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From Grandma With Love
A Legacy of Values
By Toni Thomas
Wayne B. Hilbig
Publisher
Be Sure to Leave on Time
I was a teenager in 1944, living in Maison Laffitte, France, under the German Occupation. During World War II, the Germans had invaded my country, and soldiers with machine guns were patrolling the streets where I lived. England was just across the English Channel from us and they were fighting the Germans too. At any hour, they might run a bombing raid against the German forces, trying to weaken the German army. When we heard the planes flying overhead, we escaped to the cellar. When there was no time to take cover, my mother would say, "Hide under the bedsheets and pray to God." That summer I worked near the railroad station in a shop that sold silk stockings. My job was to mend the torn stockings that customers brought in. One particular day, it was almost time to stop and go home for lunch. I knew that my mother was expecting me at twelve o'clock, but I was tempted this once to stay as long as I could to finish my work. Every day at about one o'clock, the German authorities turned off the electricity in our city. If I went home at noon I would not be able to use the electrical mending machine when I returned; instead I would have to mend by hand, a very tedious task. I decided to stay.
