"The day me and my family came to the village was the summer of the last year of the First World War." "Heat oozed from the ground and snow clouds of elder blossom banked in the sky." "The chatter of haymakers drifted on waves of air from the fields humming with blundering bees and flickering with scarlet butterflies." "Morning!" "Just look at this place!" "What'd I tell you Doth, Marge, innit something?" "Beautiful, ma!" " It's glorious!" " See, didn't I tell you?" "We got veggies, look, we got veggies!" "Look at this!" "Didn't I tell you?" "I can't pick you up, my love." "My first memories are of being washed up in this strange new land, dizzy with scent and burnt all over with hot, white flowers." "Look, we got strawberries here!" "Oh, look at this place, Reg is gonna love it..." "Loll?" "Loll?" "Come and get some strawberries." "Marge, he's not here." "Oh, he's gone a-wanderin'." "Loll?" "There you are." "The world was a miracle to me." "And one day I would record what I'd seen so that others could see it too." "Before it was lost and gone forever." "Now you go away..." "Oh, I want the place filled with flowers." "You can make a posy here." "As I was a-walkin' for my recreation..." "The eldest were my father's of another marriage" "Marge, Doth and Phyl." "These half-sisters I cherished." "And my mother cared for the halves just as much as she did for the wholes." "Me, my brother Jack and my sister Frances." "Reg, where'd I put him?" " Is he there?" "You got him?" " Yeah." "Yeah." "Safe and sound." "Pride of place." "My father was away in London, working in the war office." "His picture was the only thing I'd seen of him since I was 3." "Home." "Hello darling." " How is everyone?" " How are you?" " You behaving yourself?" " I've not broken nothing." "Good boy." "What's everybody up to?" "Marge is out in the yard." " Doth is peeling spuds." " What about the others?" "Frances is cleaning her trolley and Phyl is sitting on the steps." "What about our Loll?" "Loll is dead, turned yellow." "Mrs Moores is laying him out." "Loll's dead?" " What are you doing?" " Poor boy he's gone, fled to the angels." "I was getting him ready for the box." "No, Loll ain't dead, our Loll ain't dead, no, no." "Doth, go and mind the baby." "Marge, go and get the vicar." "Now!" "And send to Stroud for the doctor." "Get me some blankets." "Oh, Loll, oh, my darling..." "Please, hurry!" "Please, please!" "Please!" "In the name of God, and trusting in his might alone receive Christ's healing touch to make you whole." "May Christ bring you wholeness of body," " mind and spirit." " My darling..." "Deliver you from every evil" " and bring you peace." "Amen." " My darling... my darling." "Amen." "I came close to death." "But somehow, I clung on." "Though it was a very near thing." "A very near thing indeed." "See?" "She's coming!" "My sister Frances was a beautiful, fragile child." "Come on." "We were full of mischief and as thick as thieves." "Think she'll be a while!" "Here it is." ""A murdered cadaver will be shockingly uncovered."" "What's a cadaver?" "I think it's a kind of bird..." "Varmints been in again." "Our two old neighbours who were rival ancients." "Her up atop we called Granny Trill." "Keep it down, you great crow!" "And her down under was Granny Wallen." "You keep it down up there, you great boar!" "Miserable old trout." "We had a feeling that the summer would never end." "Little varmints." "All sights twice brilliant and smells twice sharp." " Come on!" " All games twice as long." "It seemed that here no disasters could happen." "That nothing could ever touch us." "Never been as bad as this before." "It's cruel." "Poor little mite." "Don't you fret, he always fights back." "Come now." "Let's leave him be." "I will make sure you're alright, Loll." "As I lay in my bed" "I could sense the whole valley by the surfaces of my skin." "The turn of the hour, the set of the year." "The weather and all the life to come." "I was made one with the valley." "So that I felt part of its destination." "Washed of my fever, ice cold, but alive." "It seemed I would never lose it again." "Loll?" "Hey darling." "I've cut you, look, some lovely thin bread and butter to go with it." "Tummy ache..." "Oh, darling, that's because you haven't eaten in a week." "Look, just don't eat it too fast