A (not quite) Christmas Story

[petermorwood]

This story is a fantasy, but some of its background is true: the Belfast Blitz; the Auxiliary Fire Service; the Men from the South; and my toy fire-truck set…

I'd started to wonder if that toy was just a trick of memory, because in nearly fifty years I'd never seen another one. Despite eBay, Google and all the rest, it remained elusive. Then I found a photo on-line, from 1962, of a small boy playing with the exact same fire-truck set. He was even wearing the Fire Chief’s Helmet. That photo helped confirm my inspiration for the original story.

(It's now here, tidied up and with cover art. But still free to download in generic epub and most other formats...)

Comments

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Aww. That left me all choked up. Thank you.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That was a good one.

My father was with the ARP (Air Raid Precautions) in London during the war; I never really found out much about his experiences because he didn't talk about it and died when I was eight, but I'm pretty sure he saw a lot of action during the Blitz. Unfortunately there seems to be no way to find out much at this late date, but stories like this remind me of the sacrifices his generation made.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

Wow-I've got goosebumps, and a lump in my throat, and a wonderful happy/sad heartache thing going on, too!

Thanks for the Christmas gift, Mr. Morwood!

[theadydal.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Lovely story - wondering now how I missed it at the time.

(And red plastic firemen just a bit bigger than standard (1/32 scale?) sized toy soldiers? I rather think I had that set, too - I remember the hands and the helmets)