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Tom
© 2012 Christie Moore. All rights reserved.
Contents
CHAPTER 1
A POSTMAN’S THE LIFE FOR ME
It’s time to go on. The band members walk to their instruments on the stage to loud applause. Tom walks to the piano; also in the band are a trombone, big bass, banjo and drums. The audience slow down their clapping to near silence, just the odd cough here and there, waiting in anticipation. The band starts to play, and play they do all evening to an enthralled audience, men raise their beer glasses in appreciation. At the end of the show there is a standing ovation and Tom and the band all take a bow before going off stage.
And with that, she joins her brother and leaves the pub.
The rest of the evening the small party laughs with Tom and his recollections of his postal rounds and how he feeds dogs with chocolate.
“Thank you, but my first event is this weekend at Hayling Island”
CHAPTER 2
THE KAISER’S COMING
Captain Beddy asks the men to replace their targets and to get back to their firing positions and continue shooting. On the whole, the officer is pleased with the shooting abilities of the whole platoon.
The rest of the evening descends into a sing song, which carries on until after many of the guests leave. ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ is everyone’s favourite. Finally, Ellen manages to tear Tom away and both go home.
Ellen shakes her head and mutters to herself “yes but they are people in that ship too, they have mothers and wives”.
CHAPTER 3
PIANO PLAYING PRIVATE
With that, glasses of beer start to appear on top of the piano as he bashes out tune after tune, with soldiers singing along. The party goes on until half ten at night when the order comes for the “lights out in twenty minutes”.
Tom enjoys this bit and suspects the other men do too. He imagines it is a German soldier at the receiving end of his bayonet, especially all the bad things they have done, they deserve it after all. The dirt falls out of the hole made by the bayonet but the sack doesn’t empty. After a few piercings though, it does go limp, then it is replaced. This goes on for most of the day.
“I’ll write” he says as the train starts to pull out.
CHAPTER 4
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO THE FRONT?
“I’ll be in Ellie’s cafe on the Kilburn High Road, join me when you’ve finished. I have to go back to Fovant”
Ellen has a worried look on her face. All she can think about is Tom being shot at by the enemy and being brought back in a body bag.
CHAPTER 5
AT LAST. WE’RE ON OUR WAY
Tom stands up “let’s go and find out, eh?”
The evening comes and Tom is with the quickly assembled band and they play to the war weary troops, who after months of fighting appreciate the concert.
CHAPTER 6
THE TRENCHES AT WIPERS
The whole of August is spent alternating between trench duties and moving supplies, with Cecil on his back constantly talking about how he’ll get “those damn Boche”. But now September is here and the rain eases off a bit, the ground dries a little although the occasional spell of rain keeps the ground muddy. After another sleepless night, the sun is rising and the troops are gathered for briefing, which means only one thing. Tom’s platoon is going on a mission.
CHAPTER 7
THE REALITY OF WAR
They have to wait for night fall before they can move out and return to base camp. Tom enjoys his meal that night, even though it is the same as the night before (and the night before), bully beef. The young lad can’t stop talking about the events of the day and boasts about the fact they have seen off the Germans but the soldiers are just glad to be resting and carry on eating. Finally one soldier says to the boy “there are still thousands more of them out there for you”.
The platoon march back to camp, weary and hungry, desperately needing proper sleep. Tom has only been here two months, but it feels like years and he is by now hardened like the other soldiers who have been here long before him. He looks about him as he marches towards the camp; the landscape is barren, devoid of plant life. The only clue that a forest had been here are the tree stumps sticking out of the mud. Every now and then, a hand or foot sticks out of the mud. Tom knows these individuals will be lost as there is little chance of retrieving the bodies. Over there is a half submerged tank, one of its tracks had come off and sticks up in the air. The soldiers are too tired to hate the Germans now; besides, they have now seen the enemy face to face. They are not like the monsters they were told about before they joined the army. Many men question the war, religion and most of all, the people at the top who sent them here in the first place. The hatred they have for the German soldie
CHAPTER 8
THE BIG ONE
“I hope so, Love”
This is the big one they are told, the big push to gain the town of Passchendaele. The POR are to be in reserve while the main regiments start the attack. The soldiers break up and continue with their work with a heavy weight on their shoulders, the rest of the day is spent moving and loading rations as usual. During the night, Tom gets little sleep but not just because of the nightly bombardment. This is the big one, they are sure. He thinks of Ellen, wondering what she is doing now.
