After 81 years, the former Sunderland electrician remembers being left alone to watch paramedics aid his blood drenched mother.
Now 86, Geoffrey Henderson can still recall the trauma and sickening distress he endured after witnessing his mum fall through a glass door in the small Southwick flat owned by his grandparents.
Five-year-old Geoffrey was left alone, without comfort and confused about the horrific sight.
‘I can picture the window where I stared from,’ Geoffrey explained. ‘I cried and cried for my mother. I felt so scared and I didn’t understand why they were taking her away from me.’
Now living in Hertfordshire, the retired electrician enjoys holidaying in Bournemouth with his wife Olive, 85. Surprisingly, this early memory seemed to amuse him as he turned to his spouse of 60 years and smiled.
‘She was OK in the end’ he said through laughter. ‘The doctors were able to save her.’
It is hard to understand how such a troubling earliest memory can be talked about so flippantly. He appeared unfazed by the event and otherwise Geoffrey seems to have lived a somewhat routine life.
He lived in the Sunderland area for 20 years before moving to settle with Olive in Hertfordshire. Geoffrey seemed proud of his long marriage, mentioning the card they had recently received from the Queen.
Yet, the ‘sickly red blood’ that covered his mother is a detail that has stayed in his mind.
It’s perhaps proof that some awful events stay with us no matter how long we live past them.
No comments:
Post a Comment