cos you'll make yourself sick." "Hey, I'm gonna walk into Stroud later on." "Gonna buy you a paint box." "Maybe some liquorice." "Would you like that?" "Everyone's been asking about you." "Fancy that." "Where's Frances?" "We buried her yesterday." "Cos of me?" "No, darling, no." "No, you mustn't think that, you mustn't." "Understand me?" "I'm sorry." "Frances died suddenly." "Silently." "Hers was a death that should never have happened like so many children at the time." "I've always believed she gave me her life." "Something so precious, I would live it to the full." "For both of us." "Stop messing me!" "Give over, Loll." "Doth, pass us Jack's old jumper." "Oi, that's mine!" "It's more holes than jumper anyway." "Marge, he's here again." "I knew all about war." "My ears from birth had been full of the talk of it." "This man did not look like a soldier." "He was not brass-soled, leather-belted and wax-whiskered like my father." " Tell me all about it." " Shh!" "Don't really know where to start." "Well, the mud's a foot deeper at the bottom of the trenches." "Shells crashing down on you from above." "And you can hear the bullets snap and crack past your ears like a whip." "You oughtn't to be in the woods." " You ought to be at home." " I wouldn't do." "They'd jump on you before you could say "knife"." " Hey, Jack..." " You got me!" "He's alright." "Are you a soldier?" "I'm a solider, aye." "And you'd make a better soldier than me any day." "Would you like some more tea?" " Um, I've still got half a mug." " Alright." "How's the war in the wood?" "Have you lost it?" "I'm doing my best not to." "You see my daddy's a soldier fighting the war." "Not much fighting going on in London." "He's doing his bit for the country." "For all of us." "I tell you what, if I see your old man I'll tell him you said hello." "And uh, I'd best be off." "You can stay a bit longer." "That's kind of you to offer." "Why are you staring?" "I best be going, I don't wanna get you in no trouble." "You mind yourself." " Thank you." " Take care." "Marge?" " Poor lad." " Goodbye." "No good'll come of it." "Come on, let's go!" "Is that alright?" "Arms out." " There we go, take your tater." " What's going on?" "You're starting school today." " No I ain't, I'm stopping home." " No, you're going to school." "Come on Loll, you're a big boy now!" " Don't wanna be!" " Don't be silly." "Marge, Doth." " See you." " Bye!" "Gerroff!" "I don't wanna go to school!" " Bye!" " Bye." " Come on, Loll, we got work." " Go on, we'll be late." " Let's go." " Go on!" "It was my first amazed vision of any world outside the womanly warmth of my family." "I didn't expect to survive it for long." "Look in his pocket." " It's a tater." " Give it here." "Why've you got a tater?" "I got his cap!" "Good morning, children." "Good morning, Miss Buckley." "Who we got here, then?" " Laurie Lee." " Well, Laurie how about you sit over there for the present?" "My desk companions were two girls already puppishly pretty." "Jo Jenkins..." "When do we get the present?" "And Rosie Burdock." "Jack Lee, don't be laughing at your brother." "Now children, hands together." "They were to distract and haunt me for the next 10 years." "Hands together, Spadge Hopkins." "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name." "Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." "Give us this day, our daily bread..." "The first and last years of school reside most vividly in the memory." "We entered the door marked "Infants"" "moved gradually through the years 'til we were ready to be handed back to the world." "...hallowed be thy name." "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven." "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." "Divine is the kingdom, the power and the glory." "For ever and ever." "Amen." "Joseph's pond's frozen!" "Come on Loll, you snail!" "Wait for me!" "Come on Loll, quicker." " Whoa!" " Careful Loll, mind yourself!" "Timber!" "Shove off, Rosie Burdock, you be careful on this ice you'll crack her underneath, great big heifer." "You come over here and say that, I'll box your ears." "Like to see you try." "Getting the hang of this skating lark." "Jo!" "Didn't know you could skate, Loll!" "Jo, watch this!" "Look at him, showing off!" "Loll, careful, you don't wanna break nothing." "Jo, watch