Safe Harbour (13 page)

‘Ahoy there! Professor!’ Sophie looked up. A boat was coming towards them, the sound of its motor carrying across the water.

She had never been so glad to see anyone in her life. She’d been worried that she might not be able to row with the weight. The men in the motor boat hoisted the German airman and Grandfather easily on board, then they came right alongside her.

‘You okay?’ asked one of them. She nodded.

‘Take this! That’s the girl!’ he called, tossing her a rope, which she pulled through the heavy circle of metal on the prow, coiling some of it around the seat.

‘We’ll tow you in!’

Relief washed over her – her arms and neck ached, and she felt shaky inside.

The young man moaned as they began to move. Sophie covered him with Grandfather’s jacket.

‘Meine Mutter! Mein Vater! ‘

It sounded to her like he was saying ‘mother’ and ‘father’.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll tell your mother and father,’ said Sophie. ‘You are in Ireland. You are safe!’

A large crowd had gathered on the beach, Hugh and Nancy among them. They all began to clap as Sophie and Grandfather got out of the boats. Two or three boys started
to giggle, staring at Grandfather’s thigh like he was some kind of freak. Nancy managed to find a towel and she wrapped it around him.

Silence descended on the crowd when the young injured German was lifted onto a stretcher and carried up to the road to a waiting ambulance. His blood lay spattered all over The Londoner.

Some people jeered and booed when the German pilot stepped off the boat onto the beach. Grandfather glared angrily at them. Sophie felt such pity for the pilot – his face was ashen, and he looked cold and miserable. One of his friends was dead, the other badly injured and he was left to face the music on his own. A local Garda stepped forward and was reading him something. The German just nodded blankly.

‘What will happen to him, Grandfather?’ Sophie asked.

‘They are arresting him,’ he said, wearily.

‘Will they shoot him?’

‘Oh no! Nothing like that! He’ll be sent to the internment camp in the Curragh. He’ll be kept there for the rest of the war. Probably the best thing that could happen to him!’

‘Oh!’ said Sophie.

The German was back now, bowing to her, thanking her for rescuing him. He shook Grandfather’s hand warmly. ‘Oscar Furtinger,’ he said. They supposed that was his name. ‘Und Dieter!’ he said, pointing to the ambulance.

The crowd watched as both Germans were taken away.

Grandfather refused to go to the hospital. ‘All I need is some dry clothes, a hot drink and a glass of my best
whiskey, and I’ll be fit as a fiddle again.’

‘No point in trying to convince him,’ said Nancy. ‘He’s a stubborn, difficult man! He’ll do what he wants in the end. Come on, Professor, we’ll get you home.’

Water dripped from Grandfather’s hair and beard and from his clothes. He had strapped his leg back on and picked up his walking stick. He was helped up, then he reached for Sophie. ‘Let me lean on you, girl. Come on, home we go!’

The little party set off across the stones for Carrigraun, Nancy holding Hugh’s hand.

‘You’re a brave lassie, Sophie,’ said Grandfather quietly in her ear, admiration in his voice.

‘I was proud of you too out there,’ said Sophie.

‘Out there I didn’t feel old,’ he told her. ‘All I could think of was rescuing those poor boys – I kept thinking it might be Neil … somewhere out there … in all this madness.’ He stopped, and looked at her. ‘Do you think we’ve left it too late, Sophie?’ he asked.

She understood immediately. She shook her head. ‘It’s never too late …’

There was no telling how long the war would last or, for that matter, how long she and Hugh would be here, but at least now things would be different. Perhaps Grandfather was finally ready to make peace with his son and end those long years of family bitterness.

‘We’ll have to write to your mother’s hospital,’ Grandfather announced. ‘Find out her exact condition. You know, Sophie, sea air is beneficial in most convalescent
cases.’

Sophie’s heart soared. She looked back over Greystones, with its beaches and cove and blue, blue sea, and she realised just how much she had come to love this place.

‘Come on, Sophie,’ said Grandfather gently. ‘It’s time we all got home to Carrigraun.’

MARITA CONLON-McKENNA is one of Ireland’s most popular children’s authors. She has written nine bestselling children’s books to date, and they have been translated into many different languages.
Under the Hawthorn Tree,
her first novel, became an immediate bestseller and has been described as ‘the biggest success story in children’s historical fiction’. Her most recent novel,
A Girl Called Blue
, has received wide critical acclaim. Marita lives in Dublin with her husband and four children.

Under the Hawthorn Tree

Wildflower Girl

Fields of Home

The Blue Horse

No Goodbye

In Deep Dark Wood

A Girl Called Blue

Under the Hawthorn Tree
has been filmed by Young Irish Film-makers in association with Channel 4 Learning.

AWARDS

International Reading Association 1991 for
Under the Hawthorn Tree

Reading Association of Ireland Award 1991 for
Under the Hawthorn Tree

Bisto Book of the Year Award 1992 (Best Historical Novel)
for
Wildflower Girl

Bisto Book of the Year Award 1993 (OverallWinner) for
The Blue Horse

MORE BEST-SELLING BOOKS FROM
MARITA CONLON-McKENNA

UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE

Winner of the International Reading Association Award; Reading Association of Ireland Award

Eily, Michael and Peggy are left without parents when the Great Famine strikes. Starving and in danger of being sent to the dreaded workhouse, they plan their escape. Their one hope is to find the great-aunts their mother has told them about. With tremendous courage they set out on a journey that will test every reserve of strength, love and loyalty they possess.

WILDFLOWER GIRL

Winner of the Bisto Merit Award –
Historical Fiction

Peggy, from Under the Hawthorn Tree, is now thirteen and must leave Ireland for America. After a terrible journey on board ship, she arrives in Boston. What kind of life will she find there? And how will she cope in this new, strange place without Eily and Michael?

FIELDS OF HOME

For Eily, Michael and Peggy the memory of the Famine is still strong, but Mary-Brigid, Eily’s first child, has the future to look forward to. What kind of future will it be? Ireland is in turmoil, with evictions, burnings,
secret meetings and fights over land. Meanwhile Eily, Michael and Peggy each have their own troubles. Will they ever have land and a home of their own?

THE BLUE HORSE

Winner: Bisto Book of the Year Award

Katie’s whole world is turned upside down when her family’s caravan is destroyed by fire. Everything they had is gone, and instead of pulling together it seems as though her family is falling apart. They move to a new house, to a school where nobody wants to know her, and Katie wonders just how many changes she can take. In her fight for acceptance, she learns a lot about herself.