To the lighthouse

I have gone back to my children’s story ‘Peggy and the Lighthouse’ which was inspired by a book I had when I was young about a girl and a lighthouse – of course! I have no idea what it was called, nor the name of the girl who I’ve called Peggy, but I remember it’s dramatic ending and what a shock it was to me. It was the first book I’d read where someone who had seemed a ‘goodie’ had actually been a ‘baddie’ and it made a great impression on me.

My young girl is Peggy and she and her spoiled little sister are staying with their grandma by the sea. Granny’s friend is taking Peggy to visit the lighthouse where he had been the keeper:

We had been walking up quite a steep hill but I didn’t really notice because I’m quite good at walking, and anyway it was really interesting because Mr. Benbow kept pointing out birds to me. There was so much to take in with the sea on one side of us and I was quite excited.  Aunty Thelma, mummy’s friend always tells me to calm down; “Calm down for heaven’s sake, calm down, I’ve got a headache!” she says. She always has a headache, and it’s very strange but mummy usually has a headache at the same time. Mrs Day who looks after me and Barbara when Mummy goes out, says it’s the fizzy pop they drink before they go. Pop doesn’t give me a headache, and Mrs Day says that’s because I’m a child and it’s time for bed and she wants to listen to the play on the radio.
I was so busy thinking about Aunty Thelma and Mrs Day that when Mr. Benbow said, ‘look there’s the lighthouse!’ I actually made a silly noise and jumped, and then I was really excited and laughed in a very silly way, and Mr. Benbow roared with laughter.
There was the lighthouse, as I had imagined it might be with white and red stripes.
“It’s magnificent,” I said when I calmed down. Mr. Benbow hadn’t told me to calm down, but I was thinking of Aunty Thelma getting annoyed with me.
“It certainly is Peg, let’s go and have a walk round it.”
Did he mean we would walk round the outside? We would circumnavigate it like Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the world. If I get a pet dog I might call it Magellan, but I don’t think I’ll be allowed. Or did Mr. Benbow mean we would walk round inside it? We would have to walk round inside because the lighthouse is round.
We walked down the track to the lighthouse and I saw there were little white cottages beside it. I thought it would be all alone and the lighthouse keepers would lead a solitary life.

I really must make an effort to complete Peggy’s story!