I didn’t like her. A pretty girl called Penelope whom I liked because she was nice, but I didn't want to like her because she was my rival who vied for the affections of Robby, my best friend’s brother and my best friend was Carol. I’ve always had a great fear of heights and one of my proudest moments was the day I climbed the climbing frame all the way to the top which must have been at least a zillion feet high, well six feet (two metres) anyway. I remember that day as clear as if it was ten minutes ago.
Amelia ‘Look at me, Miss Cobbin,, look at me.’
I was just so thrilled at my achievement and so was Miss Cobbin who glanced up and said ‘Mmm, that's good, Amelia.’
Then the realisation hit me, I had to climb back down again and that took at least another ten or fifteen minutes.
There was also the day just before Mother’s Day when I was chosen out of all the children in the school to be photographed by the photographer from the Telegraph newspaper. I was carrying a big bunch of chrysanthemums as I walked across the road outside the school. I bet our family is the only one in the world who still has that photo. A couple of years or so later Bullen’s Circus came to Lang Park and Edward was photographed feeding hay to the elephants, Edward’s photo appeared in the newspaper the following day. Edward always had to go one better than me.
The Christmas of that year was quite memorable. I had desperately wanted a walking doll. Not any ordinary walking doll, I wanted one like the shops had on display in the windows that wore real children’s clothes. I have no idea where Edith was, but James, Edward and I took the opportunity of sneaking into Mum’s bedroom in search of our Christmas presents. We discovered a host of goodies for the boys including a Hornsby train set and a full-size cricket bat in the wardrobe and under the bed, but there didn’t seem to be anything for me. James juggled Edward on his shoulders and Edward stretched as tall as he could to peer at the many presents hidden on top of the old wardrobe. I couldn’t believe my ears when Edward exclaimed, ‘Amelia, you’re going to get the walking doll. It’s up here in a box.’ I was so excited I nearly knocked James over as I jumped around the room. Edward almost toppled off James shoulders and when he clambered to the ground, I wanted to get on James shoulders to have a look at my beautiful walking doll. Unfortunately, we heard a noise and feared that Edith would cop us so we scattered as quickly as we could. I couldn’t wait for my birthday and Christmas. When my birthday arrived, I was a bit disappointed at not getting my beautiful walking doll but I kept my feelings to myself, after all I only had a few more days to wait. Christmas morning arrived and we all dived under the tree and started ripping the paper off all the presents, I have no idea what other gifts I got, but I recall opening a box containing a baby doll that I brushed aside momentarily whilst I looked around for my big beautiful walking doll.
Edith, ‘Do you like your doll, love?’
Amelia ‘Where is it?’
When she pointed to the baby doll, I looked at it in total disbelief and cried my eyes out, Dad picked me up
Dad ‘What’s wrong, little darlin?’
He patted me and consoled me and I bellowed
‘Edward said I was getting a walking doll.’
Dad ‘When did he tell you that?’
Amelia ‘When he got on James shoulders and looked on top of Mum’s wardrobe.’
Dad patted me again and quietly told me not to cry and placed me firmly on the ground. He stood up, took his belt off, grabbed both James and Edward and gave them both a thrashing and walked out of the room with his face as black as thunder.
Another happy moment in the Long household.
I received my walking doll the following year. She wasn’t as big as I had hoped, but she was beautiful none the less. Carol came over to play with me and my beautiful walking doll about ten days after I received my treasured doll. Carol was kind enough to break one of the legs of my doll by snapping it in half. I wasn’t ever allowed to say anything about it to her mother and father because she was the daughter of my grandmother’s employers at Mt Coot-tha Kiosk. Years later I heard that Carol became a lay preacher and a Pastor’s wife. I trust she confessed her sin and cleansed her soul of the crime she did unto me before she took her vows.
I woke one morning during the Christmas school holidays and decided it was a nice day so it’d be nice to visit Carol. I ate my breakfast and took off telling Edith that I was going out to play. I didn’t tell her a lie I just didn’t say where I was going to play. She was such a spoilsport, if I had’ve told her who I was going to play with, she would have stopped me. I would’ve caught a bus if I had had any money, or if I had known where the bus stop was.
I’d been to Mt Coot-tha a few times in the car so I had a basic idea how to get there, keep in mind in those days the road up there was a bit rough. (I recently Googled the distance from our home up to Mt Coot-tha, 5.5kilometres) I can’t remember how long it took me to get to there, all I remember was it seemed like an eternity. The perspiration was pouring off me and I remember being very thirsty and covered in dirt and cobbler’s pegs when I made my grand entrance through the kiosk doors. Mum almost had a multi-coloured fit when she saw me no one could believe I had walked so far in the heat. I was given the royal treatment from Mum and everyone else at the kiosk, staff and customers alike for being such a brave little girl. Unfortunately, on my return home that night Edith didn’t see me as being brave I went from being a heroine to a very naughty little girl in one giant leap.
I told you she was a spoilsport.
It was around this time, I guess I was about seven, when I stood on the footpath of Coronation Drive (also known as River Road) sticking my thumb up at every driver and pulling faces at them. I wasn’t trying to hitch a lift I was giving them all rude signs. When Dad arrived home, he called me into his bedroom to have a little talk, you knew you were in big trouble when he did that.
Dad ‘What were you doing down on River Road today?’
Amelia ‘Nothing,’
I replied with all the innocence of an angel.
Dad Very patiently, ‘Someone saw what you were doing and they told me, so do you want to tell me the truth or do you want to get into bigger trouble?’
I wasn’t completely stupid and I figured I’d be better off admitting my crime. Secretly I wanted to get hold of the blabbermouth who had dobbed me in. I showed Dad the hand signal and the face I’d been pulling at the drivers.
Dad ‘What does that mean when you put your thumb up and down in the air?’ I looked around the room very embarrassed and coy
Amelia ‘Do you really want me to tell you?’
Dad ‘Yes, what does it mean?’
Amelia ‘It means go and get fucked.’
Dad blinked, spluttered and coughed got to his feet and in total disbelief and said, ‘I don’t want you doing that or saying that word again because it’s very, very naughty and little girls shouldn’t say those things.’
I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss and a hug, he hugged me tight and we walked out of the room hand in hand. Everyone was waiting in the kitchen and I realised they had all expected me to get a hiding. James and Edward just rolled their eyes and shook their heads in total disbelief.
One of Dad’s employers, Uncle Ray was a good friend of Howard Brown the radio announcer from 4KQ. Howard was in charge of one of my favourite radio programmes The Sunday Mail Comic Club , which curiously went to air every Saturday morning.
As a special treat Dad and Uncle Ray took me into the city to be in the audience of the show. They gave me a ticket for the lucky door prizes, the top prize was a beautiful ice cream cake. Every few minutes Dad and Uncle Ray would check the number of the ticket and tell me not to forget it, they kept on telling me to keep my fingers