Stories by Roni Moore
Rachel’s Story
Rachel was Valerie Price’s sister, she was
the fourth child in the family and always felt a little left out. She
was born around the middle of the war so she had very little from the
day she was born. As she got older she grew into a very bright little
girl and was about two years old when her baby brother Derrick was born.
By the time she was four she was watching her brother for her mother,
and by the time she reached six she had to take him wherever she went.
This was really her older sister Mavis’s job but Mavis was a rather
sneaky girl and managed to get away with things by whining and telling
tales. Rachel was a strong minded child so she got the responsibility.
When Rachel was about seven she and Mavis were playing on top of an old
air raid shelter. They were jumping off it and getting back up. Little
Derrick, who was only five, fell and broke his arm in two places. Mavis,
as always, blamed Rachel and she got punished by her parents; which just
added to the little girl's feeling of not being wanted.
At school Rachel did well, learning to read and write long before her
classmates. It seemed she would do very well at school. When Rachel
reached nine years, it happened. She was hurrying home from school to
show her brother some work she had got 10 out of 10 for. She stepped out
in front of an oncoming car. She was hit and dragged down the road and
the doctors at the hospital told her parents that they didn’t think
Rachel would live; and if she did she would be severely brain damaged. A
few days went by and Rachel regained consciousness. At first she just
lay there her eyes lifeless, but she soon started to take notice of her
surroundings. It took months to learn to walk and talk, and feed
herself; but her education suffered badly as it was over a year before
Rachel could read and write again. She never caught up. She went from
being the top of her class to the bottom of the 1st class, and there
were unkind children who delighted in pointing this out to her. Over the
next year she made some progress but she felt very let down by everyone.
Her good brain was all she had and that had been taken away from her. So
when her sister Mavis suggested stealing from the shop she went along
with this and as always she had to take Derrick with her.
Derrick and Rachel were very close and he was always by her side, they
were inseparable. They played together and got into mischief together
too. By the time Rachel was fourteen and Derrick was twelve they were
said, with Mavis, to be out of control and were sent to an approved
school. These places were built to put children who constantly got into
trouble. So now Rachel and Derrick were separated. Rachel never really
missed home but she badly missed her little brother Derrick. Mavis was
with Rachel and got into the same trouble as her, but although she was
older she was smaller and looked more fragile. Because of this she had a
knack of being able to put the blame on her sister, and of course, as
with their parents, Rachel got the blame of getting her sister into
trouble. Until a housemother got to know the girls and started to see
through Mavis’s mischief.
The years went by and they all grew up and married. Derrick’s marriage
ended badly and after a few years he fell ill. He went to the hospital
for tests and they found a tumour. He was to go home and then return but
sadly Derrick went to sleep and never woke up. He was only in his early
forties. This upset all the family, especially his mother; but none were
as devastated as Rachel. She married at nineteen to a violent
domineering man and only got away from him when he got arrested and then
imprisoned for severely attacking her. Rachel moved away but still
managed to have one disturbing relationship after another. When she grew
older she had a brilliant stroke of luck. She met her last husband.
Daniel was a gentle loving man who totally cared for her. She was so in
love with Daniel and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. At
last Rachel had the life and love she missed all her life, and Daniel
told her she really deserved it.