The Day the World Changed by Annabel Howarth
The day the world changed, the sun was shining. It was long after the party, when all the street was covered with flags made from old clothes and bed sheets, and we’d stayed up late, and I saw my mother smile with her eyes for the first time. The women were always chattering, but the chattering had taken on a different air, as they prepared for the big celebration. The factory was closed for the day. Everyone was happy that day, eating, drinking and smoking, dancing even, into the night. And mother was full of bumptiousness, as Aunty Sarah called it. Although mother wasn’t sure that was the right word at all. After that we waited “for the men to come home” but the waiting went on. Mother lost her smile again, but after a while of staring at the door, everything went back to as it was. Mother went to the mill and I stayed home with Auntie Sarah, until the day I was dressed in new shoes...