Chapter 12. Parable


    Vie had spent the day delivering eggs and vegetables


    from Nain Joan''s garden to families in town. On her way


    home she was looking in a butcher''s window when she heard


    a woman''s voice call out in fright.  Around the corner came


    a small child toddling on unsteady legs.


    Vie crouched down and smiled. "Hello there."


    The child ran into her open arms and she swooped him up.


    "And where might you be off to in such a hurry?"


    Out of breath, Ma Weller came to a stop beside to her.


    They''d met before when Vie and Nain Joan had helped the


    fishing families mend nets at the harbour.


    ''''You''re an Angel Vie. This little runaway is my grandson


    Liam. He''s trying to give me heart palpitations."


    Vie opened her mouth in feigned surprise.


    "Tell me that''s not true Liam." She tickled his neck with


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    kisses. Liam laughed and hugged her.


    It was a sight that almost made Ma Weller weep.


    Liam wouldn''t go to anybody since his Mother had passed


    and she couldn''t remember the last time she''d heard him


    laugh.


    "Can you spare an hour to help me with Liam, Vie?


    The bakers have made some bread for the fish I


    brought them yesterday....and I only have two hands."


    Vie turned on her heel with Liam in her arms


    "I would love to."


    *


    The fishing folk were a tight knit family group and


    Ma Weller was the matriarch. She was a small dark


    woman made of the same stone as the headlands


    of the bay. Charlotte was sure of it.


    She watched Ma Weller, with a baby on her hip, catch


    and tie off the lines that were thrown to her from a boat


    as it came alongside the wharf.


    "Mind your step Charlotte." Ma Weller called out.


    Charlotte was helping to unload incoming boats for the day.


    Vie was in the sheds pickling and curing fish.


    Stepping onto the boat Charlotte saw the grey beards


    of the crew. Amongst their good natured jibes she could


    see the fatigue in their faces.


    Some of the men were in their seventies


    "That''s the way of it now." Nain Joan told her.


    "All their young men have gone away to the War."


    Ma Weller called from the wharf. "Are you set Charlotte."


    "I am." Charlotte called back. Wicker pots full of catch were


    being lined up along the deck.


    "We''re off then." Ma Weller said. "Wave goodbye Liam."


    The baby waved a chubby hand in the air.


    "Let''s go and see how Buttercup is doing."


    Charlotte laughed.


    That was the nick name Vie had been given..


    *


    Charlotte looked at the crayfish in the basket she was


    carrying home.


    "Cook them while they''re fresh." Ma Weller said.


    She had been on a week''s leave from the land army


    when Vie had told her that families at the harbour could


    use some help.


    "Will you come with me tomorrow?"


    How could she say no? She had gone with Vie and worked


    side by side with the most generous steadfast group of


    women she had ever met in her life. It had been an education.


    The crayfish had their claws closed and tied back but there


    was still enough space in the basket for them to move about.


    The idea of letting them go came to her - then Charlotte


    thought about the hard work and sacrifice of fishing families.


    She chided herself. "When I was a child, I thought as a child."


    .


    *