THAMES BARGE - #flashfiction in 100 words

THAMES  BARGE

We’re hoisting the sails after water-proofing them when Churchill calls for anything that can sail to bring our soldiers home.

“We’re going to Dunkirk,” I tell Jed.

“Thames barges ain’t seaworthy,” he says, but he’s hauling in the anchor as he speaks.

We’re lucky the Channel’s fairly calm, because our boat rides the waves like a fat drunk, but its flat bottom gets us closer to shore than bigger ships. Dodging bullets, we pack exhausted men into the hold like sardines and high-tail it out of there.

Half-way home, Jed grins. “That trip’s got the fish stink out of the sails, if nowt else!”

I was lucky enough to sail on a refurbished Thames barge once – a large and practical wooden boat that still smelled of the linseed that had once been its cargo. These boats were known for their distinctive sails, tan-coloured from the mixture of red ochre, cod oil and seawater which was used to water-proof them. I don’t know whether any of these flat-bottomed vessels made it across the Channel to Dunkirk in 1940 but I hope at least one did, as I have written that possibility into one of my books!

Thanks, as always, go to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  from whence you can follow links to read other stories, and to Fatima Fakier Deria for the photo that is this week's prompt.

POPPIES, PICTURES & PLAYSCHOOL

 POPPIES There aren’t many left of the servicemen who fought in World War Two, but there are still servicemen and women being injured today. This is why the Royal British Legion in Tenerife supports the POPPY APPEAL. 

There are only a handful of us – my OH is the Chairman – but 2012 was the fifth year we won the Noel Rogers Trophy for the overseas branch that raised the most money per member.

It helped that we were invited to sell poppies on the cruise liner Mariner of the Seas when it called into Santa Cruz. We were given lunch and a guided tour, including the bridge, before we stood in the sun for a couple of hours while the passengers re-embarked after a day ashore. 

"Gee! Is it Veterans' Day already?" one American asked, and donated all his left-over euros.

PICTURES

Only a few years ago I would have had to PORE over library books to find the PHOTOS I wanted to help my research. Now all I have to do is to ask the internet the correct questions.

Photographs of common people in the early 1900s were difficult to track down – only wealthy people could afford cameras then – but find them I did.

 Such faces! Black and white or sepia are so much more evocative, aren't they?

On the other hand there were lots of photos of WW2, and those of Dunkirk beaches,with lines of men snaking into the sea are gut-wrenching even now.

My local photo for today is of the nearest PLAYSCHOOL. Those handprints create a lovely image of a caring environment. Unfortunately, my friend recently found a toddler wandering in the street, and she discovered, after carting him round the local shops and bars, he had escaped from this Guarderia un-noticed. We can only hope they have taken this lesson to heart.

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.