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Published: 2010-11-12 23:49:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 1936; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 4
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I looked over at Lydia on the other bench, quietly reading her book. Of course she was. She was the perfect little girl. I smiled to myself, and turned back to looking out of the window, on which raindrops were streaming past diagonally. Under us, the train rattled a little. Blurred a little by the rain I watched the rolling hills and landscape pass, and let my mind wander.A memory I hadn't thought about in a while came to me. I saw a sunny dirt lane in my minds eye, over the dull back-crop the carriage window presented me. Two children were crouching in the lane, looking at a worm beside a clump of grass on the side of the path. She was wearing a dress and sandals that used to be Sunday shoes until they were mangled by them being worn while playing outside too much. I wore trousers, because my parents were passing me off as a boy until my hair grew back. They had had to cut it shorter to make it look respectable after I used scissors on it myself. Long hair irritated me. They were introducing me as their son to most people that summer I think. But not to Lydia, and not to her parents.
A little further back on the path stood the grown-ups, keeping an eye on us as they chatted about god knew what. Our two families met that day. My mother and father had taken me out into the countryside, and we went for a walk to look at the animals of a nearby farm. Lydia had wanted the worm not to get hurt, so I'd picked it up on the end of a twig and carried it over to the bushes, where I put it down on the soil beneath the shrubs.
Our parents seemed to become friends, so when we next went out to the country a year later we met up again. …And again the next time, three years later. I remember industrially picking berries with Lydia. She liked black berries, and I liked raspberries, so she would look all over for raspberries and I would take great care not to ruin my clothes too badly when harvesting every blackberry within reach from each bush for her. Whenever she found a bush of raspberries she would come running to me "Charlie!" She would shout. "I've got some more! Here! Look!" And she would give me a handful of berries. Whenever we came by a blackberry bush she would stand there beside me, waiting for each berry when it came, placing the bitter fruit in her mouth with every sign of enjoyment.
I had grown my hair back again by that time of course, and wore dresses, though I refused to wear the hats that looked so good on Lydia. I tied my hair back as soon as it was long enough.
I leant my head against the vibrating glass window of the train, and felt its chill through the headscarf I wore nowadays. I glanced over at Lydia, who was still reading in her little book. She never had stopped wearing those Sunday hats. They made her look so very pretty.
I suppose my parents liked seeing Lydia and I having so much fun together as children, because meeting up every summer soon became a tradition. When Father turned sick for a while and we couldn't afford to go on holidays anymore, I sorely missed Lydia, and became quite unbearable to be around during the summer. I wanted to go and spend my summer with her. She was my only real friend.
As the Government grew more worried about mainland Europe, and the news paper headlines got more and more exclamation marks, the mood of every day life sunk. Father said it was because people were worried we would have to go to war. Mother said that that wasn't going to happen and it would all blow over. But it didn't blow over. It only got worse.
War came. Blackouts were introduced to protect us from the bombs that fell all the same, making the world a darker place. Posters were hung out to motivate us, the people, and to warn us. We were reminded of our duties. I got a gasmask, but one of the eyepieces cracked in a fight with Peter, a boy whose path crossed mine on the way to school.
Father was needed in the army, but he organized before he left that I should be registered to the house of a friend of his which was in an evacuation area. That meant I would be sent off to the countryside. Then he got in contact with Lydia's father. I left within a month of Father leaving to join the front. He never came back.
Lydia was waiting at the gate when I was dropped off at the bottom of their road. As soon as she saw me she came running down towards me, and we embraced. It had been so long since we had last seen each other! In our hug I turned to kiss her on the cheek, in the same moment as she did the same. We ended up kissing the sides of each others lips, but it didn't matter. What did the war matter when we could pretend it was summer again? When we were together again? I had missed her so very strongly, it was quite intolerable. I was told later I wore a constant grin for weeks after arriving.
The happiness died down, after a while though, and Liz and I were coming home from the shops where we had just got my ration-card for sweets turned into sugar when her mother came out towards us, with a very sorry look on her face. It looked as if she'd been crying. Wordlessly, and with quivering fingers she handed me a letter. "Oh Charlotte…" she sobbed… "I'm so sorry…"
I looked at the letter. There were a lot of official looking words in it, and I could see my address in London punched into a clear space in the text, and my mothers name a few lines before that, but at the time I had no idea what it meant.
Apparently, it meant that I no longer had a home to go back to when the war was over. Not unless I could call a pile of crumbled walls and broken bricks home. Lydia's mother said that I could stay with them, of course I could, and that I would be welcome. They would adopt me as their own daughter, and …of course it was possible my father is still alive, she said, and we would just have to wait out until the end of the war. I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything much. I was a lot quieter from then on.
Liz and I had not parted since then. After the war, and after we had waited for my father to come back, Lydia's father adopted me, and we were both sent off to a Boarding school together. It was only there that I properly started loving her.
