More planes flew over when we worked and every time, Alec would go over to the door and watch them disappear into the distance. Sometimes they were coming into land at an RAF base and other times they were off on their way to the Continent. I tried to busy myself with drawing up a potential plan for the sign, but the planes were rather off-putting and even though Dad wasn't flying one, I couldn't fight the nerves that were starting to build up.

The war felt like it had progressed very little in the four months since it started, but Alec had a point in saying that the Germans wouldn't give up easily. Even if I wanted to believe that the war would be over in the year to come and that Dad would be home, I couldn't. The planes made the war feel real, like it wasn't just this distant event happening that had no bearing on any of us. It made the whole thing a lot more scary to think about.

I thought of Dad going through Navy training and getting ready for his first deployment. I wonder what he would be thinking of the moment he left and I couldn't stop my mind from wondering what would happen if he got hit. War could be a brutal mistress no matter which part of it a person chose to be involved in. Even though all we ever saw were planes, the seas were likely to be just as dangerous.

For the next two days, I would leave the Goodwin farm and head up to the Thompson's farm to use the workshop. Sometimes Alec would come out and join me once he's finished his chores, but most of the time I worked on my own. My first step was to sand down the wood I intended to use, making sure I had a smooth enough surface to work on. Once that had been finished, I set about carving the words on the wood with a chisel.

"Careful," Alec said, creeping up behind me. I lifted the chisel off the wood before I hit it, I wasn't going to mess the sign up because of him.

"If I messed up then, you'd be the one replacing all my hard work."

"Noted." He laughed. "How's it going?"

"I hate chisels. With a passion. They're really hard to move in a straight line."

"Thought you were going to paint the words on? That would be easier."

"Who wants to do something the easy way? Besides, this will mean it lasts long and it won't have to be redone every year."

"Or you're showing off."

I grabbed the cloth I used to clear off the chiselled bits of wood from the sign and threw it at him. He turned his head just in time and I watched the small woodcuts fly off the cloth and land on the floor nearby. Alec laughed and dropped the cloth back onto the workbench beside me. A quick glare sent him scampering across the room where he leant against the wall and tried to busy himself with something else. He never offered to help me, but perhaps he knew better than to think I would accept help in the first place.

With Alec distracting himself by making a mess, I continued to use the chisel and mallet to chip away at the wooden board and create the letters. I had written the words on in pen beforehand so I had a guide to follow and I could make as few mistakes as possible. It definitely helped to guide my hand a little more and that the spelling was right. The last thing I wanted to do was spell it wrong, but Alec had written it down for me so I could copy it onto the board before attacking with the chisel. It's the only helpful thing he did.

The chisel chipped away at the wooden board, creating small curls of wood that I would occasionally pick up and throw at Alec for me. I had to be careful not to go too deep with the chisel since going through to the other side of the board would mean I'd have to start again and with time running out, I didn't want to do that.

Since time was of the essence, I ended up working through the letters as quickly as possible but trying to be as neat as I could. This was harder on the curved letters but I planned on sanding them all down to get the edges as smooth, and curved, as possible. Working my way through the letters, the chisel often became stuck and I had to twist it and manipulate it to get it free so I could continue. The chisel caught a small lip of the wood once more, partway through the letter 'w' and I twisted it to try and free it, but I ended up twisting it a little too hard.

Although the chisel came free, it came free with such force that it continued to move even after it had come out of the wood. I didn't even register it had happened until the edge of the chisel sliced across the back of my hand.

I swore loudly and dropped the chisel in surprise, watching it bounce off the workshop floor.

"Woah, are you alright?" Alec dropped the nails in his hand and darted over to me, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and pressing it onto the cut.

"That hurt. A lot." I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again.

"I'd be surprised if it didn't. Come on, we can get you cleaned up at the house."

"I bet you're enjoying this after I mocked you for hitting your hand back when we were repairing the fence."

"Not at all." I glared at him. "Alright, maybe a little."

He laughed, which helped to distract from the pain a little because all I could think about was smacking him across the face for being such a pain. We left the half-finished wood in the workshop and walked up the dirt path towards the farmhouse that overlooked the entire farm. Along the way, we passed a field with two horses grazing, one of them being Duchess, as well as the chicken coop where the chickens are clucking about and minding their own business.

Alec opened the front door and then held it open for me to follow in. The handkerchief he had put on my hand had been dyed red from the blood, but at least I hadn't got any on my clothes. Even if it had been an accident, I doubted Barbara would be too pleased that I had ruined my clothes. When we walked into the house, Alec and I were immediately set upon by a Border Collie type dog that ran across the room and rubbed up against Alec.

"Get off, you stupid dog," Alec said, pushing the dog away.

"Alec? Supper's not for another two hours," Mrs Thompson said, appearing from around a corner. Her eyes darted to the blood-soaked handkerchief on my hand. "What on earth happened?"

"Just a minor carpentry accident," I said.

"Take a seat, I'll see to that."