this then." "Don't say I didn't warn you." "Ah!" "Man down!" "You alright there, Rosie?" ""Great big heifer"?" "Meant it in a nice way, like." "We were all afraid of the goblin, Miss B." "4 goes into 2 how many times, class?" "She was a terror." "We christened her Crabby." "No times, it's 0." "Dullards." "Carry the 2 to the next column, making... class?" "How many does it make?" "If you carry the 2?" "Class?" "26." "It makes 26." "Nothing but straw between their ears." "2 and 6 makes 26!" "Waste of blooming' time..." "Ah!" "Lee." "What's that you got?" "Give it here." "You'll only earn yourself more strokes." ""The old red tree strew arches above us making tunnels of rusty darkness."" ""You, like a slip of yew."" ""You, like a slip of yew", what is this grubbiness?" "Poem, miss." " It's for his sweetheart." " Shut up!" "I will not have this kind of talk in my classroom." "What have you got to say for yourself?" "It's my aunt, miss." "What about it, Jack?" "I uh..." "I never got on with her." "Well, best get on, then." "Oh, but miss, she's my cousin!" "Mine too!" "Wait, where do you think you're going?" "Where do you think you're going?" "Come back here, come back here!" "We would do anything to get out of lessons." "Many a lone coffin was followed to its grave by a straggle of long-faced children." "All strangers to the bereaved." "Memories mark you." "Moments in time to cast a shadow over your life and change it forever." "Remembering is to relive." "To be in the same moment all over again." "What you doing, ma?" "I'm doing my scrapbook, Loll." " How was school?" " Alright." "Where you off to?" "I wanna hear all about school." "Loll?" "What you up to." "Aw, look at you." "I'm a soldier like pa." "I can see that." "And a fine one you are, too." "But I think you're missing something." "Every soldier needs his rifle, see?" "Pow, pow!" "He's in here somewhere." "Shh, shh!" "Shh!" "It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you." "That were close." "You ain't got no doors." "Got no walls, neither." "Set yourself down next to the fire, get the heat back in your bones." "You mustn't tell no-one you saw this place." "The Hun's got spies everywhere, do you understand?" "Good lad." " It's Laurie, ain't it?" " Loll." "James Harris." "Private, First Class." "Why does your hand shake?" "It's just the cold." "The wind blowing in my bones." "Looking for someone?" "Loll?" "What are you doing out here?" "There was Hun soldiers, we hid from them." "He ain't got no doors." "Can't get no privacy." "His name's James." "Is it?" "Well, you're in luck, James." "I happen to have some food clothes here you can have." "Thank you." "We was playing, weren't we Loll?" " Pow!" " Ah, you got me!" "You got me." "We'd better be off." "Say goodbye to James." "Bye, James." "You take care, you hear?" "We were green and innocent." "Not fully understanding what we did." "Imitating the rituals and roles that had played out before us." "Was Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated, class?" "In which country?" "Class?" "Ow!" "What do you think you're doing?" "Spadge Hopkins, sit up straight." "This is as straight as I get." "And you can settle down, Miss Burdock." "Hopkins, sit up, now!" "I am, miss." "Tell us, which city Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated?" "Sarajevo." "Dunno." "London?" "Sarajevo." "And why was this act of aggression such an important moment?" "Well... he was dead." "That was important for him, I s'pose." "And for the rest of us?" " Come on, pudding head!" " You better watch it..." "What can you tell us?" "Nothing." "Cos you don't know nothing!" "You're a great, slouching know-nothing!" "Sod it all!" " Where are you going, young man?" " It's not any business of yours." "No, get back in your chair this instant, I won't have it!" " Ta-ra." " No, I won't have it, you're going nowhere." "Put me down!" "You put me down!" "Help me get down, someone help me get down!" "Three cheers for Spadge Hopkins!" "Stop that!" "Get me down!" "Stop that, I won't have it!" "I won't have it!" ""Oh, all the woods and the meadows"" ""woods where we hid from the wet."" ""stiles where we stayed to be kind."" ""Meadows in which we met."" ""Light so low in the veil, you flash and lighten afar."" ""For this is the golden morning of love and you are