Holly's Childhood Years

By Holly Hail

Holly Hail was a mischievious child known for causing much heartache for her parents. Her antics included going into the forbidden coal bunker and turning her skin black, pouring her mother’s face powder over the settee and floor, and cutting all the hair off her sister’s dolls.

In a candid retelling of her coming-of-age journey, Holly chronologically leads others through her childhood as she played marbles, became stuck in mud up to her waist, met a lovely tramp in the railway carriage, and much more. Intertwined with all her experiences were continued moments of mischief as she tripped her teacher in school, caused the untimely death of her sister’s fish, and spoiled many games on the school playground. As Holly discloses how feeling unloved prompted her to eventually run away, she reveals a glimpse into the mind of a little girl doing her best amid less than ideal circumstances. But when her journey eventually leads her to dark places, it is Holly who must determine a way to emerge and reach the light of new beginnings.

Holly’s Childhood Years is the true story of an impish girl’s experiences growing up amid challenging times as she struggles to find her place in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Nov 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664113596

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

My Childhood Dreams

I am a baby in a pram—a brown corduroy pram with big wheels—and I am sitting up eating a crust of the bread with butter, or is it margarine? Butter was very expensive in those days.

In the pram, I am making so much mess my mother has to put the Hoover around me to pick up the big bits of crust I could not eat.

She puts me on the floor, but I do not crawl.

My mum tries to encourage me by putting my toys away from me, but I just sit there.

Then one day, I crawl on my bum by wiggling on the floor!

I am fast, and I go wherever I want quickly.

My mum could not keep up with me.

She had to keep everything out of my way because I would reach out for it.

Then another day, I walked around the furniture. I tried to walk from the settee to the chair, but it was too big a step for me, and I was very scared. I screamed at the top of my voice.

My mother came running, thinking I had hurt myself; but she saw I could not walk to the chair. She picked me up and laughed and tried to console me.

I have memories of my mum and my dad bathing me in the big bath in the kitchen. They were warm feelings of memories.

I also have vivid memories of my mum singing nursery rhymes to me.

One I remember is ‘My little baby is sick, sick, sick. Run for the doctor quick, quick, quick. The doctor came with a rat, a tat, tat. He came with his stick, and he came with his hat, put the baby to bed, and keep her warm. I will call again in the morning.’

I have an image of my mum cradling me and singing this nursery rhyme as a baby.

When my mother was alive, we often talked about the situation when I was trying to walk from the settee to the chair; and she thought I hurt myself and screamed.

We would laugh together about this incident.

I also have a memory of my mum sitting on the floor with me, building blocks and trying to get me to build the building blocks; but I would always knock them down.

I remember my mother bouncing me on her lap whilst singing nursery rhymes.

CHAPTER 2

My Nightmares Begin

I am playing with my sister Samantha and my sister Sana outside the front of a prefab house.

The coalman came to deliver my mum’s coal.

He dumped two bags in the coal bunker; and on the way back to his lorry, he ruffled my hair and said to my sister Samantha, ‘Wipe your sister’s snotty nose. Mind you, don’t go into the coal bunker again, Holly, and ruin that lovely dress you’re wearing. Otherwise, your mum is going to be very cross with you.’

He should not have said that because that is what I did.

I went into the coal house, and I was in there for some time when my sister realised I was not there playing with them.

She went into the house to see where I had gone but found I was not inside the house.

She came back outside and found me in the coal house eating coal.

I was black from head to toe covered in coal dust.

‘How could you, Holly?’ my sister said. ‘You were told by Mr James not to go in there.’

I just looked up and smiled.

‘Mum is going to be really mad at you.’

She went and told my mum what I had just done.

My mother came out and grabbed my little arm, screaming at me, ‘Holly, I just got you clean. I let you out the front for one minute whilst I got your sister Jenny ready. Samantha, I told you to keep an eye on Holly. Why did you not keep an eye on your sister?’

She said, ‘I did, Mum, but I am only little.’

‘As for you, madam’—and she slapped me across the head—‘stand there and don’t move until I get your bath ready.’

We were in the kitchen because the bath was in the kitchen.

My mum took the cover off the bath and filled the bath up with warm water.

She went over to the cooker to put the oven on to warm the room up. It was an electric oven.

She put the electric rings on too.

She pulled my dress over my head and said, ‘That thing can go in the bin now. I will not be able to get that clean now I can tell you. Do you know that dress cost me £3.50? I can tell you. That’s a lot of bloody money for us. Your dad is on low wages. Wait till your dad comes home, and I tell him what you have done. He is going to be hopping mad—hopping mad—I tell you.’

She plunked me in the bath and tried to get the coal of with a flannel. But all was not coming off, so she went to the window. From a red plastic open container, she took out a small nail brush and scrubbed my skin with the brush and soap.

‘That hurts,’ I said.

‘You think that hurts?’

My mum lifted me out of the water and slapped my backside with her hand hard. ‘Did that hurt, madam? You go back in that coal house again, you little shit, you will see what I will do.’

I sat back into the water, whimpering like a dog.

‘You can stop crying this instant. Otherwise, you will get another smack.’

I did not stop crying, but I did not get another smack.

I had red arms and legs for days due to my mother scrubbing me.

My father came home from work and asked, ‘What’s up with Holly’s arms and legs?’

My mother told him about what I did, saying I went into the coal house and got my best dress ruined.

My dad’s reply was ‘Serves you right. That will teach you a lesson not to go into the coal bunker again.’

But that’s a thing—it did not.

It made me do more naughty things.

I could not keep myself out of mischief.

I would get hold of my mother’s face powder and put it all over the settee and the floor.

I would get a hiding for that. I would get a hiding from my sister’s dolls because I would cut all their hair all off and spoil it for my sisters.

CHAPTER 3

My