Eight word story September 2017

Story submitted by Angela:


They could not believe their ears! Their precious daughter had been allocated a place in the countryside!
All around them now in the heart of London was death and devastation. For the parents their was no choice but to stay, as thousands of others were and pray that they would somehow be lucky. That they would live to see the end of this horrific war and one day life might be normal again.

For their daughter though, this was a chance to ensure her safety and not have the constant fear of her short life being ended almost before it had begun.

When they told the ten year old Margaret that she was to leave next week with lots of other evacuees her response was of course to cling to her mother and beg not to be sent away.
Her pleadings had to be in vain for her own sake and she found herself a week later on the station with fifty or so other children all with their gas masks and little suitcases or in some cases just a large cloth bag, the best that could be found at short notice in poorer households.

Margaret had begun to see that their was no escape from the terrifying ordeal which was to befall her. Being a naturally positive child and of a sunny disposition she tried hard to be brave and not to show her dear parents the depths of her fear and feeling of loneliness. She hugged them both, smiling valiantly through her tears.
'I'll be ok Ma. Write to me won't you. Bye Dad'
She was the apple of her dad's eye and he fought back the tears as he watched her go.

The train trundled them out of London; gradually the tall grey buildings gave way to smaller houses, rows of them, and then things began to get greener and the space wider. There were fields with cows and little villages with church spires in the distance.

As they disembarked and stood on the station, name tags hanging from their necks, identification for prospective foster parents, they were a forlorn and sorry sight.

A kind looking lady came towards Margaret.
'Hello my dear, I think you are to be the new member of our family. My husband has the car nearby we'll soon get you home.'
Inspite of herself and the hole of emptiness within her being, Margaret  liked this lady and had never ridden in a car.

They walked outside to the waiting car and the lady helped Margaret into the back seat with her things.
'This is my husband Jack, you can call him Uncle Jack and I'm Auntie Johnnie.

There is someone else waiting to meet you at home whom I think you'll like very much.'
Margaret sat, nestled in the soft leather seats and looking out of the windows as they sped along the winding roads, finally turning into a narrow bumpy road and stopping near the end at a lovely black and white house with a big garden.  A path bordered with bright flowers led to the front door up three wide round steps with a porch above. Margaret, coming from her tenement building in central London had seen nothing like it in her life and if only her parents had been with her to share it, it would have been Nirvana!

Auntie Johnnie, ( it would be a while before she could call her that naturally) opened the door and all at once something black and white and furry flung itself at them, barking with joy.
'This is Susie Margaret! She is a Cocker Spaniel and just loves children'
Some more of Margaret's fear and tension melted away as she buried her face in the fur of this ecstatic little dog with the long floppy ears and fiercely wagging stump of a tail. She had always longed to own a dog, she adored them, but never in her wildest dreams did she think it would be possible.

'Come and see the garden my dear, Susie needs to go out side, and she will show you around'
They had now walked through the hall to the kitchen and as they walked out through the back door and onto a verandah, looking out over more green lawn than Margaret had ever seen, her last fears receded and she raced after Susie who had found a ball and was looking for someone to throw it.
All round the house they ran, because the garden did indeed surround it on all sides. Past the back gate, past uncle Jack's veggie plot back across the front lawn and arriving panting at the back door.
Auntie Johnnie had made orangeade to drink and rich tea biscuits. When she had finished it was time to be shown her bedroom, up the big curving stairs and into a bright light room with a pretty wallpaper on the walls and a big satin eiderdown on the  bed. It was so much more than Margaret had ever seen and  by this time her heart was bursting with so many mixed emotions.
She had not wanted to come here one bit and she could not understand why her parents had wanted to send her away.
Yet now, with this kind couple in their beautiful heavenly home it just might not be so bad and if her ma and pa could come to visit sometimes, that would be just wonderful.

She smiled up at the lady standing beside her with her hand gently on Margaret's shoulder.
'It's just perfect. Thank you so much. I was so scared and sad but now I don't feel so bad and I can write to my ma and pa and tell them everything'
' Of course you can and one day we hope they will come to see you and you can show them around can't you.'
There are terrible things happening in London and it's because they love you so much that they have sent you to us.

I don't have a daughter of my own and I am very lucky that they have lent you to me. I think we're going to have fun together and do lots of lovely things. We have nature all around us and their is so much you can learn when you walk in the woods or by the river or through the meadow. The birds and small creatures who hide away, the trees and wild flowers, they are all there for you to discover. We will make you a country lass before you know it!



