...and then there was one...

...and then there was one...

I am old now

there is no one but me

the last of a long line

I am

my family.

Mummy was an Irish beauty Daddy fell for. She had a voice like honey, she had dark blue smiling eyes and her skin was like alabaster. Mummy had a quick manner and a ready laugh, the giggle that became famous in our family. Mummy came from county Cork, Daddy was an Englishman to die for, tall and slender strong and a face that showed early where the laugh lines would be one day. Daddy was in the army, proud in his khakis and we moved to the east coast of England when he was posted  there.  We soon settled into our house by the river...huge with high ceilings, a grand piano in the music room and we all sensed that something had forever changed…childhood had come to an end somehow when we left Granny and Grandpapa behind…and now we would be formally educated and finished…at home…I was not interested in the lessons but for the piano…I paid attention there and made good progress but when it came to maths I sat up very straight to show I was paying attention but really it was the crown glass in the windows that caught my interest…I loved the distortions looking through . A bird could fly by twice all in the same moment...when I moved my head it was gone...a face with three eyes  might look at me with a never ending mouth that split it in two...

we were seven children

we had a governess

we also had special tutors who came

We had our own running track and tennis court. We all loved tennis and we dressed for it, Robert looked the smartest in his whites and stripey blazer…

Tilly’s boyfriend came and played

Josie’s young man liked to watch and call. He was the umpire

Millie was engaged to be married but not until she was twenty one…she and her betrothed would sit apart and talk and dream but clapped when a point was well earned…

Sylvie and her friend played well, they played the best

and

Emily liked to play with me because she would always win…

We played croquet on the lawn and took tea under the hanging branches of the willow tree,  Cook brought sweet muffins with jam and cream or toast and fruitcake that Mummy loved so much...We were six girls and everyone adored our brother...and it was he who decided  on the tea...thin sandwiches with wafer thin cucumber slices on anchovy paste, egg and cress or roast beef and horseradish sauce...the youngest drank chamomile tea or mint, Mummy drank Earl Grey and sometimes Daddy would arrive early and take tea with us. Sharp in his khaki uniform, he never sat down, always stood up and held his porcelain cup and saucer...proud father of seven  and he and Mummy loved each other as on the first day, you could see, only we did the talking, they did the listening bit...

Funny, how it all went, really...you could not imagine just how it would be when everyone moved  into their own lives away from Mummy and Daddy...fledged the nest, as they say...we never imagined that they might be lonely...they had so much to do...we still visited a lot, of course, every day for those who lived close by but it was never quite the same except for Christmas when we all got together and Millie and James came home from India...Millie had learned all sorts of exotic things to do with the left over turkey for us all with curry leaves and garlic and hot chilly peppers...she had a boy out there for the hard work and a cook and would tell of elephants and tigers, of ancient forts and palaces, huge bats that flew over the lake at night  and peacocks displaying iridescent feathers on her dew dappled lawn announcing dawn with haunting cries as the sun would rise...

Christmas with all of us gathered together in the house by the river, fires roaring and our childhood decorations on the tree was such fun for us all, memorable as we all caught up with one another...Daddy not so steady on his feet but he would still light the Christmas Pudding, Mummy not so slender now and a little bent...she would still play our ring game with gusto, the ring game we played as children as we did now and this she loved the best...we all sat in a circle and held the string in cupped hands concealing the ring...we shuffled the ring and laughter rang out as the one in the middle tried to guess where it was...we were children that moment and we loved how it bound us together once more...

...and when the war came all was changed forever...Josie's husband fell early...Emily became a war widow too, half orphans then, cousins Charlie and John...but the famous family giggle never left us though but a melancholy was often quick to cast a shadow in these hard times...no one starved thank God, the ration books held out, porridge was our staple, with or without sugar and Daddy took salt only so as to share his sugar ration for the sweet tooth...and that was usually me...

Tilly never left home. She was quite poorly often.She became very frail with deep, purple circles framing he eyes that often seemed to glitter with a fever

...and then Tilly died...sad...slowly from TB...Nanny had TB...Nanny died too...

...and then Josie died...Josie had a stroke...she lived on for a bit but could not talk anymore and that was hard for Josie. Josie liked to talk...so the end was a blessing...

...and then Millie died...Millie and her husband had lived in India too long...too many cocktails...something wrong with her liver...

...and then our Robert died...Robert just got weak and died...he left a lovely record collection...

...and then Sylvie died...Sylvie was in the kitchen when she died...she was standing up when she died...her heart gave out when she was cooking eggs and she just sank to the floor...

...and then Emily died...her lungs collapsed...she got too cold one day...went out with her golden hair still wet....got very ill and died from the fever...

...and now it's my turn next...but not yet... awhile, things to do don't you know...things to remember and to write down for someone to read...

...Mummy died and Daddy too...he had cancer...Mummy just worn out, they said that Granny died too soon...all the husbands died...but my brother's wife is still around and sometimes telephones.. though I can't hear her, I have become quite deaf...

...we had a happy time when we were young ...

we were seven children

in our family

there is no one now but me

and

I am old

I

am

very

old…