Face From The Past

Childhood friends are reunited in this captivating short story by Val Bonsall.

and back. But that short journey was where most of their taunting took place.

Never me, though. They never ever bothered me.

The reason, almost certainly, was my grandmother. I was going to use the word “fierce”, to describe her, but “a strong woman” is better. One who stood up for herself and those she cared about.

She played a prominent part in several community improvement schemes, battling with council planning departments and winning.

The gang knew that if I went home distressed there’d be Big Trouble!

One morning I was getting ready for school when Gran spoke.

“Lauren, love, you know Janet and Kev in number seven? Their grandson Craig and his mum have moved in with them.”

“Yeah, he’s started at our school.”

“That’s the thing. They’re having trouble getting him to go in the morning.”

“Oh.”

I guessed it was because of the gang picking on him, the new kid, but I didn’t say anything. Maybe I should have, but to this day I’m not half as brave as my gran.

“He’s probably just feeling a bit strange here, so I said you’d pick him up of a morning from their house and you can walk along together, then back again in the afternoon.”

“You want me to take him to school, Gran? A boy?” I was aghast.

“He just needs a bit of a helping hand at the moment. His parents . . .”

She didn’t finish what she was saying.

So Craig and I started walking to and from school together, and because he was with me, he