Nightfall over deepest, darkest, Deptford.
Sam said, “Crikey – that’s torn it!”
“What’s torn what?” I asked; our tent
we’d that second put up. Pegs are hard
to hammer in when you’re seven
and three quarters...least of all I was;
Sam weren’t yet seven and an ’alf.
“Look up there!” he yelled, pointing
at the sky. His idea – this camping lark
in the first place – in our backyard,
and our mums had said we could.
He was one of them sissy cub-scouts,
and he’d ‘twisted my arm’; swapped
me a Tonka truck for my Dinky lorry.
Anyway, he lets on, that this old man
he’d met, hung out in the park, had said,
“When next you glimpses one of them,
lad...a ring around the moon, it means
the end of the world is nigh, and all of us
is doomed. Mark my words, son.
This shall be thy only warning!”
Told Sam he was a liar and a ‘scumbag’
and all. He’d gone and made it up
just so he could scare me, but he swore
on his dead gerbil’s grave, he’d not,
and anyway, he was shit-scared too,
he confided. Petrified, we were;
rooted to the spot, afraid to move.
Prayers – our only option; Sam’s to God
and mine to Superman; would he save us,
please? We’d be out in our backyard
in the red-brick terraced house
at the junction of Parade Street...
’cos that was where we lived; well,
I did, but Sam was from next door.
He’d spot us for sure, I concluded.
Two boys, in their West Ham claret
and blues...scanning the skies,
waiting to be rescued...And,
for the end of the world...
as we knew it.
Comments
Dark Fox | March 19, 2011 - 18:49
Love this piece, the inagination of children. It leaves thinking about whether the end of the world happened or if superman saved them.
Superman, the hero of little boys.
Silver Spun Sand | March 19, 2011 - 19:09
Thanks so much for reading this one, Dark Fox.
I blush to admit to watching one of the first 'Supermen' at Saturday morning pictures, many moons ago now. Pleased you enjoyed;-)
Tina
Dark Fox | March 19, 2011 - 20:42
well I was not born.... but I have to admit watching supermen many times on tv and I do like superman. We all wish that there was a superman to save us.
Silver Spun Sand | March 19, 2011 - 21:32
Don't we just? And no, I didn't suppose that you were;-) 'ABC minors' we were called in this those days.
Speaking of Supermen, Christoper Reeve, of course, is synonymous with the role. Not sure if he was before your time too. He died only comparitively recently after fracturing his spine in a riding accident. So very tragic.
Dark Fox | March 20, 2011 - 15:04
He is the one I see in superman. Don't they say there is a curse on the superman crew. The Lois in these films with Christopher Reeve went crazy and was found in a bush screaming?
Silver Spun Sand | March 20, 2011 - 15:51
Yes, I think you are right. Margaret Kidder, who played Lois, suffers from bipolar disorder, quite badly, or so I believe and she was also injured in a car crash. Also, Dana Reeve, Christopher Reeve's widow,died of lung cancer in 2005.
Various other actors that have had connections with the Superman films over the years, have also, suffered at the hand of fate. Lee Quigley - to name but one, who was the 'baby' in the 1978 film, died at the age of fourteen through solvent abuse.
Chilling facts. It sure does make one think.
Dark Fox | March 20, 2011 - 17:15
I will keep reading your work xxx I really do like your work
Silver Spun Sand | March 20, 2011 - 18:14
Thank you;-) I enjoy yours too.
Kahdai | March 21, 2011 - 12:38
This one great T :D
Silver Spun Sand | March 21, 2011 - 12:49
Ta, ever so, Kahdai. T ;-)xx