Chez Nous oops not French today but creative writing at Cadnam. Varied stories again and hard to chose the winner but Ann gained most votes.
Rosemary told of a sister's early death, Joan E a short bio of a woman who raised a family and loved animals. Brian told us about what is known about Gypsies. Pat an 85yr old going to China. John hating music lessons kills tutor, Sheila dreaming of skates. Sue Good old Bill looking after girls. Joan R cockney slang. My effort was about the young Elizabeth who became E.II
Next month "the one"
Young Elizabeth
As she finished dressing, Betty thought how lucky it was that the weather was once again dry and warm. She enjoyed her trips to the shops and the chance to meet and speak to someone. Living as she did in a small terraced house in the city, she was in the centre of a hive of activity, but everyone was in such a rush, they hadn't the time to stop and talk. However, the friendly shop assistants at the small corner shop at the end of the road would always find the time for a little chat. If the weather was really nice, she would often walk down to the town centre to sit in the park and watch life pass by and sometimes someone would come and sit down on the bench and strike up a conversation. These were really good days. It was a different story though when it was wet and cold. Time seemed to almost stand still. Alone at home with just the radio and the television for company she often found herself talking to the presenters, but found little benefit from these non productive conversations. As there was very little cleaning and tidying to do, the housework was usually done in no time at all. Then the time seemed to drag interminably. Sometimes she would tidy a drawer or cupboard that was perfectly tidy, just for something to do. If the phone rang her spirits rose, thinking it was someone calling her for a chat, but more often than not it was someone with a foreign accent that she could hardly understand who soon rang off when she tried to strike up a conversation with them. She often watched the children's programmes, as they were colourful and cheerful. The evenings were the worst time though, especially when she drew the curtains and shut the world outside. She would worry about what would happen if she should fall and hurt herself. Would anyone miss her? She had a son, who only lived about ten miles away, but he and his wife were always busy and her grandson never had been very close to her. She used to phone them up each week to ask how they were and invite them over, but they always found an excuse for not coming and in the end she stopped phoning. Since then she had the odd occasional call just checking she was still in the land of the living. Today however, she had been to the park after her visit to the shop and had spent a lovely morning chatting to various people. When she arrived back home, she decided to spend some time in her little back garden. She enjoyed pottering about in it and tending to the flowers and shrubs. It was the one thing she had always enjoyed and she continued to indulge herself. As she deadheaded the roses, she heard a little voice and looked up. She saw a young girl peering over the fence. "What are you doing lady?"
"I'm cutting off the dead flowers so some new ones can grow. Your name
is Libby isn't it?"
"How did you know that?"
"I heard your mummy calling you the other day".
"My mummy is very sad today. My daddy is in the army and he has gone to
Afghanistan. I don't know when he is coming back".
"Would you like a bunch of flowers for your mummy to cheer her up?"
"Oh yes please. What's your name lady?"
"I'm called Betty Maggs".
Betty picked a bunch of flowers and handed them over to Libby and
finished her deadheading before going back indoors.
The following day there was a knock at the door and when she answered it she found Libby and her mum standing there. Betty invited them in and was presented with a small tin.
"Libby and I were doing some baking today and thought you might like a few small cakes for your tea. It was very kind of you to send over those flowers. They really cheered me up"
They stayed and had some tea and biscuits and Betty enjoyed the company so much. She was quite sad when they said they must go, but ventured to suggest that maybe they would like to come to tea again soon. The friendship grew and Libby and her mum adopted Betty as their surrogate grandma and mum. Betty would baby sit for Libby when her mum had to work late and they would spend many hours readings stories, playing games or just talking about times when Betty was a young girl. Libby was quite surprised when she discovered that she and Betty were actually both called Elizabeth and delighted in calling them the Young and Old Elizabeths. Now thanks to Young Elizabeth, the hidden disease Betty had been suffering from for many years, loneliness, was now well on the way to being cured.
