**Childhood Love**
“Mum, can you put my blue shirt on for nursery tomorrow?”
“Blue? Whys that?”
“Because Katie Wilson said it looks nice on me! It matches my eyes!”
“Well, if Katie said so, of course youll wear the blue shirt.”
Tommy, pleased, scampered off to play with his older brother, James, who was already in school. That evening, their mum told their dad about the blue shirt and how it suited Tommys eyes. Dad chuckled and ruffled his youngest sons hair.
“So, lad, do you like Katie, then?”
“Yep! Im gonna marry her.”
“Is that so? Well, first youll need to finish school, get an education, *then* you can marry her.”
“Blimey, thats ages away” Tommy frowned, deep in thought.
“Dad can I marry Katie tomorrow?”
“*Tomorrow?* Where will you live, son?”
“Here, of course!” Tommy blinked, confused.
“Whose house? Hers?”
“No, Dad!” The boys eyes widened. “Katie stays at her house, and I stay at mine!”
“Thats not how it works, lad. When you marry, you take Katie home with you. Youll have to work, and shell go to nursery, then school, then university.”
“And me?” Tommys voice wobbled.
“Youll work, son, to provide for your family.”
Tears welled up. “Mum!” he wailed as she knelt beside him. “I wanna marry Katie, but I dont wanna work yet! I wanna stay in nursery, then school! But Dad saaaaid”
“Now, now,” Mum soothed. “Youll marry Katie when youre grown up.”
“But by then, someone else might take her!”
“Who would?”
“I dunnooo maybe Billy or Jack!”
“Well, if someone else can take her, then maybe shes not the one for you.”
The next morning, Tommy marched up to the little girl in a red velvet dress, her long blonde hair tied with a big bow. He took her hand.
“Katie Wilson, Im gonna marry you!”
She studied him for a moment, then turned away.
“No!”
Tommy stomped his foot. “I *said* Im gonna marry you! Not now, alright? Later, yeah?” He peered into her eyes. “Promise?”
“Why not now?” Katie frowned. “Billy and Lizzie got married *today*.”
“Their weddings pretend. Oursll be real!”
“Okay!” She nodded, and hand in hand, they ran off to play.
At school, Tommy demanded the teacher seat him next to Katie. She refused, placing Katie with another boy instead. Tommy plonked himself beside her anyway.
“Im marrying Miss Wilson when I grow up.”
The class burst out laughing. “Ooooh, Tommy and Katie, sittin in a tree!”
“Quiet, children!” the teacher scolded. “Tommy, youre far too young for such thoughts. Go sit in your proper seat.”
“No! Katie, tell her!”
Katie giggled shyly.
“Well, Miss Wilson?” the teacher sighed.
“Were getting *properly* married when were big. Not like Billy and Lizzietheyre just pretending.”
“Is that so?” The teacher gave them a thoughtful look. “Very well. Sit together, then.”
Katie was the queen of his heart. He carried her satchel, shielded her from dogs, bullies, even teachers. Once, when she fell and scraped her knee, he hauled her to the nurses office.
In secondary school, he confessed properly. And Katie? She just smiled and walked away, chin high.
“Ill *still* marry you, Wilson!” he shouted after her. “Hear me?”
Then Jack, the school boxer, started hovering around Katie. Tommy took his bruises but never backed down. One evening, he spotted three lads loitering.
*Here we go.*
“Oi, kid,” one drawled, peeling off the wall. “Come ere.”
“You want me? *You* come.”
“Cheeky little sod.”
“Ive got a name, mate.”
“Listen, runt. Stay away from that girl. Shes our mates bird.”
“Wheres your *mate*, then? Too scared to say it himself?” Tommy squared his shoulders. “Tell him if he doesnt leave *my* girl alone, hell regret it.”
He turned his back and walked off, feeling their rage like heat on his neck.
They jumped him later, cowardly, from behind. Outnumbered, he curled upuntil a scream ripped through the air.
Katie.
She charged, swinging a fence picket like a sword, howling as she whacked the lads aside. His brother and a friend sprinted overcalled by Lizzie, Katies mate.
That night, Katie kissed him for the first time.
Later, under the streetlamp, she dabbed iodine on his cuts. “Does it hurt?”
“Nah,” he lied, grinning.
She stood on tiptoes and kissed him again. The lads tactfully looked away.
“Sorry, Tommy”
“*You*? Youre my hero! Swinging that plank like Bruce LeeIm scared of you, Wilson!”
“Oh, shut up,” she laughed.
Then came the army farewells.
Katie didnt cling or cry. They just stood close.
“RememberIll marry you when Im back, yeah?”
“Yes.” For the first time since nursery, Katie said it. “Tommy” She blushed. “Dyou love me?”
“Are you daft? Ive spent my *life* saying Ill marry you! Course I love you, silly.”
Letters flew back and forth, each hiding the words *I love you*.
Then they stopped.
No word for weeks. The news showed boysno, soldiersgrubby but grinning, fighting far away.
Then three letters arrived at once.
To his parents and Katie, he wrote jokesabout penguins on some frozen mission, about northern lights. They laughed through tears.
That night, Katies little brother asked, “Is Tommy in America?”
Her mum chuckled. “Dont be silly, love. Hes in the army.”
But James knew.
Only James.
Theyd had a code since childhood. One wordjust *one*buried in the letter. A word that kept mothers awake. James bit his fist, crying into his pillow. He couldnt protect his brother now.
He wrote back, cheerful as required.
*PS: Dont forgetyouve still got to marry Katie. Or shell grab that plank again.*
Silence.
Then, the news.
Boysno, menbattle-hardened.
“Tommy!” Mum clutched her chest. “Thats him! Oh, son!”
And he turned, as if hearing her, grinning wide with dimples.
The ambulance came for Mum that night.
“Easy now,” the doctor murmured. “Wait for your soldier. Hell be home.”
Katie couldnt sleep. Her mum gave her drops, then drank some herself.
Dad smoked on the balcony with James. Silent.
“You knew?” Dad finally asked.
“Yeah.”
“Right.”
Katies dad smoked too, rubbing his old bullet wound.
“Hold on, son,” he whispered. “Just hold on.”
“Dad” Katies brother trembled. “They wont kill him, will they?”
“No, lad. Hes got to marry our Katie, hasnt he?”
“Right.”
—
He came back.
Dawn. The soldier sat on a bench, legs stretched, kitbag dumped. Listening to birds.
James stepped onto the balcony, lighting a fag.
“Smokings bad for you,” Tommy called, squinting up.
“Sos being a smartarse. Might get punched.”
“Missed you, brother.”
“Welcome home, soldier.”
Hours later, slightly tipsy on joy, Tommy bellowed under Katies window:
“Wilson! Im here to marry you, Wilson!”
No one shushed him. No one threatened to call the police. The whole street knewa soldier was home. Alive.
“Mum, Dadcan I marry her *now*?” Tommy spun before the mirror.
“Get dressed, groom,” they laughed. “Before she changes her mind.”
“Over my dead body!”
—
“Mum, Im getting married.”
“Oh? Whens this, Michael?”
“Tomorrow.”
“And whos the lucky lass?”
“Emily Wilson. From my class.”
“*What?* Dad know about this?”
“Yeah. He said talk to Granddad first, so Im marrying her *tomorrow*.”
—
“Well, Granddad?” Mum smirked.
“Oh aye,” Dad chuckled. “History repeats. Another Wilson,
