Not so very long later Jemima found herself leaning against a sandbag wall a chill November wind whipping the greatcoat around her knees and whistling up her skirt. The intervening weeks had been very strange, in many ways more challenging than learning to fly a fighter; there had been so much to learn and yet she had taken to the new role as easily she had the Tiger Moth’s controls. It was as frightening as taking off for the first time and as liberating. Jemima worried that she should have enjoyed it less perhaps resisted more; the closest she now came to rebellion was wearing sheer black stockings in place of regulation grey. Even that was a victory for her feminisation.

‘Ooh sorry miss… I mean ma’am’ one of the ground crew had strolled around the corner fumbling to remove a cigarette packet from her overall pocket ‘I’ll just leave you to it’

‘Oh don’t mind me’ Jemima said told the girl ‘here have one mine’

‘Ooh Gold Leaf don’t mind if I do’ she said taking a cigarette from the offered packet while brushing away a few unruly strands of bright red hair that had escaped the scarf knotted around her head ‘thanks miss… I mean ma’am’

‘My name’s Jemima I don’t really feel like a ma’am’ she smiled.

‘Sally… that’s Aircraftswoman Potter… do you have light I can’t find me matches’. Her face crinkled, freckles dancing under the grease smudges ‘you’re new here aren’t you mi… Jemima?’

‘Got here two days ago, it’s all a bit strange. For me anyway’ Jemima laughed.

‘Oh you’re one of the…’ Sally left the sentence hanging. The new pilots had been the source of much speculation among the other ranks who had only had a fleeting glance. Seeing Jemima close up was a shock was she really? No it had to be a joke, a misunderstanding, but Sally knew all the women pilots by sight so Jemima had to be… The silence hung between them for an age before Sally added ‘you’re very pretty’.

Jemima blushed and looked away, compliments still embarrassed her. It was such a girlish gesture. Sally was bewitched by the exquisite little creature looking up shyly through her long lashes. Lord knows there had been enough shower room lurkers since she had joined the Air Force to satisfy any curiosity, had she felt any, about these things with anouther woman but Jemima was stirring up all sorts of emotions. Sally could be quite brazen when she wanted but even then it was always a game for the man; here was a man – unbelievably – who had thrown away all the rules. It was dizzying.

What to say? Sally felt like a rare butterfly had landed in the palm of her hand and she was frozen fearing that it would fly away. Something was bound to slip out it always did.

‘Do you wear women’s clothes underneath too?’
Jemima did not disappear into the gloom; she nodded earnestly adding ‘Oh yes, we have to wear terrible corsets but we can wear some prettier underthings as well’ and blushed. While they were both silently kicking themselves Sally took the initiative.

‘Will you show me?’ For Sally the years were peeling away, back to the day in infants’ school when Simon Arbuthnot – her first betrayer – had tricked her into showing her knickers. Now she was the one in trousers, long trousers too, watching wide eyed as Jemima lifted the hem of her skirt revealing a band of deep claret lace just touching her stocking tops. ‘Oh they’re beautiful’ she said fighting the urge to reach out and touch ‘where did you get them? They must have cost a fortune in coupons’

‘They were a present’ Jemima said lifting the hem a fraction higher ‘from Doctor Higgins she taught us how to speak like girls’

‘She must have liked you then’

‘She kissed me once or twice’ Jemima said softly (‘Hussy!’ thought Sally) ‘but she used to smack the back of my legs with a ruler when I made a mistake’ Sally was suddenly intrigued by the idea of smacking the back of those legs, not a thought like any she had entertained before, and only just caught the flicker of something in Jemima’s smile.

‘You liked that didn’t you?’ Sally squealed.

Jemima bit her bottom lip as if she was fighting to keep the answer in. Right at the moment when it seemed that the struggle was almost over the air was torn by the snarl of an aero engine, a big one and by the sound in trouble.

‘That’s the sort of thing that starts people looking for me’ Sally said ‘I’d better go’. It was a bit too early for a kiss but she could not resist landing a smack on Jemima’s bottom before she turned away and ran.