She disappeared back behind the wall with Alec leading me over to the sofa in the centre of the room. Once again the dog came waddling over to us, but Alec didn't push it away and instead fussed it under the ears and spoke in a strange baby voice.

Mrs Thompson appeared a little while later carrying a white box and a small bowl of water. She placed the bowl and the box on the table before sitting down beside me and removing the blood-soaked handkerchief from around my hand. Beside me, Alec groaned and I watched him look away so he didn't have to see the amount of blood both on the handkerchief and stained across my hand. There wasn't as much blood coming from the cut as there was which I knew to be a good sign.

I watched Mrs Thompson open the bow and produce a piece of cotton which she soaked into the water and then lightly dabbed it across the back of my hand to clear up the blood before she swiped it across the cut itself. Small beads of blood formed on the back of my hand, but at least it wasn't running down the back of my hand. She smeared a good amount of antiseptic cream on it and followed it up with a plaster.

"You can look now, Alec." She shook her head. "With all the times you've hurt yourself over the years, you should be used to a little bit of blood by now."

"Blood is supposed to stay inside the body. Not outside of it."

"He's always been squeamish," Mrs Thompson said to me. "At least he doesn't faint anymore."

"I never fainted."

"Yes, you did. Remember to keep that clean, Sybil. You don't want an infection to set in."

"I will, thank you, Mrs Thompson."

She nodded and gathered up her supplies before walking away, leaving myself and Alec on the sofa with the dog sitting between us and wagging its tail rather aggressively. I reached out and lightly stroked its head, scratching it behind the ears. When I stopped, the dog walked over and nudged me with its nose as a sign that I needed to keep fussing it.

"Rabbit, that's enough. Go and entertain yourself."

"Your dog is called Rabbit?

"It was Mabel's idea, she thinks it's funny. People turn around and expect us to be with a rabbit but we have this mutt instead. She's a stupid dog, but she can round the sheep up quickly, so that's a plus."

"She's not stupid!"

I turned around and watched a young girl with blonde curls come bouncing down the stairs and running towards the sofa. Rabbit jumped down from between us and ran over to her with her tail wagging hard enough that it felt like the door had been left open. The young girl, Mabel, stood at the bottom of the stairs and stared at Alec and me with a slight tilt in her head. She almost reminded me of one of the porcelain dolls my Mum used to keep, the sort of ones that would sit on a shelf and stare down at me.

Mabel grabbed one of the toys from the floor and waved it around in front of Rabbit, almost teasing her with it. Rabbit started to jump from side to side, her tail wagging and she crouched down with her front legs to prepare to jump when Mabel threw the toy. Alec sighed and rolled his eyes, clearly used to the behaviour of both his sister and the dog.

"Don't wind her up, please Mabel," Mrs Thompson called from the kitchen.

"I'm not! Mabel exclaimed and she quickly threw the ball behind her before turning to me and Alec. "Who's this?

"Mabel, this is Sybil. She's the Goodwin's ..." Alec paused.

"I'm an evacuee. The Goodwins took me in."

"There are evacuees in my class." With that, Mabel turned and walked away, skipping towards the kitchen with Rabbit following closely at her heels.

"That dog worships her, they even sleep in the same bed." He shook his head. "Sorry for her."

"I think she's sweet."

"Just wait till you get to know her. She's a nightmare."

I laughed. "I should go. Supper will be ready soon and Barbara will probably want a full explanation."

"Alright, I'll see you out."

We both stood up and I followed Alec out of the living room and to the front door which he opened. I stepped through onto the porch and he hovered in the doorway for a little bit. The air between us felt a little awkward like something was weighing on both of us or something that he wanted to do or say but didn't do it. Instead, he just stood on the porch and scratched the back of his neck with his right hand.

My mind went back to my conversation with Eva a few weeks before, but I pushed it back, not wanting it to go to the forefront. Just because a strange air had settled around us and that he almost looked to be on the edge of saying something didn't mean anything. Maybe he just wasn't sure what he had to say when seeing someone out of the house, or maybe I just read too far into it.

Every time I had seen and spoken to Alec since my conversation with Eva, that thought kept cropping up. I couldn't even talk to him without having to fight back the idea that he liked me, especially since he kept coming down to the workhouse even though all he did was stand in the corner and watch me.

"I'll see you," I said after a little while, hoping to break the silence.

"Yes. Are you going to be able to finish the sign with your hand like that?"

I shrugged. "We'll see."

"Alright, well, bye."

"Bye."

I offered him a small, but somewhat awkward wave before turning and walking away from the farmhouse, following the dirt track past the horses and the chickens. When I heard the door close, I turned around and stared at it.

Stupid Eva.

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Twenty-Two! I'm still writing this offline and it does feel like it's going on forever. Oh well xD We'll get there eventually and I do have a few words for the sequel written. 

Questions! Do you think there is a spark between Alec and Sybil? Will either of them realise it?

Comment below!

First Published - August 11th, 2021