Chapter
4
"Achoo"
Ellie sneezed as she came down the stairs,
"Bless
you" Martin called from the dining room,
"Thank
you" Ellie had been ill all week, she had had to let Martin take over
planning the memorial service and running the farm as she rested and recovered.
She was feeling better but still had a cold. She made her way into the kitchen
to put breakfast together for her mother,
"Ellie
let me do that, you're still not well" Martin put his arm round her and
his hand softly on hers,
"Martin,
I'm fine, I feel a lot better today, anyway I can't rest today, It's the memorial
service" she carried on making breakfast for her mum,
"Ok
Ellie, but leave everything else to me,
you need to recover"
"Martin
please, I know but my mum needs me, she won't listen to anyone else but
me" Ellie raised her voice, something she had never done before in this
situation, she stopped as everyone looked up from the table,
"Martin,
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice like that, Achoo"
"Ellie,
It's ok, I know how you feel. You concentrate on your mother, I'll take care of
everything else" Martin hugged Ellie, she sighed, picked up the tray and
left the kitchen.
"Is
Ellie going to be ok" A little voice said, Martin looked up to see
Chrissie stood in the doorway to the kitchen,
"She
will be fine Chrissie, It's just a hard time at the moment" he reached his
arm out and gave Chrissie a hug "It will get better, I promise"
Ellie
entered her mother's room, Nicky was still sat in the same place she had been
sitting all week,
"Here
we are mum" she placed the tray on the table in front of her mother
"eat up, we have a long day ahead of us" Ellie walked over to the
wardrobe and pulled out a black dress and shoes for her mother and laid them on
the bed,
"would
you like me to do your hair or do you want to do it yourself " Nicky was
silent, she ate her breakfast with no sign of saying anything. Ellie did her
mother's hair and helped her get dressed and put her shoes on, Nicky sat back
down in her chair afterwards still not shading one tear. Ellie knew the
feeling, she knew her mother's pain and how hard it was to spend the rest of their
lives without a wonderful caring heartfelt man, but at the same time Ellie's
pain was greater as it saddened her to see her mother like this,
"Post"
Louis shouted from the hallway. The postman knocked on the door, Louis opened
it with a big smile,
"Good
morning Mr Postman" Louis stood in the doorway,
"Good
morning Master Pickard, how's the family" the postman smiled,
"we're
ok, getting there slowly"
"That's
good, well here you are, I will see you again at 12, until then Master
Pickard" the postman handed Louis a letter, then walked back up the driveway. Louis shut the door and looked at who the letter was addressed to,
"Martin,
Martin" Louis ran into the dining room "the letter is addressed to
you" Martin took the letter and opened it.
"It's
from dad" he said to his younger sisters,
"What
has he written" Jennifer asked as Lindsey and she gathered round Martin,
"He
hopes we all well and coping and hopes we are all making an effort to help out
more during this hard time for Nicky and the kid's"
"That's
so kind of him to be thinking about us, considering where he is" Ellie
appeared in the doorway "is he doing well" she asked,
"He
said he's doing fine, nothing to report" Martin replied, he then looked
down at the letter to a find a speech dedicated to Ellie's father "Ellie,
my dad has sent something to be read out at the memorial service is that ok"
"Yes
it is" Ellie replied " I will find somewhere to fit it in" she
smiled and gave Martin a hug.
The
church was full by the time everyone had arrived and taken their seats. As Ellie
stood in front of everyone halfway through the service all she could see was a
sea of black. Her mother sat at the front still spaced out, Ellie could tell
she hadn't slept for a while. Tears started to roll down Ellie's face as she
read out her father's favourite psalm, her voice started to crock, the more she
read the worst it got. She finished everyone remained silent.
"And
now Martin Dinsdale would like to read something sent by his father" Ellie
stepped down as Martin took to the stand,
"In
the words of my father Ian Dinsdale, Patrick Pickard was not only a dear friend
but a loving husband, father and brother, to me Patrick was the kindest most
loving, most loyal man you could ever know, in meeting him you would
automatically gain a friend. Patrick will be dearly missed and never forgotten.
May he rest in peace" As Martin finished Nicky collapsed on her knees and
for the first time since receiving the news she broke down in tears. Ellie ran
to her mother and put her arms round her, Chrissie knelt down and wrapped her
arms round her mother waste and Louis rested his head on hers. Nicky kept
crying, all the tears she had held in were now being let go.
Back
at home Nicky was still crying, but not only was it sadness and grief, anger
was also taken over,
"Why,
why" Nicky cried. Ellie tried to calm her mother down, but no matter what
she did it didn't work,
"Mum,
please calm down, please" Ellie pleaded,
"I
hate this stupid war, I hate it, I hate it" Nicky continued to scream,
shout and cry. In the dining room Martin was trying to keep the younger ones
occupied with a board game, Chrissie was sat fidgeting wanting to know if her
mother was Ok,
"Chrissie,
it's ok stop fidgeting" Martin said to her as he rolled the dice,
"But
mummy is upset, she needs us"
"I
know but she is also very, very angry, Ellie doesn't want any of you getting
hurt" Martin smiled at her. They carried on playing their board game
until,
"Ahh"
Martin heard a scream, he jumped up and ran out the dining room to see what was going on.
