Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2005-11-11:

"Then there was Ninette--petite, just five feet two inches of radiant happiness and as pretty as a picture. She was an air-raid warden.

"She was off duty that night. We danced in a Soho dungeon, and were lucky to find a taxi to take us home while the raid was still on. It was a particularly loud one and, around midnight, I phoned to make sure she was safe, as she lived alone.

"There was no reply. The line was dead.

"Anxiously I walked the mile to her house.

"It was no longer there.

"We had been dancing a few hours earlier. I could still smell the scent of her hair, and Ella Fitzgerald with the Ink Spots had sung, "Into each life some rain must fall."

"It echoed still in my mind, and I went back to work."

-- George Rodger, photographer, who covered the Blitz in London, [qotd commemorates Remembrance Day today. -eds.] recalling the outcome of a German bombing raid. Rodger's photos are collected in the book, The Blitz: The Photography of George Rodger.