Free Dragon Land by Maureen Reynolds

he wasn’t dead but would someday walk back into our lives.
    Years afterwards I was to recall that week with my mother and aunt. I remembered the sun glinting off the sea, the lovely sunsets and the comfortable hotel, but most of all it was the last time I saw Mum looking happy and carefree.
    Within a few days of arriving back home, Margaret had to leave to join her husband. Mum and I went to the railway station with her to say goodbye. As usual, Margaret was practical and down to earth as we stood on the platform.
    ‘I’ll be in touch soon, Beth, so I want you to promise to look after yourself.’
    I thought Mum would burst into tears, but she managed to smile as the train drew into the station.
    Margaret gave us both a tight hug and smiled. ‘I’ll write soon and give you all my news, and when Gerald retires we will be home again.’
    ‘Please send me postcards for my collection, Aunt Margaret,’ I said.
    She smiled. ‘I’ll send you loads and loads, Lizzie, and Uncle Gerald has bought himself a new camera so I’ll send photographs as well.’
    With a flurry of activity in putting her luggage on board before climbing into the carriage, we said our goodbyes as the train pulled away from the platform. We were left with the remnants of sooty steam and a small group of people who, like us, were seeing loved ones going on a journey.
    Mum was crying but trying to hide the fact from me, and although I was dry-eyed, I was crying inwardly.

11
UNREST AND BAD NEWS
    After Margaret’s departure, Mum seemed to perk up. Granny noticed the change and remarked on it to Mrs Mulholland.
    ‘The holiday has done the world of good for Beth, thank goodness.’
    Mrs Mulholland said that this was a blessing and hoped it would continue. ‘The poor lass has been through so much, with her husband missing.’
    Granny didn’t know I was listening, so I crept back to my bedroom and prayed with all my heart that Mum was finally getting better.
    She still went out once or twice a week to visit Milly, but she said she didn’t go back to the spiritualist meetings, although Milly’s mother continued to go to try to get a message from her dead son.
    After a few weeks, Mum became quiet and dispirited. Granny asked her if she was ill, but she just said everything was all right except she was worried about her job in the hat shop.
    ‘Every day when I go into the town there are meetings of unemployed people gathering in the city centre, and it’s getting worse. Cox’s mill has laid off hundreds of workers and people are becoming angry that there is no work. I worry that DM Brown’s will also lay off staff, and Milly says it’s a possibility.’
    Granny knew all about this unrest, as the newspapers were printing stories of the crowds of angry and hungry people.
    ‘This government should be getting people back into jobs instead of sitting on their fat backsides,’ she said one night as we sat down to our tea.
    ‘There’s been riots on some streets and shop windows broken and goods stolen,’ said Mum. ‘We could hear the noise from the store’s windows and customers are keeping well away from the city centre. I honestly don’t know where it’s all going to end.’ This was worrying news for me because Mum looked so pale and ill and all this uncertainty wasn’t helping her. ‘There are crowds of ex-soldiers joining in the protest, I heard. They’re saying they fought a war to make a better world, but they’ve come back to starvation and no chance of any work. No wonder they are all so angry and bitter.’
    We finished our meal in silence, then Granny said we were lucky to have food to eat, but Mum didn’t answer. She got up and carried the empty plates into the sink, where she tackled the washing-up with a fierce expression in her eyes.
    Margaret was reunited with Gerald, and she wrote long letters to Mum and sent postcards to me. I loved looking at the views of Lisbon and rushed through to my bedroom to put them in my box under the