Chapter 6 - Headlong Into Danger

Discussion in 'Reading & Writing' started by Maisie Walker, Apr 14, 2018.

  1. Maisie Walker

    Maisie Walker Very Well-Known Member
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    Headlong into Danger .............Part one

    When my baby was about 6 months old I used to put him outside in his pram underneath my window so that he was getting fresh air and I could keep my eye on him. Photo below. We had to make do and mend in those days and unravel old jumpers to re-use the wool again and the cardigan my son has on was one that I made out of an old jumper.
    We were still on rations at that time and I always went for my rations on a Friday morning. This particular Friday I had put my food away and got myself a cup of tea when I heard a whimpering coming from outside my window. It wasn’t my baby because I had brought him in and put him in his chair when I had returned with my rations because it looked like rain. .
    I looked out of my window but could see nothing there and put it down to my imagination.
    Suddenly I heard it again and curiosity got the better of me and I went outside to see what it was.
    I nearly had a fit when I saw that a young boy of about five years of age had got his head trapped between the two buildings.
    WHY he had been looking there I have never found out. I was by this time panicking because the pub was shut across the road and there were no such things as phones for poor folk in those days. It would have been impossible for me to run to the nearest telephone booth.
    I told him to stop wriggling and I would be straight back.
    I went and got some of the lard and butter ration that I had just been to the shop for and went back to lather his ears and his hair with it to ease him out.
    To say he looked a ruddy sight would be putting it mildly. I managed to get him out without cutting his ears off but he looked so funny. He looked as though he had been plugged into the electric with the way his hair was standing to attention. He was crying and I asked him where he lived.
    I shot in and just wiped my hands on a damp towel and I gave him a damp flannel and towel to wipe his face and hair with.
    I put my baby back in his pram and told the little boy to take me to his mother.
    Fortunately he lived just round the corner but I wasn’t prepared for the way his mother greeted him.
    As she came to the door so did two other children. One was a girl aged about 12 and another lad who would be about 9 years old.
    They both looked like scared rabbits but having seen how the mother came ranting at the child I took home I was not a bit surprised.
    She started shouting at him when I tried to explain what had happened and why he had grease on his head.
    She just seemed to want to vent her anger out on the child and went back to get a thick buckled belt to strap him with.
    I caught it as she went to lash him and I yanked it out of her hands at the same time telling her that IF ever I see any marks on the children I would have her guts for garters.
    She went like a deflated balloon and said she did not know what had come over her. She then asked me in for a cup of tea.
    I went in but not because I felt sorry for her it was the children that I was worried about.
    This was the start of a relationship with someone I could not take to but I felt I had to be there for the children.
    The laws then were nothing like they are today where children are concerned. The year was 1951.

    I kept in touch with the woman who I will call Madge and the three children. The children very often came round to me for a drink or something to eat.
    The 12 year old girl who I will call Jilly came everyday after school and I gradually taught her to knit and read patterns.
    The two boys were a different kettle of fish because Jilly’s blood brother could tell the biggest lies while looking you straight in the eye with his big blue eyes. I found out more about his wily ways later.
    I did teach them some card games to help keep them amused such a Rummy and Knockout Whist. I had had plenty of practise learning these card games when in the Anderson shelter during the Blitz.

    Jilly’s stepbrother ( the one who had his head trapped ) I found out was a head banger.
    He was always banging his head against the headboard on his bed from what Jilly told me and caused quite a bit of mayhem at times. I suppose in todays society he would be regarded as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD as it is known nowadays.
    Yes he was a bit of a handful but I used to keep him amused when he came to see me by giving him a very large box of buttons that my mother had given me and a ball of wool. I would ask him to find all the same buttons and thread them on different lengths of wool. This kept his attention from wandering.
    I made sure that they were off the strands by the next time he came so that he still had plenty to go at.
    Crafty on my part I suppose but as long as it kept him amused that was all that mattered.

    Madge used to come round but usually on the cadge for something such as sugar or money to get cigarettes. She got short shrift from me by telling her I had use my sugar ration up and I had no money to give her.
    She topped it all one day though when she came round and asked me if I had any new knickers because she was going to a wedding. My mind boggled as I gave her my last pair of new ones just to get rid of her.
    I had the children that day while she went to the family do with Jilly’s father.
    NO children were invited.


    I had known this family for about four months when my hubby came home and said that he had been offered a house that belonged to the firm he worked for.
    I was over the moon because I would have my own front and back door and as much as I had enjoyed living at “Kerry’s” I still wanted a place of my own.
    Kerry was pleased for us but said he would miss the "babbie" and would I do him a big favour before we left.
    I think he had an inkling that he would not be around much longer and was trying to tie up some loose ends. I was only too happy to do anything because he had been good to me in his own way. He wanted me to go and get all the glassware out of the box cupboard at the top of the stairs and wash it for him to pass on to nieces and nephews. This I did for him on the Sunday afternoon a week before we left while Cliff looked after the baby. The beautiful crystal glass that I was being entrusted with took my breath away and I felt privileged to be asked to do this for him.
    I was not prepared for the shifting the last box of glassware to find a bronze plaque with a woman’s name on it and the date of 1804 who according to the reading died giving birth to her still born child in that very house.
    To say it took the wind out of my sails would be an understatement. Had she come back in spirit to protect me? I will NEVER know. I finished doing the glassware and took it to Kerry so that he could contact his family for them to come and get their heirloom. I never mentioned the plaque to Kerry but I did show it Cliff before we moved out.

    Our son was around ten months old then so it would be around the beginning of September when we moved back to Loughborough.
     

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  2. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    Again you made me laugh, Madge on the cadge for knickers :p
     
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