Read The Sausage Tree for Free Online Page A

looking after a younger child. Joan had to look after Wilma. All Wilma can remember is thinking that she would surely have one arm longer than the other as Joan dragged her across the yard to the trench where they were to hide.
    Some days during the winter time the trenches had a lot of water in them. We still had to have our practice althoughwe didn’t have to get in if more than a few inches of water remained in the bottom.
    When the war ended in 1945 a young wife whose husband was in the army was so ecstatic when she heard the news at 11 o’clock at night, she ran to the only church in Lilydale that had a church bell. Everyone was woken up by the noise that continued until the policeman went to see who was causing the disturbance. No action was taken against her—but the policeman gave a few hefty pulls on the bell-rope before calling a stop. Next day we were given a holiday from school and we spent most of the day, out of Mum’s hearing, hitting tins with sticks—they were our drums—and singing songs. One song that we sang over and over was “The White Cliffs of Dover”.
    We didn’t realise the enormity of the war. We only knew what we had read in the newspaper, heard on the wireless and discussed at school. To us the world was a “globe” that sat on the teacher’s desk and a map on a roller blind that was above the blackboard and pulled down from time to time so that the teacher could explain where different countries were or used to hide work on the blackboard during a test.

5
The terrible twins
    Two years after moving to Lilydale, our younger brother Peter was born in 1939. Coming after five girls he was our wonder boy and all his life he was the apple of our eyes until he died of cancer in 1985. We lavished him with love and thought he was someone very special, but despite this he was never spoiled. There was great rejoicing in the entire Johnson family because our two brothers were the only Johnson males of their generation. While Mum was in hospital Valda and the twins stayed with Granma in Launceston (always called town) and although only sixteen miles from home it seemed like the other side of the world, somewhere with pretty coloured fairy lights that twinkled at night, somewhere we hadn’t been for two years.
    Outstanding in our childhood memories is some of the inventive mischief the twins became known for. In preparation for the stay with Granma, Mum had knitted them each a red jumper. Because they were identical twins Mumhad put a white B on one and an R on the other so that Granma could tell them apart, but they switched jumpers and that was the only time we can remember her being really cross. Poor Granma, she always said she knew there was a difference between the two but she couldn’t remember who the difference belonged to! Ever afterwards she referred to them as “you twinnies”.
    The differences she couldn’t remember were that Barbara is right-handed and Rosalie left-handed. Barbara’s hair curled up at the back and Rosalie’s curled under.
    The next winter on a bitterly cold day the twins complained to Mum that they were cold. She told them to light a fire, so they did. Sometime later Mum sent Geoff to find them. He came back white as a sheet and spluttering that the big shed was on fire. The twins said they wanted their own fire outside because they were cold! The fire not only scorched the back wall of the shed but our dirty washing was burnt because that was where it was kept until washing days which were Mondays and Thursdays.
    In the same year Mum had bought the twins a pair of boys lace-up boots each to wear to school. They were selling very cheaply at the shop and were a much better buy than shoes. Two of everything had to be bought so it was always doubly expensive to buy for them. The boots were also much warmer and just the thing for cold rainy days. Valda always wore the boots that Geoff had grown out of, so who