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Don McDouall was evacuated from London during World War II when he was five years old. He was sent to the small country village of East Hanney to live with Grans and Grampy at a house called Tamarisk. He now lives in Australia.
Uncle Cal was Grans son. Annette was the daughter and the only child of uncle Cal and his wife aunty Hettie. Grans didn't like aunty Hettie much, if at all, and called her a trollop amongst other names! I think the feelings between both women were mutual.
Annette as a small child was what was then called a 'spastic'. She had been stricken by polio as an infant. Annette was fine everywhere except for her legs. These were very thin and she could not walk and wore what was called leg irons. Leg irons were frames made of metal and leather that encased and so supported each leg.
Annette was a very small girl for her age being aged about six years old when she came to live in East Hanney. At the time I was about eight years old. Annette got around by being conveyed in a kids pushchair.
Annette was a pretty little thing with blond wavy hair that was put into rag curlers every night. It was said she came to live with Grans because the Germans had started to bomb Swindon, where the little girl lived with her family.
I soon found myself the sole provider for poor little Annette. Within a matter of a few days of her arrival I was washing her, dressing her, combing her hair and even cleaning her teeth. I only got away from her to attend school. Annette didn't attend school at all and Grans didn't care much that I lost many days of my own schooling to look after Annette.
If I went out to play with other kids I had to take Annette along with me.
This was irksome to say the least but it wasn't Annette's fault. It took no time at all for Annette to become totally dependant on me. We even slept together in the same bed on top of the landing where I had slept with Roy before he had gone back to London.
There were some positive points to all this annoyance. For starters I stopped getting hidings for wetting the bed as Annette wet the bed every night. So Grans couldn't very well say it was me who did it! I also got a lot more to eat too! Grans gave the child whatever she asked for as regards to food. Annette was intelligent and better still unselfish. She soon woke up to my position as regards to my meager allocation of food.
So, with some prompting from me, she would tell Grans she was hungry even when she wasn't. Then when Grans wasn't looking Annette would tell me to eat the food. Annette not only got her own sweet ration, she also got her parents rations too and she would always share these goodies with me. That was of course when adults weren't looking.
It was me who taught her to read. Grans got angry with me when she found out about it. So I only taught Annette when we were outside of the house. Annette's dad was pleased though and gave me a small model airplane as a token for my trouble. I had to hide the toy though and I never took it into the house just in case Grans took it away from me. It was a model of an American typhoon fighter plane and it even had little guns.
One big drawback was I had to go to bed at the same time as Annette did. She tired very easily so many times went to bed very early and I would have to go too. This really got up my nose so I would get very angry with her. Then she would cry a lot, which made me angry with myself for upsetting her.
Annette knew a lot more about real life then I ever did. It was Annette who taught me the swear word 'Bollocks'! I had never heard of it before but Annette was always saying it. Of course I dared not swear in front of Grans. It would not only get me a belting, I would have to drink a cup of soapy water which always made me sick.
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