Early in 1940, Nola was one of the many children affected by the Second World War. Nola was eleven years old at the time, and she lived in London, England, with her family. Nola had three sisters: Donia, age thirteen; Nennet, age fourteen; and Yvonne, age fifteen. She also had one brother named Maurice, who was sixteen years old at the time.
One day after school, Nola and her sister Donia were walking home. When they came through the door, they found their mom crying. She was holding two gas masks and two small suitcases. She explained that the girls would have to leave because of the war. Children who were still in school and did not have a job were being sent out of London to live. It was not their mom's decision to send them away; it was the British government's decision. Nola and Donia were scared and did not want to leave, but they were told to go to the railway station. Their parents were not allowed to come because there were too many children, as schoolchildren were leaving from all over London.
Nola and Donia went down to the railway station, were given a bag with food, and got onto the train. It was not too long a ride. When they got off the train, they were in the village of Chilham, England. It was a very pretty place. All the children got into one long line. The schoolteachers were in different sections of the line. When a child reached a teacher, the teacher would take the child up the garden path in front of a house, knock on the door, and then the child would go inside. The teachers had to keep knocking on doors and dropping children off at different houses until every child had a place to stay. Finally, it was Nola and her sister's turn. They went up the garden path of a house, wondering who they would be staying with. A lady answered the door and took them inside. A lot of the people in Chilham did not really want to take in children, but they had to do it for their country.
The next morning, when the girls got up, the lady asked them to sit down. She announced that someone would be coming for them at 11:00 a.m. The girls both cried when they heard the news because they were scared. They decided to hide in someone's shed at the bottom of the garden. They were unsure who was coming for them.
When the strangers finally came to pick them up, they had to search for the girls. Nola and Donia were found in the shed because it was not very far away. The strangers separated the two sisters. Nola ended up at one end of Chilham, and her sister was in the town square at the other end of the village. Nola was placed with a lady who was very nice. She could tell that Nola was upset and crying. Nola told the lady about being separated from her sister. The lady said, "Don't worry, dear. In the morning, we can go and pick up your sister, and you can both stay here."
The next morning, Nola and the lady went down into the little village. They met with a teacher who suggested that Nola and her sister should stay in the village because it would be closer to the school. Rather than living at opposite ends of town, Nola and Donia stayed at a little house in the village. At least they were together again. The only problem was that the lady they were staying with was not very nice. She did not want to take in children, and she certainly did not want any more children. She had a daughter who was twenty-one and still living in the house.
It turned out that the twenty-one-year-old daughter was the village nurse. She had a little car and would drive around to nearby farms to help people who were unwell or needed looking after. She would often take Nola and her sister for a ride in her car.
At that time, Nola's father was working not too far away. He worked near Chilham during the week and went home on the weekends. He would often come and see Nola and her sister for an hour. He could tell that the lady his daughters were staying with was unkind and that they were not being treated nicely. Nola's father told her mom all about it when he got home because he was so bothered by how his daughters were being treated.
One morning, Nola's mom pulled up in a taxi outside the house where Nola and Donia were staying. She told the girls to pack their bags and get into the taxi. Next, she went and told the lady off, saying that nobody was going to be bad to her children! Nola's mom then joined the girls in the taxi, and the three of them went to the railway station to head back to London.
On Saturday morning of the following weekend, Nola's father came home later in the day. The girls were hiding behind the kitchen door, and Nola's mom said to their father, "I have got a surprise for you!" Of course, he was overjoyed when his daughters jumped out from behind the door, and Nola was happy that everyone was back together as a family again.