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Memories http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2055

Author:	vicki_theterror [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 9:56 am ]
Post subject:	Memories
this has been running around for a while and I've finally got a lot typed up. Guesses as to who this is are welcome, but I may not confirm whos right The lady lay on the bed, to all appearances asleep, however her mind was as active as ever. It may not be able to control her arms and legs properly or even allow her to speak clearly, but it was as sharp as ever and she understood exactly what people were saying. The ones who frustrated her most were those who talked slowly, using simple words as if she was stupid because of the way her body was. She lay there thinking, it gave her something to do that didn’t involve getting angry that she was in this position on her early fifties. She thought back to her school days, those days when she had first gone to the local school and then they had all moved to be near the big high school she had attended with her sister, of course while her sister had been a teachers’ pet she had been the bane of many of her teachers’ lives. She had had many adoring fans, at the time she had thought of them as friends but looking back she saw they had been little more than acquantences who had wanted to admire her for her beauty, that had all left her now. Thinking of school lead her on to thinking of the time that had caused a major shift in her views. She had never realised how ill her mother was, this had caused deep resentment of her sister in her later teens. To try to help her mother they had travelled to Austria, where her mother entered a San and she and her sister were sent to an English school nearby. The first term was a time she had tried to forget, but no matter how hard she had tried she had never succeeded. Her behaviour had been awful. At the time she had resented having to change schools. She had always been the school beauty, but on arriving at the school she had almost immediately discovered a girl who was prettier than her and to make it even worse she was older than her. Then the girls who she wanted to be friends with didn’t want to know her.

Author:	Squirrel [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:57 am ]
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Oh what a difficult thing to look back on. I feel pretty certain I know who it is, so it's difficult to comment without referring to her name! She's actually given quite a lot about herself away with that amount of thought. I hope that she has something nicer to reflect upon soon. Thanks Vicki.

Author:	leahbelle [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:15 pm ]
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I think I know who this is, too. How sad that she has ended up like this.

Author:	vicki_theterror [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:17 pm ]
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Heres the next bit, i said i had typed a lot That term she had come within a hairs breath of being expelled, in fact another Girl who she had initially thought of as a friend had been expelled. She hadn’t been close to Thelka when she was expelled having already started to dislike the way she behaved on several occasions. Jo Bettany had also helped her to see the faults in her, she knew Jo had a temper but saw that she was trying to control it. The term had ended with the biggest shock she had ever had. She had enjoyed helping with the sale, despite initially scorning it, she realised that it would help other people in the same situation as her mother. She had been scared when Dr Jem had arrived at the end and had taken Gillian and her away from school to say goodbye to her mother. Even then she had been too absorbed in being taken from school to realise how ill her mother was. It wasn’t until three days later when her mother had started to rouse and struggling to talk that it hit her how near death her mother was. If Dr Jem hadn’t warned Gillen and her not to cry in front of there mother she would have broken down there and then. As it was she couldn’t talk, especially when her mother started to ramble about her being expelled. She was thankful that Jo Bettany had been there to tell her mother she wasn’t expelled and she had been able to recover enough to speak after this. After this her mother fell asleep and they where taken to Die Rosen where they where staying and put to bed with a light supper. How she wished she had been able to talk through what had happened with someone, but she hadn’t really ever been given the chance and now it was too late.

Author:	MaryR [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:54 pm ]
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Sad thoughts for her at the end of her life, Vicki. Thank you.

Author:	Lesley [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:59 pm ]
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Thanks Vicki - pretty obvious who it is now.

