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#1: Letting Go - completed Author: Elisabeth,

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 2:32 pm
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This is the first time I've ever been bitten by a CS bunny who didn't run so fast I couldn't catch him or wasn't so fluffy that he had no flesh or bones! I hope this is reasonably chronologically accurate. I made a few stabs in the dark regarding specific details. It's in two parts. Part Two will appear shortly. Please be kind!

“Joey! Can I interrupt?”

Joey Maynard, also known as Josephine M Bettany, paused in her typing and looked over her shoulder to where the face of her husband poked round the door at her.

“Certainly! Come right in – I’m stuck anyway.”

Jack swallowed nervously. What he had to say was painful, would hurt his wife as it was hurting him. He took the chair that Joey kicked across to him and decided to get it over without delay.

“Joey,” he began. There was no sense in drawing this out. “Steven is nine years old.” Joey bit her lip, she knew what was coming. “It’s time for him to go to school.”

For a moment, Joey was silent, looking down at her hands, playing nervously with the buttons on her dress. Suddenly she looked up and burst out, “Oh Jack! I was hoping you’d forgotten!”

Jack, seeking to relieve the tension, forced himself to laugh, to joke, “What? Forget one of my own children?”

“Well, it’s happened before. No wonder, really. We have so many…”

“I know. It’s hard to keep count sometimes…”

They were seeking refuge in meaningless banter, postponing the moment when they would have to face up to reality. It was Jack who resolutely brought back the original subject.

“You knew we couldn’t keep the boys here forever and there’s no English school hereabouts to send them to. They have to go to England. It’s high time Steven mixed with English boys of his own age.”

“But he’s so tiny. He’s still my baby…” Her voice rose. “Jack how can you ever even suggest it? This is your own son. This is our child…”

Seeing she was near hysteria, Jack grabbed her hands and forced her to look at him. When he spoke, there was an intensity in his voice that took Joey by surprise. “Dearest, I know. This is not going to be easy for either of us. We’ve loved and cared for Steven since he was born. You’ve fed him, cuddled him, taught him to read. We’ve both tried to make him into a lad we can be proud of. Now, as his parents, it’s our duty to see he has the education he deserves. Our boys deserve as good an education as the girls are getting at the Chalet School – and I’m sorry but they’re not going to get it in Switzerland. I’ve tried. You know I’ve tried. You know this is the right thing to do. So for Steven’s sake, for the sake of all the children, will you try to be brave?”

Joey nodded dumbly as Jack drew her closer. He could feel her shaking, but could only guess at her thoughts. She knew that he was right, that here was only one thing to do. She knew too that he was deliberately putting a brave face on it, forcing himself to do his duty even if it tore him apart inside. And he should not have to do that alone. In those moments that they sat together, Joey made a solemn resolution. However much it hurt her, however much she suffered, she would never show what a wrench it was to be parted from her boys.

Last edited by Elisabeth on Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:51 pm; edited 2 times in total

#2: Author: Alice, Location: London, England

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:09 pm
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Thank you Elisabeth. I like the way you've portrayed Joey and Jack.

#3: Author: MaryR, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:18 pm
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Oh, that was lovely, Elisabeth - lovely but very poignant.

Thank you.

#4: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:29 pm
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Thanks, Elisabeth. That was really lovely to read.

#5: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 6:59 pm
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I always felt sorry for the boys - the girls went to school next door whereas they were packed off thousands of miles away. Thanks Elisabeth Very Happy

#6: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:09 pm
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Thank you Elisabeth; that was very moving.

#7: Author: leahbelle, Location: Kilmarnock

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:12 pm
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Thanks, Elisabeth. What a difficult decision for them to make.

#8: Author: Elisabeth,

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:50 pm
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Thank you all for the lovely comments. Here is the second and last part.

The next few weeks were poignant ones for Joey, as she watched her eldest son keenly and intensely, vividly conscious that soon he would no longer be there, would be far away, across the sea and alone. She took courage from the way he saw it all as a big adventure and could only pray he would still see it that way when the moment for parting actually came.

Dick and Mollie came to stay, and when they left they took Steven with them. It seemed like the ultimate cruelty that neither Jo nor Jack could go to England with him, but Jack was impossibly busy at the San and Joey was busy too – in a different way.

But they all drove down to Berne together, and there in the airport, kneeling on the hard floor, Joey said goodbye to her son. She held him tight, kissed him, and then, holding him at arms’ length, with her hands on his shoulders, she gave him a very straight look. It was returned in equal measure. She had wondered long and hard what she could say to him at the last, it had to be something he could remember and lean on in the tumultuous days to come. And now, as she looked at him standing there, excitement and apprehension mingled in his face, and though so tiny, yet so brave and steady, the simple words rose to her lips. “Steven. My precious. Whatever happens, just remember – always – that Mamma and Papa are so proud of you.” That was all. In the end, there was no need for a speech.

“I will Mamma.”

She drew him to her again, folding him in his arms, not wanting ever to let go. And then she made herself release him, made herself smile and stand up. He musn’t see her upset – it would break his heart. The little boy reached up to hug his father, who was not visibly moved, but when he set the child down, the hand he slipped into Joey’s was trembling.

