Only one more week left at work … one good thing is that I will be able to spend more time writing and catching up with Friday Fictioneers. I haven’t done much ‘visiting’ recently and I want to say thank you for putting up with me and still visiting and commenting on my posts. 🙂
Thanks as always to Rochelle for making time in her very hectic schedule to continue to lead us- sympathies with the dental work, I’ve been in the same boat recently, painful. Thanks to to Ted Strutz for the intriguing photo this week.
Copyright Ted Strutz
Genre: Family history
Word Count: 100
Early One Morning
May woke her brothers. The room was dark and cold. Condensation collected in puddles on the windowsill. Ernest pulled the blanket tighter.
‘Ernest, Walter, wake up. There’s water for a quick swill, your clothes are on the chair. Hurry up, don’t wake the others.’
They walked together alongside the canal, huddled against the cold, breathing out clouds into the morning.
‘Boys, hurry up! If we’re late and refused work today, Joe Stamford will dock our pay for the week. Think of ma and the bairns, come on!’
Joe Stamford watched them running across the yard and started to close the door.
*******
A little bit of history… May in the story is my grandmother. She left school aged 12 and went to work in a cotton mill in Colne, Lancashire, with her two older brothers. They left home around 5.30am to walk the two miles to work every day. Conditions in the mills were very hard, if they were late one day, they were refused entry and could lose their pay for the whole week. They worked hard to support their mother and six other siblings as by now, their father was quite ill and without work for long periods of time.
This is a photo of her, much much later, with my grandfather on a rare day out to Blackpool. (Apologies for the quality.)
Copyright D. Lovering
40again's Blog 
Dear Dee,
Beautifully written. I particularly liked that they breathed out clouds on the cold air. I love a good piece of history, the fact that it’s your family makes it better.
As for the dental…eh…there’s more to come, I’m afraid. 😦
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for your kind comments. Life in those days was quite hard for practically everyone, much worse than that for some, as you capture perfectly in your books .
Dental treatment ongoing for me too …
Take care
Dee
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Excellent story, tight and atmospheric.
And great finish.
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Thank you CE, glad you liked this
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I also really like ‘breathing out clouds’ – so lovely. I wasn’t sure about the last line – who is he, and why is he watching? Rather sinister…
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Thank you Claire. He is the dreaded ‘overseer’ ( I think that’s what he was called) he said who worked and who didn’t and woe betide you if you were late. My grandmother said some people were scared stiff of him.
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That was such a bitter ending, Dee. As CE says, tightly written. Well done. I used to pass a cotton mill on my way to junior school in Rochdale, and frequently saw weary men sitting outside, smoking, covered from head to foot in lint. I used to feel so sorry for them, and the clacking away from inside the sheds petrified me. Very atmospheric
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The noise in the weaving sheds was deafening. My maternal grandmother also worked in the mill and was a great lip reader, through necessity. Didn’t realise you were a ‘Lancashire lass’ too …
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O ‘ell aye! 🙂
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Thanks so much for sharing family history – I really find it fascinating.
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You’re welcome, glad you liked it.😀
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Wonderful story, interesting family history.
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Tight, true, and terrific! Wonderfully compact and very powerful
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Very well done indeed. Family history, to boot. What a horrid way to make a living…
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I, too, enjoyed peering through a small window to see where you came from. Hard and strong stalk, I’d say.
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We forget how easy we have it today. Good read Dee.
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Great tale well told. It’s amazing how times have changed. I admire our ancestors for what they had to put up with and wonder how I would have coped. We all seem so much softer these days
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Thank you Mick pleased you liked it. They had a hard life and I think we would find it difficult to cope with.
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Thanks for keeping it classy, Dee. 😉 Although, you could write anything and it would be classy.
I like this story. Lots of richness there. You going to do a follow-up, maybe, or a full blown story? I’d highly recommend it. What’s after work? Vacation?
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Thank you for your lovely comment Kent, much appreciated. Thinking of a longer story … After work more time to write I hope and perhaps some travel … 😎
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Quite an interesting story, very well told. I could feel the hardness of their lives.
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Thank you Perry, good to hear from you
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Clearly a strong woman – your fictional one and your grandmother.
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Thank you Liz, there were a few strong women in my family.
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Great story line and vivid detail. I love the incorporation of personal backstory – it keeps those gone alive.
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Pleased you liked it and thanks for reading 😌
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Such an intricate piece and interesting too. I hope each had a long and happy life.
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Thank you. They did live quite long lives and travelled a lot.
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This is a wonderful historical take on the prompt. I love how you brought your grandmother’s world to life for us.
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Thank you Joseph, glad you liked this story
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Wonderful piece of history, even more poignant as it’s your family. The last line is heartbreaking. How grand that man must feel weilding his power over these poor children.
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It seems there were a lot of men like that, young children must have been terrified. Thanks for reading GAH
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Well Written Lines.
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Thank you
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