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:36 pm ]
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Thanks Vicki. Very curious what comes next

Author:	vicki_theterror [ Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:55 pm ]
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thanks for the comments, unfortunatly there is more sadness to come before it improves. She had returned a few days late for the next term, along with her sister and Stacie, who was returning to the main school after an absence of a year following an accident. That term she had really tried hard with her work and at the end of term was rewarded by being promoted up a form. Looking back she now realised that during that term she grew up mentally. Not that anyone realised at the time, but she knew that when towards the end of term she was chosen by Evey and Corny to be part of their band, she was pleased but didn’t do as she would have previously done and go around boasting. In fact she didn’t tell anyone, even when she was caught by some of the prefects sneaking out early to practise. She didn’t loose her temper with them when they caught her, which for her was a major achievement, but again hadn’t been recognised by others. That concert had been funny and it had felt so good to be part of a group and a part of the community. If there hadn’t been the shadow of her mother’s illness then she would have been totally happy at that point. The next year passed by and she had continued to work hard and had gained another form remove during the year so she was now in the upper fifth. Joyce had been glad that Jo had been around at the beginning of the year, not that she had had lots of time to talk with her but it had helped, especially as Gillian had been made a prefect and therefore had less time to talk to her sister. Although looking back on it this was no bad thing as she now realised that Gillian had never fully realised how much she had grown up over the summer, in fact even now Gillian tried to mother her. At the end of that year she had had the best school report she had ever had to take to her mother and the smile she had seen on her mothers face was one of the best moments of her life, of course she hadn’t known what was going to happen before the end of the year at that point. Her delight when she was told she had made the lower sixth along with her mothers smile had made all the effort she had put into her work worth while. She knew that her mother was as proud of her achievements that year as she was of Gillian being made the head girl for the following year. Although Gillian tried to shield how ill their mother was from her she had known that her mother wasn’t improving. She had talked to some of the doctors when Gillian wasn’t around to stop them and she knew that her mother wasn’t improving as they would have liked her to.

Author:	Lesley [ Fri Feb 16, 2007 6:56 pm ]
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How sad. But at least she had the satisfaction of knowing that her mother knew she had improved. Older sisters do that - they never stop treating you as a child - same as parents really. Thanks Vicki

Author:	Smile :) [ Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:29 am ]
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So sad , thanks Vicki! It's pretty obvious who it is now.

Author:	vicki_theterror [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:07 pm ]
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The new school year brought many changes to the school, they had grown at the start of the summer term when the saints had joined the chalet and now they where to have a new house and a completely new way of splitting the girls up in to houses. This had been both a blessing and a curse to her. She had enjoyed spending time with smaller groups of people and getting to know some of the younger girls in her house in a way she would not have otherwise done, however she had been put in the same house as Miss Norman who she had treated most unfairly in her first time, she saw now that her actions had been those of a bully. She hadn’t known how to address this. Especially as she hadn’t spoken to Miss Norman much in the intervening time. She had spoken to Gillian about this, but she didn’t want to burden her sister as she was aware of how much she had to do as head girl. In the end an uneasy truce had developed between her and Miss Norman. She sighed for the missed opportunities there had been for building a new relationship. That term had ended badly for her and Gillian. They had been summoned to the study to find both Dr Jem and Madge there. They had been gentle, but on seeing them she knew in her heart that her mother didn’t have long to live. They had driven up to the Sonnalpe to visit their mother. She hadn’t wanted them to stay and see her die. At the time this had hurt her, although her mother had told her how proud she was of her. Looking back now she knew she wanted her children and grandchildren to remember her how she had been and not how she was now, and this was what her mother had let her and Gillian do. Gillian appeared more lost by their mother’s death than she was; they both knew it was a release for their mother. She felt she had tried to support her sister during those weeks when the plans she had made were turned on their head. Instead of leaving school as she had planned Gillian had stayed on, she had been glad of this as she had been made a sub-prefect in the new term, this had given her something new to focus on and had helped her, not least because of the distribution of prefects among the houses, she had been moved from St. Agnes to St. Clare’s. She now realised that one of the reasons for this had been to put her in the same house as Gillian so they could support each other during those early months, when they had both felt lost.

Author:	MaryR [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:24 pm ]
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I always felt, along with Hilda Annersley, that I would have wanted to be with my mother to the end. However, one has to respect the wishes of the dying. But so sad for Joyce and Gillian. Thanks, Vicki

Author:	Lesley [ Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:07 pm ]
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Glad the School continued their caring - making sure Gillian and Joyce were close so they could support each other. Thanks Vicki.