his morning star."" ""Flash, I am coming, I come by meadow and stile and wood."" ""Oh, lighten into my eyes and my heart"" ""and into my heart and my blood."" ""Heart are you great enough for a love that never tires?"" ""Oh, heart, are you great enough for love?"" ""I have heard of thorns and briars."" ""Over the thorns and briars, over the meadows and stiles"" ""Over the world to the end of it"" ""flash of a million miles."" "What was that all about?" "What do you think?" "Love and that." "The kind that goes on and on." "Nothing lasts forever." "Well, it don't." "What about you and Jo?" "Oh, shut up!" "Not Jo Jenkins?" "Look at his blushing!" "She ain't nothing or no-one!" " He's been pining for her!" " Ey Jack, now leave him be." "'Jo I love you, Jo I wanna marry you!" "'" "I told you to shut up!" "Get off me, get off me!" "Pull 'em apart, before they break something!" " Stop it, stop it now!" " Stop it, pa might arrive any minute." "That's enough." "Stand up, the pair of you." "What will your father think if he comes home and finds you like this?" "He'll think we've descended into anarchy." "Now go upstairs, the pair of you." "The war had ended long ago but our father still had not returned to live with us." "Are you gonna play that for your dad?" "If he likes." "Of course he will." "Lovely, it is." "It is?" "What time did he say?" "There was the occasional promise of a visit and each time we attended dutifully lest we shake out mother's faith." "Oh, he says he's bringing home a whole leg of lamb!" "We'll have a time of it tonight, it'll be lovely." "Loll I, I think that's enough practising for now." " I ain't finished, yet." " No but I, I think that's enough." "Loll!" " Telegram, ma'am." " Thank you." "He's been kept back in London." "But he sends his best to you all." "A serious drought hit the country." "Springs dried up, wells filled with frogs." "Trees shrivelled." "Crops burned in the fields." "Small, naked winds blew over our faces." "Dandelion seeds floated by." "Burnt sap and roast nettles tingled our nostrils." "Together with the dull rust smell of dry ground." "There's none coming, ma!" "Oh, Loll, darling, come here." "Doth, get some mud, my love." "Well, we haven't got much, have we?" "Right then." "Right, come on then." " Here you are missus, try this'n for size!" " Granny Wallen!" "It's the first of my last year's cowslip wine." "Oh, you don't me giving 'em too much though, Granny Wallen cos they'll have a funny turn." "Conduct yourselves with some dignity else you shan't be getting nothing!" "You'd think you'd learned your manners from her up atop!" "Ooh, did you hear him, missus?" "The screech bird?" "Last night it was." "And the night before that." "Ooh, I can't say I did, Granny Wallen." "You mark my words, her up atop is going." "You mark my words, this heat will have her." "Is there something wrong with her?" "Not a lot right, that's for certain!" "Haha!" "Here, don't look so sour, you." "You're so worried, run this up to her." "That you again, varmint?" "I've come on a visit." "Well, you just mind my pots, or I'll cut you to pieces." "Brought you some wine." "From her down under?" "Poison, it'll be." "No it ain't." "It's awful stuff!" " I'll take it back, then." " No, no, no." "I'll take it." "Might make use of it." "Scouring the pots." "You going bald?" "Bald!" "?" "Never!" "I've got my bits." "Look at the dead stuff dropping off your comb." "That's healthy, that is." "Just making room for more." "Her down under I got more than her!" "Her's as bald as a tater root!" "Wicked old lump." "I'll see her gone." "Her's failing, you mark my words." "Right lads, up the hill." "There's soldiers!" "Left, right, left... soldiers with rifles marched to the top of the hills and began shooting at passing clouds..." "Fire!" "...hoping that bursting them might bring rain." "Aim..." "Fire!" "Don't get too close, Loll!" "Has Marge gone to see the soldier in the woods?" "Shh, come on." "Fire!" "Reload!" "Whether from prayers, or shooting, or the simple return of nature the drought broke soon after." "And it began to rain as it never rained before." "Sweet saints above!" "It's coming in!" "Bring brooms, it's coming in!" "Stop it!" "Doth!" "Marge!" "Get the boys!" "Sweep it, my darlings!" "Sweep it away!" "I've got you something." "It's my mum's." "Some