TROOP SHIP - a hundred words

TROOP SHIP 1939

“It’s no worse than when we went fishing that time,” Albie said, holding Bert’s belt as the troopship lurched into another trough.

“I were sick then too, remember?” Bert said, heaving up more of his breakfast.

Albie parked his whey-faced friend under a companionway and left him there while he walked the deck. The dark grey waves lifted and fell all the way to a horizon almost as grey, needles of spray lacerated his cheeks, and the deck was slimy with spume and vomit, but Albie pulled in deep lungfuls of the salty wind and laughed with sheer exhilaration.

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I believe this is the first time I've posted an extract from a book, but the mind of a writer is a strange land, and Ted Strutz's photo of a modern ferry took me to a scene from Helter-Skelter - a novel I am hoping to get published. I had to cut the little scene severely to fit, but I hope it shows how much Albie loves the wild tooth and claw of Nature.

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  You can follow the link from there to read other interpretations of the prompt.

EAGLES AND EARTHQUAKES

   EAGLE – this was the symbol of THE ENEMY in 1940 - the Germans, who were naȉvely presumed to have been soundly thrashed in the First War. 

The thought that another generation of young men had to fight and die was horrific to their parents, yet the sound of a military band was enough to stir the heart of EDDIE, Bert’s younger brother, who volunteered and joined the army with him and Albie in my novel Helter-Skelter.. 

EIGHTEEN was officially old enough to fight, but Eddie was horribly homesick, with potentially disastrous results.

Can Albie's quick thinking and inherited instincts save him?

EL HIERRO is the smallest of the Canary Islands but, seismically speaking, the most active. In October 2011 an eruption started just off the south coast, forcing one entire village (La Restinga) to be evacuated due to toxic fumes and rocks exploding from the sea. It quietened down after a few months, but recently there has been a series of EASRTHQUAKES, including one of 4.9. 

The rash in the sea in this picture shows where they occurred. El Hierro is small enough to drive round in a morning - anyone fancy a holiday?

DUNKIRK

  DUNKIRK BEACHES, where Albie lies  half-conscious and dreaming about home in my novel Helter-Skelter, are described exhaustively by historians, which made my job of writing about them easy.

After that introductory chapter, my novel takes you back 15 years to the time Albie is remembering, and the story moves inevitably back to Dunkirk.

DIARIES  It is early in 1940 when Albie and his pal Bert cross the Channel as soldiers, but there is a dearth of information about those first months of World War 2. You can imagine my delight on discovering diaries on-line – real accounts written by actual soldiers about what happened to them. There was even a touch of humour here and there, and true incidents which I could adapt and work into Albie’s story.

The moral? Follow every thread, however tenuous – you never know when it might lead to treasure.

BERT

As I blog through the Alphabet this month, I shall also be working on what I hope will be the final draft of my novel Helter-Skelter and I shall give you more snippets of Albie's story as we go along. Do stay with me!

BERT – is Albie’s best friend. When they meet for the first time in the school playground they soon discover they have more in common than their shared name. For a start, both of their heads have been shaved to get rid of nits, and when Bert begs one of Albie’s sandwiches he reveals that he too is no stranger to hunger. The bond forged that day in 1925 is to last them a lifetime.