You can look at the previous “Sign of the Timez” works by searching my profile for;
- Child of the Cave
- Were you there?
- Princess Hostage
- Gods Bride
- Satans Witch
- Skin
The smoke turned black and I felt the magic of the book working. I was once again teleported out of this world. I found myself standing in a graveyard. A coffin was being lowered into the ground. I wondered where the book sent me this time. As I looked around I could see people in dirty and tattered rags. They were poor and looked so weak and skinny.
As I looked at the coffin being lowered, I wondered who it was. A woman and little girl had their arms around my shoulder. I suspected they were my family. I looked at the woman's face. She was crying and mumbling prayers. She looked so old and tired and yet I knew that she was not as old as she looked. As I looked at the small girl, I could see she was in rags like everyone else. The cheekbones were very evident and she looked hungry.
After the funeral was over, the woman told us that our grandmother was now in peace and with God. She would never be hungry again. It was time to go home. Our home was a small whitewashed cottage that looked like it would collapse at any moment. Inside it was dark and there was only one small window. There was no furniture except a small table and one stool. There was no floor except the dirt floor. There was a straw mattress on the side. The cottage also had an open hearth. The place was very small. It was the size of my bedroom back in 2020. To make things worse, it was raining and the thatched roof leaked in several places.
We did not eat. My mother was talking about how hard the famine was. This made me remember that I learned in history that there was a famine in Ireland long ago. The book had sent me to the Irish famine. I was soon to find out the year was 1847. We just sat in the cottage and said nothing. The atmosphere was very depressing. It was very hard for me, as I had never been as hungry as I was now. Images were bombarding my mind of cake and ice cream. I looked at my sister. She had very little energy and was lying on the straw mattress. My mother was praying.
I could hear my sister crying. My mother did not move, so I figured that she was used to it. I could not stand when anyone cried, so I went over to the mattress and put my arm around my sister. She complained that her tummy ached and she didn’t feel well. She must have been so hungry and weak. Mom seemed frustrated and told me to look in the potato patch to see if any potatoes had survived the blight. I decided to console my sister first. I did the same as I saw in a Peter Pan movie when I was back in the year 2020. I put my hand out to her and told her there was a cake on it. Of course, she could not see any cake so I told her to close her eyes and imagine it. She started eating the imaginary cake and started telling me what it tasted like. After a while, she stopped crying and said she was full. This would not solve her hunger, but it did make her smile for a minute or two.
A loud knock was at the door. When Mom answered it, I could see that it was a nicely dressed man. He spoke in a very unkind voice and nearly yelled at Mom that it was time to pay the rent. Mom begged him to have patience with us as she did not have the money to pay him. She tried explaining that these times were harsh and we did not even have food. The man must have been the landlord and he did not care. He shouted back that he was not a charity and he was losing patience with us. He told my mom that he had a business to run and we were occupying valuable land. He left saying that he expected us to pay rent the next time he came.
When the landlord went, I could see Mom on her stool trembling with fear and looking so worried. I told her that I would go and see if I could find any potatoes. So I went into the small field that our family had. The stench was so bad that it made me dizzy and I wanted to vomit. I tried to be brave and started digging in the dirt. Most of the potatoes were infected by blight. They looked disgusting and smelled disgusting. The more I dug. The more I gave up hope. The images of my mother looking so worried and my sister crying were enough motivation for me to keep digging. Luck was on my side. I found a small potato that looked like it was good to eat.
A boy a small bit older than myself was walking by. He was extremely well-dressed and looked like a small gentleman. I waved to him and said hello to him. After I said this, he had a confused look on his face. “Why did you say hello to me,” he asked, “No one here likes me because I am the landlord's son. I am also English and not Catholic.” I told him that I would greet him when I saw him and had no grudge against him. The landlord's son smiled and gave me a small pack he had. He told me it was a sandwich and it looked like I needed it first. I did not have enough pride to turn him down. I expressed my gratitude and told him that I had to go home.
Mom thanked God for the small potato I found. I asked her when would I be going to school. Mom seemed irritated with this. She told me that she explained time and time again that there was no school. There were no teachers and the children were too weak, sick and hungry to learn anything. Mom said that a teacher roams from village to village so we will have a few classes when the teacher comes. I know I should have been happy that there was no school. But I missed school. It would help keep our minds off how depressing and miserable life was.
I asked Mom where Dad was. She sighed once again and asked have I lost my memory. How could I tell her that I had been travelling through time and I just arrived in 1847? She told me that our Dad thought there was no hope in Ireland so he used what money the family had to emigrate to the USA. The plan was that he would get a job there and then send money to us so we could join him in the USA. This was a year ago and Mom admitted that she prayed that he was not on a coffin ship. She would not tell me what a coffin ship meant, but I suspected that it meant that he got sick on the ship and did not survive.
Mom told me to stop asking questions and we should eat the potato. She did not even boil it. She cut it into 3 small pieces. One of the pieces was enough for a bite. Mom warned us to take small bits. I know that eating a raw potato sounds disgusting, but it tasted like heaven. The problem is that it made me more hungry. It was the same with my sister. She complained that she was still hungry, so I told her lets go and sit in the sunshine. We sat in a place where no one could see her. Then I gave her the sandwich that the landlord's son gave me. The smile on my little sister's face was enough as a reward. I told her even when things looked the darkest, then there was always a ray of light. I do not know how much she believed this.
Mom found us and said we needed to support our neighbours. We soon found out why. When we arrived at the cottage, we saw the family standing outside their cottage crying and begging that they could stay. There were English soldiers there stopping the family from going back into their cottage. I heard them talk about the family being evicted. It seemed so sad that these people no longer had a home. There was even an old woman that could not stand and a few children that were skin and bones. I heard some people say that this family had no place to go and most likely be homeless or forced to go to the workhouse. I could see the fear in people's eyes when the priest said they would end up in the workhouse. I guessed that this would be the last place they wanted to be.
There was a lot of mumbling going on and I could understand some of it. Some people were in despair and wondered if this famine would ever end. The landlord must have heard this and told us, “When will the Irish people understand that this is your fault? You multiply like rabbits. The Irish people are lazy and your men are drunk all the time. On top of this, you are all Catholics. How is your Pope helping you? This famine is nature taking its course. It's like a gardener that gets rid of all the weeds. Nature is now doing this to Ireland,”
I do not think that anyone agreed with what the landlord said. They did not dare to say anything to the landlord. Well this is wrong, an old man told the landlord that people are willing to work hard. No one likes to be evicted and hungry. The landlord snapped back and said that the government already provides soup kitchens and work programs where people can earn money.
As we left the eviction, Mom told us that we were walking to the village where there was a soup kitchen. It was a long walk and I had to carry my little sister on my back at times. When I saw the village, it seemed like it was from a horror movie. People were lying in the streets and everything seemed so black. I saw a carriage going through the filthy streets with dead people piled on top of each other. This is no sight that any child should see. The village looked so depressing. There was no life and it seemed like everyone was waiting to die.
We did come to the soup kitchen. The soup had a small bit of rice in it. It did not taste nice but I was happy to get anything. Mom told us to eat the soup slowly as it needed to last until the next day. I closed my eyes and pretended it was lasagne that my real mother in the year 2020 used to make. I missed my real parents so much but knew I would not see them for some time. At the moment I was stuck in 1847 for some reason
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