Southend U3A

Writing for Fun

March 2016

Rocky - Gerry Miller

Nobody took any notice of the young person huddled up from the cold, wind and rain, struggling with what appeared to be a large heavy laundry bag. If you had lived locally and of a kindly disposition you might have just have told them the launderette had closed down. But the youth was gone in a flash and headed round the corner to the church. Inside all was warm and calm and proper candles flickered around the aisles. The youth knelt head bent in silent supplication, abject misery emanated from the figure. Finally the last of the parishioners entered the confessional. The silent figure stood and approached the statue of the Pieta, Mary sitting on some rocks holding the dead Christ removed from the cross. The figure lifted up the laundry bag and after carefully checking inside took out the tiny baby and placed him safe and warm amongst the bottom rocks. Hopefully the mother of God would ensure the safety of her most precious gift. As the last person came out from the confessional the church door banged shut and the baby began to cry.

Alice looked around the church, she could hear the baby crying but could not see anyone. She followed the noise and there it was, a tiny baby by the Virgin Mary tucked in safe and sound; Alice tenderly picked up the baby and held it close to her. An envelope was pinned to the quilted shawl and looking inside was a tiny golden heart and a note. She read 'My beautiful son was born this morning at 4.05 a.m. I love him with my whole heart, that is why he is here, may God keep him safe.'

Seven years later Rocky, as he was nicknamed, stood up in his class; he could not control himself and he shouted at his teacher, 'My name is not Richard, I am called Rocky.' The teacher was not about to listen so Rocky did the only thing he knew and that was not answer her. Mummy had told him never to be rude to adults and he wasn't. His head told him if you said nothing you couldn't be rude. At the end of the day he watched as Mummy came into the class. She winked at him quickly and held out her hand, all of a sudden tears were pouring down his face. He heard the teacher say words like rude and dumb insoly something. Rocky sobbed, he had not been rude or dumb, mum hugged him and he started to feel better.

It took a little while for Mummy to explain and Rocky heard words like adopted and forever mummy and being found in the rocks in the church. It hadn't hurt being a special chosen child before but his first day at this new school left Rocky feeling glum. Mummy chatted to him on the way home and as a special treat they went to the park and had ice cream. Rocky's smile brightened, after all he was the lucky one, his mummy and daddy had chosen him special and they were his forever parents, none of the other children knew that, it was his secret. Being called Rocky was his parent's way of reminding him what a special gift he was and that God would hopefully be looking after his other mummy as well as he was being looked after.

Rocky soon loved his new school and he at last made a new best friend his name was Marty. They played together all the time; they ran riot in the woods and shared a tree house in Rocky's garden. In the summer they did everything they could in it eating, sleeping, sharing stories and secrets. Rocky loved snuggling up in sleeping bags and listening to all the creatures out and about in the night. Only one night did they run in doors frightened. Marty said he heard scratching coming up the tree, so they ran for it, scrambling indoors to dad. How the grown-ups laughed at them, but they went and checked and there was Tibbles from next door curled up with his head just poking out of Marty's sleeping bag.

Rocky never really thought about his birth mummy until the year in which he was fourteen; two special things happened: one he was picked for the school rugby team and Rocky thought his heart would burst. The second which turned out to eventually be more serious was the start of a school project looking at family history. Of course Rocky told all about his adoptive family as that was what he knew and that was what was real. But he did start to puzzle about who he looked like and what his other grandparents were like. Of course he must have a birth daddy and mummy somewhere but his caring mum and dad were the best and he would never hurt them by looking for them.

Rocky searched the Internet and got to know a lot about the church near Nottingham where he had been abandoned. Abandoned seemed such a strange word to him as he had felt loved from the start and his mum (or dad) had left him in a very safe and secure place where he would be found quickly. They must have loved him to do that, it might seem a strange place to others but not to him. It may have had a rock bottom but he had been well clothed. Rocky had benefited from his years playing in the woods with Marty and living in his tree house. So when he finally decided university was for him he chose Nottingham and a course in Agriculture and Forestry.

His caring parents knew nothing more than what he had always known, he had been found in the care of the Pieta statue in a church in Nottingham. But what his mum finally remembered and it had been niggling in the back of her mind was that she had been given a small box by the adoption agency. The pair of them went up to the loft and had a good rummage, after hours of being distracted by so many old toys and photos, the box were found. It looked old and battered but was carried so safely down from the loft that Rocky knew it was his life's treasure.

His heat was thumping but his mum smiled in encouragement and Rocky cautiously opened the box. The few contents were enclosed in bubble wrap which was then spread out on the bed. The envelope remained with its pin on top of the quilt, and inside was the small golden heart and the folded note. The paper had yellowed with age and the creases seemed almost permanent, the writing remained clear and the words were simple: 'My beautiful son was born this morning at 4.05 a.m. I love him with my whole heart that is why he is here, may God keep him safe.' Rocky and his mum sobbed and hugged each other. Finally they brought out his baby clothes, all seemed to have been brand new and bought especially for that little baby boy that was Rocky.

His final gift from his birth mother was a beautiful quilted shawl, packed away so carefully. It was obviously hand sewn and was almost like a patchwork covered with letters of the alphabet and some small appliqued pictures. At least Rocky would now go off to university with a full heart knowing that both his sharing and caring parents loved him so much. It was only when he unpacked his car at his digs did Rocky realised that his mum had packed his baby quilt this time a different note was on it. 'We both love you to bits and we believe that there are clues to your birth parents sewn into this quilt. We will help with anything we can, work hard love you lots Mum and Dad.'