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Mistaken Identity

I was just six years old when I had to go into hospital to have my tonsils removed. It was war time and the blackout system was in force. We were put into a long room with lots of beds on two sides. It was very dark on the ward at night, but I was not afraid, because there were lots of girls about my age all having their tonsils removed.

One night I was woken by a nurse, followed by a man in uniform, they came into the ward quietly. He looked along the rows of beds, then went across the room to a bed where one girl was half awake. I saw him go towards the bed and noticed that she had a similar hair cut to me. This was a short cut around the head, finished with a fringe across the forehead.

He gave her a kiss and said a few words for few minutes and went away again. I thought no more about this and then went back to sleep.

I had a visit from Mother the following day. “Did your father come to see you last night? He only had a 24 hour pass, so he came in to see you before his train left”.

I suddenly remembered the strange man in uniform coming into the ward during the night. When I told mother this and realised that this indeed had been my father. I had not recognised him in the dark. I was disgusted! “He did not even recognise me, and she is ten!”

At that age I did not understand that because my father had not seen me for several years, he did not recognise his own daughter!

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