"Ellie
laid at the bottom of the stairs, Nicky was slowly making her way down in shock at what she had done, Martin knelt down to see if Ellie was ok,
"Ellie,
Ellie can you hear me" Ellie didn't answer, Nicky sat on the stairs
crying,
"I
didn't...I didn't mean to, I would, I would never..."
"Nicky
I know you wouldn't, I know you would never hurt any of your children, now
listen I need you to stay calm, I have to get Ellie to the hospital to make
sure there is no serious damage, Ok" Nicky nodded; Martin stood up and
went to the phone to call an ambulance.
The
paramedics took Ellie to the hospital. Martin unwillingly had to stay behind to
take care of everyone else. Nicky retreated back to her bedroom, she locked the
door and turned out the light. Martin made sure the younger ones where settled
into bed, he tucked Jennifer and Lindsey in and went to say goodnight to Louis,
when he got to Chrissies room he saw she had made a forte around her bed,
"Chrissie,
what have you done" he asked making his way towards her bed,
"I'm
scared so I build a forte" Chrissie buried her under her bed covers,
"Ok,
you don't have to be scared Chrissie" Martin sat on her bed,
"I
know but, mummy has never hurt anyone of us, then daddy got killed and Ellie
got pushed down the stairs"
"Chrissie,
I know you mother would never hurt any of you. She's just upset, hurt and angry
at the moment, the man she loves has been taken away from her and it's going to be really hard for her, for all of us, it will get better, but only in time,
time is the only healer" Chrissie peaked her head over the covers and
looked at Martin,
"Is
Ellie going to be ok"
"I
hope so, she is in good hands, the doctors and nurses will look after her until
she is well enough to come home" Chrissie crawled over her bed to Martin
and gave him a hug,
"Martin,
please don't leave us"
"I
won't I promise"
Martin
entered his room, the whole house was quiet and dark, he sat on the front of
his bed and sighed. He hadn't been there a month yet so much had happened. He
thought about poor Ellie an hour and a half away at the city hospital, not
knowing if she was ok. He changed into his pyjamas and got into bed. He turned
out the light and lied down to go to sleep,
"Oh
Ellie I hope you are ok" Martin thought as he closed his eyes and hoped that
things would start to look up.
The
phone rang the next day about 11.30 in the morning, Chrissie who was dusting
the stairs put down her cloth and ran to answer the phone,
"Hello,
Pickard Farm, Chrissie speaking, how can I help"
"Hello
I'm Doctor Arthur Malcolm from the city hospital is your Mother there
please" the person on the phone said,
"Um,
my Mummy is still grieving but I can pass you on to a family friend who is in
charge and looking after us if that's ok Doctor Malcolm"
"That
will be fine if there is no other family member to talk to"
"No
there isn't, I'll be go get Martin, please hold" Chrissie ran to get Martin
who was cleaning the kitchen,
"Martin,
Martin, Doctor Malcolm from the city hospital is on the phone" Martin
dropped what he was doing and ran to the phone,
"Hello
Martin Dinsdale speaking"
"Hello
this is Doctor Malcolm calling about Miss Ellie Pickard"
"Yes
is she ok"
"She
is fine, a bit shaken and has a dislocated knee but she is going to be fine, we
will be bringing her home tomorrow, is lunch time alright"
"That's
great, thank you, yes, we will see you tomorrow" Martin smiled in relief
that Ellie was ok. He gathered everyone together in the dining to tell them the
good news,
"Right
everyone, Ellie will be home tomorrow and..."
"YES"
everyone cheered
"And"
Martin continued " I want to do something special for her, so does anyone
have any ideas"
"How
about a nice dinner with the fancy china in the living room" Louis said
"I
like that idea" Jennifer added
"Me
too" Martin smiled. Everyone got back to cleaning. Louis and Jennifer
cleaned the barn and fed the sheep, chickens and cows whilst Chrissie and
Lindsey cleaned the rest of the house. Martin went down to the Village to get
the ingredients for tomorrow night's dinner. When he arrived back he went
upstairs to see how Nicky was doing,
"Nicky,
how are you doing today" he asked as he walked in,
"I'm
fine" Nicky was sat on her bed looking another photo of her and her late
husband "the last picture ever taken of him before the war" she
carried on, Martin sat on the bed next to her,
"Nicky,
Ellie is going to be ok, she will be home tomorrow and we are having a dinner
for her and we want you to be there"
"Ellie is going to be ok" Nicky jumped up
" oh thank god, I didn't mean to hurt her"
"I
know you didn't. I'm going to check on the others, make sure they are ok, I've
brought you a cup of tea, drink up"
"Thank
you Martin" Nicky took the cup he had in his hand.
"See
I can Jive" Chrissie said,
"You're
doing it wrong Chrissie" Jennifer said, Martin went into the living room
to see what was going on,
"You
go rock step, shassy, shassy and a rock step"
"Oh
right, I can do that"
"What
are you two doing" Martin asked standing in the doorway
"Jiving,
it's the American thing at the moment" Chrissie said
"Heard
it on the radio" Jennifer added,
"Really,
Ok then teach me"
"Ok, come on Martin"
Chrissie dragged Martin into the room.
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