December 6th, 1917.
I looked across the ocean, and two ships were drifting closer, and closer to the docks, but closer together at the same time! A loud, heavy screech of metal rang through my ears. I managed to open one eye, and what I saw was terrifying. A big white spark flew up into the sky, until I could no longer see the brightness of it, and everything blew up. A very large munitions ship called the Mont-Blanc had just caught on fire and crashed into the Imo! Suddenly, black drips were falling from the sky; it felt oily, and heavy. It must’ve stuck pretty hard to me because I couldn’t get it off without much washing. A lot of the people were screaming, and I didn’t know what I could do. I just stood there, feeling like I’d lost everything. And I had.
I took a look around my neighborhood. I felt lost, scared, and nobody would stop running around, looking for people. I smelled the strong smell of blood, and there I saw it, gushing from a boys head. I guess he’d landed on a fence. There was a smell of burning metal. I looked toward the dry docks, and there was the Imo laying on it’s side.
I felt as if the end of the world was closer than I thought. I heard screams and people yelling and running around. It never stopped.
I then saw a tall soldier running, and calling to a few other shorter ones. I think there were six. I really didn’t know what I was doing standing, so I sat down. Partly because they couldn’t see me if I did. I wanted to wait for Julie and Evelyn.
I heard the tall soldier barking orders to the few others, and they ran off in teams of two and went into different houses. I did not know why, but it seemed interesting enough.
It wasn’t long ’till the soldiers were riding around in their motor cars on a dark, bumpy road, looking for hospitals. I saw one car with two injured people in the back, and I decided that I must find my family. Evelyn must be looking for me; Julie too, and what about Mom? Dad? I took a step and felt a stabbing pain in my left foot. I’d stepped on a piece of broken glass. I made myself look up, and saw a broken window in the store that Mom and Dad used to always go to when they felt like spending money.
“Mary-Ellen’s” I said to myself. I noticed very soon that the glass tea set had been broken, and I’d stepped on a piece of it. “I was going to buy that…” I trailed off.
Julie came a while after that. She said to me that I had fallen asleep on the ground. Evelyn was looking around for me, and Julie knew I was going to Mary-Ellen’s to buy that tea set for Mom’s birthday.
“It broke, didn’t it?” she asked, knowing the look on my face. She didn’t need an answer.
An hour later we finally found Evelyn and Mom and Dad in Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house in the southern end of Halifax. Julie limped there. I walked normal, but slowed down for her. Before we left, she said,”They have to be at Grandma’s. I know they would be smart enough to leave Richmond, and thank you, Jane.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For everything. You stayed where you were, and didn’t leave. I knew you would, or we would be split up,” she replied with a smile. I hugged my sister.
A few years ago, in the backyard of my old house, Keenan and I made snow-bricks. It was the most fun time I’d ever had with my brother playing in the snow. We found an old ‘Pampers Diaper’ container, and we packed the snow down really hard inside it. We flipped it over on a flat, snowy piece of ground that we’d chosen, not far from the edge of the house. It was a well-planned, well-prossesed attempt to design and build our own igloo. We got very far, and it was the top part of the igloo (or the roof) that was curved in (of course) that made it so hard to complete. We didn’t finish, as you may predict, though this snowy, fun day in the snow will be a memory forever.
