‘Boy. Mrs. Long, if that’s the leftovers I’d have loved to have seen what you had to begin with I can’t remember when I had such a delicious meal.’
Edith ‘There’s plenty more there.’
Keith ‘Honest to God. I couldn’t eat another morsel.’
Norm nodded in agreement.
I had been sitting in the living room, just shaking my head in disbelief as I heard my parent’s making pleasant conversation with the two burly men. ‘ I do not believe this’ I muttered to myself ‘ It’s more incredible than a Science fiction story.’
Dad ‘Vivian.’
Vivian came out of Edward’s bedroom where all the kids had gathered to play a game. She glanced at me as if to say, I’m scared, Mum.
I assured her
‘There’s nothing to be frightened of, just answer the questions as best as you can, okay?’
She nodded and slowly walked into the kitchen. Edith came and sat down in the lounge with me, Dad stood at the kitchen door listening to Vivian and the detectives as they spoke. About a half an hour later, Vivian came out of the kitchen with a big smile as if she was pleased it was all over.
Amelia ‘All finished?’
Vivian ( still smiling) ‘Can I go into Uncle Edward’s room and play again?’
Nodding, I turned to the two detectives
Norm ‘Well that about wraps it up folks we’ll get back to you good people if anything develops. But I honestly don’t think it’ll be necessary.’
Turning to me he added, ‘You see that you get a good night’s sleep and try to forget that this ever happened.’
They bid us all farewell and as they drove away, I turned to Edith and Dad
Amelia ‘Do you believe what’s happened today?’
Edith putting her arm around me ‘No my dear, I don’t. We’ll all wake up tomorrow and find out that it’s only a dream.’
Amelia ‘And pigs will fly.’
I went to the hospital a couple of days later Frank’s ex-boss and apprentice (Steve and Brad) were visiting Frank. They looked at me with disgust and without saying a word they walked out of the room. No one ever believes the poor battered wife theory and I wasn’t even going to waste my breath telling them I wasn’t the baddie here.
Frank had more tubes hanging out of his body than I’d ever seen before or since. What could I possibly say? ‘Sorry I stabbed you. Sorry you’ve bashed the shit out of me for years. Sorry that you’re a little turd.’ All I could do was shake my head in disbelief
Amelia ( with a smirk) ‘Ya wouldn’t close your eyes ya bastard?’
Frank ‘Nuh, I didn’t want to give you the pleasure of sayin’ well that’s it.’
Amelia ‘Is that all you’ve got to say?’
Frank ‘Yep.’
With that, I walked out of the hospital with as much dignity as I could muster and I was bawling my guts out by the time I got to the car.
Less than two weeks later, I was in the kitchen when Frank came to the back door, I nearly shit myself.
Amelia ‘What do you want?’
With a silly smirk
Frank ‘I live here, don’t you remember me? Besides I’ve got nowhere else to go and no money, I spent my last dollar on a cab getting here.’
Amelia ‘Frank, you have got to be joking.’
Vivian and Heather were a bit wary, but Claire rushed over to him
Claire ‘Daddy, you’re all better, come and sit here with me and I’ll be your nurse.’
I assured Vivian that I’d be all right and for her to take the other two downstairs. He was in enormous pain and had great difficulty sitting on the lounge chair. I offered him a coffee and we sat and talked about what had happened. He apologised profusely for what he had done
Amelia ‘It’s too late to apologise, Frank, you’re an absolute madman in drink and you could have killed any one of us or for that matter, all of us.’
Frank ‘Don’t you think I know that? I’ve had almost two weeks lying on my back just thinking about what I did. I can’t undo what I did, but I want the chance to prove that I didn’t mean it.’
Amelia ‘Frank, every time you’ve bashed the crap out of me, you’re always sorry, until the next time.’
Frank ‘I promise you there won’t be a next time.’
Amelia ‘You can say that again. I didn’t stab you purposely, Frank, but I know one thing for sure, if anyone especially you, ever lifts a hand to me again, I wouldn’t hesitate in doing it again.’
Frank ‘Okay, fair enough, it’s a deal then.’
Amelia ‘There’s no deal Frank, you lift your hands to me or the kids again and that’s it.’
* * *
Many Christmas Days have passed since then, and I don’t think one day has gone by that I don’t think of that dreadful day. I would like to say that we have been blissfully happy, because you read about ‘blissfully happy’ marriages in fairytale stories, unfortunately this isn’t a fairy story.
We live in the real world, where shit happens to everyone. We’ve had more than our fair share of shit since then, and we’ll probably continue to battle more shit in the future.
Now that you the reader have possibly come to the conclusion of whether I’m a goodie or a baddie I’d like to take you back in time to tell you the whole story of my life.
It’s a hell of a ride.
Chapter 2
The Princess
I was born on a Tuesday in the summer of the early 1940’s, the youngest of three children to Rob and Edith. Rob and Edith were the average middle-class odd couple. Rob a butcher by trade was an honest strict no nonsense man who expected perfection from all of his family. Edith, on the other hand, was always quietly spoken and although she’d never admit it, she allowed herself to be a doormat.
By the time World War Two broke out in 1939, they had been married four years with a son James aged three. Rob didn’t hesitate joining the army and on completion of his training, twelve months had passed before he finally boarded the Queen Mary in Sydney on Friday13th December 1940. He arrived in Cairo on Monday 10th March 1941, and Edith had given birth to another son, Edward, in February 1941. Fortunately, Rob was only away two years, unfortunately he had been sent home medically unfit with a depressed fracture of the skull. Reading his diaries, he had been a driver in the Supply Corps and was on call twenty-four hours a day to get the supplies through and help out whenever and wherever he was needed.
On Monday 22nd June1942, he had volunteered to help put a fire out on board the ship The Royal Emblem, which had been bombed by heavy artillery. The fire was so intense that it was impossible to douse and the order was given to drop the hoses and abandon ship. Rob hadn’t heard the order and when the other men dropped the hoses the force of the water gushing through forced him down a coal hatch. He awoke in the Alexandria hospital unable to move the left side of his body. The medical staff had given him little chance of survival, but after five months of rehabilitation he was