Michael Grimaldi - Surrogate

The following monologue is an excerpt from a novel in progress. Here, the action
takes place against the backdrop of the British Government’s mass evacuation of city
children to the countryside just prior to Britain’s entry into World War Two. This
segment was first published and recorded by Jack Straw Productions in Seattle, and
aired on KUOW-FM in Fall 2005.

Everything went all right till it was time to get off the train. We saw real cows
out the train window. My teacher, Mrs. Ledger was in the carriage with us.
She told us to keep our feet off the seats, and not to stick our heads out the
window in case we got them chopped off.

Then we got to wherever the train was taking us, and that’s when I got lost.
I didn’t mean to, but it was difficult to get off the train when all the big boys
whooped and pushed. Me and Kenny were the very last ones. I looked up
and down the platform for Mrs. Ledger, but I couldn’t see her anywhere.
There was another lady instead, with children from another school. She
was blowing her whistle and telling them to put their best foot forward. She
thought me and Kenny were supposed to be with her.

I tried to tell her. “Miss! Miss! I think we’re going the wrong way, Miss…”
But she wouldn’t listen. She kept saying “Best foot lovie. That’s right!”

She made me and Kenny get on a motor coach with the other children. I was
ever so worried. I wondered if Mrs. Ledger had missed me yet, and if I was
going to get in a lot of trouble. I was scared. What if I never got to see my
mum again?

After the motor coach there was a church hall, in a village. London was far
far away. No-body cared about cows or green fields any more. Even the big
boys went quiet, and some of the little children were crying. Not Kenny
though. Kenny just wanted his tea.

“Be quiet Kenny, we’re not having any tea today,” I told him. Inside the
church hall there were ladies in green uniforms giving away chocolate bars.
That shut him up.

“Sit up on the stage boys and girls,” they told us. “Make yourselves look
pleasant.”

I didn’t know what that meant. Maybe I was supposed to take my glasses off.
But I didn’t. I can’t see without them. I just cleaned Kenny up a bit with my
hanky. He was getting chocolate all over the place.

“Sit up straight,” I told him.

Then the doors flew open and a lot of other ladies rushed in. These ones
didn’t have uniforms. They were just ordinary ladies with red faces. I didn’t
like how they rushed and pushed. They kept pointing and shouting. “I’ll take
that one!” It was the big boys and the pretty girls they wanted. Not me and
Kenny.

“Take your gas mask with you,” the ladies in green uniforms kept calling
out. They were checking tags, checking names off lists. But mine and Kenny’s
names weren’t going to be on that list, were they? They were on Mrs. Ledger’s
list. Maybe they’ll send us back to London, I thought. Except, I didn’t know
the way.

Soon there weren’t many of us left. That’s when a lady came up to me
and asked did I know how to do the washing up. I told her I didn’t know
anything, and my little brother still wet the bed, and my mum said I wasn’t to
go no place without him. I held Kenny tight so she’d know we went together,
and she picked someone else.

Then all of a sudden it went quiet. I looked around and there were only three
of us. Me and Kenny, and a girl who was foreign looking. She was staring at
her skirt. Her face was brown and her hair was black and shiny. I wanted her
to look at me, but she didn’t. Kenny had fallen asleep with his head in my lap
by then, and all the grown-ups had gone, except for one fed-up looking lady
in a green uniform.

“What am I supposed to do with you lot then?” she said. “Let you sleep
under a hedge?”

Kenny’s all right by himself. He’s got a cowlick, but somebody would have
picked him. It’s me they didn’t want because of my squint and my glasses.
Marjorie Henderson always said I was an ugly four-eyes and no one would
marry me. Mum said Marjorie was a silly girl, and sticks and stones can break
your bones but words can never hurt you. Dad called me his princess.

I wished my dad would come and take me home. I didn’t want to sleep under
a hedge. I wanted to sit close to the other girl, and for her to stop looking at
her skirt.

Then the doors banged open again, and in walked a lady different from all
the rest. She was wearing trousers for a start. I’d never seen a lady in trousers
before. But this one had them on, with her hands in their pockets. She
walked across the floor like she had all the time in the world, and stopped at
the edge of the stage and leaned on it. Her hair was ever so short. Then she
smiled at us.

“Hello darlings,” she said. “You are absolutely perfect! All of you! Did you
know three has always been my lucky number? So you see…you simply
must come home with me.” She sounded ever so posh.

Turned out it didn’t matter if me and Kenny weren’t on the list. What
mattered were the tags round our necks. The lady carried Kenny in her arms
like a baby. Me and the other girl carried the gas masks. Now we’re all in a
motor car. I’ve never been in a motor car before. I’m in the back with Kenny,
and the other girl is in front. Kenny’s still sleeping. Outside the car window
hedges whiz past. The sky is turning dark. The lady’s talking on and on in
her posh accent. Something about landing in a marvelous place, and how
the air will do wonders for our lungs.

I don’t know what she’s on about really. She could be telling me we’re on the
moon for all I know. But I like how she sounds. Posh…but kind. I’m just a
little bit worried she’ll crash the car. I wish she’d slow down. I wonder what’s
worse. Car crashes or bombs. I wonder if the other girl is going to be my
friend. I wonder what’s next.