Read Online Some Lucky Day by Ellie Dean - Free Book Online Page B

poised for action.
    Ron stayed absolutely still, fascinated to see how long Harvey would remain there and what would happen next.
    He didn’t have very long to wait, for minutes later the front door opened and the redoubtable figure of Agatha Fullerton strode out onto the gravel path, her sleek grey whippet in her arms. She looked around her warily, and deciding that the coast was clear, set the whippet down. ‘Run along, Princess, there’s a good girl,’ she ordered.
    Princess was a very obedient animal and she ran off quite happily to the far side of the lake, where she sniffed the grass intently as her owner smiled benignly from the doorway.
    Ron glanced quickly at the lake. Harvey hadn’t moved a muscle, but his gaze flew between the woman in the doorway and the grey whippet which was now moving fairly swiftly towards the closely fenced woodland.
    Agatha Fullerton must have come to the conclusion that her precious pedigree pet was safe from marauding vagabond dogs, for she went back inside.
    Harvey was out of the lake in a flash and haring across the lawn at lightning speed, dirty water and mud flying off his coat. Hell-bent on claiming his prize, he hurtled into the trees and was lost from sight.
    Ron heard the welcoming yips of the whippet and eased back through the hedge. Emerging into the bright sunlight, he took a moment to light his pipe. There was absolutely nothing he could do now but wait for Harvey to return to Beach View.
    He grinned round the stem of his pipe as he clumped back down the hill towards home. The old so-and-so clearly still had some life left in him, but he was punching well above his weight with that expensive whippet, and Ron just hoped to God Agatha never discovered the identity of the old rogue who had so enthusiastically deflowered her precious Princess.
    He was still smiling and shaking his head in amusement at the memory of Harvey in that lake. There was no doubt about it, he thought, Harvey was a highly intelligent and resourceful dog, even if he was a ruddy nuisance. But there would be ructions, and from now on Harvey would have to be kept on a lead every time he went outside.
    Quite how he was going to achieve this, Ron had no idea – but he was sure he could come up with some solution by the time Harvey returned home.

Chapter Four
    HAMBLE FERRY POOL was placed between the Solent and the Hamble River, and its airfield made it the obvious jumping off point for the hundreds of Spitfires that were being built at the Vickers works in Southampton. The day-to-day routine of flying these new planes to country airfields like the nearby Chattis Hill and High Post on the edge of Salisbury Plain, where they were tested and armed, was never straightforward, for Southampton was constantly under attack.
    The all-women pool loved flying the perfect lady’s plane, but when the sirens went off to warn of an incoming raid, the barrage balloons went up to protect the Spitfires that were lined up like sitting ducks beside the grass runway. This manoeuvre left only a narrow corridor for friendly incoming aircraft, and as the alignment of that corridor changed each day, it often meant the women had to employ aerobatics to avoid them. This sometimes led to accidents, for not all were as experienced as Kitty and Charlotte in this particular skill, and the RAF certainly didn’t make it part of their training.
    Three weeks had passed since she’d last seen Freddy, and Kitty had returned to Hamble after a long day of delivering a Spitfire to High Post, a Mosquito to Aston Down and a damaged Mitchell to the Dunfold Maintenance Unit in Surrey, where it was to be broken up. The tiny cottage she and Charlotte had been allocated right next to the runway felt rather empty with Charlotte away, and as she hadn’t felt like playing another endless game of bridge in the mess, or listening to the wireless, Kitty had decided to stretch her legs and get some fresh air before going to bed.
    It was a pleasant evening,