Never Forget

Max Campbell

Peering through the tiny squares of gauze, Clem clasps her hand over her mouth trying to smother the giggles of amusement as they erupt from her belly. Her gorgeous, little Max and his comical ways are continuously a source of entertainment and here he is vehemently defending his father to three older children. Holding his ground, with his hands planted on his hips. Max sprouts, "My Dad is too, the World Champion Marble Player".

His audience sensing the opportunity for unsolicited fun, bait the little boy with sneers and laughter. Little Max's face goes crimson and puckering his lips he explodes pointing his index finger at the first boy,

"It is true!"

His finger darts across to the second boy,

"He told me so!"

His arm arcs higher and pointedly lands on the third and emphasizing each individual word he shouts after them.

"He is too the World Champion Marble Player!"

His animated face and penetrating eyes is a sight that has Clem torn between the need to sooth her son and allowing the highly amusing worship of a father unfold.

Clem looks on as Max's fists form a ball and his five-year-old shoulders square up for a fight. Sensing that things are about to truly get out of hand, she pushes open the wooden door frame. To her surprise, as her left foot steps onto the porch, the first of the boys flees, clambering over the fence and disappearing. Clem thinks the boy's name is Leo. He is a big boy for his age, extremely overweight and likes to throws his weight around picking fights with smaller boys like, her Max. Clem is amazed to see his podgy little cotton tail escape from her little fighting machine. The remaining pair is panicked by the desertion of their fearless leader.

Clem recognises that the red haired boy is Ralph, the son of Kay from down the road. He is a nice kid but has been mollycoddled by his mother and in Clem's opinion has no spine. She hasn't seen the other boy before but the ginger tinge in his hair hints that he is some way related to Ralph. Bolstered by the cowardly escape of the ring leader, Max is advancing towards the other two and Clem is horrified as he starts to slam his closed fist into his cupped hand. Ralph and the other boy decide it is time to retreat. Clumsily they throw themselves over the barb wire fence tearing their clothes. Parts of their trousers hang in jagged strips exposing the fact that neither of them is wearing underwear. Standing like Goliath in the middle of the road Max yells with gusto after them,

"He is too the World Champion Marble Player!"

Astonished by what has transpired, Clem looks down the dirt road to see Keith, George and Clive walking towards their younger brother. Oblivious to the scene that has just unfolded, and their role in securing a win for their little brother and they laugh at Max as he eagerly recounts how he fought off three big boys with his own bare hands.

For Max his youth has been cut short by the war. The little boy and his comical ways, has grown up and like most young men it is now an expectation that he will serve the Empire. Clive's prediction that there would be an end to local sporting competitions in 1941 hadn't come to fruition until the following season.

Max had spent 1941 completing his apprenticeship at the bakery and playing sport. While his time on the field was an opportunity to escape the claustrophobic hub of war, every game also served as a reminder. Once the ball was in Max's hands instinct ignited and in auto pilot he looked to an uninhabited position where once he would find a brother. In 1941, Max doesn't go out to be the best. He goes out to push away vacant shadows of his brothers so he can forget for just for a little while.