 The grey haired woman leant back in her chair, the photo album lying in her lap. All those years ago and yet it seemed to her, as she was nearing the end of her life, only yesterday that she had first met that couple and entered their family.
As she had come to love them and belong to them she had slowly become a child of that place. Her life changed in every way. She had made new friends at school, begun to shine in some subjects and at sports and was adored by her foster parents.
Then one day it had all ended almost as quickly as it had begun. She'd had to leave all that had become dear to her and go back to the dreary greyness of her London home. She was a young teenager by then, a child no longer and she was utterly torn when the wrench came.
She remembered it being never the same again at home. She could not forget the comfort, the space, the light of the country. Her parents had found it hard to understand and were often hurt. They had had their own problems, left to endure the war and her father, injured in a bombing raid, was a shadow of his former self.

Yes, she thought as she began to drift into sleep, keeping her safe through the war had come at a huge price and the ripple effect of pain to all those affected was wider than could be imagined.
Yet, she had had a good enough life, modest in all ways but with love and affection and now and then some special treats to mark out the years.
Life is not fair she thought but making the best of what you do have and not hankering for what you can't was what counted in the long run. She saw herself, running again around the garden on that first day in the country, twirling around with Susie at her heels, twirling and spinning, laughing and looking up at the clear blue sky.



Jackie's story:

The dogs ears were trailing in the mud.  Burs, thorns and branches trailing under his tummy, mixed with dirt and gravel glued together with slobber.  His ears were in shreds having run through thorn bushes and brambles  -  blood and saliva made bloody patches on  the freshly cut grass in Mr. And Mrs Gobby’s lovely garden.

“Nobody” the pale pink orphaned rabbit was zigzagging for his life amongst cabbages, radishes, and around the gooseberry bush.  

By the time he had run three times round the garden - rabbit’s  tongue was hanging out of his mouth …his nose quivering with fear .  He could smell the sweat and hear the breathlessness of the big heavy dog pursuing him.   Several times he swerved just in time to avoid those yellow jaws with  foul smelling  breath ready to bite off his pretty bubbly tail - pink and fluffy from grooming just this morning.    Rabbit sprinted and dodged his stalker,  he could hear the heavy chomps and clumps of the dogs muzzle.    He could feel the dogs claws getting closer and closer digging into the earth as he stretched his short but sturdy legs and strained to catch the baby rabbit.    
In his haste he ran through and out the other side of the big blackcurrant bush that had grown as tall as a tree.    As Mr and Mrs Gobby didn’t like blackcurrants,  it was full of very ripe fruit dripping with juice  falling on the ground in a pulpy mass.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Mr Gobby had got up early that morning.  Unable to sleep the previous night thinking about that fox who had slipped through the hole in the bottom garden gate killing off two of his best egg laying chickens.  He was up at the crack of dawn determined to put a stop to this massacre that would surely get worse.   So armed with tools, he set off to nail up and secure that hole for good.   Just at that same moment he tripped over a very small rabbit running full speed who crossed his  path just before the rose bush.  Then, a pounding and thundering of paws deafened his ears.   Astonished he swirled around  just in time to avoid a large dog with long floppy ears baring down the path.   Teeth barred and fire in his eyes,  his slobbering drool  left a trail of silvery dribble hanging in the air in steamy droplets.

Rabbit rushed through the blackcurrant bush - turned around twice and was immediately covered from head to toe in the ripe black juice.   As he shot out of the other side the dog ground to a halt by the sight of a black  wet rabbit.  What had happened to the fluffiness - that pretty pink rabbit he had been chasing?    He sniffed and caught the rather acrid smell of blackcurrants, and his appetite disappeared in a flash.    It stopped him in his tracks.  
 Rabbit seized the moment  which gave him just enough time to dash for the hole garden gate.    Instinct told him that the big heavy dog wouldn’t stand a chance of getting through that splintered plank. 
Mr Gobby advanced with a determined step - the now black rabbit crisscrossed his path and Mr Gobby thought it was the fox - raising his hammer he slammed it down…..

Rabbit sat on his haunches,  nose trembling in delight,  he washed his paws and sighed once again.  He had attained Nirvana, tranquility and heavenly paradise.