Wave Me Goodbye

Author:Ruby Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007506286
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Next day, Grace found herself assigned to very light work, weeding and watering the farm’s kitchen garden, and collecting various summer fruits.

‘We know all about the dreadful time you’ve gone through, Grace, and there’s been a report sent up to the local district nurse just so’s she’s aware of what happened. You know, my heart seems to stop beating every time I think of you on that train, so you’re not to strain yourself in any way and you’ll tell me if there’s anything, won’t you? You take things easy. Should be lovely picking raspberries and maybe I’ll show you how to make a gooseberry fool, if you find some nice ripe ones. They can be sour, can’t they?’

Grace, who, as far as she could remember, had never eaten a gooseberry, agreed wholeheartedly with Mrs Fleming. It seemed the best thing to do.

Onto her head she stuck the very floppy pre-war sunhat Mrs Fleming had unearthed and went out into the garden, followed by the farmer’s wife’s voice. ‘You be sure and keep that hat on, Grace. Doctor said as how you was concussed. Don’t like the sound of that word.’

Me neither, thought Grace, but kept her opinions to herself. She decided to weed first as she felt that the taste of the picked fruits would be better if they stayed on their stalks as long as possible – but she did pop a raspberry or two into her mouth as she passed them. The flavour was incredible. How she pitied all the people in the world who had never eaten a raspberry straight off the bush.

She forced herself to attend to the weeds. Standing was easier but, having decapitated two carrots, she decided to kneel down – less chance of damaging the plants.

The sun rose higher in the sky as Grace worked on. At one point mid-morning, Mrs Fleming brought her out some tea.

‘Everything all right, Grace. You haven’t got a headache?’

‘No, Mrs Fleming; this is lovely tea.’

‘Others are all in the fields and have their sandwiches. I’ll give you a shout when Mr Fleming comes in for his dinner and you can eat with us.’

‘I’m all right out here.’

‘Not with a concussion.’

That appeared to be the end of the argument and so Grace continued with the weeding. The postman cycled past, calling, ‘Given the boss the post. He’s in the old office.’

The old office. Grace had never heard of a new office, let alone an old one but, after all, there were several buildings around the farm that seemed to have no use now. Possibly the great change that the demands the war was making on the running of this farm had made some buildings obsolete. Mrs Fleming had talked of converting one or two former barns into dormitories for city children to live in at harvest-time. Volunteering to spend a few weeks helping out on a farm during the summer holidays was a new government initiative.

Jack and Sam insinuated themselves into Grace’s mind as she thought of the harvest.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.