport, especially to pretty girls.’
I am twenty-seven, thought Blue. And I have earned the right not to be called a girl.
‘Anything else?’
‘Like what? Reckon you don’t need butter nor sugar here. Can help yourself from the supplies for the biscuits, eh?’
Blue squeezed her palms together so he wouldn’t see her anger. Rob men who were fighting a war for them all? But she knew what he wanted from her now. She forced her voice to be friendly. ‘I was thinking about a few yards of silk, Mr, er, Sport.’
‘Tell you what, I’ll make a bargain with you. You get me, say, ten pounds of butter a week and ten pounds of sugar. Won’t even be missed in a place this big. Just make your bikkies a little less sweet, eh? And in return I can get you petrol and all the pretties you want. Maybe even a ham at Christmas.’
‘That is an interesting proposition, Mr Sport.’ She gave him her best ‘fool the punters’ smile, well practised from her days with the circus. ‘Why don’t you sit here and I’ll get my secretary to bring you in a cup of tea?’
‘Wouldn’t mind one of your biscuits too. Heard they’re real good.’
They are, she thought. And they are for the army, not for you. ‘Of course. I won’t be long — I just need to tell my partner. She’ll be as interested in your offer as I am.’
‘Chinese lass, ain’t she? Ah, you ladies will do anything for pretties.’
Blue stood, shut the door behind her and turned the lock. Tea! She wouldn’t waste even the dregs on that man in there. As for a biscuit …
He was bashing at the door by the time she returned, Mah at her side. ‘You let me out of here! One more minute and I’ll break this door down!’
Blue turned the key and opened the door.
He stopped, his fists still in the air. ‘What the flaming hell —?’ he began.
‘So sorry to keep you waiting. It took a while to get hold of the sergeant. But he should be here any minute.’
‘Sergeant! What do you think you’re doing?’
‘Stopping a black marketeer. He should get five years for this, don’t you think, Mah?’
Mah nodded.
He gazed from one to the other, furious. ‘If you think I’m waiting here for any sergeant, you got another think coming. I’m getting out of here.’
‘Oh, no, you’re not.’ He found himself gripped by four strong hands. How did women get hands like steel?
‘We were trained by an expert,’ said Mah calmly, as if she knew what he was thinking. ‘Exercise every day. Somehow never quite got out of the habit. Never know when you might need to stand on your hands again.’ She glanced out of the window. ‘Yes, that’s the police wagon now. He’s mostly on his bicycle these days. The wagon is specially for you.’
She looked at him steadily, her hands still gripping like iron. ‘My brother died up in New Guinea defending this country. Blue’s husband is a prisoner of war.’
Blue shut her eyes. Please, she thought, let Joseph truly be a prisoner …
‘What I’d really like to do is kick you where your mother never kissed you. But I was taught to be a lady by an old woman who was most respectable. So instead I’m handing you over all in one piece.’
Mah turned and smiled at the sergeant who had appeared in the room. ‘Sergeant, he’s all yours. And I wish you joy of him.’