Mum and Dad are not coming home
(An excerpt from my novel ; "I just want to be loved")
Later in the day, when school was out, Henry, Jimmy and Sheila were
excited that school was finished for the day. On the way home, they were
playing and having lots of fun and getting into mischief just as most young
children do. When the children arrived home, everything was the same as always,
their mum and dad were still at work and wouldn’t be home until later.
Normally, their parents would get home about dinner time. The evening before,
their mum would always prep dinner this way, all she had to do was heat it up
in the oven when she arrived home. “Mum and dad are late tonight,” Henry, said,
“I wonder where they could be?” Asked
Sheila, Jimmy replied, “Don’t worry sis, they probably stopped off at the store
on the way home.” Another hour went by and Sheila said, “I’m hungry,” “Don’t
worry sis, I’ll make you a sandwich,” Henry said, “This should do you until mum
and dad arrive home.” An hour later and there was still no sign of them,
anxiously, Henry kept looking out of the window, but there was still no sign of
them. Henry made some more sandwiches for himself, Sheila and Jimmy, as they
were all feeling quite hungry. After they had all eaten their sandwiches. Henry
had an idea. “I know!” “Let’s play some computer games on the T.V.” Jimmy and
Sheila thought this was a great idea. They were laughing and having so much
fun.
Suddenly the doorbell rang, in unison they all shouted. “It’s mum and
dad,” and in all the excitement, they all ran to the door together pushing and
shoving each other out of the way to see who could get to the front door first.
When they opened the front door, they were startled to see two police officers
standing there. Instantly, they all moved back a few steps wondering what was
wrong. Standing at the door was one policeman and one policewoman. The children
were very scared. They had never seen police officers come to their house
before. The policeman said, “Are you the Maxwell children?” Hesitantly and with
a shaky voice Henry said, “Yes sir,” “Can we come in son, we would like to
speak with you,” Henry said, “But my mum and dad are not home yet.” The
policewoman spoke for the first time, “You see children, we would actually like
to speak to you if that is okay. Could we please come in and speak with you for
a while?” The police officers were trying to be as tactful as they knew how.
“Sure,” Henry said, so the children escorted the two police officers into the
living room. As they all sat down, the policewoman said, “Could you please tell
me all your names? One by one the children told the officers their names.
“Thank you children, you see. We are here about your mum and dad,” Henry said,
“But, our mum and dad are not home from work yet.” “Yes, and we know Henry,
that’s why we’re here.”
In a slow, solemn, but nervous voice, the policewoman continued, “You
see children, your mum and dad were involved in an accident at work today, that
is, in the factory where they worked. The factory had a very large explosion
and I’m sorry to tell you the news children, but your mum and dad won’t be
coming home. I’m afraid they were both killed in the explosion.” Henry, Jimmy,
and Sheila all started screaming and crying at the same time. The police
officers had a very difficult time consoling and comforting them. The police
officers knew, that because of the situation, they should have had a social
worker present during their visit, but because of the workload, there was
no-one available to team with them to the house. Most of the social workers
were at other homes breaking the news to other families involved in the
accident. The policeman said, “I think we should phone social services to see
if someone is available yet.” The policewoman agreed and phoned social
services. She told them that they needed help right away to handle the
children, as they were hysterical and crying uncontrollably. Social services
assured them that someone would be there right away.
After being told the news by the police officers, Henry ran to his
bedroom with Jimmy and Sheila close behind. The police officers could hear them
all crying, it was such sad news to break to the children. The policewoman went
up to their bedroom to see if she could console them, but to no avail. They
cried even more, shouting. “Mummy, daddy, where are you?”
