Nana's Story

Prologue

Elizabeth Victoria Thompson was a beautiful girl. Her hair was thick and silky smooth. Most people would say she was a red head, but her mother, who was a romantic, would say it was rose-golden and kissed by the fae. Her skin was milky white with freckles dusting the surface. She was not one of those girls born with legs and arms so skinny one felt one would break her by breathing too hard, she was a girl with substance and a presence. If none of this ever captured your attention, her eyes most certainly would. They were a deep chocolate colour, rich and milky that seemed to lap up information and beamed with innocence. When she was upset, they would change to a hard brown, almost like broken segments of a ship that was dashed against the rocks in a storm.

Elizabeth lived in a small town in England named Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. This pleased her greatly for something Elizabeth had a great love for was reading and her favourite book character was the cheeky, magical Cheshire Cat. Not many people believed that a little girl should be reading, they felt she should be leaving that up to the men of the village for they were the kings of intelligence. It was agreed that there was not enough time for a girl in the war time to read. She should be out with her mother feeding the troops. Her father however, liked that she had a thirst for knowledge and would sit with her every Sunday afternoon after church and read another chapter of their new conquest. He used to tell her that he had given his right leg to a passing faery king who had lost his in a great battle.

Despite her infatuation with reading, Elizabeth was a good girl. She was one of six children, three brothers and two sisters. She should have had a third sister, but little Mary Anne Thompson had died at the age of four from the dreaded pneumonia. Elizabeth was the eldest and acted accordingly. She would look after her siblings when her mother asked, she made sure they said 'please' and 'thank-you' and respected their elders. Her clothes were handed down to them and her chores shared with them. When she wasn't reading, she would be sitting on the patio with a needle and thread creating colourful dresses, petticoats, blouses, caps, shirts and pants. Every night they would sit at their beds, all in a row, with their small hands clasped together and eyes squeezed shut and pray to God.

Elizabeth used to love making soft toy bears for her and her sisters to play with. She would make the bears, their stuffing and their clothes out of scraps of material she found and old clothes that could no longer be used. So far she had made eight bears.

There was Grandmother Bear who always wore a white blouse and brown skirt, secured with a brown belt and yellow buckle.

There was Momma Bear who had a beautiful cream dress, white lace at the cuffs and neckline. She had very proudly added green bows and lining which she claimed 'brought out Momma Bear's eyes'

There were the naughty twin bears, Judy and Judith who were dressed in matching pink frocks. Judy had a purple ribbon around her waist and Judith had a white one.

Thomas was a bear who dreamed of becoming a sailor and always wore his blue and white sailors outfit with pride.

Nancy loved the colour blue so was decorated with a beautiful blue and white striped dress. She also loved to always be looking her best so Elizabeth had made sure that she could carry a mirror around at all times.

Then there were the two cousins, Bonnie and Beverly. Bonnie had a plain orange dress with purple bows, very much like Momma Bear, and Beverly had an orange checked dress with only one bow tied around her waist.

Elizabeth had not created a Daddy Bear as she felt that would be inappropriate for a Daddy Bear to be at home for this family whilst all the others were away fighting for their country. Judy, Judith and Grandmother Bear belonged to the youngest sister, Bonnie, Beverly and Nancy belonged to the middle sister, Thomas belonged to their youngest brother and Momma Bear belonged to Elizabeth.