Steven, clinging to Mollie’s hand, was already moving towards the gate, Dick following just behind, a suitcase in either hand. On a sudden impulse, he set down the cases, turned and ran the few paces back to his sister. Catching her in his arms he held her close. He knew through bitter experience just what she was going through, only in his own case it had been much worse. “He’ll be home for Christmas”, was all he could say, but he spoke from the heart. “I’ll take the greatest of care of him. I promise you that.”

She nodded, extricating herself from his embrace, willing the tears that stood in her eyes not to fall. She raised her hand, and waved goodbye to her boy, a smile on her lips. Jack knew, and Dick knew, but no-one else could guess that inside, her heart was breaking.

#9: Author: Kate, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:56 pm
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*cries* Poor Steven and poor Joey. I don't know how you could send a nine year old away. Crying or Very sad

Thanks Elisabeth.

#10: Author: wheelchairprincess, Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:04 pm
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ARGH! I'm waiting for an important phone call and then I read that and now I'm all tearful.

That was beautiful. It does make me wonder how it was when the rest of the boys each went for their first time to school and how Joey found that. And Dick who was so sadly neglected in the books was wonderful and so kind to his sister here.

#11: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:48 pm
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Poor Jo - but she sent Stephen off in the only way possible.

Thanks Elisabeth

#12: Author: Fatima, Location: Sunny Qatar

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 2:58 pm
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I can't understand how they can have sent the boys off like that, either. Surely they could have found somewhere nearer - Zurich or Berne or somewhere, even if they'd had to study in German.

Thanks Elisabeth, that was lovely.

#13: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:03 pm
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I'm sure there'd've been international schools in Geneva, but I suppose sending kids back to Britain to be educated was still quite common even in the '50s.

Thanks Elisabeth - that was lovely.

#14: Author: Chair, Location: Rochester, Kent

Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:42 pm
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Thanks, Elisabeth. That was really moving.

#15: Author: Dawn, Location: Leeds, West Yorks

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:38 pm
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Thankyou for that

someone I know was sent away to boarding school at the age of 7 - he said his mother was in floods of tears, but his parents thought it was the right thing to do. Admittedly that was in the same country, but even so .....

#16: Author: MaryR, Location: Cheshire

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 9:11 pm
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Poignant and heartfelt, Elisabeth.

Thank you

#17: Author: Cath V-P, Location: Newcastle NSW

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:59 pm
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Thank you Elisabeth; that was so sad.

#18: Author: Elisabeth,

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:26 am
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Thanks for all the sweet comments, people!

#19: Author: Elle, Location: Peterborough

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 9:39 am
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Awww. That was lovely.

#20: Author: Mrs Redboots, Location: London, UK

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 3:23 pm
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It was lovely - and, sadly, so true to life! There certainly were international schools in Switzerland, even back then, but I rather suspect that with five boys to educate, they would have been too expensive even for Jack!

And sending children away to boarding-school, or worse, "home" to boarding-school was the norm then; I was ten when I went and my brother, the same term, was seven, although he was a weekly boarder at first.

But many girls my age or younger, at my school, were boarding because their parents were working abroad, and they felt it was the right thing to do for their children - some were only seven or eight, poor kids.

#21: Author: Lisa, Location: South Coast of England

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 5:37 pm
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Thank you, Elisabeth, that was so sensitively written. Lovely to see Joey's character developing too and the very real situation they found themselves in.

Ooh, perhaps you could write another installment ... Stephen's first letter home and the reception of it perhaps .... Wink

#22: Author: LizB, Location: Oxon, England

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:21 pm
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That was beautiful

Thanks, Elisabeth - I hope you get more bunnies!

#23: Author: Josie, Location: London

Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:31 pm
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Dawn wrote:

someone I know was sent away to boarding school at the age of 7 - he said his mother was in floods of tears, but his parents thought it was the right thing to do. Admittedly that was in the same country, but even so .....

I went when I was 8 because my parents were living abroad and wanted me educated in England (plus they moved a lot, so I wouldn't have to change schools). Mum said she cried as soon as they dropped me off and missed me and my sisters every day we weren't there. For what's it's worth though, to those who seem to think it's the cruellest thing in the world to send a child away to school, it really isn't and it certainly doesn't feel it at the time. I think it was actually harder on my mum than it was on us. Yes, I got homesick sometimes, as did my friends, but mostly we were excited to be at boarding school when we were that age. And by the time you get older, you just get used to it - it's the way things are. The people who had the most difficutly at our school were those who came in the sixth form to board, as they were so used to the freedom of home by then. But it was rarely because they missed their parents, more because they couldn't go out whenever they wanted. In many ways I'm closer to my parents because of it, as are my sisters - we never really fell out throughout my teenage years as they didn't see me enough to get irritated by me and vice versa, and I appreciated the time with them so much more and talked to them about things I would never have done otherwise. And I've certainly not suffered from it in any way, either socially or emotionally. If anything, it made all three of us (me and my 2 sisters) far more confident and independent. *climbs off soapbox* Sorry to rant, but it does wind me up when people act like it's the last word in child cruelty.

Thanks Elisabeth, this is great, and rings so true. Poor Joey, and poor little Steve.

#24: Author: Ruth, Location: Physically: Lincolnshire, England. Inwardly: The Isle of Skye

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:37 pm
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Kate wrote:

I don't know how you could send a nine year old away.

Easily, that's the age I hate them most

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