The Petticoat & the Evacuee Scene 1

The story of an evacuee begins in the autumn of 1940. Billy says a tearful goodbye to his mother before boarding the bus to who knows where. Everyone else is just as nervous as Billy, even more so when they arrive at the small church hall in a remote town somewhere well away from the city. They stand in line waiting to be picked and some of their potential hosts inspect them as if inspecting livestock, picking the healthiest and cleanest looking ones first. Poor Billy was always one of the last to be picked for football games and he’s one of the last today. A stern-looking middle-aged lady arrives late and is ‘furious’ that all the ‘decent’ evacuees have been claimed. “Is this all you’ve got left?” she snaps at the billeting officer as she sneers at the three remaining evacuees. The lady reluctantly picks the tatty looking red-haired girl next to Billy, before entering into a heated debate about whether or not she should take Billy too. “You did put your name down for two children Mrs Postlethwaite.” the billeting officer reminds her. In the meantime, the smallest child is taken in by a family who’ve agreed to take four instead of three evacuees. The billeting officer pleads with Mrs Postlethwaite but the lady refuses to budge.