of the lads, when we um..." "When they go over the top, they give something away to be remembered by." "But I got you to remember you by." "Loll?" "You little sneak, Laurie Lee!" " I never done nothing!" " Oh, come here, you!" " Gerroff!" " What you doing out here, anyway?" "Playing soldiers." "Was he trying to hurt you?" " How'd you mean?" " Biting you." "That wasn't... that weren't no bite." "It was a kiss." "Like off ma, when I'm in bed?" "I s'pose, a little bit." "When two people like each other a lot they wanna find a way to show it." "You could just tell him." "Sometimes you might wanna do more than that." "Get close to someone." "Like ma and pa, you understand?" "Is the soldier going away, then?" "Why'd you say that?" "Pa went away." "James isn't going anywhere." "Can't catch me!" " Loll?" "Loll, where are you going?" " Can't catch me!" "Loll, get back here!" "Can't catch me!" " Come back here, Loll!" " Catch me if you can!" "Oh, I'll catch you alright..." " So what shall we do now then, Jo?" " I don't mind." "Go on, you tell." "No, you do it." "No." "Do it like before." "What seems to be the trouble then, Miss Jenkins?" "The early exploration of Jo's body was a solitary studying of maps." "The signs upon her showed me the way I should go over flesh smoother than candle's skin." "Like something thrown down from the moon." "That'll be all, Miss Jenkins." "6 goes into 12... twice." "1 foot, 0.304... 1 inch, 2.54..." "Divided by 2..." " Ow..." " What are you doing, Loll?" "None of your business!" "I'll tell miss you're on your way, don't wanna miss the test!" "Ow!" "There will be no talking no cheating, no peeking." "Spadge Hopkins, I'll be watching you." "What's up with you?" "Please miss, I think I got the measles." "Strange it's only on your arms." " That's nettle rash!" " Shut up, Rosie!" "I seen him in the field getting them so he could miss the test!" "Miserable child." "Slow!" "And lazy!" "Right class, begin test, write your names on top of the sheet." "Question 1: x over 6+7 = 3 and a half." "What is x?" "Move out the way!" "Move, move!" " Slow and lazy, can't catch me!" " I'll have ya!" "Get off me!" "You're a pain in the neck, Rosie Burdock!" "Get off!" " Ow, you're hurting me!" " Good!" "Teach you to go biting." "Get off!" "You got something in those shorts of yours." "I don't mind." "You got any wine gums?" "I'll show you if you want." "You got any wine gums?" "Not for you, I ain't." "Alright there, Loll?" "Want a lift home?" " Yeah." " Hop on, then." "I been practising." " Alright there, Rosie?" " Alright." " How's your ma?" " She's alright Mrs Lee, yeah." "Hold on tight, then." " Not too fast, mind." " No, no, no, no." "As I was a-walkin' for my recreation" "Down by the green meadows..." "That way a little bit, a little bit more." "That's it, that's great." "Margaret There I met a fair maid" "Making great lamentation..." "Sorry, sorry!" "Alright, ladies and gentlemen The blackbirds and thrushes sing in the green bushes" "The lark and the dove sing in mourn for this maid" "Oh!" "Ha ha ha, only thing now is stopping!" " You have mended the brakes right, ma?" " No, no, no, no" " but we'll make do, ha ha ha!" " How?" " Ahh!" " Help!" " Ahh!" " Brakes!" "Use the brakes!" "Help!" "Help, help!" " Oh, no, no, no!" " Oh, my gosh, ahh!" " Ahh!" " Alright, Mrs Lee." "Ta, Jerry." "Dearie me..." "Why'd you buy that?" "It's broken." "When I worked up at Galveston Court, I always dreamed of owning one of these." "And now I got one, just a bit of glue, it'll be fine." "We can't afford broken china, ma." "So... have you been giving that Rosie Burdock the run around, then?" "Ain't nothing doing." "I remember when you two were little." "You know, you pushed her in a fire." "Weren't burning, of course." "Shame." "The path of true love." "Can I ask you something?" "You just did, didn't you?" "How'd you meet dad?" "Well..." "I was working in your grandad's pub at the time and there was an advert in the newspaper, "Widower"." ""Four children, seeks housekeeper."" "That was it." "I got lucky with his four, they took to me straight away." "You know, which was hard, considering they'd just lost their mother." "Good as gold, they were." "And I had Frances." "Jack..." "Then you came along, eh?" "First four years of us together was just magic." "I do love