Page 78 - Exile-ebook

78 AN EXILE OF THE MIND BOMBED BUT NOT BOWED 79

looming red-bricked in the next
street, sat a back row of scholars
on a platform. Raised to segregate
brainpower from the duffers in front.
From this lofty perch I made regular
excursions into a limbo of fantasy,
usually unnoticed. Daydreaming
provided a safe haven in a world of
no limitation. A pollyannic flight
into the solitude of the mind to
reveal hidden talents never thought
possible.
Daydreamers in school were
considered feckless. Unwilling to
accept rules or standards as the norm
and follow dutifully the status quo of
the herd. Discouraged by teachers
lest the mind be ensnared in a rat’s
nest of the senses. Not one teacher
asked what I aspired to be. A doctor,
a teacher, a candlestick maker?
Taking a peek into the future
my spirit soared. Limitations were
left behind and I could imagine
my life as I wanted it to be. Not to
dream my dreams but to live them.
I travelled between two worlds. The
world as it was with its squalor and
dangers, and an exotic world of my
imagination in faraway places. With
my feet swinging away the school
hours until the bell rang.

Celebrating VE Day in Nuneaton.