Chapter 12. Parable

Vie had spent the day delivering eggs and vegetables

from Nain Joan's garden to families in town. On her way

home she was looking in a butcher's window when she heard

a woman's voice call out in fright - and around the corner

came a small child toddling on unsteady legs.

Vie crouched down and smiled. "Hello there."

The child ran into her open arms and she swooped him up.

"And where might you be off to in such a hurry?"

Out of breath, Ma Weller came to a stop beside to her.

They'd met before when Vie and Nain Joan had helped the

fishing families mend nets at the harbour.

''You're an Angel Vie. This little runaway is my Grandson

Liam. He's trying to give me heart palpitations."

Vie opened her mouth in feigned surprise.

"Tell me that's not true Liam." She tickled his neck with

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kisses. Liam laughed and hugged her.

It was a sight that almost made Ma Weller weep.

Liam hadn't gone to anybody since his Mother had passed

and Ma Weller couldn't remember the last time she'd

heard him laugh.

"Can you spare an hour to help me with Liam, Vie?

The bakers have made some bread for the fish I

brought them yesterday....and I only have two hands."

Vie turned on her heel with Liam in her arms

"I would love to."

*

The fishing folk where a tight knit group and

Ma Weller was their Matriarch. She was a small dark

woman made of the same stone as the headlands

of the bay - Charlotte was sure of it.

She watched Ma Weller with a baby on her hip, catch

and tie off the lines that were thrown to her from a boat

as it came alongside the wharf.

"Mind your step Charlotte." Ma Weller called out.

Charlotte was helping to unload incoming boats for the day.

Vie was in the sheds pickling and curing fish.

Stepping onto the boat Charlotte saw the grey beards

of the crew. Amongst their good natured jibes she could

see the fatigue in their faces.

Some of the men were in their seventies

"That's the way of it now." Nain Joan had told her.

"All their young men have gone away to the War."

Ma Weller called from the wharf. "Are you set Charlotte."

"I am." Charlotte called back. Wicker pots full of catch were

being lined up along the deck.

"We're off then." Ma Weller said. "Wave goodbye Liam."

The baby waved a chubby hand in the air.

"Let's go and see how Buttercup is doing."

Charlotte laughed.

That was the name that Vie had been given..

*

Charlotte looked at the crayfish in the basket she was

carrying home.

"Cook them while they're fresh." Ma Weller said.

She had been on a weeks leave from the land army

when Vie had told her that some families down at the

harbour could use some help.

"Will you come down there with me tomorrow?"

How could she say no? She had gone with Vie, and worked

side by side with the most generous steadfast group of

women she had ever met in her life. It had been an education.

The crayfish had their claws closed and tied back but there

was still enough space in the basket for them to move about.

The idea of letting them go came to her - then Charlotte

thought about the hard work and sacrifice of fishing families.

She chided herself. "When I was a child, I thought like a child."

.

*