大象传媒

Ihad been posted,for a temporary stay,in a village a few miles south of Naples.Our group was a small one with individuals waiting forpostings to various places in the middle east and our present residence was a villa which was surounded by a circle of wire fence and strings of barbed wire. Two or three of us ,who had just arrived ,were curious as to why all the defences,even though the Germans were still fighting only a few miles north. The sergeant got us all together and told us that it was because of the children,we were definately not to go out alone,but in twos or even better in threes or fours.There were many children,from infants to teenagers ,roaming the streets,they had lost there parents and some had grouped into gangs,looting,stealing and mugging.There had been instances of troops being stabbed,so now you have been warned.
Therewas no desire on my part to go out on my first day of arrival having just come off a ship and having had to climb over the decks of sunken ships in Taranto harbour toget ashore ,and then a rough ride in a jeep.I had been allocated a nice room overlooking the front garden and as soon as the sergeant finished I turned in for the night.Next morning I woke to bright sunshine and lost no time in getting washed and down to the ground floor,looking for breakfast.It was very good,I could help myself to orances,so I took two and squeezed them,catching the juice in my mug and sipping it while I waited for porridge. Soon the aroma of bacon got me up from what was now left of my porridge and I made my way to the counter where the cook was dishing out eggs and bacon,fried bread and beans,followed by slices of toast and oodles of tea.
It was quite pleasent exchanging experiences of various places and varieties of of aircraft,with some of the other chaps,while consuming more toast and tea.Good though it was I came to the point when I could eat no more .I looked at my plate with rinds of bacon,crusts of bread,dregs of porridge and some cold tea in my mug,then asked where one went to scrape out this lot.I was told to go out the back door and down the garden path to where I would find a big drum to scrape rubbish into.
Off I went and reached the drum and was about to scrape out when I got a fright as an empty bully beef tin came through the wire and shook up and down in my face.On recovering I realised that it was held in a small hand,the hand of a child,and the faceof the child rose up from among the long grass showing despare and hunger,and with eyes riveted on my plate and mug.The dregs of porridge went into the tin followed by the crusts of bread,but still the tin shook and eyes focussed on the bacon rinds,these followed and now the tin shook towards my mug so the last half inch of tea joined the mixture.The tin was withdrawn,a child of about seven years of age came closer to the wire,gave a gentle smile,a little nod and hurried off to disappear through the long grass.

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