This was Operation Dynamo, the evacuation from France. The BBC had been playing this up all night, the little ships of England sailing to France to help the Navy bring home a defeated army. But the little ships were, shockingly, coming back empty.

'You can't park here, madam.' She turned to face a man, quite young, in a heavy black jacket and a tin hat that looked like a relic of the Great War. He had a rifle, a canvas gas-mask pouch slung over his shoulder, and an armband with 'ARP' stitched into it. Air Raid Precautions, another of Britain's new volunteer armies. 'We're trying to keep the beaches clear, and the run into town.'

'Yes, I can see that. I'm sorry. Look-'

'And you ought to have your gas-mask with you.'

'Well, it's in the car.'

'The rule is, carry it at all times.' His accent was what she thought of as neutral English; he sounded quite well educated. He was looking at her more closely now, suspiciously. 'May I ask what you're doing here? You seem lost.'

'I'm trying to get to Hastings. My son is coming home with the BEF, or I hope he is.'

'And you don't know where Hastings is?'

She tried to keep a lid on her temper. 'I don't even know where I am. Look, if you could just point me at Hastings-'

'Where are you from? Canada? I know there are Canadian units in the BEF.'

'No, I'm American. Easy mistake to make.'

His eyes narrowed and he stepped towards her. He limped slightly; maybe that was what had kept him from the call-up. 'No need for that tone, madam. You're in Bexhill.' He pointed east, along the coast road. 'Hastings is a few miles thataway. Just keep on through Saint Leonard's and you can't miss it.'

'Thanks.' She hurried back to her car.

In her rear-view mirror she could see him stand there and watch her pull out. She reminded herself that she was at the besieged coast of a country where there was a strong suspicion that the enemy wasn't just coming but might already be here, in one disguise or another. He fixed his helmet and continued his patrol along the sea front.

It was a straightforward drive east, though the coast road was crowded with trucks and buses and other transports, and, ominously, ambulances.

She came into another town. She saw a pier, with boats clustered around its great feet. The pier had been severed so it couldn't be used by invading Germans. She kept pushing forward until the road passed the base of a hill, a stratified cliff on which sprawled the ruins of a castle. This was a seaside town, with hotels and a bandstand. She saw no children around on this summer Saturday. All evacuated inland, no doubt, because of the invasion scare. Still, it was eerie. And ahead of her an unlikely sight loomed, a school of tremendous silvery fish straining on tense cables into the air. They were barrage balloons; evidently air attacks were expected.

Soon she saw a harbour wall jutting out to sea. But she wasn't able to reach the harbour itself, for the coast road was blocked. Uniforms swarmed everywhere. Once more at a loss she turned inland, scanning for information points and police officers.

She passed an open space that seemed to have been set up as a medical triage centre for refugees, where bewildered-looking civilians were tended to by kindly nurses and other volunteers. A white-coated doctor sat with one woman, gently trying to prise something from her. As she drove past, Mary saw that it was an arm, the severed arm of a child, blackened and burned. The sight bewildered Mary. She was supposed to be a journalist, at least pro tem. How could she write about this?

She came to yet another hold-up, ahead of a piece of wasteland. This was the anchor point for one of the barrage balloons. The steel-grey monster, an envelope of hydrogen sixty feet long, loomed quite low over the rooftops, in the middle of being deployed. It was tethered to the ground by thick steel cables, and its crew was struggling to control the cables' release from massive winches. Most of them were women, straining and sweating, in the colours of the ATS, the Wrens, and a few WAAFs, the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. An officer, male, stood by, steadily counting to give the crew rhythm as they heaved. Mary stared, amazed at the sight of this miniature zeppelin rising up from the streets of this seaside town.

One of the WAAFs lost her hat as Mary watched, and bright red hair tumbled loose. Mary thought she knew who she was. She parked hastily, ignoring the shouts of yet another ARP warden, and she got out of the car and ran forward. 'Hilda! Hilda Tanner!'

The young WAAF turned. Mary waved, still pushing forward. The WAAF had a word with the officer, and he released her from the crew with a brisk nod. Hilda picked up her cap, crammed her red hair beneath it, and hurried towards Mary.

Mary felt relief gush. It wasn't Gary, but it was one step closer. 'Hilda? Look, you don't know me. We haven't met. I only knew you from the photographs-'

Hearing her accent, Hilda evidently guessed who Mary was. 'You're Gary's mother.'

'He did speak of you, and how he'd met you here – I was stuck in London, you see – and then the embarkation came-' Unaccountably her vision blurred.

The girl took her arms. 'Here, don't take on so. Come with me. Here, sit down.' She led Mary to a bench; some of its slats had been removed, maybe for firewood, but it was possible to perch on it. Sitting there, in the sharp sunlight, Mary felt the last of her energy drain out of her.

Hilda was as pretty as her photographs had suggested, but with a long, rather serious face, a strong nose, and a determined set to her chin. She didn't seem to be wearing any make-up; that bright red hair, struggling to escape from her cap, was the most colourful thing about her. 'What are you doing here, Mrs Wooler?'

'Mary. Call me Mary, for God's sake.'

'It's Gary, isn't it?' Her voice rose. 'Has something happened to him? I've had no news since-'

'There's nothing bad, that I know of.' She told her what she had learned from the War Office.

'And so you came.'

'Yeah. The trouble is I don't know what to do now I'm here.'

'Then it's lucky you found me,' Hilda said firmly. 'We'll ask my dad.'

'Your dad?'

'You'll see.' Hilda took Mary's hand, stood, and led Mary away from the sea front and into the town. But as they walked she glanced across at the work unit still labouring at the balloon.

Mary asked, 'Are you sure you can get away?'

'Oh, they can manage without me. Tricky job, mind. If the wind changes you get a bag of hydrogen coming down in the middle of town, and one fag-end and it's blammo. Of course we WAAFs could manage it alone, but the men would never admit to that.' She turned her palm to show what looked like rope bums. 'They call us "amazons, you know. In the papers.' She laughed, quite gaily.

'I'm partly responsible for that, I suppose. I'm a journalist of sorts, a stringer for the Boston Traveller.'

Her eyes widened. 'You are? Gary says you're a historian.'

'A historian by profession. I, we, happened to be here when the war broke out. I looked for something more useful to do.'

'Just as Gary did.'

'To tell you the truth, I tried to stop him joining up. I mean, America isn't in this war.'

'Do you wish you'd tried harder now?'

'No,' Mary said, thinking that over. 'No, I'm proud of him. He did what he thought was right.'

Hilda nodded. 'Look, here's my dad.'

Her father turned out to be a policeman, a constable in uniform. Today, complete with his gas-mask slung over his shoulder, he was on duty outside the town hall. With various uniforms hurrying to and fro, the building was evidently serving as some kind of information station for the evacuation operation.

'Dad!' Hilda broke into a run for the last couple of steps, and, suddenly girlish, let him give her a quick uniformed hug.