Whose Holiday?

Martha never understood just why her parents went on their holiday just then. It was the middle of the school term and she well knew it would be her task to look after her younger brothers and sister, and to see to the running of the massive mansion they called home. Perhaps it was being pessimistic, she reasoned, after all the holiday was only for a few weeks.

It was not long before everyone became aware that the war that had broken out kept her family apart. She made up her mind to speak to her father’s bank manager. She needed urgent funds to manage the house, and to buy food for them all. Unfortunately, while kind he was firm, there was no possibility of her accessing any of her father’s funds until he came back home. There was only one way out of her difficulties: she would have to take in some paying lodgers. The house had all the necessary rooms to accommodate the newcomers.

But, it did mean she would have to leave school. How could she cook, clean, and keep the lodgers contented if she insisted on attending the school? She forgot her own hopes and dreams for the future. There was nothing in this world more important than family. The youngest, a girl, could not understand why she could not stay home and play. Her elder sister was home all day, and she wanted the same privilege for herself. But her two elder brothers just dragged her along to school every day. This became the pattern of their new life.

One of the obvious consequences was that the small family was dropped from their usual social circle. They did not associate with mere landladies, they were a leisured class, and did not lower their standards. There was, however, one family who still invited Martha and her siblings to their Saturday tennis parties. Martha was a very good mimic who could keep them laughing until they cried. She was also an asset as her dancing was the best of her group.

Her extreme youth passed, as it does, and her parents returned when the war allowed their passage home. Even though Martha was now very isolated she managed to meet an American rifleman who took an instant fancy to her, and eventually married her.

Her family never forgot the extreme sacrifices made by Martha in her quest to keep her family safe, secure, fed and out of danger. Her parents’ holiday turned into a soul-searing scar she carried silently for the rest of her life.