CHAPTER 6

THE MAKE BELIEVE WORLD

The long wait was over, I was at last old enough to go to school with my sister Alice, it was every bit as nice as Alice had told me. In fact, better than I had thought. All those other children who all flocked round me smiling and so friendly; singing as I had never heard before and beads to thread and nice books full of pictures of animals dressed in clothes. Sheep with bonnets on tied on with ribbon, and even cows in clothes. I was amazed with wonder. I could hardly believe it, but after a short time I realized that it wasn't true. You were not supposed to believe it, because it was called pretending. I was especially puzzled when I learnt some of the nursery rhymes. The one that really taught me about this pretending was Hey Diddle Diddle the Cat and the Fiddle, the Cow jumped over the Moon. The little Dog laughed to see such fun, and the Dish ran away with the Spoon, and as for ten little nigger boys that seemed too sad to think about.

I suppose I had taken things from the first day too seriously, but soon I followed in Alice’s foot steps, and eased up on being puzzled about the picture books. The pictures were pretending as well as the nursery rhymes, and it was all meant to make us laugh, and teach us to use our imagination. Another part of life I hadn't come into contact before. So slowly all the confusion must have gone away, like it does with all the little folk, I wonder if they were all as shocked as I was when I found the things I was being taught were not true at school. One of our infant teachers I was so taken to. I well remember, was such a favourite. She lived quite near to the school, her home was the village black smith's The Forge, and she used to go home to have her midday meal. We used to ask her who could come and meet her after she had had her meal, and she would say which two could come. We would sit on the doorstep of the porch under the lattice where the honeysuckle grew, for a short while until she came out of her house, and then she would have one each side of her holding our hands, back to the school and we would enjoy every minute of it. Such a great privilege we thought it was. The patience she must have had, and how dedicated she was to the little ones. Each child in the village must have started with her warm friendship, and inward security. I felt I had to tell her how I thought the school books had took me by surprise. She told me that she didn't like the books she had when she a little girl. They were about giants, and witches, and they frightened her at first. But the one's about animals having tea parties, and playing nice games were pleasant and friendly these days. So we must be thankful for that. I was thankful I had sisters and brothers at the school. One little boy who's name was David didn't know anyone the first day at school, and he cried and said could he go home. I was sorry for him. The next thing I remember was that when I got home from school one day, my mother was not at the front door smiling as usual to greet Alice and I., and take our school clothes off and put our play things on. Just Freddie was there with father, and the baby John in the pram. Fred told us we understood his baby talk well enough to get the message, mother had gone to bed with a cabbage leaf on her forehead, the cure mother believed in for a severe headache.

Sister Grace at the advanced age of eleven, 5 years older than me, in those days, was very domesticated, and confident to take over at such emergencies. I felt at once that because I was going to school and not helping mother with Fred, it had made mother ill. When I had a chance to have a little chat with her, I told her I would rather stop at home from school to help her. So then she told me the whole story. "I feel as I do dear, because I have had a letter to say dear grandmother has died". "You can still go to school I will manage".

After that I had nasty dreams that my mother had died but it was such a relief when I awoke to find my mother was still with us. I would hug her to me and kiss her, but I also was old enough to realize that when mother awoke in the morning, the first thing she would realize was that her mother was no longer alive, and it must have made her feel very sad. Mother told me that she was the eighth child in her family. Just as I was her eighth child in our family. Each day I seemed to learn a little more about life and find there was still a lot I didn't know, and the more I knew the bigger mystery it was. I thought.

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