Once There Were Lions by Hurn Roger

Author:Hurn, Roger [Hurn, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-04-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Simon

‘We went round to Simon’s house,’ said Thomas. ‘But it wasn’t there anymore. His whole street had been flattened one night during the Blitz.’

‘Is that when he died?’ I asked.

‘No,’ said Rosie, ‘that’s the stupid thing.

‘How do you know?’

‘We were standing there in the ruins of what had once been Simon’s house when a policeman came riding along on his bicycle. He told us to move on as the buildings weren’t safe and we could injure ourselves on the rubble. I think he thought we were looking for anything of value that might have been under the bricks.’

‘That’s terrible,’ I said. As if anyone would go looting the houses that had been bombed. Only a real ghoul would do that.’

‘Golly, you have been out of touch down in deepest Norfolk, haven’t you?’ Thomas shook his head in amazement. ‘I suppose it wasn’t something the BBC wanted to broadcast on the wireless but lots of people did go looting after an air raid. Our Mum told us. She said it was disgusting, but our Auntie Masie said it was only human nature and that if you found something that didn’t seem to belong to anyone then where was the harm in taking it? Mum and Aunt Masie had a big row about it. Aunt Masie stormed out of our house and now she and Mum aren’t on speaking terms.’

‘They’ll make it up,’ said Rosie, ‘They always do.’

I gently reminded Thomas and Rosie that they were supposed to be telling me about Simon, not the falling out between their mum and auntie.

‘We told the policeman we’d just come back from Dorset and were trying to find our old pals,’ said Rosie.

‘As it happened he knew where Simon’s family were living. He and Simon’s family were members of the same Church. They were staying with an old lady who had spare rooms in her house. He gave us the address then cycled off. He didn’t say a word about Simon.’

Thomas picked up the thread of the story. ‘The old lady’s house was in Latimer Road, which was a bit of a step from where we were, so we left it ‘til the next day to go over there. Anyway, we got there bright and early and knocked for Simon. His mum answered the door. She looked liked she’d aged about fifty years since we’d seen her last. Her face was all thin and pinched. I thought it was Simon’s gran at first.’

‘She just stared at us,’ said Rosie, ‘like we were ghosts. Then, when we asked her if Simon was home she burst into tears. We didn’t know what to say but then she wiped her eyes and smiled a smile so horrible it scared me.’

‘It was peculiar,’ agreed Thomas. ‘It was like the smile of someone who’d heard about smiling once but had no idea how to it. Anyway, she asked us to come inside and have a cup of tea.’

‘We could tell something was up with her,’ said Rosie, ‘but we didn’t have a clue as to what it was.

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