2. Leaving Poole (Fragment)

Lottie pounced on the bed and Lucy, Laurie, and I flew off the bed.

“Ow!” screamed Lucy, Laurie, and I at the same time. We all giggled, including Lottie.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” Lottie said with a tone of disbelief. “Were you afraid I would be mad?! I’m more upset that you didn’t tell me than that you guys went snooping around. We would need to look through that stuff anyways though,” she said as she took my hand. “Come on! Now that we looked through that, let’s go look through the rest of the cabinets!”

We spent an hour looking through all the cabinets, but then we decided on the stuff we would need: Mum’s China plates, our small tea supply, all of the clothing Mum gave Charlotte that would soon be Lottie’s size.

We packed all of our rations which by now was only about half a pound of food. Lottie called for Laurie to get all the pre-packaged foods into the suitcase too.

They were called C-Rations, and we could fit three pounds in this suitcase and we already packed one whole pound.

I, then, grabbed Dad’s old bracelet. It was made from rope. He made it himself to symbolize never giving up. He spent days and nights trying to braid that bracelet. Mum and I offered to help but he refused and made an effort to be able to braid on his own. Eventually, he learned, but he could have done it faster with our help. I slipped it on and tightened it.

Then, I grabbed Mum’s watch and Dad’s pocket watch. I handed the pocket watch to Laurie and the normal watch to Lottie. She was the best at telling time.

Lastly, I ran into the room.

I found Mum’s necklace. I hung it around Lucy’s neck. She hugged me for a long time.

Then, she let go and went rummaging through her room. I went rummaging in Mum’s and Dad’s room. After a long search in the cabinet, I found two old rings. I figured they were Mum’s and Dad’s. They must have left them just in case! I set them aside.

That was cool but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.

I know how old I am and stuff, but I don’t know when my birthday is. All I really was ever told was, “Oh. It’s your birthday today,” with a shrug from Charlotte. I never really knew the date. I rummaged until I found six papers, one for each child. I hope these are the right papers.

“Lucy, Lottie, Elsie, Laurie come here!” I shouted but tried to say it lightly so I didn’t startle anyone. They all ran into the room, and I smelled something good, like perfume, but I just ignored it. Lottie only put perfume on when it was a special occasion, so it couldn’t have been that.