THE JOURNEY 

By Tessa Harvey

    The colonel never explained about his attack. There was talk of a fall. There were no recriminations. Nothing except a few days of rest. Then all was as before. But not quite.
    Two days a week there was no need for a tutor or guardian. Wednesday was literally called midweek in German and a day of leisure, as was Sunday.
    These days the children were taken to see grandparents, other relatives or simply trips to the hills, the sea or picnics.
    These were precious days off for Alice. And days of immense disappointment. Alice was given mundane jobs by her    such as taking messages, some written, mostly verbal. She was loaned an old boneshaker of a bicycle. Optimistically she tried to enjoy these outings through small towns and pretty countryside.
    Soon they will trust me, she told herself over and over and over again. Yet still she was treated with varying degrees of politeness as though she was a sort of semi-useful child.
    But one day everything changed.

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