a true story of wartime hardship
An unusual ghost story about a friendly ghost, and real names have not been used-
In places like Italy and Japan tales are quite common of family ghosts who although dead, stay close to their loved ones.
During W.W.II the British people went through great hardship, and Edna, a mother of six from the outskirts of Glasgow and a devout spiritualist, would sneak to the rail yards which were under armed guard during the war, and risk being shot to steal a bucket of coal to keep the children warm.
Even the coal dust sweepings were saved and mixed with sand and cement into bricks which were dried out beside the fire and put on last thing at night to maximise warmth.
This mother was luckier than most because her brother would bring her a couple of wild rabbits for the cook-pot each week, and when eaten even the bones would be stewed in water to make a soup, this prudent Scottish mother would tell all the neighbourhood that if any children needed to be fed,
“that the wee bairn’s can eat with mine” and many hungry children would be there at Edna’s table in those times of great national hardship.
Over the years her own children grew up and moved away but Edna would always be asking if anyone knew of any “hungry wee bairn’s that needed a meal “
and waifs and strays always knew food would be there for them at her house.
The priest at the church would secretly sneak her half a loaf of bread each Sunday after service wrapped in an old shirt.
Soon after the war Edna died, and food was no longer rationed in the country and gradually became available,
but her caring nature formed in the time of the war when food was so scarce, meant the learnt worry over feeding the hungry children would go on after her death, her favourite grand daughter who moved back to live in her little cottage would know at meal times when she was about, as pots and pans would make noise on their own
in the tiny kitchen people would say they caught a faint glimpse of Edna out of the corner of their eye, but when they looked she was gone, and always at the swings, outside the school, or anywhere the children played, the sound of their laughter would seem to bring Edna to watch over them.
She may have been dead 15 years now but, she is still often seen near her old home,
“searching for the hungry wee bairns”
T. Stokes
www.t-stokes.co.uk