I smiled over to Lydia, where she sat there so pretty with her book. I felt rather uncultured in comparison to her lady like composure I'd never been a pride student. I slid out off my bench and sat down beside her, just an inch too closer that would be usual among friends, and laid my hand palm up on the cushioned bench between us. Subtly, holding her book up in the other, she slipped her hand into mine, and ever so slightly, smiled.
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Comments: 71
Mattkemis In reply to ??? [2011-04-20 07:54:07 +0000 UTC]
uhm... Thanks? Shouldn't your boyfriend be more worried you enjoyed this than that you enjoy Yaoi?^^
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Twilight4Rox2s In reply to Mattkemis [2011-04-20 10:15:21 +0000 UTC]
HAhaha my boyfriend, like most guys, thinks i'm weird that i like yaoi (but he accepts it) but he also accepts I used to have a girlfriend too ^///^
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Mattkemis In reply to Twilight4Rox2s [2011-04-20 22:34:34 +0000 UTC]
Ah. Right^^ "Cool beans", as one says...
I'm normally absolutely open, and should have figured that one out before I asked, but... *shrugs* I'm really ill, okay? I'm just not at the hight of my mental capabilities! *is very defensive* -.-
...uhm.
wow. thanks for the favs.
...and the watch. Am I that witty? <3
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Twilight4Rox2s In reply to Mattkemis [2011-04-21 07:54:10 +0000 UTC]
HAhahaha Ja
Hahaha i don't mind. Not that bad to ask. It's not a crime or anything. Besides, I think you're doing fine anyway.
And you're welcome. I like your um....your...stuff? (i'm not at the height of my men....-wait i think i heard that somewhere) I like your art pieces
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Mattkemis In reply to Twilight4Rox2s [2011-04-21 09:48:17 +0000 UTC]
Ja... hm... please tell me you don't speak Japanese AND German? That would make me feel quite disappointed in myself...
Oh, don't worry... its okay to quote great works
and thanks
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Twilight4Rox2s In reply to Mattkemis [2011-04-22 02:48:18 +0000 UTC]
HAhahaha I love languages. But i solely learn japanese, and other languages, on little bits of. Mainly more songs,sprechen sie deutsch? Ja? Nein?
HAhaha, quotes make the world go round ne?
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Mattkemis In reply to Twilight4Rox2s [2011-04-22 14:14:38 +0000 UTC]
*laughs* I wish I could speak japanese... its awesome^^
and Love makes the world go round... but chocolate makes the ride worthwhile^^
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Twilight4Rox2s In reply to Mattkemis [2011-04-22 23:07:12 +0000 UTC]
haha, I'm trying to do my best at learning it.
And that is very true, Very very VERY true
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Mattkemis In reply to Twilight4Rox2s [2011-04-23 21:43:24 +0000 UTC]
I've never had much of a knack for languages... so I'm stuck with the two I grew up with, unfortunately
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Twilight4Rox2s In reply to Mattkemis [2011-04-24 23:58:41 +0000 UTC]
really? I try and learn bits and pieces, I don't know why, I think I find it interesting and fun. What are the two languages you grew up with? English and...(german?)
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Mattkemis In reply to Twilight4Rox2s [2011-04-26 14:58:52 +0000 UTC]
yeah, english and german. I find english easiest, so I strive to perfect my abilities in that, while I attempt to refine my more crude german while I'm still living in a country that speaks it, and hope that I will not lose the power over it when I leave such territories. What are your plans?
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Twilight4Rox2s In reply to Mattkemis [2011-04-27 09:30:19 +0000 UTC]
I believe that if learning a language, going to the country and being immersed in it helps a lot. So I want to go into architecture when i'm older, perhaps I will just continue my learning of Japanese for fun purposes, or maybe tie it in with my job and travel to Japan for business reasons. I believe, learning English, from scratch, is quite difficult. I'm lucky enough to have come to Australia at such a young age, and I was able to pick it up quickly, unlike my sister, who is struggling somewhat, more. Is German your natural language? Because I understand, if you don't use it, you lose it (like I have with Thai).
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Mattkemis In reply to Twilight4Rox2s [2011-04-29 10:55:29 +0000 UTC]
Oh, surely it does, though it only helps the pronounciation and vocabulary. I have lived close to all my life in a german speaking country, yet my german grammar and orthography stay abysmal. Though my spelling is not a lot better in english.
You are interested in architecture? I love architecture, took a module on the subject a year ago at school, and recently, when I started playing minecraft, I soon took minecraft to the next level and started creating a cathedral. With arced dome-ceilings and a choir, and a precipice, and everything to extremity. It would have put similar projects by other users to shame, had not a disaster occurred, which put all my work to waste.
German is not my natural language, my mother tongue being english, and having been brought up in english too, but neither do I think I will loose german completely when I move away. The quality of my abilities in the language will simply drop sharply.
depending on the age you stopped using Thai, I think it is quite possible that you would find it easier to relearn.
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Mattkemis In reply to Mottenherz [2010-11-26 21:27:40 +0000 UTC]
*kicher*
wie meinst du das, liebling?
