BEDTIME MEMORIES
I don't know if I am unusual, but my bedtime memories stretch back to snuggling down in my cot with a warm bottle of milk, and of waking up one morning in my cot, and banging the empty bottle so hard on the rail of the cot that it smashed, and my mother rushing in and picking me up before I cut myself on all the broken glass.
Later, I remember being put to bed by the next door neighbour, while my parents were at work, with instructions to bang on the wall if I needed anything. I did knock on the wall once, and she came rushing around, only for me to ask for a glass of water. She gave it to me, but I never knocked again for some reason. I used to lie in bed looking at the shadows cast on the ceiling by the landing light. To me, the shape was a tiny Chinese soldier, crouching, with a sword in his hand, and if I moved or made a sound, he would come in and get me.
Even later, when I was maybe 7 or 8, sitting in the living room waitng for my mother to come home from work at midnight. The door would be shut, and I would sit very still, with my back to the open coal fire for hours on end, which made me sick, because outside, in the hall was Billy Biggs, the bogeyman, and if he heard me, he also would come and get me.
I don't know where I got the ideas from. My parents would have been horrified if they knew, but hey, there was a war on, and they had little choice.
When they said 'You will be alright by yourself' I never complained. I would now.
If ever I get round to writing the story of my life, it will be titled 'You will be alright by yourself', because I have been.
Later, I remember being put to bed by the next door neighbour, while my parents were at work, with instructions to bang on the wall if I needed anything. I did knock on the wall once, and she came rushing around, only for me to ask for a glass of water. She gave it to me, but I never knocked again for some reason. I used to lie in bed looking at the shadows cast on the ceiling by the landing light. To me, the shape was a tiny Chinese soldier, crouching, with a sword in his hand, and if I moved or made a sound, he would come in and get me.
Even later, when I was maybe 7 or 8, sitting in the living room waitng for my mother to come home from work at midnight. The door would be shut, and I would sit very still, with my back to the open coal fire for hours on end, which made me sick, because outside, in the hall was Billy Biggs, the bogeyman, and if he heard me, he also would come and get me.
I don't know where I got the ideas from. My parents would have been horrified if they knew, but hey, there was a war on, and they had little choice.
When they said 'You will be alright by yourself' I never complained. I would now.
If ever I get round to writing the story of my life, it will be titled 'You will be alright by yourself', because I have been.