him, you know." "The year revolved around the village... the festivals round the year, the squire round the festivals and the village round the squire." "Squire's been good to us this year." "The parochial church tea..." " Loll, don't pick." " ...an annual entertainment was his winter treat." "You've practiced enough, it'll go alright." "You two on tonight then?" "Should be good for a laugh." "Leave some for the rest of us!" "The parochial church tea is with us again, I suggest." "Another year." "Another year comes around." "When I see you gathered here, once more" " when I see, when I think..." " Shh!" "And here you all are." "It comes to me... friends..." "He's lost it!" "Stop it!" "All of you, shh!" "Once again..." "Thank you, squire once again for such a generous feast." "Now..." "Ah, not yet!" "Rosie Burdock, that means you too." "We must wait to say grace." " Oh, bountiful father..." " Oh, bountiful father..." "We thank thee for our daily bread..." "May it strengthen and refresh our bodies..." "And we pray thee, nourish our souls..." "Amen." " Through Jesus Christ our Lord..." " Pass the cake, Loll." " ..." "Amen." " Amen." "Carry on." "Excuse me, waiter." "Yes ma'am?" "What is the meaning of this fly in my tea?" "I wouldn't know..." "I'm not a fortune teller." "And my soup tastes funny." "Well, why aren't you laughing then?" "Uh, for the next item, ladies and gentlemen, we have an instrumental duet by Miss Jenkins and young Laurie Lee." " Get on with it!" " Shh!" "...the pipes are calling" "From glen to glen" "And down the mountainside" "The summer's gone and all the flowers are dying" "'Tis you, 'tis you" "Must go and I must bide" "But come ye back" "When summer's in the meadow" "Or when the valley's hushed" "And white with snow" "'Tis I'll be here" "In sunshine or in shadow" "Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy" "I love you so." "Well done!" "Didn't he do us proud?" " I'll take it." " That were great, Loll." "Yeah, good'un Loll." " Did alright, I s'pose." " Ta." "Where's Jo?" "Probably with the other babies." "Right then, we going up there or not?" " I'm up for it." " Loll?" "How about it?" " Where you off to, then?" " Going by Bull's Cross." "Harry Lazenby seen a phantom coach two nights ago." "There ain't no phantom coach." "Alright, if you're scared." "I ain't and I got no wine gums neither, if that's what you're after." "Your loss." "I said I'd wait for Jo." "Wasting your time with goody two-shoes." " Got a shift on." " Ah, leave him behind." " If he ain't coming." " Well, I've had it with this." "Go home to your ma if you're too scared." "Oh, alright then, wait up." "I ain't waiting, slow and lazy Lee." "Bull's Cross was an ancient staging post that cast up beasts and spirits." "Anyone else hear that?" "That weren't nothing." "Just an owl." "We were afraid to go up there at night." "Which is probably why we did it so often." "You hear what they say about the phantom coach?" "Anyone who sets eyes upon it be cursed to die an horrible death." "Martin Fowler saw it." "Two weeks later: dead." "Run over by a coach and horses." "That ain't no curse, Martin Fowler was deaf and near blind." "I heard the phantom's an old coach driver." "One time, his horses got spooked." "They bolted, throwing the driver from his seat." "His head was dashed on the rocks." "That's not what I heard." "There was once a hangman." "Used to string up villains from that gibbet." "He worked nights taking thieves and murderers up to them gallows where they'd be hung 'til they'd be dead, dead, dead." "On a storm black night he's handed a shivering boy." "So he takes this boy up the gallows puts a noose around his neck, pulls the knot tight." "A cloud moved from the moon and lit up the gallows." "The hangman looked up to see the face of his own son looking back at him." "The hangman went home drove a nail into the wall and did what he did best." "Now he haunts this place." "We should get out of here." "Think I can hear horses." "Loll... you see that?" "It's the phantom!" " Quick, go!" " Go!" "Shh, shh!" "Get on, now." "There's your phantom." "Come on, let's follow him." "Look at him, he's cock of the walk, ain't he?" "Shh!" "We should go." " Come on, lazy bones!" " Give us a minute." "What are you playing at?" "You'll be late for school." "What?" "Morning." "Something