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I can hear Mrs Salmon again.
‘Can you hear me Alan, you mummy is here. Now just feel carefully with your fingers Effie, see if there are any more of those little glass splinters, it’s the safest way to do it. Then Mrs Philips has some plasters and bandages to keep it clean.’
I lay back and let my mum feel around my face, she is so gentle. There is a lady next to me, she is soaking wet as well, she keeps crying for her baby. The men are looking for him in the bombed house. Then she is very quiet, I think she is sleeping.
I see my brother Don; he was only a few feet away from me and is completely untouched. So are all the others that were under the Morrison shelter that everyone hated, but it saved their lives.
Don told me later that he had to keep talking to me, so that I would not go back to sleep, but I can’t remember that. The next thing I remember was seeing mum and Mrs Wade sitting next to the fire in Mrs Wades kitchen. My head was hurting, and I hated the taste in my mouth. There was no problem with me going to sleep now. There were all the Wade boys and us under their Morrison shelter, almost laying on top of each other.
The next day we couldn’t wait to go up the road to see the damage. I looked like a mummy with so many bandages on my head. Our house had lost just part of the front wall, but the house’s a bit further up was very badly damaged with all the beds and furniture hanging out. No one could go back into them.
I hear someone say that the lady that was sleeping next to me had died and so did her baby. They had come to Chertsey as evacuees for safety. I never knew it was going to be like this.
I hear mum calling us, we are going to grannies.
Don and Kingy Edwards are collecting shrapnel, they find a a bit buried in the oak tree. Once they dig it out they see it has a number stamped on it. Don says that makes it very collectable.
On the way back we see Nutsan, he’s carrying a big old book. He comes over to Don to show him. He’s a funny boy, a bit older than the rest of our gang but we don’t mind him joining us because he’s Thunder’s brother.
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