The Evacuee War

by Katie King

  Peggy told the twins they were to help her outside for the day, and neither child dared to give into the smallest grumble of dissatisfaction about this, even though it was cold and threatening to be drizzly, and Jessie had quite a lot of homework that he would be rather getting on with, and Connie was normally very vocal about how much she hated to do work in the yard, unless it was feeding or grooming Milburn.

  Connie looked at her brother, and said, ‘I’m sorry, Jessie. I thought – well, some of me thought – that if I made pals with the Hull boys, then it would mean you and Aiden would be looked after, and so I would have made you each safe.’

  Jessie suspected this wasn’t the whole truth, as he was convinced his sister had revelled in being the centre of all that was going on, and was an agent in stoking the Hull contingent’s actions against the Tall Trees children. But it was the first time Connie had ever said sorry to him for anything, and so although it was more half-hearted than Jessie would have managed should the boot be on the other foot, he shrugged in acceptance of his sister’s apology, and then both twins looked at the ground with serious expressions.

  Peggy watched without comment. It felt a fragile exchange and she deemed it best if she stepped aside to let them get on with it.

  ‘Come on then,’ Peggy broke the silence at last. ‘We’ve work to do.’

  Without a word, or looking at each other, they followed Peggy back to the coach house, and morosely took the sandpaper she pointed at, and then got down to smoothing all the rough edges off the door and doorframes.

  It was only later that Jessie started to wonder why he was being punished as much as his sister, who had actually punched both Aiden and Dave, and then had shouted at the teachers marching her off the field.

  ‘Why do you think, Jessie?’ said Peggy in a weary voice when at last he plucked up the courage to ask his aunt. ‘Maybe because you knew about the upcoming fight, and yet you did nothing to stop it, knowing how me, and your parents, and Roger and Mabel would feel about such a thing?’

  Jessie realised that Peggy had a point.

  James arrived at Tall Trees after lunch, luckily when everyone other than Peggy and the twins was out, and in the kitchen Peggy quickly filled him in on what had happened at school the day before while the twins continued their work on the various cleaning tasks Peggy had set them.

  ‘So, events have escalated to crisis point, but I think that possibly it is a good idea if you do have a word with Connie today,’ she finished.

  Peggy settled James in Roger’s study with the ubiquitous cup of tea, and then went to collect her niece.

  After he shut the study door behind Connie and they had both made themselves comfortable, James said in as reasonable a voice as he could muster, ‘Connie, from what Peggy tells me, it doesn’t sound as if it’s been going so well lately as far as you are concerned.’

  She stared at him defiantly, and for an instant James was taken aback by the fierce look in her eyes and how it seemed as if the woman she would become was only lurking just around the corner, almost as if she could burst through Connie’s visage at any moment.

  But then Connie expelled a long breath, and she seemed to shrink slightly until she looked very much the eleven-year-old child she was.

  ‘You’re right. It’s not going at all well.’ Her voice was still raspy from the tonsillitis, and so James thought that she must have been quite poorly.

  ‘Why do you think that is?’ James asked gently.

  ‘I just hate it at school. I always have, and I always will.’

  ‘That’s a bit defeatist, no? And being defeatist isn’t very much like the Connie I know.’

  ‘It’s only the truth.’

  James thought that Connie sounded as if she believed that already her new school and her time in it added up to a total lost cause as far as she was concerned.

  ‘The thing is, Connie, you have to go to school, and you know this. There is simply no way you can avoid it. And this means that you have two choices – you can make this easy on yourself, or you can make it difficult. To me it sounds as if you have chosen the difficult path, but it is never too late to change. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, you know.’

  Balefully, she looked at James.

  ‘What do you think that you do well at school?’ he asked, changing tack slightly. ‘It might be other things besides lessons that you are good at, remember.’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘That’s not true, is it? Shall I tell you the things that I’ve seen you do well?’

  Connie thought seriously about this, and then she nodded.

  ‘Well, you make friends easily, and you are a natural leader, and neither of those characteristics are to be under-estimated,’ said James. ‘You are brilliant at thinking up ideas, too, and excellent at organising things. Don’t you feel all of those qualities are wonderful to be good at?’

  ‘Not when it’s only anything to do with reading or writing that impresses the teachers and everybody else.’

  James waited, and then Connie added, ‘And anyone can make friends and think up ideas and make them happen.’

  ‘Really, Connie, is that what you honestly think? Are you sure?’

  Her brow crinkled as she puzzled over James’s words. He thought she looked like she hadn’t considered anything she was naturally good at to be a skill as such.

  After a while he added, ‘I feel a lot of people would love to make friends as easily as you, and to have your knack of getting people behind you, Connie, or to be as brave as you. Not many people – children, or adults – would have broken up the fight between Aiden and that other boy as quickly as, by all accounts, you did, or with such authority, even if you chose perhaps the wrong way of doing this. And I promise you that when you are grown-up, you will be able to do great and wonderful things with all of those abilities I’ve described, as there are many places and occupations out in the adult world where those qualities will be highly valued, and where you will excel.’