attack you in the night?" "Just shaving." "What for?" "You've got nothing but fluff." " Them's whiskers." " Get on!" "Be hairs on his chest next!" "And everywhere else!" "Leave him be!" "Ma?" "If I could unsee what I just saw..." "What'd you see?" "It's terrible." "What is?" "Come on, we're not bleedin' mind readers!" "Don't talk like that." "Right, are you telling us or not?" "I was..." "I was just passing the Woolpack and he... he's just lying there." "He's just lying there and his..." "his eyes are open." "I think he's dead." "We all knew what had happened." "We could taste the violence even if we'd not seen it with our own eyes." "It was bloody and raw." "And more terrifying than anything imagined." "Has anyone seen anything?" "But the men that murdered him belonged to the village and the village looked after their own." "What about you, boy?" "You know anything?" "Alright lads, let's get him up." "The culprits were never punished." "But neither we, nor they ever forgot it." "Have you seen him?" "The deserter?" "The farmer's seen him in the woods." "You sure you haven't seen him?" "Get yourself home, lad." "Come on." "Why are you sad?" "Cos I miss Frances." "What's a deserter?" "Where'd you hear that word?" "From a soldier with a red hat on." "Oh, Marge it's too late, there's nothing you can do now, darling." "I've got to warn him!" "This'll only break your heart, it's too late!" " Don't you understand?" " Of course I understand." "Well, then you know I have to go to him." "Oh, darling..." "Can I go with her to the war?" "No, Loll." "Oh, sweetheart..." "Is the war coming to our house?" "No sweetheart, we're safe here." "Thank you, Loll." "He's safe." "For now." "Come on Loll, hurry up!" " Jack, wait up!" " So slow." "Jack!" "That summer mysterious senses clicked into play." "Our thighs seemed to burn like dry grass." "Emotions swung wildly and our bodies seemed tilted out of all recognition." "We knew what was happening to us we just didn't know what to do with it." " She ain't coming." " She's always through after church." " Won't she... mind?" " Mind?" "Lizzie's keen." "Let us do all we want." "All we want?" " Shut up, Loll." " You shut up." "Both of you, shut up." "She's coming." "Go on." "Alright there, Lizzie." "Hello." "What are you doing?" " Whatever you want us to be doing." " Yeah." "Go on then, what do you got in mind?" "Ow!" "What do we do now, then?" "I dunno, let's go." "You alright, ma?" "What happened?" "It's Granny Trill." "So many of my childhood days had been spent prowling slowly round Granny Trill's treasures." "Now she was gone." "Lord have mercy." "Not two weeks after Granny Trill died, Granny Wallen gave up in her sleep." "You coming in, then?" "It was as though I'd been dipped in hot oil." "Stone me..." "Baked, dried and hung throbbing on wires." "I know you're there, Laurie Lee." "I was an unexploded bomb." "Where's ma?" "Away with dad." "You could smile, Loll, the war's finished." "Everyone's in the Woolpack, Marge, there's music." "Everyone's dancing!" "Let's go, Jack." "Stop a minute longer, only a minute won't do no harm." "Will pa die now the war is over?" "No, course he won't." "So he'll be coming home?" "You got all the people you need already." "Ma, Doth, Phyl and me, we look after you." "I told you, leave me be!" "A soldier, maybe he's seen pa!" "Out of the way..." "Oh, no!" "I never told, I never told anyone!" "James?" "Stop it, you're hurting him!" "Stop it, leave him alone!" "Marge!" "I love you!" "I love you too." " Step away, please." " No!" "I knew something momentous was happening." "The war was over and the end of the world was come." "Mother had disappeared and I never expected to see another day." "You weren't there when the war ended, were you?" "You were in London with pa." "You should've seen it." "Trafalgar Square..." "The fountains..." "There was soldiers dancing with girls." "And there was Reg..." "His uniform... his uniform on." "His hair was just so." "That night..." "It were magic." "Magic it was." "Was that the night he told you?" "That he wasn't coming back to live with us no more." "No, no, he never said that, see." "Got a job in the civil service." "We've never wanted for nothing, have we?" "But we were his family." "Alright, Loll?" "Go on, get out of here." "You must be