Ellen stands on her front door. She looks to her right and sees the neighbour a few doors down the road, both women are sweeping the front porch as per usual every morning. A post-lady approaches the neighbour and hands a brown envelope. She opens the letter and reads it then she burst into tears and howls. Other women who are also outside, they rush to her side to comfort her. She sobs loudly, Ellen holds her head down. She looks up again as the post-lady walks towards her, holding a brown envelope. Ellen can see the ‘OHMS’ printed on the envelope. The post-lady stops by Ellen, looks at the envelope then walks on. Ellen watches the post-lady walk off, has a quick look at the sobbing neighbour, then holds her head low and walks back indoors.
CHAPTER 9
A BLIGHTY ONE
“But I can’t see!” is the last thing Tom says as he burst into a coughing fit. Every now and then he coughs up blood as the gas has burnt the linings of his lungs. Many men die not from the gas itself, but from asphyxiation from liquid in the lungs.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t say. It doesn’t even say where he is”
“He says that he’s alright. I’m just about to write a letter back”
Tom walks slowly around the main room until he sees a small room off to the side. He walks inside and stops to look around the room; it is some sort of games room with a piano in the corner. He lifts up the lid and looks down at the white and black keys for a while before he taps a key. He listens to the tone as it dies away. He taps another key, then another and before long a tune appears. Inspired by his memory he sits down and plays, feeling the keys and getting into the swing of it. It isn’t long before another patient comes in after hearing music, then another. Very soon, most of the patients now join the throng that is standing behind Tom. One man starts to sing, and then the others join in. At last, here is the entertainment the men have been longing for.
But no one can hear Tom from the other side of the room; he just let them get on with their jubilation.
“Ooh, that’s grand like”
They spend the rest of the afternoon talking, not saying much as Tom got out of breathe too quick but he doesn’t mind, for now, this is the best moment ever. For the first time since the gassing, he felt things are looking up.
CHAPTER 10
WAR’S OVER
“Sorry Tom, but I can’t understand what you went through. You don’t ever talk about it”
CHAPTER 11
THE EPIDEMIC
Tom, looking down, can’t argue. He does find it difficult to walk the round, he is only twenty nine, a young man but an old man of fifty can out walk him now. He slowly gets up and walks out of the office and quietly closes the door behind him.
Tom just smiles.
The doctor looks over his glasses at Tom “no, you need to stay in tonight. She needs you”
Tom just nods. Mrs Bushnell leaves with Tom and Ellen alone together.
Tom sits down, breathing heavily and gasps for air. Most people would have found it difficult, but Toms gassed lungs can hardly cope with the pain. The room is filled with standing quiet people, except for Ellen’s sobbing mother.
CHAPTER 12
IS THERE MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS?
Before Tom can make any further thoughts on the subject, someone calls him back to the piano. He walks over then stops, turns and sees Bertram standing there with a smile on his face as he raises his beer glass towards Tom. He turns and carries on walking to the piano where he starts to play.
“I’ll do my best, Grandfather”
“Tom will be home soon” Ruby shouts
“Listen to the radio” he mutters to himself
“I have no grudges against her. I’ve seen too many bad things to have bad feelings”
Both Ruby and the children are overjoyed and agree that it is a great idea. Sitting in the sunshine in the countryside outside the pub is far away from the drudgery of the war even if it was sixteen years ago, Tom still thinks about those days. Now he is relaxed and reasonably well, hopefully trying to put behind him the horrors he witnessed all those years ago.
CHAPTER 13
CHANGES FOR EVERYONE
“Too many notes” replies Tom
“Shame really, I do enjoy our visits down to Dorset”
“I’m alright now”
All is well with Tom, until….
CHAPTER 14
HERE WE GO AGAIN
Lunchtime and Tom walks to the Police station. In he goes and half an hour later, he comes out with his black helmet with a white W painted on the front.
“Well, I think furniture would be a better idea”
CHAPTER 15
WE WON AGAIN…FOR WHAT?
He quietly slips Frances back into her cot, then slides himself back into bed. He lays staring at the ceiling for quite a while before falling asleep.
“Thank you officer” he says and he turns to walk home.
He picks up his pint glass and walks out with it, scarcity of materials means that punters often have to bring their own glasses.
“Right then…” he says and immediately rams his fingers down on the ivories to start the first tune, the other musicians recognise the tune and join in. People join in with singing. Tom thinks this could be the start of a new band and turns to look at the other musicians who nod in approval. He turns round to see the happy faces of the people in the crowd, they are enjoying themselves with smiles on their faces but the biggest smile is his.
EPILOGUE
Tom survived both wars and lived to he was eighty years old, when he died in 1970. Although this novel is fiction, the family characters were real (although the characters outside of the family were made up). Tom is my Grandfather and his second wife my Grandmother. The story is centred around the dates discovered in my family history tracing, along with family stories, the events leading up to these dates had to be surmised. It is known that he was a postman, he went to war and was gassed. I felt he lived a life that was full and so I had to tell his story.
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