About an hour later a woman from
social services arrived. She said, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,
but we’ve been so busy since the accident, so many families and relatives have
been affected by this.” As she entered in through the front door, she could
hear the children crying from the bedroom upstairs. As she looked at the officers,
tears welled up in her eyes, she said, “It’s been so hard for everyone, even
for us as social workers, we have been crying and comforting other families all
evening. It’s so difficult not to get caught up in the emotions of the families
we have visited. We are supposed to be strong, but sometimes we break down too,
it’s not easy you know.” “We know,” the policewoman replied. She could see that
the social worker was distraught and that she had been through a difficult
evening already. The policewoman continued, “Nevertheless, we have to all get
through this and be strong for the children, even if we do have to cry with
them, they need us so much right now. Their mum and dad are gone and right now
they have no-one. Let’s see what we can do to help them, let’s just take one
day at a time.” Then the policewoman and social worker both hugged each other,
as confirmation that they would all get through this together for the benefit
of the children.
The social worker and police officers went up to the children’s bedroom
and gingerly entered the room, all the children were sitting on the bed
cuddling each other. The social worker spoke and told the children her name,
she said, “I’m here to try and help you, but first of all children, I need to
know your names. So, if you could please tell me your names that would be
great.” They quietened down a little and sobbingly, they each told her their
names. “Wow! What nice names your mum and dad gave you. We know that this is a
very sad time for you, but you see, because you are so young, you are not able
to stay in this house by yourself, it would be too dangerous so we have to find
you some other place to live.” The social worker asked the children, “Do you
have any relatives close by?” Henry said, “We don’t have any relatives in
Glasgow, I think they are living in different countries, but I don’t know
where.” “That’s fine Henry, we can find out where they are staying.” said the
social worker, “In the meantime though, we’ll have to find you a temporary
place to stay, there is a nice children’s home in Glasgow called an orphanage,
they can let you stay there temporarily until we locate some of your relatives.
You’ll like it there, they are very nice people, and there are lots of other
nice children there too.” The social worker was trying to be as tactful as she
knew how without becoming too emotional with the children. The social worker
phoned the orphanage and made the necessary arrangements. The social worker
then asked the children. “Do you have any little bags in which to pack some
clothes? You’ll need clothes for a few days, along with toothpaste and some
soap. If you want to bring some pictures with you and a couple of books or
comics, that’s okay. Don’t worry about your school stuff though. You won’t need
them for a couple of weeks. I’ll contact your school and let them know that you
won’t be there for a little while. I’m sure you can catch up with your studies
when you return to school. I’ll go downstairs now with the police officers and
whenever you have your things ready, come downstairs and I’ll drive you to the
orphanage.”
As soon as the social worker and
police officers left the room, the children all started crying again. The
policewoman went to go back in to the bedroom, but the social worker said, “No,
just leave them, let them have their time together, they’ll come down when
they’re ready.” When the social worker and police officers sat in the living
room, they talked about the events of the day. The social worker said, “You
know, this part of the job has been very difficult, but the worst has yet to
come. We have all the funerals to arrange yet, we don’t know if the children’s
parents had life insurance or funeral coverage and to go through all the
parents personal papers would be very time consuming and the chances of the
children knowing that kind of information is slim. It looks like the city will
pay for the funerals, then when we get the necessary documents that the
deceased may have, the city will be reimbursed by the insurance companies.
There’s no other way to do it. As hard as this may sound, we have to try and
have some closure regarding this event. The children have to try and move on
with their lives.” The police officers nodded in agreement.
The children eventually came downstairs. They were all holding each
other so tight, tremendously scared of being separated from each other. Their
faces looked so withdrawn. You could see the fear and anxiousness in their
eyes. There was such a sense of nervousness, as if they had all just had a bad
dream. Reluctantly, the Maxwell children left their home with the social
worker, “Don’t worry children,” the social worker said, “You will be coming
back to your home soon. We have to come back and sort out all your personal
belongings.”
Written by Chris Turner
(Taken from the novel: "I just want to be loved')
Available as an e-book from https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/607598
I would appreciate your comments below.
I would appreciate your comments below.
No comments:
Post a Comment