thirsty." " I ain't." " You be." "Come on, I'll show you." "Come on!" "Unless you're scared." "The day Rosie Burdock decided to take me in hand was a motionless day of summer." "Creamy, hazy and amber-coloured with beech trees standing in heavy sunlight as though clogged with wild, wet honey." "What you doing, Rosie?" "I ain't playing no more games." "Get under here before someone sees." "I was terrified of her." "In her eyes, I saw unnatural wisdoms more threatening than anything I could imagine." " What you got there?" " Cider." "How does it taste?" "Like..." "like fire." " Here, don't drink it all!" " I ain't finished!" "Give it here!" "Rosie..." "I like you better than Walt Ken and Boney Harris." "I, I think you're even prettier than Betty Carpenter." "Should hope so." "We kissed..." "So dry and shy, it was like two leaves colliding in air." "Loll?" "Loll?" " You really like me more than Walt?" " Do I 'eck!" "You do like me more than Walt." " Look at this place..." " What about it?" "The hills running together..." "The trees... the whole valley." "You ever feel like you're a part of it?" "That cider's gone to your head!" "It's magnificent." " You got your boots on!" " Don't matter!" "Timber!" "You get home safe, Laurie Lee!" "Rosie?" "Oh, Rosie..." "There's something about that evening that dilates the memory, even now." "I was bursting with power and pleasure." "I felt valiant, fateful and for the first time in my life invulnerable to the perils of night." "I was never the same again." "I think they're pretty." " What are you meant to be?" " Night." "The year after the war ended, we were celebrating peace." "Rosie!" "Don't you look a picture?" "Oh, my goodness... you both do." "All of you!" " I'm a fairy." " You can fly?" "You got wings?" "Then fly." "Fly!" "Rosie!" "Oh, Loll, what'd you do that for?" "On that spring day of magical transformations of tears and dusty sunlight, of brass bands and cakes by the cartload we couldn't know what the future held for any of us." "Pretty Jo grew fat with a Painswood baker." "And Rosie, having baptised me with her ciderous kisses married a soldier and I lost her forever." "If you all move over to your right a little." "Keep very still." "Suns rose and fell." "Years passed almost without us knowing." "Now the last days of my family drew near." "The girls were grown and they wished to be gone." "You're not leaving." "Doth, Phyl, she's not leaving." " Stay out of this." " Put your case down." "No!" "We're getting married!" "You're not taking her!" "It's time, ma!" "You can't keep her here forever, Mrs Lee." "Who do you think you're talking to?" "Huh?" " Mother!" " Ma!" " Stop it!" "Stop it!" " You're not taking her!" "I cannot be without him!" "We're in love." "Do you think I don't understand about love?" "He had tried to carry off our willing sister and we had all of us very near killed him." "Oh, come here!" "Oh, me darling." " It's alright, Mrs Lee." " It's okay, you're right." "There we go." "You sit down, alright." "Come here, my darling." "Oh, Marge, oh, Marge..." "That's me, then." "Do you remember "Blackbirds and Thrushes"?" " Yeah." " It was your dad's favourite." "Used to get me to sing it all the time." "As I was a-walkin' for my recreation" "Down by the green..." "The three or four years my mother spent with my father she fed on for the rest of her life." "...There I met a fair maid..." "She raised his two families faithfully and alone." "And for 30 years she clung to one fantasy that he might one day return to her." "But he never did." "...With his heart full of yearning" "He found his dear Mary all dead in her grave" "He cried "I'm forsaken, my poor heart is breaking"" "I wish that I never Left this fair maid." "You're my soldier." "Off you go, then." "Sit up straight." "Off you go." "Go on." "My mother loved this world and saw it fresh with hopes that never clouded." "She was an artist, a light-giver and an original." "And she never for a moment knew it." "As for me..." "I was 19 years old." "Still soft at the edges but with the confident belief in good fortune." "I was vainglorious full of raging excitement knowing I had far to go." "I left behind a village life that was soon to break, dissolve and scatter." "The valley would change forever and so would I." "I felt doomed and of all things, wonderful."