MY DADDY IS A MINER
My daddy is a miner. He is very clever. He goes down big holes in the ground and gets black gold out. We put it in our fire and it keeps us warm.
Daddy looks sad tonight. Mummy and him are whispering in the kitchen. They don’t know I’m sat on the bottom stair and I can hear mummy crying. I’m not allowed to be awake this late. I have to get up for school in the morning. My brother is being good. He’s asleep, sucking his thumb like a baby even though he’s five.
This morning Mummy looks sad and I know she’s been crying because her face is red and she keeps blowing her nose. She’s a bit cross too because my brother is being slow eating his breakfast. She says we have to be extra quick this morning. I don’t know why.
I’m scared going to school today. My friends and their mummy's are shouting funny words and throwing things at us. My brother is crying. I ask mummy what scab means. She says she doesn’t know and makes us run all the way to the school gates.
I’m sitting on the bottom stair again. I know I’m going to get into trouble. Mummy and Daddy are arguing in the kitchen. Mummy doesn’t want Daddy to go to work. She says it’s too risky. I don’t know what risky means. Daddy says he has to go. I’m scared if Daddy doesn't get the black gold from the ground then we will be very cold.
Auntie Vi collects us from school today and her face looks very white. I know she’s forgotten to put her makeup on. She always wears makeup and she lets me borrow her lipstick. She says mummy has had to go out for a while so she is looking after us. The nasty people are still throwing stones at us and calling us names.
Daddy hasn’t come home for ages. There are lots of people in our house today. They are wearing black and eating lots of sandwiches. My brother is crying again. He keeps saying he wants Daddy. I want Daddy, but I don’t cry about it.
My Daddy was a miner. Mummy says that he has gone to heaven to do a different and very important job. I think heaven must be a very long way away and Daddy must be very busy, because he still hasn't been home for ages.
© Samantha Richardson February 2024
Tag Archives: life
Probing Deeper by Andrew Bell
It’s a long time since I started probing
those dark inner spaces
and questions
like ‘what is life and has it meaning?’
Well, not much has changed.
But now it’s how these thoughts
might cross over, be put to use
in the life we have built together..
Leave by Rachel Hilton
They had only been together for a matter of weeks when Cecil asked if Hayley would accompany him on a visit to his parents. He wanted to introduce her to them and thought it would be a good idea to go for a weekend. She wasn’t so enthusiastic and told him so.
“It’s too soon, we need to know each other better before we meet each other’s parents.”
“Nonsense, you’ll like my parents and they’ll like you. They are so easy to get along with.”
He kept on and on at her and eventually she relented. She didn’t want to go, it was more to shut him up than anything. Continue reading
Culture by Joe Lyons
Joe Lyons – one of our ‘virtual members’ – offers this response to our trigger ‘culture’
Culture by Joe Lyons
The cultured pearls around her neck had an iridescent gleam
The smile of pride upon her lips as she took in the scene
When the people who had gathered had the chance to take note
It was all she could do to suppress the thought, not to gloat
This, the main difference between the classes present
Sometimes it is the showing and just being pleasant
With the nature of the classes all you need is self-control
And to remember as in life you are always playing a role
Picture credit: http://poetrygroup2015exeter.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/symbolism.html
Definite? by Chris South
Chris’s second piece from triggers Confused – now definite.
Definite? by Chris South
How do I define myself
Am I definite and here
Is this me in the definitive?
It really isn’t clear!
I could be anyone or anything
And anywhere at all
It wasn’t made explicit
From what I can recall
Supposing that I am here
In this body and this mind
And not some other entity
Is this how I’m defined?
By the parameters of existence
Encased within this shell
Futile in its persistence
To embrace this living hell
When life by definition
Is complex and imprecise
That the slightest indecision
Could result in sacrifice
Of the definitely definite
Thing I claim to be
Until I fade into the infinite
And am no longer me!
Retwords 