  Connie looked dubious.

  ‘But if you have a special gift, you must treat people kindly with it, don’t you think?’

  Connie gave a suspicious nod.

  ‘It was obvious that Aiden was your, er, special friend over the summer; and you have always been as thick as thieves with Jessie, which is natural seeing as he is your twin. But I hear that since you have been at this new school you’ve spent a lot of time with, um, Dave is it, and you have refused to talk to anyone about this decision – as spending time this way must have been a decision on your part, no? – and this meant that Aiden was upset when you didn’t want to spend time with him, and Jessie too because of what happened in the summer when Dave hurt him, as you must have known they would be upset when you decided to ignore them for Dave. Is there anything that you want to tell me about any of that?’

  ‘Nope.’

  James wasn’t going to let Connie avoid the issue with her usual bluster. ‘Well, would you say that you behaved kindly?’

  Connie refused to offer an opinion, but James held the silence.

  Eventually she buckled, although it had been a close-run thing as James had been just about to give up. Connie didn’t need to know that though.

  ‘We had such fun over the summer, see,’ she explained. ‘We were the TT Muskets, and we took a blood oath to one another. We made plans and had a riot, and I loved leading us, and I never took it seriously with those other lads, which they couldn’t work out how to deal with. Well, it was fun until Jessie was beaten up and had to go to hospital that is, as then it all got a bit serious and that wasn’t long before the holidays ended. But for nearly all the summer I loved us having a gang, and taking on the Hull boys. Then suddenly it was all over, and the Muskets were disbanded, and it was us all going a new school.’

  Connie was well into her stride now. ‘And it was then as if we had to be grown-up, and I didn’t like the feeling as I didn’t feel ready. Immediately I was split up from the others from Tall Trees and put in t
he lowest class, and that made me look stupid, which I don’t think I am, although everyone else does. I didn’t have anyone to talk to either, and I didn’t like that. I see now that on the first morning we went through the gates I had too much confidence about the new school and how well I’d do there, but I don’t think I deserved that afterwards.’

  James realised the ‘that’ was being put in form 1E.

  ‘And,’ Connie said, ‘soon Dave and another two Hull boys were put into my class, and at first I thought it would be fun to make them my pals, seeing as how they had been my enemies and I wanted to see if I could turn that around. But they were two years older and so I had to work a bit more on this than I expected, which meant I hadn’t much time for Jessie and Aiden. And then Dave and I took to spending time together, as he turned out to be nicer than I expected, and then he, well, um, and I …’

  She sighed, and James thought that perhaps some sort of boundary had been crossed between the youngsters, although he couldn’t be sure, and even if he had been, he would have been hard put to say whether Dave or Connie would have instigated it.

  Connie gave a little laugh to herself that James sounded a touch precocious, although whatever had happened, while almost outside of what Peggy would think acceptable for someone of Connie’s age, didn’t seem to be too troubling in the slightest as far as she was concerned.

  It was a tricky dilemma as he wanted to do the best for Connie at the same time as he didn’t want to let Peggy down, and of course Connie and Dave were only eleven and thirteen and so he didn’t think anything that had occurred could have gone too far.

  Perhaps it would be for the best, James decided, that unless it came up again during their conversation a bit later, that he didn’t mention anything to Peggy, at least not today. Connie was opening up to him now, but it wouldn’t take much for her to clam up again, and if he said something about their discussion that got Peggy back on the warpath, then he doubted Connie would confide in him ever again.

  She was a complex child, and it was probably a good thing if she had at least one adult in her life who wouldn’t automatically go running to Peggy if she had overstepped the mark, James reasoned.

  ‘Then Peggy tried to interfere with who I was friends with, and although I didn’t want to make Aiden and Jessie cross about spending time with Dave, somehow I couldn’t make Dave cross either as he was that bit older and always seemed a step ahead of Aiden and Jessie, and anyway I had to sit next to him in class. Then I was ill, and Dave was stupid and wanted to fight Aiden, and Aiden was dumb enough to agree, and everybody was too dim to dare to say anything to me. And, well, er, you know the rest.’

  ‘So, Connie, thinking about all of that, do you believe you treated everyone kindly and with respect?’ said James.

  Connie shook her head, but she wouldn’t look the doctor in the eye.

  ‘But you would agree that you managed to stir up quite a lot of things at the new school, and in a short time?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Looking back, do you think there might have been a better way of doing things?’

  Another nod, albeit something of a reluctant one.

  ‘Nevertheless, Connie, while the result of all of this wasn’t good, the fact you managed to make such an impact quite so quickly suggests you do have many qualities that others would be envious of, as not everyone could have caused as many ripples as you have, wouldn’t you say?’

  Connie shrugged.

  ‘You see if I’m not right, Connie, in time that is. As you’d do well to remember that these are all skills that come properly into their own only when you are a grown-up, and they will be wonderful for you to explore further several years down the line from now, when you are going out into the working world and are maybe thinking of having your own family. But now, at this point of your life, it’s really important that you understand you have to make up your mind how you will spend your time at school. You’re a smart girl, we’ve agreed, and so how do you think you might you do that?’

