Secrets and Shadows (18 page)

‘OK, Barry. Like you said, let’s bring home a prisoner.’

Night had fallen now, and Barry felt excited as he drove east, the van’s headlights picking out the twists and turns on the mountain roads. Even as he concentrated on the route, he couldn’t help but savour the thrill of what they had done.

Pawlek was securely bound hand and foot in the back of the van. Once he had been helplessly trussed up and hauled into the
rear of the vehicle, Grace had bathed his head wound and applied a makeshift bandage.
Grace
. The more he thought about her the more he realised that she had been brilliant tonight. She had been brave, and tough, and cool when it mattered most. Though, really, he shouldn’t have been surprised at any of that, because she had been a cool customer – and a great friend – right from the start.

Now the van rounded another bend, and in the distance Barry suddenly saw a halo of brightness in the night sky. It must be the lights of Dublin.
Homeward bound,
he thought happily, glad that he would be able to reassure his mother – and, of course, Grace’s mother – both of whom must be really worried at this stage. There would also be a bit of explaining to do to the police about the illegal entry to Pawlek’s house, but he reckoned that that would fade into insignificance when they delivered their prize – a living, breathing Nazi spy!

He thought back to the night when the bombs had rained down on Liverpool and how he had sworn somehow to fight back. Was that really only a little over two months ago? So much had happened: his meeting up with Grace, the bullying by Shay McGrath, Johnny Keogh intervening, becoming pals with Charlie Dawson, Mum coming over on holidays. But most important of all was the fact that he
had
fought back, by acting on his suspicions that Pawlek was a spy.

He smiled in the darkened cab of the van, already figuring out how he would tell the story to Dad, then he drove on down the hillside and towards the beckoning lights of Dublin.

G
race wished that the summer didn’t have to end. But it was the last week in August now and change was in the air. Next week she would be starting secondary school, and just a few days ago she had moved with Ma into their new house, a cottage on Olaf Road. Ma had decided not to return to the North Strand, and instead had chosen to rent a house in the Stoneybatter area. It meant that Grace could stay in Stanhope Street convent, she would still be near to Granddad, and she could continue being friends with the local children she had grown to know these last few months.

She had been something of a heroine when the initial fuss with the police had died down and the full story of Mr Pawlek had got out. May Bennett had breathlessly proclaimed that it was like something you’d see in the films in the Broadway Cinema. Charlie Dawson had insisted that she should have got a medal, and Whacker Wallace had said that Grace had done really well – though he himself would have riddled Pawlek with bullets. Even the ultra-tough Johnny Keogh had sought Grace out, and had told her that she was dead sound.

Grace smiled at the memories as she lay comfortably in bed in her new home, drowsy and almost ready for sleep. She thought back over the most eventful summer of her life and the adventures
she had had with Barry. He was going home to Liverpool tomorrow, and she was going to miss him. But the air raids on Liverpool had died down to a trickle now, and she could understand why his mother wanted him back again. She hoped that they would stay really good friends, and that he would regularly visit his granny in Dublin, and that maybe she could even go to see him in Liverpool.

But all that was in the future. Now the story of this memorable summer was coming to a close, and so she closed her heavy eyelids and drifted easily into a deep and comfortable sleep.

The ship’s horn blared, its deep-sounding blast scattering into flight the dockside pigeons that wheeled over the river Liffey. Barry stood near the gangway leading to the ferry, excited to be going home to Liverpool, but sorry to be leaving behind those to whom he had grown close. Being a Tuesday, it was a normal work day, and Barry had been touched that after putting in a day’s work, people like Grace’s mother and her Uncle Freddie had made the effort to come down to the docks to see him off. Also present were Grandma Peg, Grace’s grandfather, Mr Ryan, and, of course, Grace herself.

Freddie had been his usual silly self, making corny jokes, but now that the time had come for goodbyes Barry couldn’t help but feel a certain affection for him. Grace’s mother had baked fruit scones for Barry to bring with him on the journey, Mr Ryan had
given him a present of a jazz record for Mum, and Freddie had slipped him a half crown, insisting that he get himself a treat on the voyage home. Grandma Peg had been the most emotional, tearfully telling him how much she had loved having him stay with her.

‘All aboard now! All aboard, please!’ cried a uniformed ferry company officer.

Grandma Peg gave Barry a final hug, then there was a flurry of handshakes from Mr Ryan and Freddie, and hugs from Grace and her mother.

‘Well…’ said Barry, feeling a little emotional himself now that it was time to go.

‘Mind yourself, Barry,’ said Grace. ‘And thanks for being such a brilliant friend!’

‘You too, Grace,’ he said his voice cracking slightly. ‘You too.’

‘All aboard, ladies and gentlemen, please!’ said the uniformed officer.

Barry picked up his cardboard suitcase, gave a wave to the others and started up the gangplank. The ship was bustling with passengers and crew, and it took Barry a while to find a free spot on the ship’s rail, from where he could look back down the quayside towards his friends.

The ship’s gangplank had already been pulled up, and now Barry heard the sound of the anchor being raised. The deep throb of the engines grew louder, then the ropes securing the vessel to the quayside capstans were undone and thrown on board. Slowly
at first, then with increasing speed, the ship eased away from the quay and out into the river.

