大象传媒

I remember it as a cold, sunny day (I've read that people remember it as a foggy day, but our house stood on high ground. Perhaps that made the difference). I was four years old and it was wash day. I was standing in the kitchen doorway, my hands pressed against the sides of the doorframe, watching my grandmother working in the kitchen. I felt the ground sway and the doorframe move. I heard a low rumble and everything seemed to rattle. My grandmother looked up from the mangle, a strange expression on her face which I now know was fear. My mother rushed outside to check on my six month old brother who was still sleeping peacefully, well wrapped-up in his pram in the back garden. We all then quickly moved to the front of the house from where we could see a huge black cloud filling the sky above the countryside. My grandmother said "Our May will be killed" but my mother reassured her pointing out that my auntie lived in a slightly different direction. Fortunately my mother was right. I think the black cloud hung in the sky all day and my mother put all my dolls in bed with me that night.

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