As Thick As Thieves- A Sister Teaches A Kid Brother During A Famine How To Eat From Rubbish Bins. The Past Will Become Our Future

I was seven when my mother bolted down south to St Albans with her Irish workman lover, O'Sullivan. The separation from her was an enormous emotional breach to my callow heart. It was worse than if she had died because leaving us seemed a voluntary decision on my mother's part. It was as if we weren't the object of her affection.

For decades, I didn't understand her motivations to up and leave us and ascribed it to selfishness and narcissism. I didn't comprehend - that like all women without means in the 1930s, my mum was at the mercy of men and their wickedness.

My dad pretended his wife was on holiday- and we must make do without her for a short time. How long that time was a changing schedule with him because he didn't know if she was ever coming back at all. Sometimes, it was "Your mum will be home tomorrow"- other times, "She'll be home next week." None of us knew if her plans would ever include us, again.

 My sister Alberta wise beyond her 10 years and as fierce as a lioness, thought it best after our mum left that I was toughened up. My sister tried to be a surrogate mother to me and an emotional crutch for my dad. It was a horrible burden for a little girl to be forced to bear.