Barry could see Grandma Peg being comforted by Mr Ryan, while Freddie, Grace and Grace’s mother all waved farewell. Barry waved in return as long as he could see them, then the ship changed tack a little, and they were lost to sight.

He stayed at the ship’s rail as the vessel sailed down the Liffey. He felt a funny mixture of emotions – excitement to be allowed to travel alone, anticipation of the joy of arriving home again, and sadness at missing those he had left behind.

He looked back up the river at the city, bathed in early evening sunshine, and he knew that he would always savour the months he had spent there. He stood gazing back for a long time, lost in his thoughts, then he knew that this episode – the biggest adventure of his life so far – was over.

He turned away and looked downriver towards the open sea. The ship was picking up speed, and Barry allowed the warm, salty breeze to play over his face as he left behind the city of Dublin, and a summer he would never forget.

T
he Second World War went on for four more years before the Nazis were defeated in 1945 by the Allies. During the rest of the war Ireland’s neutrality wasn’t seriously breached by either side.

Mr Pawlek, who was identified as Wilhelm Schmidt, was tried and imprisoned in the Curragh Camp with other Germans captured in Ireland. In 1943, after two years in captivity, he escaped and made his way back to Germany. He served on the Eastern Front, but during the final days of the war, as the Red Army advanced on Berlin, he went missing and was never seen again.

Granddad lived into his nineties and played cards for many more years with Miss Kinsella.

Grandma Peg missed Barry badly, but found consolation in her religious faith. She lived to be seventy-nine, and was buried as she wished, in the robes of the Third Order.

Uncle Freddie never married, though some people jokingly said that Granddad and Freddie were like an old married couple, frequently arguing, yet happy in each other’s company.

Ma and Grace settled contentedly in their new home. Three years later Ma got married again – with Grace’s full approval – to the widower next door.

Charlie Dawson surprised no-one by growing up to be an
entertainer, and he had a long and successful career as a singer and comedian.

Shay McGrath and his family settled permanently in Birmingham. Drafted into National Service in the British Army, he was killed at the age of twenty-one in a skirmish with Malayan insurgents.

Johnny Keogh left school at fourteen and emigrated to America, where he worked as a security guard. In time he became head of security for a chain of restaurants. He particularly enjoyed the perk of free meals, and always relished his favourite dessert, rhubarb tart.

Barry’s father was wounded in action with the Royal Navy. After recovering from his injures he was posted to a desk job with the navy’s Western Command in Liverpool, where he was reunited with his family. After the war he was re-employed at the insurance company where he used to work, and he went on to be a general manager.

Uncle George survived the prison camp and came home after the war looking a little older and a lot thinner, but without having lost the sense of humour that Barry loved. He continued working as a van driver until his retirement.

Barry’s mother worked on as a riveter, and was promoted to the role of supervisor by the end of the war. When the war ended she continued her new-found interest in engineering by attending night classes, and in time she qualified as a metalwork teacher, a role she enjoyed for many years.

Grace went on working part-time in Miss Kinsella’s cake shop.
She took over running it, very successfully, when the older woman retired, and to her surprise and delight inherited the business when Miss Kinsella died.

Despite living permanently in Liverpool from 1941 onwards, Barry stayed friends with Grace and Charlie for the rest of his life. He became a senior detective in the police force, and over the course of his career solved many important cases. Privately, however, he admitted that no case was more memorable than his first one. A case he solved during a special summer in Dublin when he was twelve years old, and when he and Grace took on a Nazi spy – and won.

Secrets and Shadows
is a work of fiction, but the historical elements are real, from the minor dramas of rationing – twelve ounces of butter a week for each person – to major events such as the blitz on Liverpool, the sinking of the Bismarck, and the bombing of the North Strand, all of which took place as described. However, the Ryan and Malone families are creations of my imagination, as is Mr Pawlek.

A number of German spies operated in Ireland during the Second World War but, unlike Mr Pawlek, most of them were soon rounded up. Ireland remained neutral for the duration of the war, in which it is estimated that over sixty million people died.

The North Strand area was rebuilt after the air raid and looks very different today. A monument and garden in the grounds of Marino College of Further Education commemorate those who were killed in the raid. Liverpool suffered badly from bombing during the war, and over 100,000 houses there were damaged.

The places where the events of the book happen, such as Arbour Hill, where Grace and Barry lived, Manor Street, where Mr Pawlek rented the house, and Stoneybatter, where Grace worked in the fictitious Kinsella’s cake shop, are all actual places that still exist in Dublin.

Grace’s new school, Stanhope Convent, and Barry’s school, St
Paul’s CBS in Brunswick Street, known as ‘Brunner’, both still function.

The Dublin Cattle Market at the North Circular Road closed in the 1970s, so children in Stoneybatter today can no longer share Grace’s pleasure in seeing runaway cattle mounting the pavements.

Other locations in the story such as the garrison church, the sand dunes at Dollymount Strand and the Phoenix Park are actual places in Dublin and haven’t changed a great deal since 1941.

Brian Gallagher,

Dublin 2012.