Sunday Spirit – Snippet from It Won’t Happen Again

‘Have you got any photographs of the two of you together?’ Lucy asked.

‘Mum never keeps photographs, well that’s not quite true,’ Laura reached for a small, grey folder from the top of the table. ‘When I went on a school trip, I was given this camera by my teacher. Miss . . .  Miss Bobbitt. She said it was to take pictures of the animals at the farm. I liked her, but she was always trying to talk about my home life. Even then, I kept Mum’s secret. I had to. If the teachers knew what really went on, they would take my Mummy away from me,’ Laura said.

‘Is that what your, Thomas said?’

‘His biggest threat to me was that Mum would be sent away to hospital and that she would be shown as being mad.’

‘You didn’t have a childhood, but wasn’t there anyone you could speak to, the vicar at your church?’

‘He was the worst of the lot, just saw what he wanted to see when he came to visit. Children should be not seen or heard in his opinion. The one good thing about his afternoon chats, were Mum and I could go up to my room and read. When he wanted me out of the way, Thomas would even give me money to go to the cinema, not that we watched the film. I would pay for the ticket, get it stamped, walk around Windsor for a bit.’

‘Your way of rebelling by the sounds of it,’ Lucy said.

‘Definitely, I almost wanted him to find out, but he never did.’