Gertie will be six and because her
birthday is this week, Miss Brown asked her to share something with her class for
their Anzac Day Show and Tell.
From the day she was born, Pop had taken
a special interest in the infant. Gertie wasn’t the first of his great
grandchildren, but her little face would light up and she became excited whenever
he came near her. No one could explain it, maybe it was the old man’s deafness,
or his wheelchair, and whatever it was the infant sensed, Pop responded in
kind.
Before called up to
serve his country during World War 2, Pop had been a schoolteacher. A job, he loved
taking pride in helping his students achieve their potential. ‘The greatest
challenge for people seeking success in anything is knowledge and hard work.’ He
would say ‘If I can show them a path to knowledge, then that’s enough for me.’
War had left him with
severe hearing loss, and rather than sit around feeling sorry for himself Pop
learned to communicate by using sign language. He began to teach others,
signing to those around him and soon, everyone was proficient.
Gertie seemed to catch
on quickly, the infant would giggle and wave her hands around in copied
movements, soon making words and muddled sentences. ‘She will sign before she
can talk, Pop said. He spent hours with her, teaching her about grass, ants,
spiders and all manner of things. Gertie loved following the old man around,
toddling after his wheel chair while he moved around his raised garden beds,
tending to his plants. She loved helping with the chooks, and washing Bob, the
old brown dog.
If Pop moved, Gertie
was there.
Gertie was born on
ANZAC Day, and each year she would watch her Great Granddad polish his medals, getting
his suit ready for the ANZAC Day march. The little girl liked seeing him all
dressed up in his suit. She stared, watching his medals swinging and rattling
on their brightly coloured ribbons, as the old soldier shifted about.
To everyone in town he
was Pop, and with only a little bit of grey hair smoothly clipped above his
ears, the family would laughingly say. ‘Great Grandad has more hair in his ears
and nose than he has on his head.’ Gertie didn’t care she loved the old man,
nose hair and all. He was gentle and kind. He told wonderful stories to Gertie
and her cousins, all kinds of yarns about the bush, of old times, mystical
places with fairies and elves. Pop had plenty, a yarn for every occasion
Living with his
daughter, Pop enjoyed seeing Gertie when they visited. She too loved the visits
especially climbing up onto Pop’s wobbly old knees while he sat in his
wheelchair. Holding onto the arms and laughing loudly, they would speed up and
down the passage with Gertie screaming. ‘Do it again Pop.’
Pop, grabbing at either
wheel of the chair as they got to the kitchen, the skidding chair would swing
around wildly,
Granny would shout at
them ‘Out, out, out of my kitchen now’
Pop’s arms pumping the
wheels and off they would go again, speeding up to the front room, Pop now grabbing
at the other wheel spinning his laughter cart, and starting the merriment all
over again. Granny would wave a wooden spoon at them, making out she was cross,
but they knew she was just joining in on the fun too.
****
After assembly, it would be time for
Show and Tell, and the roll call seemed to be taking forever. All morning
Gertie kept checking at the classroom door, wishing they would come. Then as promised,
Mum wheeled Grandad into the classroom. He looked at walls, covered with
pictures and projects, creations of childhood imagination. Then with a
beckoning hand, the tall and smiling teacher called.
‘Gertie please come and
introduce your family to your friends.’
Gertie raced to the
front of the classroom and standing alongside her Great Grandad’s wheelchair, ‘This
is my Pop, and he is here to tell us about Anzac Day.’ she said.
Just as he would do each year on her
birthday, Pop had on his grey suit, today the medals seemed to sparkle and
glisten even more, dancing in shafts of light streaming in through the
classroom window.
‘Gertie, haven’t you
forgotten someone?’ Miss Brown said.
‘Oh! And this is my mum’
The old man told the
children the story of the Anzacs, he explained why the men and women formed
into lines on the twenty fifth of April, and why they marched. Pop explained
why it was important for everybody on each side of the conflict to remember
their mates and comrades on this special day.
He told the children
that now that he was very old and he knew that there were never any winners in
war.
