• As a young couple desolately trudged up to a grave, a tiny coffin fit for a newborn baby was carried on the shoulders of the Angel of Death. Some experienced, but devastated men laid out three thin leather straps on the wet grass, so that they could lower the dead baby’s coffin into a medium-sized pit dug earlier on that evening. As the coffin was lowered, a sudden sob broke out from the young wife of the couple. She had been holding it back for ages, but it wasn’t just because her baby was dead, it was also because she had a nagging feeling that her baby wasn’t dead, she was about to bury her alive and her baby would wake up half starved and really thirsty; she would start crying, but no-one would hear her under all those layers of soil, then she would die of thirst, all alone... “NO!!” she yelled. She dived forward and grabbed the coffin, tried to prise all the nails around the edge away, but they were hammered in too hard. However, her husband was thinking the exact same thing, and he was stronger than her. Soon all the nails were pulled up, but then the others shook themselves from their dreamlike trance, and pulled the wife away, but the husband kept hitting away the others so that they couldn’t pull him away as well. Blinded by tears, he opened up the coffin lid; he found himself staring at a blue eyed, burbling baby, gurgling in delight to see her loving father’s familiar face once again.
    “We nearly buried our baby alive!” he gasped...

    Actually, none of that ever even happened.
    Jayne always liked to imagine things that were terribly dramatic, and that she wasn’t the daughter of her father, she was someone else’s child. Once she even considered running away to find her real family, but then she kept forgetting to actually run away. As she got older, all her friends on the street began drifting off, and then when she went round to knock on their doors to ask if they wanted to play, she would see a familiar face behind the translucent net curtains, but no-one would answer the knock. Being an only child, she was very lonely, consequently her parents kept getting her the most newfangled toys they possibly could, but at least they could afford it. Yes, I forgot to tell you that her mother was a Lady!! Jayne’s grandmother had told her father lots of times to follow his dreams, so that’s exactly what he did. He was walking down the pier one night, looking out to the sea when he saw her mother being propelled by pirates towards the water! On the water was a dory, bobbing with the light breeze. Of course, Jayne’s mother and father weren’t married back then; in fact they were teenagers, but Jayne’s mother-to-be was still dressed in fancy clothing. Her mother’s name was Victoria, and her father’s name was Leonard. While Victoria was being manhandled toward the small boat, Leonard had gone charging at her assailants, but by then Victoria was already in the boat, and the pirates were roughly tying her hands behind her back. Leonard succeeded in knocking them into the water by surprise. Thinking quickly he pulled his pocket knife out and quickly sliced through her bonds with its keen edge. Breathless, he lifted her up onto the pier and proceeded to run to his house with her. Victoria felt herself being lowered onto something soft and warm, a bed. A concerned voice questioned her wellbeing and she gave a slight nod, dizzy with the events of the previous escapade. After that, the pair of friends got closer and closer until one day Leonard shyly shuffled up and nonchalantly proposed to an amazed Victoria, thus Jayne the imaginative but lonely child was born. Jayne always took the side of the pirates, though, when somebody related that story to her - after all, they only wanted some money and true, they didn't necessarily HAVE to ransom Victoria; they could have just asked for her purse which was still thieving but was much less messy. Leonard would still have gone to help and Jayne still would have been born. After hearing this, her nursemaid would declare, "Ooh, I just remembered that the dining room needs a bit of cleaning. Don't wait for me, poppet, go and play.' so Jayne felt very lonely and secluded sometimes, until her father came back from long voyages. He loved Jayne very much, as did Victoria. They made up fun games for her to play and joined in. Leonard made her a wooden snakes and ladders playing board and always carved new figurines for her to play as, for instance he made a cat, a dog, a tree, and more recently, a galleon. All of these were hand-painted and varnished like the playing board. Jayne felt so uplifted during these times and would forever be hugging her father or mother as they were perched in a comfy leather chair by the fire. But her mother was always out for groceries or 'previously engaged' with a friend and her father was a natural sea farer, always sailing in his bonny vessel. So frankly, Jayne was frequently bored.