The Sweet Passing of Time, стр. 2

‘That’s just the way of the world nowadays. Not much you can doabout it.’

‘I mean, how much was your cuppa? Three pounds wasn’t it? Pah!Complete rip-off if you ask me. No wonder you don’t want to eatanything.’

‘I’m just not hungry. I’m perfectly fine with my tea.’ Shepaused. ‘With or without the chemicals,’ she added, andsmiled.

‘Well what was the point of coming here for lunch then?’ hesaid, ignoring her comment.

Shepointed outside. ‘To see that lovely view for one, dad. And tospend time with you.’

Hethought about this for a moment and nodded his head slowly. ‘Noarguing with you there. Funny to think it hasn’t changed mucheither in all that time. Pier’s had a bit of work done over theyears of course to bring it up to what they say are requiredoccupational health and safety standards. But it survived old Jerryand that big blow-in we had a few years back…sixty-four, I think itwas when that happened. So I’m sure it will be there long after youand I are both gone.’

‘I’m sure it will.’

He staredintently and his mind seemed to wander. ‘I still remember the dayJerry came,’ he said. ‘For weeks beforehand there had been thissense of…inevitable dread. Your grandmother and grandfather thoughtabout evacuating, but I’m glad they didn’t. I probably would neverhave courted your mother if they’d left and taken me back to themainland.

‘The Germans bombed along the coast a few days before theyarrived,’ he continued, pointing outside. ‘I remember seeingflashes of orange and red flame from mum and dad’s house and thenoise was deafening. My father told us to hide under the kitchentable- not that it would have done us much good had a stray bombhit the house.’ He pointed over his shoulder. ‘We found outafterwards that most of the damage happened at the harbour, butthere were also a few houses hit along with a convoy of lorries.They say a few dozen died that night.’ His voice faltered a little.‘I only knew of Mrs Greene, the doctor’s wife. She was felled bydebris thrown up when a bomb caught their garden wall. Poor dearnever stood a chance- killed in the blink of an eye, so Iheard.

‘The next day there was a lot of activity around the place.No-one really knew why the Germans decided to bomb us. We didn’thave any military left on the island- the last lot of troops hadleft weeks before. All that were left were civilians and a load ofchildren who were on holiday helping with the potato crop. Jerrycould have walked onto the island with wooden clubs and stillconquered the place, you know. I suppose they didn’t really knowthemselves; probably thought there was a battalion or twosquirrelled away along the shore ready to defend the island to thelast.’

The womannodded in understanding.

‘When I did go outside, I came here to have a look, actually. Ihalf-expected the beach to be blown to smithereens. Of course, backthen everyone went out to have a nosy around. Nowadays everythingwould be cordoned off, and kids wouldn’t be let outside unless theychecked in with mum and dad on their phones every five minutes.It’s a different world we live in now, eh?’

‘Somethings are for the better though, dad.’

Hethought about this for a moment and turned his attention to anelderly couple sitting by the far door. ‘Bet they have fondmemories of this place too,’ he said.

Shecraned her head towards where he was looking. ‘They might,’ shesaid.

‘Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes…I came here to have a lookaround. Disappointed I was, if I’m honest. We’d heard abouteverything that had gone on over on the French mainland, and likeeveryone else, I didn’t want the Germans here, but I did want tosee what their bombs were capable of. Hoped to get a souvenir ortwo I suppose from whatever fragments I might find. And then to seeall this landscape untouched…well, it was an anticlimax really.’ Helaughed. ‘I suppose I should be thankful they didn’t drop a bomb ortwo here; there might have been an unexploded one right under myfeet and I’d never have known until the last moment. You wouldn’tbe here if that were the case.

‘I was down there by the steps when I saw your mum. She waspaddling her feet in the water and throwing pebbles out into theocean like she always used to do. I remember walking over to her,but we didn’t say anything. There was something about what happenedthe night before that…made it all real, I suppose. Up until then,everyone was living in hope that the Germans wouldn’t invade, orthat they’d be some fleet of ships sent to protect us. We didn’treally think it could happen. And for what end? A couple of tinyislands of no consequence. There was no military here to fight, norich spoils to conquer. Just normal people going about their dailylife.’

He pausedand took a deep breath. ‘It was all a waste really. And it changedus all…up here.’ He tapped his head. ‘Before that night, we’d comehere and play and have fun. But when I stood there next to yourmother, we were both scared of what the future would hold. It wasas if our childhood had ended in that moment.

‘She didn’t say anything for maybe two or three minutes, Isuppose. She just kept staring out into the sea and occasionallypicking up another pebble and tossing it. “Things will be differentfrom now on”, she said finally. “Our homes will be taken away fromus, and we’ll probably be sent away. And I’ll probably never beable to stand here again and do this.”

‘I could tell she was full of mixed emotions,’ he continued.‘For a twelve-year-old, she was very mature. She understood thingsthat only an adult might comprehend. So I told her that it would beall right, that we’d still be able to come down and play and throwpebbles every day even if the Germans did invade.’ He noddedthoughtfully. ‘Yes…I saw your mother in a different light that day.I knew then that she was a very special person.

‘I don’t know exactly know why I did it, but I reached out andtapped the back of her hand lightly. She didn’t