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Mattkemis In reply to Mottenherz [2011-01-01 18:32:07 +0000 UTC]
Ich kenn dich, aber seh dich fast nie
Wie waren die letzen wochen?
hab dich lieb *umflausch*
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AM3RA [2010-11-20 23:14:12 +0000 UTC]
I.. -sniff- Loved it... I could see it so well, it was almost liked a movie. Well done!
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Mattkemis In reply to AM3RA [2010-11-21 00:10:41 +0000 UTC]
thank you I'm glad you like it
*smells one of the roses* thanks... //^.^//
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ModernXmystic [2010-11-20 20:33:59 +0000 UTC]
This is an amazingly sweet story! The setting is nice and refreshing, and it's good to finally read a story held in history as opposed to modern times.
I really love it
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Mattkemis In reply to ModernXmystic [2010-11-20 22:50:39 +0000 UTC]
thank you. greatly appreciated ♥
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BreckinisDramatical [2010-11-20 05:13:35 +0000 UTC]
Oh how beautiful!
This is such a great short story!
And it's so old fashionedly cute!
They are adorable and I applaud you for this.
It's a wondeful short story, good work!
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Mattkemis In reply to BreckinisDramatical [2010-11-20 05:27:26 +0000 UTC]
thank you. I appreciate your words. I need as many kind words as possible at the moment, so thank you a lot ♥
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BreckinisDramatical In reply to Mattkemis [2010-11-20 15:50:26 +0000 UTC]
Of course. I'm going to read some more of your work here soon. <3
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Pokerus911 [2010-11-20 02:17:48 +0000 UTC]
i liked it ^^ by that, i mean i actually bothered to click and read the whole thing, which is unheard of for me...
however, i feel you underplayed the whole conflict part of it. And maybe just jumped to the end too fast... but then again, i like reading long drawn out (even boring) things with (maybe a little too much) detail
so yeah ^___^
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Mattkemis In reply to Pokerus911 [2010-11-20 03:01:00 +0000 UTC]
*laughs* which conflict? the whole point is that there is next to no conflict... and which part did I jump? which part should I draw out?
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Pokerus911 In reply to Mattkemis [2010-11-20 04:03:03 +0000 UTC]
the war part of it i'm sorry
hm... you just.. jumped. (sorry, i'm reeeeeeeeeally tired and don't know what i'm saying lol)
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Mattkemis In reply to Pokerus911 [2010-11-20 05:14:00 +0000 UTC]
oh, YOU are tired, huh? its six o'clock here... or just after. in the morning. and I haven't slept yet
what would you like to hear about the war?
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Pokerus911 In reply to Mattkemis [2010-11-20 13:49:03 +0000 UTC]
pfft.
um. idk? XD it just seemed a little insensitive that the war happened and it just jumped back to Lydia
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Mattkemis In reply to Pokerus911 [2010-11-20 14:25:35 +0000 UTC]
yeah, that was kind of intentional... because the war wasn't really important to her. why should it be? it was part of her life.
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Mattkemis In reply to Pokerus911 [2010-11-20 23:02:52 +0000 UTC]
does it make it worse to leave it as it is?
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Mattkemis In reply to ExoPanda [2010-11-19 22:48:37 +0000 UTC]
thank you I'm glad you like it ♥
what do you like most?
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ExoPanda In reply to Mattkemis [2010-11-20 11:45:16 +0000 UTC]
I love the simple and old-fashioned air about it! The way you've witten it from her point of view just emphasises the whole 'war' feeling and it's so light and lovely and when I was reading I felt myself transported to that old dirt round with the sun beating down. And the ending made it just that little better than ending with something usual like, 'I'm lesbian and I love her' thing. It made it sweeter and much more softer.
A simply soft story overall, and one of my favorites!!
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Mattkemis In reply to ExoPanda [2010-11-20 12:07:41 +0000 UTC]
okay, thank you... be glad I got it down before I fell down this cliff though. it would have quite a different touch to it if I'd written it now.
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ExoPanda In reply to Mattkemis [2010-11-20 14:04:52 +0000 UTC]
I hope you feel better soon
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HiddenAmaranth [2010-11-15 21:21:48 +0000 UTC]
Quite darling, rather intriguing and very well written. :]
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Mattkemis In reply to HiddenAmaranth [2010-11-15 21:26:56 +0000 UTC]
thank you ♥
that means a lot to me
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HiddenAmaranth In reply to Mattkemis [2010-11-15 22:29:42 +0000 UTC]
You're very welcome! :]
I'm a picky reader too ^_^
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Mattkemis In reply to HiddenAmaranth [2010-11-15 22:47:04 +0000 UTC]
I hardly ever read the literature of others...I'm having a hard time focusing on the ONE that I chose I'd read today^^
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Mattkemis In reply to HiddenAmaranth [2010-11-16 07:27:38 +0000 UTC]
turns out, it wasn't THAT good... I've got to start reading them more though... :/ ^^
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TheShorty6636 [2010-11-15 17:34:46 +0000 UTC]
I love it, old fashion love is a great short story. Back then it was forbidden and not allowed. This story makes life more wild. lol I liked it.
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