Robbed

Funny how things stick in your mind, isn't it? This morning I remembered in incident from when I was about five. A hot summer day Primary School Strangely, I can't remember what we girls wore but the boys wore khaki shorts, shirts and brown sandals. Our class was playing at the very bottom of the playing fields under the not-so-watchful eye of a large slab of a girl with a blank face and small eyes. Her name was Marie, like the biscuits. Scratching around in the damp sand, I unearthed a crown. A crown was a five shilling piece, rarish then even - I certainly had never seen such a large and valuable coin. (To give you a clue, I got exactly half of that amount for a month's pocket money when I was a teenager) I remember how Marie's eyes fell on me and my find How she lumbered over to me and demanded it. Like a square giant she obscured the sun, leaning threateningly over me With meek hands but a furious heart, I handed it to her. Today all these years later, she came to my mind. For me to realise now that Marie's family was probably dirt poor And needed the money far more than I did After all these years, feeling a little foolish, I could say out loud: "I forgive you, Marie"