Free The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts: A Memoir by John Mitchell Page B

hiding from those men and if I was hiding I would hide in one of the houses on the bomb site. You could also hide in a tree but there aren’t any trees around here. I would not hide in the old knackers yard because there’s a dead horse in there and I would not want to wake up in the middle of the night with a dead horse.
    But it doesn’t matter about hiding because I should not have been born. If I had not been born then my dad would still be here. That’s what Margueretta says. She says it over and over again. And she says she wishes I was dead and that’s why I have to be locked in the cellar with the Devil until the grown-ups come home. She says that thing in the corner is actually the Devil.
    The Devil isn’t dead. He’s alive and he wants to live inside all of us when we grow up and it’s up to us if we listen to him and become sinners. I don’t listen to the Devil because I love Jesus. But the Devil is always there in everything we see and everything we do because the Devil can never die.
    There are seven steps down into the cellar. It’s very cold down here. I’m shivering and hungry but I don’t care about being hungry. You also shake when you are frightened. So I’m shivering and shaking at the same time but I don’t know which is which.
    Jesus died but if you pray to him, you can feel the hand of Jesus no matter where you are. They put a crown of thorns on his head and it cut into his skin and made it bleed and they spat at him. And when he died they tookhim down from the cross and put him in a cave. But he came back to life and rolled away the stone in front of the cave. And after three days he went to Heaven to live with God for all Eternity so even though he is dead he is still alive and I think he is the only person who can be dead and alive at the same time.
    If I die, I want to live with Jesus. Most of all I want to hold his hand because it is very warm and he will look down and smile at me and keep me by his side and that will make me feel very good.
    Yes, I want to live with Jesus if I die down here in the cellar.

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    I want to swing on a star. And carry moonbeams home in a jar. You can be better off than you are or would you rather be a pig? I don’t want to be a pig because a pig is an animal with dirt on his face and his shoes are a terrible disgrace. But I am a pig because I’ve got mud on my face and my toes are sticking out of my shoes.
    My daddy sings that song. I want to swing on a star. He taught me the words and he says we can carry moonbeams home in a jar together. They will make me think of angels.
    If Dad was here, he would take her knickers down and spank her and I could watch. He would spank her for twisting my hair around in her fist until I screamed and for spitting in my face and locking me in the cellar.
    She only let me out because Mum and Nana came back. And she says I’m a pig. She says oink, oink like a pig, little boy. But I won’t oink, oink like a pig. So she slapped my face.
    But Dad wasn’t with Mum and Nana when they came back so it’s best if I hide under the kitchen table for now with Emily. The grown-ups are angry and crying, and I don’t want to be with them. They know I’m here so I’m not really hiding but it feels like I’m hiding. I hope Dad will be here soon. If Dad was here, we would swing on a star. Dad will swing me around on a star, and he will sing for me. We will carry moonbeams home in a jar. And I won’t be a pig.
    “Och, I couldnee find him anywhere!” Nana said.
    “The police aren’t the only ones who want to find him. Mick at The Connaught wants to find him. He’s an angry man,” said Mum.
    “The Landlord at The Connaught? What’s he got to do wi’ it?”
    “That liar of a husband of mine convinced Mick that the way to bring in the crowds was to get an organ. He said he would play it for a share in the business, all the beer he could drink, and an occasional pork pie!”
    “That sounds like him. He’s always thirsty, but