Kreatives Schreiben in Zeiten von Corona
Die Schülerinnen und Schüler des Diff.-Kurses Geschichte-Englisch bilingual haben sich als Nachwuchsschriftsteller betätigt: Sie verfassten ein eigenes Kapitel zu dem Buch „Percy – A story of 1918“ von dem britischen Historiker Prof. Peter Doyle. Darin erzählen sie, wie die Geschichte nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg weitergehen könnte. Peter Doyle bekam die Texte per Mail und zeigte sich begeistert:
»I love the idea that you have done this, and it is interesting to see the
interpretations that Carolin and David have placed on it. I was touched by
it and love the fact that the River Dee and the town of Llangollen were
worked into their stories so well.«
Die Texte von Carolin Lubrich und David Simonoski aus der Jahrgangsstufe 9 teilen wir natürlich auch mit euch!
Kisses (David Simonoski)
On 26th of September 1918 Kitty received a letter from Percy. As she read the letter tears ran over her face. It was still in the morning, but she had to go to Percy’s Mother. Lately she went more often to her to comfort her. She was very much beloved by Percy’s Mother, because they both missed him a lot. On her way she walked along the streets of Llangollen and remembered the time she spent with Percy and the others here. Again a few tears ran down her face, but she still walked on. As she came near to the house, she didn’t know what to say to Percy’s Mother. She thought about this scenario a few times lately, but she didn’t think it would actually happen. She clutched the letter tighter than before and knocked on the wooden door. She didn’t have to wait long; Percy’s mother quickly opened the door. The moment Kitty saw her, she instantly fell down to her knees, crying. Percy’s mother did not know what had happened and tried to comfort Kitty. They both walked inside, still hugging each other, and sat on the couch, that Percy had sat on so often before the war. Kitty gave Percy’s Mother the wrinkled envelope with the letter inside. As she read the words she too began to cry. They both were crying now sitting on the couch. Percy’s father and Percy’s brothers came from upstairs, they had heard the cry. They slowly moved nearer, but still did not know what had happened. Percy’s father saw the letter in Kitty’s hands and gently took it. Then he read it and broke down, but he did not cry. He had known this could happen and he would have to stay strong. He gave the letter to Benjamin and the others who all broke down differently.
That whole day Kitty stayed there and tried to help the family. She cooked their meal and tried to comfort all of them. She tried to tell them that “Maybe he will come back in a few days. It only says that he is wounded but not that he’d died” but she herself knew that he would not come back in a few days. Benjamin and David, who themselves had seen soldiers with these kinds of injuries knew that he would not survive. The doctors could try their best, but no one could heal somebody with a grenade splinter in his back.
In the evening Kitty went back home and stayed there for a few days. She wanted to give Percy’s family a rest and a bit more privacy.
After three days she came back to them and stayed again for the whole day. There still was no letter from the army, telling them Percy would be dead, so they tried to be positive.
But after a few hours there was an army man standing on their front porch: He was holding a brown envelope. As Percy’s mother saw him, she broke down again. She knew what that meant: Percy would either come home or he would be dead. She opened the door crying and the man said: “My deepest condolences” and gave her the letter. He could not help her a lot, so he walked away. Percy’s mother closed the door and instantly fell to the floor. The others came running to her and helped her to the couch. Percy’s father took the letter and read it out loud. He broke off in the middle of it and started to cry. They all were, at that point. Percy was dead and there was no hope for him to return.
Percy was one of around 21 million unnecessary deaths in the First World War. One of many but still not forgotten.
Lost son (Carolin Lubrich)
(my own chapter)
The 14th October 1918. The rainy autumn weather could be felt by every person on the graveyard and the wind brought a little bit of sunshine through the heavy clouds on the dark sky. Warm light shone on the tiny group of people standing in front of a big gravestone. “Percy Edwards” was written on it and in front of the dark grey stone there laid plenty of bright summer flowers. Mrs Edwards stood very close to the stone. Tears covered her face and you could hear her quiet sighs. She had boroughed so many of her sons before and she seemed to be falling apart every minute. Right next to her a young girl with pretty blonde hair cried and covered her face with her small hands. Mrs Edwards remembered the first time Kitty was joining her – and more important – Percy’s life.
A knocking on the door. Mrs Edwards leaves the kitchen to open the small wooden door. “Hello!” a girl at the age of 10 stands in front of Mrs Edwards. “I am bringing the newspapers for you.” “Oh, thank you dear girl. Would you like to come in? I can’t let you stay out there. It is freezing outside.” The Edwards haven’t got much money, but the Sunday newspaper is very important to the whole family to get to know what happens in the world out there. “Do you reveal your name? I’m Mrs Edwards.” “My name is Kitty.” “That’s a beautiful name for a pretty girl like you.” Kitty follows Mrs Edwards in the tiny and cosy kitchen. “Would you maybe like to have some tea while I’m looking for the money, darling?” “Yes please, Mrs Edwards. Thank you.” Mrs Edwards prepares the fruit tea for Kitty which is mixed with a lot of water because of the rare and expensive tea powder. Then she goes in the bedroom to look for the money and returns back to the Kitchen to give the money to Kitty. Afterwards they sit down and talk about interesting and less interesting things. All of the sudden a young boy, Mrs Edwards´ son appears in the kitchen door. “Hey mum, I´m going outside with Jack alright?” Then he realises that there is a pretty and dainty girl sitting next to his mother. His head becomes reddish and he stammers a little bit. “And… and who are you?” he says. “Percy this is not a very nice way to ask a girl for her name!”, his mother states strictly. “Maybe you would like to go out with the two boys?” Mrs Edwards asks friendly. “Mum!” Percy seems to be not happy about this whole situation. Mrs Edwards looks at him and smiles a little bit. “She can’t play with us she is a girl!” he shouts. “Oh yes, I know you are afraid of being beaten by me. Thanks for the tea Mrs Edwards but I think that I will have to look after boys on my level.”, Kitty smiles and leaves the kitchen.