  ‘Smart? I don’t think so! I’m with all the dunces in 1E, remember.’

  James refused to be drawn by her sarkiness, but carried on in his calm way, trying to steer the conversation but making sure to leave a lot of the working out of what he actually meant she should do to Connie, as he felt it was important that to some extent she came to her own conclusions so that she could feel at least a little in charge of her own destiny – and in order that she would understand that there were always many decisions to be taken, but the knack would be for her to analyse the situation and then try to choose the right one, and then take the responsibility for having chosen that decision.

  He asked, ‘Why do you feel that you are in 1E? What, exactly, is it that you find so difficult at school?’

  There was a silence.

  And then as Connie stared at the rug on the floor, she admitted in a voice so scared and mouse-like that James had to lean forward to catch her faint words, ‘It’s the reading and writing. The letters seem to jump on the page, and be in the wrong order when I write them down. I understand the teacher, but when I come to do what I’m asked to in writing, I just can’t. And reading is no better – the meaning is there, and then it’s gone. My eyesight is the best in the house, before you ask me about that.’

  ‘Those jumping words must be horrible for you,’ said James, and Connie nodded miserably before he added, ‘But I do know that often people who have trouble with reading and writing have extremely good memories, and so how well do you remember things compared, say, to Jessie and the others?’

  ‘Oh, I’m good at that,’ said Connie dismissively, as if James was really stupid even having to ask that question. ‘Much better than all the others if I don’t have to write anything down, even better than Jessie and Aiden, who are real brainboxes, and I remember everything for ages afterwards. But I never put my hand up in class as what’s the point when everyone and all the teachers have already decided that I’m dim.’

  ‘Well, you can’t control how others think about you, but you can control how you think about yourself and how you behave to show this to other people, Connie, and so please do remember that. And if I were in your position, I think I’d concentrate very hard on listening to what the teacher was saying at all times, and I’d make damn sure that I could remember it,’ said James. ‘And then when a teacher asks a question, I’d put my hand up to answer, and if I did this often enough then it wouldn’t be long before nobody believed I was stupid. I’d make myself put my hand up all the time, as I would know that because it was difficult for me to write things down, then this makes it extra hard for a teacher to know if I were clever or not if also I never said anything in class. But if I was always answering a question, then I would be sure that would be a good way for me to demonstrate that I’d understood and had learnt what the teacher was saying. That’s what I’d do, Connie.’

  ‘It can’t be that simple,’ said Connie, looking properly engaged with the conversation for the first time.

  ‘I don’t think what I’m saying is simple, as it’s bound to be a series of stages, which actually is the same for everyone at school. But this first bit of you putting your hand up is easy to do, and so it’s what I’d try first,’ said James.

  ‘Really?’

  James made himself sound as convinced as possible as he replied, ‘Really; most definitely, truly absolutely, really, Connie.’

  Peggy walked James to the gate. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that she had cobwebs in her hair, and several smudges of dirt on her face as he felt she’d be embarrassed. He thought she looked very fine, even with the cobwebs and the smudges.

  ‘From the way she describes it, I think what Connie suffers from is something called congenital word-blindness. This means that what she sees written down, whether somebody else has written it or she has, becomes jumbled up for her in what she sees on the paper or on the blackboard. It’s not her fault, and sadly there is no cure,’ James explained. ‘I wondered i
f this was the case, and so I did some reading up, and although I’m no expert, Connie’s own description of what she finds difficult about reading and writing shows some of the classic symptoms.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ muttered Peggy thoughtfully. ‘I’ve noticed that when she writes on a clean piece of paper she might begin in an odd place, maybe over at the right-hand side or close to the bottom.’

  ‘I don’t know, but that could be part of it,’ said James. ‘As I say, I’m no expert and I don’t think there is any treatment as such, but you should mention it to the school all the same – some establishments allow children like Connie a little leeway in examinations, such as extra time, and it might be taken into account in her school reports. I can see if I can find somebody to give a second opinion if that is helpful. There doesn’t seem anything wrong with her logic or intelligence, and she was one step ahead of me over the quality of her eyesight at any rate.’

  ‘Sounds like Connie,’ said Peggy.

  James added, ‘I did say that one of the things she might find useful would be to really listen to the teacher, and then always to put her hand up if she knows the answer. I’m sure that if she has her confidence built up a bit in this respect, then that can only ever be a good thing.’

  Peggy shook her head, and added, ‘I’ve said that to her too, time and time again, about really listening, and that she should engage more with her teachers. But she’s never followed that advice.’

  ‘I suppose people only really hear what they are ready to hear. Perhaps Connie is ready to hear right now what you’ve been saying to her all along, but I just got in a bit earlier in saying it to her today,’ said James.

  They looked at each other for a moment in what to Peggy seemed like a significant manner.

  ‘Yes, people only hear what they are ready to hear,’ she echoed, and as Peggy spoke, she wondered if he was thinking that, as she was, this simple statement applied almost as much to the situation between herself and James, as to what was going on with poor Connie.