A bit of sentimental slush for the Big Day
.November 1947
"So, did you find it all terribly romantic, then?" Peter Young, a half-smile on his face, enquired of his companion as they made their way arm-in-arm through the crowds leaving the cinema. The picture house in Armiford, like most across the nation that chilly November evening, had been full to capacity, crowds on this very special day drawn not so much by the latest offerings from Hollywood as by the newsreel coverage of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth, heiress to the British throne, to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark and newly created Duke of Edinburgh. "You certainly looked as if you did."
"She looked so happy," Gillian said softly. "It's just like a real life fairytale. After everything that's happened, and everything that's still happening, it was like ... " She paused, not quite sure how to explain what she meant. Over two years after the end of the war, times were hard and there seemed no prospect of their improving significantly any time soon. Rationing was if anything even more stringent than it had been whilst the war was actually being fought. And the long-cherished dream of the Chalet School returning to Austria seemed at the moment, whatever the talk which had accompanied the recent decision to return to the trilingual system of the Tyrol days, to be a dream and nothing more. She wasn't a gloomy person, but it was hard not to feel sometimes that the world had lost much of its joy and colour; but seeing those pictures just now had been like taking a step out of the world in which they were currently living and into another one, a world of beauty and romance and glamour. A world of fairytales.
"It was like stepping into one of the story books that Joyce and I used to read when we were little girls," she said finally, smiling up at Peter as they began to walk away from the cinema. Time was getting on and she supposed that she really ought to be thinking about getting back to the school – it might well set tongues wagging if she were seen returning too late, especially when it was known that she was out with a young man – but somehow she couldn't seem to care about any of that tonight. There was something special in the air this evening; and she certainly wasn’t going to spoil that by rushing back to the Chalet School for cocoa in the staffroom and a chat about which of the Middles were presently been particularly trying. "Just like Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty. The beautiful princess marrying the handsome prince, and the two of them all set to live happily ever after."
"Is that what you used to dream about when you were a little girl, Gillian?" Peter's tone was surprisingly serious for what might purely from the words have seemed to be nothing more than a light-hearted question about a little gir'’s love of fairy stories. "Marrying a handsome prince, and living happily ever after?"
Gillian blushed. She hoped fervently that, in the dim light, he wouldn't notice. Had she always dreamed about getting married and living happily ever after? Yes, she supposed that she had. Meeting the right man, falling in love, marriage, setting up home with her new husband ... yes, she'd dreamed of all that; but until this year it had been a dream that she'd never really been able to think about in terms of any sort of reality. She'd seen it happen to her sister, and she'd seen it happen to many of her friends; but it hadn't been something that she'd ever truly been able to think of in connection with herself. Because she'd never met anyone that she'd been able to imagine it happening with.
Until now.
Only she couldn't say that, could she? It would be impossibly forward of her. What on earth could she say instead, then? Something light, presumably. They were only discussing fairytales, after all.
Weren't they?
She gave a little laugh. "Oh, it was always Joyce who used to imagine herself marrying a handsome prince! She always loved playing at being a fairytale princess. Of course, she's always looked just like one, with her lovely golden hair. You'll ..." She stopped. You’ll see that when you meet her, was what she'd been going to say. She wanted them to meet each other, and very soon. It was so strange to her that Peter and Joyce had never met, strange to her because they were the two most important people in her life. But she couldn't say that out loud, could she? Not to him, anyway. Not even on a magical night like tonight.
"I'll what?" She didn't answer and he didn't press her, although he wished that she'd say whatever it was that she'd clearly been about to say. Give him some sort of clue, on this special evening. Still, the evening wasn't over yet. At least, he hoped it wasn't. "Would you like to see if we can find a cup of tea and a cake somewhere?" he asked. Cafés and restaurants were exempt from rationing, at least, and he'd taken her to several since they’d first met. Tonight, though, he was hoping that somewhere a bit more special than just your average tea shop might be in order. "Maybe the Green Dragon?" he suggested. "I'll understand if you've got to get back now, but ..."
"No: it's fine. I'd like that." She smiled up at him. "I'd like that very much."
you can say what you like about romance and slush - I love it!