Mrs Edwards smiled a little bit through her tears as she remembered this memory. She had known for so long that Percy had fallen for Kitty since the first time he saw her. She looked to the dainty girl on her left and grabbed her hand. Kitty looked up to her into her smart blue eyes which had almost the same colour as Percy’s. She swallowed as she thought about her first kiss with the most beautiful human being on earth.
“Come on Kitty!”, Gertie screams and jumps into the warm water of the River Dee. Kitty lays on the green grass smelling like summer and tries to get tan. The very rare summer rays shine down to the four children playing at the border of the marine blue water. “Yeah come on, the water is great.” Percy swims in the middle of the water. His brown hair is wet and standing in every direction. Kitty smiles as she sees Percy walking out of the water heading towards her. “Hey, let’s see where the waterfall is. Percy and I have discovered it a week ago.”, Jack proposes “It must be in that direction.” He points with his finger on the left side of the river. Gertie follows him and together they search for the little waterfall. “Percy? You coming?” Jack waits for his best friend. “Well…yeah I’m coming… just proceed going. I’ll be with you any time.” Percy looks over to Kitty. She keeps her eyes closed while enjoying the warm sun shining on her smiling face. Suddenly Percy sit down next to her and looks in the sky. He lays down on his back and dreams about this summer day. “It’s a beautiful place, isn’t?” Kitty straights up and sighs.” Yes, it is.”, Percy answered “But it wouldn’t be the same without you, Kitty.” Percy sits up and looks straight into her green eyes. The prettiest eyes Percy has ever seen. Kitty smiles and a very warm feeling goes through her whole body. Her heart beats fast as Percy leans forward to kiss her…
Mrs Edwards pressed Kitty’s hand as the small girl collapsed. “Kitty!” A young boy with brown eyes and brown hair standing on the right side of the gravestone walked over to Kitty and hugged her. “He is at a better place now.”, he said calmly.” You know how bad he wanted to help fighting against the enemy. He has always thought that it was his destiny to become a solider and defend our country. He was proud to have this chance. And when I knew one thing, then that he loved you with the bottom of his heart and the only thing he detested about being a solider was to be separated from you.” A tear ran down Jack’s face. Jack, who always was so strong and never cries. But he lost his friend – his best friend. “He wrote he would be back soon. He wrote that he would return back home…why… why did he promise such things when he can’t let them happen?” Kitty was falling apart. Everyone on the graveyard was able to see her pain. Everyone saw how her heart broke into a million pieces. Gertie couldn’t stand seeing her best friend collapsing in the middle of Percy’s family. Quickly she walked to her and grabbed her hand. “It’s okay.”, she whispered. “Come on darling. Let’s go for a walk.” Gertie helped Kitty to stand up and walk down the little muddy trace.
Jack looked to them until they were heading to the next corner and disappearing. He touched his face with his fingers and tried to wipe some of his tears away. One of Percy’s brothers looked into Jack’s sad eyes. Benjamin, Percy’s youngest brother, knew Jack very well. He was like another brother to Percy and the whole family had known him for so many happy years. Jack sobbed. He was deep in his thoughts and his own memories. He was carried away by them without knowing that the sad family had gone away from the gravestone. As he realised the fact, that he was all alone at the graveyard he sat down next to the big stone and began to talk: “Do you remember when we were like 10 years old? We wanted to sail like pirates on the top of the River Dee and experience so many adventures. We built a small wooden boat and sailed the whole day long. But in the evening we were too heavy for it and it collapsed.”, Jack smiled as he remembered falling into the cold water. “We had to swim back all the way we have sailed before and when we arrived home your mum was furious. She yelled at us.” He laughed. “When I’m thinking about that, I’m sure I can hear her voice right at the moment. After that she forced us to have a quick and hot shower because we were ‘cold like icicles’ she said” Jack stared in the cloudy sky. No more sunshine could get through the rainy clouds. Tears came to Jack’s eyes and he couldn’t see through it anymore. “I just can’t realise that I can never do this with you again.” His voice cracked and he burst into tears.
And on that day, he didn’t stop.
*10 years later*
14th October 1928
Mrs Edwards went to the deserted graveyard. Other than the last time she had been here she was smiling. She carried colourful flowers with her and put them next to the dark grey gravestone. Carefully she touched the top as she would caress Percy’s hair. “Oh, dear boy”, she sighed. She looked at the gravestone and tried to hold up the smiling. “My dear boy…I miss you”, she whispered. But she had learned to see this graveyard as a place to be with her son. She tried to let this be a happy place of reunion. Ten years went by so fast, she thought. And now all of her children had their own families. But Mrs Edwards was visited a lot by her friends and family. She always wanted to stay in touch with them and no day passed without drinking coffee with one of her loved ones. Today she invited Jack and Gertie with their three children. They were very loveable and she liked talking to the married couple about the old times. After that Kitty was going to come with her husband and their two children to stay for dinner. Mrs Edwards understood that Kitty had found a new love but she knew that the dainty girl still loved Percy in the depth of her heart. Then she planned already what she was going to cook for dinner. She had been looking forward to that day for so long and although she didn’t like one of the children the most, she enjoyed spending time with Kitty’s second child – a son called Percy.