Tom All Alone
By HarryC
A fictional memoir of a '60s childhood.
- 240 reads
Tom All Alone (1)
Their house was halfway along, and from the bay window in the upstairs sitting room he could view the street from one end to the other. He could see...
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Tom All Alone (2)
"Wait 'til his dad gets home," nan said. "He'll have something to say." ... Those were the words that scared him more than any. More than the...
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Tom All Alone (3)
Russell leapt into Tom's bed in the dark and pulled him down under the covers. "This one's a vegetable souper." The fart sounded like a sheet being...
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Tom All Alone (4)
The days had a routine that he liked. Get washed and dressed and have his Corn Flakes or Ready Brek for breakfast. Dad had already gone to work, and...
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Tom All Alone (5) (i)
As Tom got older, they would sometimes find different things to do in the evenings. Mum might sit him on her lap in the back room, and they'd try to...
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Tom All Alone (5) (ii)
It was a hard decision. But a month later saw her sailing out of Liverpool on the Royal George with everything she owned in the world crammed into a...
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Tom All Alone (6) (i)
Then there were days when different things happened. Days when dad would take him out on the lorry when he did forage deliveries around the city and...
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Tom All Alone (6) (ii)
Mum stopped working at Gibney's and took another job cleaning at the pub where she and dad used to go in the evenings. On some days she took him with...
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Tom All Alone (7) (i)
The street lay still and empty in the pale, windless sanctity of a winter Sunday afternoon. There was a church-like silence and secrecy about the...
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Tom All Alone (7) (ii)
"You still awake, Russell?" - "Russell?" "Shut up and go to sleep." "I want to see Father Christmas." "You saw Father Christmas in Selfridges." "I...
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Tom All Alone (8) (i)
Continuing my novel based on my childhood in South London in the 1960s. Christmas Day. Nan's scullery downstairs sweated and heaved with the heat and...
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Tom All Alone (8) (ii)
The dinner was the next most exciting part of Christmas for Tom. He loved all the rituals of it. Dad carving up the turkey and putting some on each...
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- 585 reads
Tom All Alone (9) (i)
I've published this piece before, in another novel. But I've lifted it out and rewritten it. It rightly belongs in 'Tom All Alone'. Apologies to...
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- 623 reads
Tom All Alone (9) (ii)
The car swung abruptly towards the doors, forcing Tom to lean against the man, and then the doors clattered shut behind them and they were into the...
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- 482 reads
Tom All Alone (9) (iii)
The boys agreed to say nothing about the man, and just say that Tom had got frightened on the Ghost Train. Tom had expected mum to be angry with him...
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- 464 reads
Tom All Alone (10)
The days and weeks passed, and gradually the incident at the fair faded into the background. Things went on as normal at home. Tom still played with...
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- 909 reads
Tom All Alone (11)
The summer arrived with its long days and balmy, sometimes sticky evenings and nights. Things seemed more settled and relaxed in the summer. No need...
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Tom All Alone (12)
In August, dad borrowed a car from one of his mates at the pub for their two weeks' holiday. Next to Christmas, it was Tom's most exciting time of...
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- 1114 reads
Tom All Alone (13)
Tom would come to think of those two weeks in Cornwall as some of the happiest times he'd known. All the places they visited - as mum had promised,...
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Tom All Alone 14 (i)
The end of their holiday usually meant a return to normal. But not this time. Now, it was all about change. A couple of weeks afterwards, dad started...
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Tom All Alone 14 (ii)
They were all herded into the large assembly hall first. It was filled with sunlight from the windows that ran along the outside walls. Through them...
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Tom All Alone 14 (iii)
Tom's class was a large, bright room next to the assembly hall. Like the hall, it had windows all along one side, but looking out over the playground...
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Tom All Alone 14 (iv)
At half-past ten, the bell rang for playtime and they all went out into the main playground. It was a large rectangular area at the back of the...
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Tom All Alone 14 (v)
After that first day, Tom felt more relaxed about going to school, and soon got into the routines of the day. Lining up in the playground when the...
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- 172 reads
Tom All Alone 15
One night, as Tom was drifting into sleep, he heard a shout come from somewhere. He opened his eyes and sat up, listening. He could just make out the...
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- 292 reads
Tom All Alone 16 (i)
As time went on, Tom began to feel more settled at school. He got to know a few of the other children in class, but Barry was still his main friend...
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- 213 reads
Tom All Alone 16 (ii)
At school every morning now, the first thing they did was their News Book . They all had to write down something about what they did at home after...
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- 348 reads
Tom All Alone 17 (i)
I posted a version of this a few years back, as some may remember. It was a factual piece as the incident actually happened. I've rewritten it now as...
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- 505 reads
Tom All Alone 17 (ii)
Tom returned to school on the Monday, and Miss Newman was back again. But things weren't the same. As soon as he arrived in the playground he noticed...
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- 111 reads
Tom All Alone 18 (i)
The peace at home never lasted long, though. Quite often now, it seemed, Tom would wake up to hear something going on upstairs - loud voices, crying...
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- 122 reads
Tom All Alone 18 (ii)
They sat down to dinner that night in Auntie Pat and Uncle George's kitchen. It was brighter than their kitchen at home. They had the long tube...
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- 108 reads