A TRUE STORY - LOST IN TIME

By Tessa Harvey



MANCHESTER 1927

    "Come on Jim. Hurry!" 
"I can't, mum, I can't."
The four year old sounded scared, but his Welsh-born mother was used to obedience.
    "Now! Get down now. I am not telling you again." Her tone softened. "Come on, lad. It's only church - nor school until you are five. Look, I'll come and help."     
    Tired, Elsie climbed the first four of the steep stairs, somewhat stiffly. Rheumatism also had claimed her, a demanding foe. She fought bitterly and long.
    Her son was sweating and pale. "Nobbut a fever,  boy. Here, I'll give you a piggy back."     
    Awkwardly, the forty four years old sat on the worn middle strip of stair carpet just below her only child. She reached behind for the little boy's legs to pull him onto her slim back. Then her face spasmed in horror. The child literally could not move, his small limbs locked stiffly. She wept, her tears mingling with Jim's as she half-turned and hugged him tight.
    Her husband found them there later when he returned from work. Alarmed, he flicked on the light to drive back the encroaching night.
    In shock, he reached for the blackout blind before realising it was no longer needed.
    His wife and son were asleep, but he saw enough to send him back into the cold night to find the doctor, though it would cost him money they could ill afford. 
    First he went to find his neighbour.

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