Fact or Fiction - 28

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The stories about my dogs - Here - both TRUE

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Today's story is one I'd forgotten about - truth be told, I don't remember much of this one. I'm going by stories my family tell about this event.

What you have to decide is whether the story is truth or fiction? Tell me in the comments.

When I was about three or four, my mother already had my brother, a babe in arms and (probably) another on the way. My mother had a miscarriage between my brother and our sister.

I cannot remember why we were there, but we were wandering around the churchyard in my mother's home village. We'd go and visit every Saturday and this one particular time, she decided to call in at the church.

It had never happened before and I'm pretty sure I'm the reason it never happened again.

The churchyard is ancient. The village was named in the Domesday Book and so you can guess how old the village and the church actually is.

Toward the back of the church, at the furthest end of the churchyard, the older graves lie. There’s a wall holding back the earth because a road runs alongside the churchyard and the ground level is a good 6’ above the road (higher still, in places).

Back then, around half a century ago, ‘Health and Safety’ was such that you listened to your grandma’s words of wisdom. There were no labels on things telling you not to run with these items (scissors) and a stitch in time saved nine.

Given that the wall around the churchyard was sturdy and complete (no gaps for toddlers to make their way through) I had the run of the churchyard.

WOOHOO!

There are a lot of trees in that churchyard and playing hide and seek behind them all was fun.

Source

After a while, my mother must have got distracted by whatever reason we’d gone there for and she let me go longer and longer before she ‘found’ my hiding place.

I wandered around, looking at the pretty flowers in the vases on the ground – not picking them, though, I’d been told not to do that and I sort of got the gravity of the situation because I didn’t pick those flowers – it didn’t seem right.

My mother went across to the side of the churchyard, close to the road where the wall had collapsed. There’d been a land-slip and a number of graves had fallen into the road because the retaining wall collapsed and no longer held back the earth, graves, coffins… bones…

It was in all the local papers. I guess my mother went to have a peek.

During the time she was looking at nothing in particular because everything had been cleared up and set to rights before people were allowed back into the churchyard, I managed to find something fascinating too.

I don’t remember much of this (you’ll see why in a moment).

My mother couldn’t find me and became first worried, then alarmed… by the time she was frantic, a few other people had heard her calling my name and come to help find me.

I’m sure there were plenty of platitudes. “She can’t have gone far, the gates are all closed.” and “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.”

After a few minutes, everyone started to get worried and still no sign of a little red-haired tyke running about, playing hide and seek with all the new playmates.

My mother was in tears and told to sit down. My brother must have been getting heavy to carry, plus the pregnancy, early though it was. She certainly didn’t need the stress I was giving.

Half an hour doesn’t seem such a long time to be looking for someone, but it’s a very long time to be looking for a 4 year-old.

After a little while, someone heard me crying and it didn’t take long for them to find the only open grave in the whole graveyard.

I’d fallen in and possibly knocked myself out. I had a bump on the back of my head the size of a duck egg (so they said).

Two men clambered down to pick me up and hand me out of the grave. I still had to walk back to where we’d left my brother’s pram and I can imagine I whined all the way there.

Then we had to walk to my mother’s mother’s house, part way across the village before she could finally rest and get taken care of.

Like I said… Health and Safety? Not in those days!