Author:	vicki_theterror [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:53 pm ]
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I thought it was hard for them not to be there when there mum died too, but they leave beforehand in Gillian if I remember correctly. That summer she and Gillian had to visit England to sort out their mothers affairs. Gillian had had to do most of the legal work, but she had tried to be there to support her sister. It had been hard as Gillian still tried to mother her, it was easy to let this happen, but she tried to be tough and stop it. She was to return to school for a final year and Gillian was to go with her and would stay on the Sonnalpe and help at the annexe. They were to travel back with the school but before this happened they went to Dr Jacks parents for a short holiday. While there they had met some of the other local families as the Maynard’s had tried to give them new interests. During this time she met Freddie, he had been at theological college at the time. She knew he was hoping to be ordained in a few years time. She wished she could smile as she remembered him, he had made her laugh more than anyone had been able to since her mother had died. Freddie had also encouraged her to become more personal in her faith again, although she had gone to school prayers since her mother died, she knew she had only ever given lip service to them. Freddie had made his faith become more real to her again and she had always appreciated him for this. Thinking of Freddie made her wish she could cry he had been one of the first to volunteer as a Chaplin or padre when war had been declared, he had died in a prison camp during the war. Her final year in school had been great fun. She had remained a sub-prefect and had been the juniors’ special prefect. She had loved having this role, with the new house system in full swing she had spent time in each house helping the little ones and encouraging a couple of sixth forms who weren’t prefects in each house to get involved in helping the juniors and being a listening ear. She had been as surprised as anyone else when the school had moved to the Sonnalpe. It had been nice to be near Gillian again, especially as she was concerned about the rumours of Germany invading. The end of that term had been hard, the juniors had been upset by many of their friends leaving during the term and even more of their friends weren’t coming back after the holidays. She had had to deal with lots of tears, but she had generally been able to cheer the girls up and most had gone home happy, though she had known it would be hard for them when they found out they would not be able to write to their friends.

Author:	leahbelle [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 2:34 pm ]
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It must have been so hard for Joyce, but it sounds like she made a real effort during her final year.

Author:	Lesley [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:19 pm ]
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She really did reforn, didn't she? Such a pity that later her reformation was largely forgotten by the other characters. Thanks Vicki

Author:	MaryR [ Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:09 pm ]
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How lovely that she developed such an affection for the little ones. Thanks, Vicki

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:57 am ]
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Thanks. This has been great reading so far. I caught it at the beginning but had seen the updates, so it was a nice surprise getting to read a few in one go

Author:	vicki_theterror [ Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:03 pm ]
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This is the last of what is writen so there may be a while before there is any more. RL really needs sorting out. They had arrived back in England with no one and no where to stay. There was some money, although they couldn’t touch the bulk of it, as they were under 25. They had both had reason to be grateful to their old school, as both Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson had made themselves available to advise them. The Maynard’s had invited the two girls to stay with them for their first month in England and it had been here that Miss Annersley and Miss Wilson had visited them. Seeing Miss Wilson alive and well had been a relief although her white hair had shocked both her and Gillian. Whilst there they had met up with Freddie who was now a curate in a London parish, but was spending a holiday with his family. Freddie had brought a friend of his with him for a holiday. Harry had been at college with Freddie and like him was also a curate, although in Exeter. Despite the time they had spent at the Sonnalpe neither Gillian nor her had known what to make of Harry, he walked with a slight limp and was very pigeon toed. They had later learned from Freddie that Harry had been born with a club foot that had been treated several times but had kept reoccurring, until he had his whole foot fused, leaving him with a limp. She had become close to both Freddie and Harry. They had been the brothers she had never had.

Author:	Alison H [ Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:10 pm ]
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Glad that Gillian and Joyce are coping with everything. Good luck with the move etc .

Author:	Lesley [ Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:39 pm ]
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Surprised nothing much was made of the Lintons' situation in the books - after having a book to themselves they were really pushed to the background. Glad to see that rectified here. Ages 19/18 are very young to be left totally alone - thank goodness they had the School. Thanks Vicki

Author:	Fiona Mc [ Fri Feb 23, 2007 9:38 pm ]
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Exeter? Isn't that where Joyce ends up living with her husband? Really enjoying the drabble and am curious to what happens next

Author:	Liz K [ Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:07 pm ]
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Is there going to be any more to this story please? Thanks.

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