Holy Mackerel Annie!
Absolutely loved your piece. It doesn’t happen every time but your story caught me every word. You have a terrific writing style. But you know this.
What a touching rendition of England circa 60s. Those were ‘my years’ as well so along with the clear writing the story drew me right in. A couple we used to ‘hang’ with in high school with whom we shared the goodly joint and occasionally hashish also became preggers, and yes ended so heartbreakingly.
As with so many stories such as yours, (mine shares many similarities with yours from those days…), sad endings just seemed the order of the day. We all had to grow up. My lord, I so well recall thinking me and my love were going forth and We Would conquer at least our little corner of existence. Reality of course as you spelled out so well: conquered the hell out of us!
Blessings Annie,
Tom