excerpt from 'The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood' pp. 2 (157 words)
excerpt from 'The Hidden Roads: A Memoir of Childhood' pp. 2 (157 words)
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[Kevin Crossley-Holland recounts his earliest memories] My fourth memory is the most detailed. It took place in London later in the same year [when he was three years old], during a German air raid. I am a page at the wedding of my godmother, and I’m wearing gold satin trousers. […] At the reception, I remember trotting around, offering guests pieces of wedding cake, and then sitting spellbound in front of the accordionist. Somewhere outside, there is a loud bang (a V-I or doodlebug). The accordionist stops playing, the wedding party freezes. It was as if we were at a children’s birthday party, playing statues, in which the first person to move is the loser. How long did everyone hold their breath? No more than two or three seconds, I suppose; but in my memory for ever. Now the accordion breathes again; it sings in the afterblast and the festivities resume, no doubt tempered and chastened. |
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