MEDALS FOR A SNOWMAN

MEDALS FOR A SNOWMAN

Written by Peter Bayliss
December 1987

rom the kitchen window, Diana Hewlett watched as her children finished making the snowman. It was a good idea, she thought, for the village to have organised this competition. It kept the children busy during the holiday. She remembered a scene from her own childhood. Diana and her brother used to build a snowman under the watchful eye of their grandfather. He would look it over when they had finished. Like a sergeant major inspecting his troops. And she remembered him going indoors to fetch an old hat and scarf.

      "He must be properly turned out, you know," he would chuckle. "Snowmen are like soldiers - must be kept up to scratch." He would give the children a huge wink behind the snowman's back.
      Diana looked at her own children as they danced around the figure. She felt sure it would win them a prize. It just needed the final touch. Opening the kitchen window, she called, "Susan, David! Come here a minute, will you? I've an idea!"
      The children came tumbling into the kitchen, fresh-faced and bubbling with excitement.        "What is it, mum?"
      "An idea for the snowman," she said. "Come with me."
      They followed their mother upstairs and into the spare bedroom. After a few minutes searching through an old chest, Diana found what she was looking for. It was a hat and scarf.        "Try these on your snowman."
      "What's in this little box?" asked Susan.
       "Those are medals which were given to your great-grandfather in the First World War."          "Can we put them on the snowman?" David wanted to know.
       "No," said Diana. "I don't think it would be a proper thing to do. You see, they are very important and special. They were given to him because he was a hero in the war."

       David stared at the box, lost in admiration. "Great-Grandad a hero in the war!" "Can we take them downstairs and look at them?" asked Susan.
      "Of course you can," said Diana. "Your great-grandfather would have wanted you to feel proud of him." Among Diana's cherished memories of her grandfather was one of him proudly holding up the medals for her to see. In a trembling voice, he would tell her the names of each one: "This is the Distinguished Conduct Medal... here is the Military Medal... and this one is the George Cross."
      David was struggling with the lid of the box. "I can't open it. It's locked."
      "I'd almost forgotten," she said. After grandfather had died, the medal box became a treasured family heirloom. But they had never been able to find the key.
      "Take it downstairs and ask your father if he can find a little key that might fit." The children rushed downstairs with the box, the hat and scarf for the snowman almost forgotten in the excitement.
      "Great-Grandad a war hero, winning medals!" chanted David.
      "Take these things out to the snowman first," said Diana. She watched the children as they ran out of the house with the hat and scarf. Then she turned to her husband.
      "Did David give you Grandad's old medal box, Jack? You remember it's the one we lost the key for. They're so excited about seeing his medals, you know, I thought you might be able to open it for them."
      "Of course," said Jack. "I'll see what I can do."
      It was the next day when Diana took the children to the village hall. The committee was announcing the results in its competition for the best snowman.
      "The 1st Prize goes to Susan and David Hewlett," said the chairman, "for their highly original snowman - the old soldier with the military medals!"
      The children looked at one another with a mixture of astonishment and delighted surprise. "But we didn't put the medals on him," David assured his mother. "You said..."
      Diana remembered her injunction to the children. Jack hadn't known about it. "When we get home," she said, "you must thank your dad for putting on the medals. It was a good idea, after all."

      However, when they got home and told father about it, he seemed even more surprised than they had been.
      "But I didn't put them there," he protested. "I haven't even been able to open the box!"
      Diana thought at first that he was just having fun with the children. But when Susan and David went outside, he looked straight at her and shrugged. "Honestly, Diana, I hardly expect you to believe me, but I really don't know anything about it!"
      "Then perhaps we better go and look," she said. "It must have been another snowman, and the committee has made a mistake."
      She admitted to herself that it seemed unlikely. But what other explanation could there be? They went out into the garden. The snow crunched under their feet. Their breath plumed in the cold air. Susan and David were dancing excitedly around the snowman. "Daddy did it," they sang. "Daddy did it!" The parents looked in disbelief at the snowman. On his chest was a neat row of medals.

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