Day 3: She

Dedicated to: Judy Blythe

“I’m going to die” she thought. But then, she often thought this. They all did. Every time there was the sound of an engine or men’s voices, they wondered. You just never knew when it was your turn to be loaded into the van.

Yesterday old Millie had gone. Poor Millie – everyone had been so fond of her. She always knew exactly how to annoy the men. Flo smiled as she remembered the time Millie rallied all the girls to sick-up their food everywhere, just after clean-up time, and the colour it had turned the Man-Chief’s face when he discovered it. The food had been better for a whole week after that. 

The Man-Chief had liked Millie too. He’d got her pregnant six times and even though she’d had a boy each time, he hadn’t been angry with her. “Poor Millie” he’d said, almost gently, “you just can’t seem to give me a girl... I’m sorry” he’d told her, as he loaded each boy into the van.

He never said sorry to the rest of them.  A tear ran down Flo’s cheek as she remembered her own boy. He’d been so sweet. She’d had him in the night, making as little noise as possible, so as not to wake the men up. She and Millie had hidden him the next day when the Man-Chief came, but it was no good; the men had found him and taken him. She’d fed him twice – she knew she was lucky for that. Flo’s other babies, 3 so far, had been girls. They were still here somewhere, but they’d been moved to another house and she hadn’t seen them for months.

The bang of a door opening brought Flo back to the present. The noise reverberated through the building and she felt the vibrations on either side of her; with every pregnancy she had gotten fatter and now the walls of her room touched on her on either side.

As the footsteps came closer, Flo thought of her life: of the mother she didn’t remember but knew she must have had, the babies she’d loved, the friends she had adored and all she’d given to the men. The door to her room opened and there stood the Man-Chief. Behind him, Flo could see the shadow of the van.

Words: 391