The story was how to pack holiday clothes. Joan all about an assassination. My story emigrating to Canada. Ann a time travel for hay making. Sheila hoarding clothes. Jenny the delights of flying to the USA. Pat losing the home and downsizing. Brian saving to buy a house. John on inspiration to write a story. Joan bathroom renewal.
Four people had two votes each so we picked one out of the hat.
Pat 's story.
Lack of Space
Angela was
9 and her brother David 7. They lived in a nice house with a lovely
garden to play in. Angela was a little 'mummy in the making' so to
speak. Her five dolls were changed each day and their hair combed,
then sat in a neat row on her bed. Mother was proud of her tidy
bedroom unlike brother David’s as he was a typical boy.
One night
Angela heard loud voices, looking over the bannister she could only
see shadows but she could tell her mother was really upset. Then,
her father left with a suitcase, where was he going without saying
goodbye? Not wanting to disturb her mother who was quietly sobbing,
she crept back to bed. The next day they went to school as usual,
but Angela couldn't concentrate and was told off for the first time
in her life for day dreaming. Tears came to her eyes and her friend
Ellie passed her a tissue.
That
evening after tea, their mother told them they were going to move
into a mobile home, not too far away so they could still attend the
same school. They were given two bin bags each and told to pack only
the bars necessities in one and everything else in the other which
was going to a friend to keep for the time being. My dolls thought
Angela. I can't leave them, so she put shoes on the bottom of the bin
bag, then her five dolls then topped up with clothes. They both
packed David's as he was in floods of tears at not being able to take
his beloved train set.
Angela
walked into her new bedroom. There was barely room to turn around,
talk about lack of space. I mustn’t let mother see the dolls she
thought, and spying a hook on the ceiling, threw a piece of string
over and hauled up the five dolls in a bag. Her mother's normally
smily lips were in a tight line, and they didn’t like it.
One evening
a neighbour brought her eight year old twin girls to stay the night
as she had to leave unexpectedly. Their soft hearted mother agreed
and a blow up mattress was put on the floor next to her bed. Now
there was no floorspace at all. During the night Angela heard the
twins whispering. They were quiet and withdrawn, wouldn't say boo to
a goose. The next day she asked her mother “ what does going on a
binge mean”? After three nights the twins mother reappeared full of
apologies and they quietly left.
A few
months later mother announced they would be moving to a bigger house.
Apparently the old house had been sold. Down came the five dolls,
they had been up there for almost a year. For some reason she didn't
feel like changing their clothes after all they were only toys.
Thinking long and hard she took four of the dolls to the tiny mobile
home where the twins lived and gave them to the girls who knew
exactly where to put them having seen the hanging bag in Angela's
room. She smile and stood tall and went to get her brother. “you
can get your train set back soon” she told him, sounding just like
her mother. After all, she was ten now, not a child any longer.
