Rose turns the corner onto Patterson Street, and stops in front of Waters’ Grocery. It is closed, dim and dark inside at eleven o’clock on a Saturday. Rose furrows her brows, and rings the bell. And again. And again. Each time she does so more frantically, hoping that ringing the bell hard enough will be able to keep away the bad news.
She has been visiting James’ family every week since their engagement. She has known them since childhood. When he stopped replying to his letters, their weekly meetings have become huddles for hope, like penguins huddling for warmth. In a way, hope is like warmth. It is queer to Rose how it is hot outside, the middle of summer, when the depths of her heart and mind are cold and bare and dry as winter.
His little sister Laura opens the door tentatively, and looks at Rose with large, sorrowful eyes brimming with tears. Rose begins to tremble with fear.
“What’s happened?”
Laura shakes her head and pulls her into the shop. The door dings merrily as it shuts, and she leads Rose up the stairs into the sitting room. An atmosphere of post-crying and mourning is palpable in the air, and every step she takes it torture.
The curtains are closed, and three candles burn for Mr Waters, Mrs Waters, and their two other daughters. They are all in various states of shock. In James’ mother’s hand lies a small card. Her grip is limp and lifeless as her eyes, staring into the shadows as though she is dead. Mr Waters is in another room, the door open, working furiously at his accounts. The girls are sitting with their mother, arms wrapped around their legs.
“No. No. No” Rose whispers, unbelieving, as Laura slips the card out of their mother’s grasp and gives it to her. She scans the generic, cold words in seconds, falls to her knees, and opens her mouth in a silent scream.
Tears don’t come quickly, but once she is out of her shock, they fall fast, fat droplets of water dripping onto her dress and the floorboards, wetting her eyes and cheeks. She starts to wail, but no one seems to care or notice.
YOU ARE READING
«letters to the somme»
General Fictiona patchwork of letters and telegrams and shorts telling the story of a girl and a boy who are caught in the crossfire of the first world war. all through the heartache and the pain and the blood comes a gleam of hope, of peace. commemorating the ce...
