War and Peace

By

Jacquimac

Part Four

Adrian was a bit of handful especially when it was time for him to go to bed, he seemed to get livelier but I managed in the end to get him bathed and in bed before seven o`clock each night.

Then it be time for either sewing, knitting embroidery or some other lessons in femininity, well we had a long winter ti face and it definately wouldn`t be boring.

I could already do basic sewing like a lot of squaddies as we had to keep our uniforms in some sort of good repair when in the field, so it wasn`t long before the had me doing my first attempt at a skirt.

The amount of different stitches amazed me but I got the hang of them in the end and it wasn`t long before I had made a decent skirt, Oh it wasn`t good enough to wear to a social event but it was good enough was working in.

Before the end second month I had made a couple of dresses and skirts and a couple of tops, nothing fancy but the women who were teaching me were pleased with the results.

Knitting came to be second nature after a while and I was soon knitting like the best of them and holding conversations at the same time and had knitted a whole load of jumpers and cardigans for the children.

Embroidery now that needed a lot of concentration for meagain there was lot of different stitches and with different colours being added to the designs and they seemed to pretty intricate some time too intricate.

I also had lesson in make-up, what to wear and when , I never realised what a woman went through to look her best or how much time it took it took them.

Cooking I was good at and spent a lot of my time cooking with the other women, damn it I was starting to think as a woman of the settlement.

I was starting to enjoy living here the friendship with these women, no having to compete everytime I did something like with guys in the unit.

As time went on I got used to called "mummy" by Adrian and could even look after the baby who was called Joanne after her dead mother.

I had managed to fashion a pair or waterproof trousers out of an old ground sheet and at least once went and scouted around the area, of course I couldn`t get far because of the snowdrifts but far enough to check that no patrols were in the area. I considered it my responsibility to ensure these women and children were safe.

It was one thing for some Admin Officer to say they would be safe from agression by troops but another to trust them and I didn`t the enemy especially since they had removed all the menfolk from the settlements.

OK we hadn`t heard of any mistreatment by the enemy troops of civilian personnel but there is always a first time, I wasn`t sure if the enemy like us had signed the Geneva conventions.

Each time I return from my scouting it would be back into skirts and live would continue as if nothing had happened.

The children started going down with the usual problems that children get, colds , measles. chickenpox etc so I set up separate isolation units for each ailment and set about nursing them with the medicines I had at my disposal.

I had many a sleepless night dealing with the odd child that wasn`t responding too well but eventually the crisis passed and all the children were returned to their mothers, the worst ones to deal with the were the babies.

The Adimistration was about 10 miles away and I set of on my own at around 7am and arrived there sometime in the afternoon, after an argument with the guards I was allowed to speak to an officer.

I told them our problem and they arranged for paedatric medicine to flown that night, I was given a room for the night and left at first light the next day.

It would seen the lessons on womanhood had been successful and so far they hadn`t suspected that I was an enemy soldier in hiding.

When I arrived back at the settlement I set about dosing all the sick children before I did anything else, I showed the women who were helping me the various dosages and went home, I was exhausted, cold, tired and hungry and dirty after my trek.

I slept until around noon the next day after having a good bath getting dressed and having a meal went to check on the patients but they seemed to be doing well. Now we childrens medicines I was back on safe ground unless surgery was ever needed.

There were no working radios or telephones in the settlement and it seems that during the winter months the people were on their own when the snow was as deep as it is this year.

I just hoped I wouldn`t have to visit the Admin Centre again, it was a hard going through all that snow.