A Child's Story

Suspended Animation - A Child's Story,- is about a little girl called Elaine and her struggle to be recognised as a gifted child by her mother, who just wants an ordinary child.The story tells how Elaine talks to her Teddy and other toys about how her mother does not understand that she can already read and has also taught herself to write and do sums. She is clever enough to realize that this is not what her mother wants, so she pretends that Teddy has taught her to do these things, which of course does not go down too well with her mom.Once Elaine starts school the teacher recognises that she is gifted. But when she tells the mother this, the mother does not want to believe her. She also says that as a family they could not afford to send Elaine to the special school she has recommended.Elaine gets very cross with her mother one day and she runs out into the traffic and is run over. Then at the hospital, when her dad visits her, the real story comes out and he is thrilled that he has such a bright little daughter, Quite the opposite to the mother's reaction.Her grandpa George then steps in and provides Elaine with a bursary to cover the costs at the school for gifted children. But her mother still rejects the idea and this causes some animosity between her and her child.Once Elaine is enrolled at the school for gifted children, Teddy and the other toys are no longer so important to her, but secretly she still confides in Teddy, who has since been relegated to sit on a rocking chair and look out of the window, - while she is away at school....