大象传媒

It was the first of december 1942 when the world i knew ended. I was seven years old and sturdy, my dad was very old so he worked in the dock offices, instead of being at the war.
Mum kept her clothes on all the time, with her wrap around pinny over the top and a turban on her head, she took off her earrings and boots when she got into bed in the air raid shelter, and in the morning she put them on again, then she took her lipstick out of her pinny pocket and did her lips red and she was ready for the day.
My dad would put his tie on and we would go home in the lovely quiet morning, except this morning there was no home to go to. We came round the corner into our street and instead of our house waiting, safe and sound, there was a big hole in the ground, full of rubble and glass, the whole street had just disapeared.
Dad was carrying my little sister Maureen, he stopped dead, Maureens eyes opened wide and she put her thumbs into her mouth, Dad said "bloody hell!" but mum just stood there like she had turned to stone.
Some men were working in the rubble and when they saw us the boss came over, he asked us our name and address, Dad told them and he wrote it down on a list, he asked if anybody else had been in the house dad said no, mum hadn't said a word, or moved at all, she was struck dumb.
After dad had finished talking the man said we should go to St.Maurices church hall, where we could shelter until we could be quartered somewhere, someone shouted to the man that they thought they had found somebody. My dad said should he stay and help but the man looked at mums frozen face and at my little sister who had started to cry and he said "no mate, better get your family to St.Maurices".
After that life was so different you couldnt recognize it, Mum stopped doing anything, she just sat by the stove, dad came and went to his office and the church ladies looked after Maureen she just carried on playing with her dolly like she always did as long as someone fed her. I had to leave earlier to get to school on time, Miss Monkton had a list of children who were bombed out and she added me to it, she said " we must all be brave" I never found out if she had been bombed, she didn't seem as if she would let a thing like that upset her anyway, but I was frightened by how much it had upset my mum, she just sat there,some times she warmed her hands and some times she didn't, her face didn't move and she didn't speak. It was as though she wasn't there any longer, just her body
Dad did his best, we were in that hall for a week and dad went to his office in the day time, he got our tea at night and when we were eating he sat by mum and fed her with bits of food, she swalloaed it but she didn't seem to notice and when he took us all to the shelter at night,she didn't take off her boots and earrings and she didn't do her lipstick in the morning. Dad dragged us back to the church hall and went to work, then one of the ladies called the doctor.
After the doctor looked at mum he took dad aside to talk to him, when dad came back he looked very worried, when I understood, I was very worried too, the doctor said our mum had to go to hospital and stay till she was better.
We didn't have a gran or any aunties so they decided the best thing for us was to send us to an orphanage.
When I understood that i was even more worried, it seemed it was a place for children without parents, but Maureen and i had a mum and a dad, what if they found out and wouldn't let us stay, what would we do, and how would we find dad to tell him, I didn't really know where he worked and I had to look after Maureen.
We had been there a week when I remembered something terrible, it was nearly christmas, you wouldn't think that could be terrible really would you? but it was, I couldn't work out how it could possibly happen, I reember last year and all the other years before. Mum put holly behind the mirror and the pictures. We had a tree with paper bows and silver stuff, we all made paper chains , Maureen couldn't do much really but I let her lick all the gummed bits and she had laughed and been pleased because she was helping, then our dad had hung them from the light on the cieling, they fanned out around the room it looked lovely. Now we didn't have a light or a cieling even and worst of all, how would father christmas find us? This last thought was worst of all. I am quite big now but I didn't want maureen to be dissappointed and I wouldn't mind Father Christmas leaving me a dinky toy or a train also a big annual and a cricket bat,although I am quite grown up. How would I explain it to Maureen or perhaps he didn't come to orphanages he might do but somehow I think mum and dad come into it somewhere. I worried about this all the next week as the school holidays had started.
The matron was a very important person
she was like a queen, she had lovely piled up silver hair with a big lace bow on it, she wore gold specs, they were round and glittery and she had an upside down watch pinned to her front.
One afternoon I was sitting on the garden steps and she sqw me, I was so worried I didn't notice her or I would have got out of her way, she was close to me before I saw her, and she said " whats wrong with you ?" Well I had to answer her, so I started to tell her about my worries, about Maureen and christmas and mum and no cieling for the paperchain,no father christmas, in fact nothing at all, I dont know why but i was crying by the time i finished.
Matron surprised me, for such an important person, she was very kind, she said it was alright for us to stay even though we had parents because of the war, she said the war changed everything, well that was certainly true, she quite cheered me up about christmas, she said we have a nice party also presants and games. I felt better after that.
Next day we had a surprise, our dad came to see us, he said mum was getting better and we had to be good until he could bring us out, when we got somewhere else to live, it was wonderful to know we wernt there forever.
Then interesting things started to happen, they got a really big christmas tree and we were all allowed to help with streamers and it had a big star on top, also you could smell different food cooking. I began to think it might not be toobad.
A boy called Ollie who had been there years said you got really good presants. He said father christmas came round after dinner and gave them out, I was amazed, I said "do you mean you see father christmas?" He said "yes of course" I said "what does he look like" Olly thought for a bi then he said "Hes a bit like Mr Hollis the odd job man, but much nicer and he has a long beard" I was very interested, Olly said father christmas couldn't do every body in one night so he did big places like orphanages the next day, seemed very sensible to me.
Well christmas arrived and it was just as matron said, we had a good party on christmas eve and played games. Matron told us a story, and we had cocoa to take to bed. It wasn't so nice waking up with no stocking at the end of the bed, but I explained it to maureen and i think she understood.
The next day was smashing, we had a good time but the best bit was really seeing father christmas, I felt so excited I was jumping up and down just like the little ones, he was just as I expected, he was a fat old man who creaked about in big leather boots, he was very kind and his beard was amazing, he was a bit like Mr Hollisbut i expect a lot of old men look alike. Maureen got a dolls tea set and a book and some sweets and I got a dinky fire engine all fresh painted red, also a book and sweets, so really it was better than we hoped.
We had another party too that afternoon and more games. When we went to bed we were tired out, it had been a lovely day.
But the next day was much better after breakfast matron came for us and took us to her office, she had all our things in a bag. I was just starting to worry again when our dad came in, he was beaming, and he swung us round. He said "I've come for you kids, we've got another home." He shook hands with matron and we went and got on a bus, it was a long ride and when we got ff it was a long walk. Dad told us we had two rooms to ourselves and he'd got us new beds and a chair each also a table and some other things from the red cross. Oh it was lovely! Dad opened the door and we saw paper chains hung from the light and a christmas tree, but best of all our mum was sitting by the fire her lips were all red and she was smiling at us. When we were all cuddled up to mum , dad put his arms around us and said christmas was magic and I think thats true. The christmas magic had brought us all together again. There was a new mirror with holly behind it and I had seen father christmas.

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