大象传媒

THE ONE BANNANA BANQUET

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Louise Adamou, 大象传媒 Guide at the 大象传媒 Open Centre Hull on behalf of Brain Hodgins and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the sites terms and conditions.

Alexandra Street, Hull, 1944.

The old man stood by the fruit racks in the super store contemplating at what to buy today, 鈥渏ust for a change鈥� as his eyes took in the plethora of fruit before him, his gaze fell upon an absolute mountain of yellow and green Bananas. His thoughts flew back over the years, when, such a sight would have been absolutely unimaginable.

He remembered a day during the war, when, as a young boy playing cricket in the streets with his two mates, he looked up at what had caught his attention. A sailor in a navy uniform had just rounded the corner and was walking down the street towards them. He was carrying a small attach茅 case in one hand and something that looked like a kit back on his right shoulder. Puzzled the boy鈥檚 gaze followed the sailor鈥檚 approaching footsteps, still looking at what the sailor was carrying.
Suddenly his eyes nearly popped out of his head, the sailor was carrying a huge stalk of bananas, and the boy thought 鈥渢here must be hundreds of them.鈥�
鈥淲hat鈥檚 them mister?鈥� the boy said unable to believe his eyes.
鈥淏ananas son鈥� replied the sailor.
The boy just could not believe it; it had been years since anyone had seen a banana, never mind about tasting one.
鈥淲here did you get them from mister?鈥�
鈥淐an鈥檛 say鈥� said the sailor, 鈥淚鈥檓 only home for a spot of leave and I have bought them home with me.鈥�
With that the sailor placed his small case on the ground, reached behind him and pulled a banana off the stalk handing it to the boy saying,
鈥淗ere you are son, a present for you.鈥�
鈥淭hank you mister, thank you very much鈥� the boy turned for home, running as fast as he could, hurrying into his house, he raced to the kitchen where his mam sat by the fire knitting
鈥淢am, mam, look what I鈥檝e got.鈥�
鈥淲here on earth did you get that from?鈥� she exclaimed.
鈥淎 sailor gave it to me mam鈥� he said excitedly. He gave the banana to his mother; she took it with a smile and said 鈥渨e鈥檒l have that tonight for our tea.
The boy thought 鈥渉ow on earth is me mam going to share one banana between six people, there鈥檚 my dad, my mam, my brother and me and my two sisters.鈥�
Came tea time, his mam did exactly that, she made custard, mashed the banana to a pulp them poured the pulp into the custard and gently stirred it together and then spooned it into six dishes. What a feast, there were not many in the land that day who could say they had had banana and custard for tea.

鈥淎ye, thought the old man to himself as he gazed before the mountain of green and yellow before him鈥�
鈥淚t certainly was a wonderful feeling to have been seated at that unforgettable, magical, wartime 鈥淥NE BANANA BANQUET.鈥�
Brian鈥檚 recollections are wholly based on real events. Brian has written them as an outsider looking in to make his memories more accessible to the reader, but he was indeed the little boy in the stories and is now an old man (as he puts it) looking back.

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