Emma's Six

April 1999

Catalina of Aragon- 16th December 1485- 513 years old, looks five years old.

Anne Boleyn- 2nd April 1502- 496 years old, looks five years old.

Jane Seymour- 2nd April 1508- 490 years old, looks five years old.

Anna of Cleves- 22nd September 1515- 483 years old, looks five years old.

Katheryn Howard- 14th February 1524- 474 years old, looks five years old.

Emma Smith-White- 24th December 1993- five years old, looks five years old, mental age eight years old.

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I started school in September with my best friends, Lina, Anne, Jane, Anna and Kitty. We are in the same school as Thomas, but we rarely see him. He is in Year One; we are Receptionists.

We must follow the curriculum, but we do something different in our own time. We meet up most weekends to work on either Spanish, French or German. As we have our lessons often, we keep buying notebooks. At least the money is going towards our education.

On Saturday, I am at home, arranging everything I need to go to Lina's house for a Spanish lesson. I have my Spanish book, a Spanish dictionary and a couple of blue pens in case one runs out. That is when my parents get a phone call from Henry's parents. 'Emma, I'm sorry, but you need to cancel your plans today,' Mummy says. 'We already called Ferdinand and Isabella; they understand.'
'What's going on?'
'Arthur, Margaret and Henry have to stay here for a couple of days. His parents must go out of town for some important business and can't look after a young child at the same time. You understand, don't you?' I guess I don't have an option. I met Henry back at nursery, the same lunatic that thinks I met him before. He might have changed, but I see him every day at school. He never talks to us, but he seems polite to our four new friends.

Maggie is a lively girl who is cousins with Anne and Kitty. She gets into trouble, so Lina, Jane and I must reel her in at times. Maggie gets along well with her cousins and Anna because they all play pranks together. She will talk to the rest of us, but that is rare.

Bessie, a quiet, shy girl who would rather curl up with a book rather than play tag or partake in pranks. She is rather smart but prefers to remain silent. She would often stay with either Kitty or me and will sometimes follow Jane around. 'Anne and Anna are too loud for me,' she told me once when I tried to encourage her to play with us. 'Lina hates me; I never do anything right.'
'Don't say that, Bessie. You're a smart girl, don't let anyone else define you.' Bessie smiled at me, and I noticed that one of her baby teeth was missing.
'Thank you, Emma. No one ever told me that before.' That day, we shared our lunches, and I knew I found a new friend.

Joan, who like Bessie, is a quiet girl. She enjoys sewing and shows us her projects a lot. She seems like a big sister to Bessie, and she also follows Jane around. Jane doesn't seem to mind that both Joan and Bessie look up to her, if anything, she seems proud that they do. Joan would sit with Bessie while she reads and would do a quiet activity beside her.

Out of the four, the only person that follows Lina is Maria. She is an exchange student from Spain, and her parents are thinking about moving to England. As Lina knows Spanish, they can talk together. We try to listen, but with our limited knowledge of Spanish, we can only comment on a little. Maria continues to follow Lina around and enjoys her company.

All four of them joined our lessons a couple of weeks ago, so we went back to the basics so we can teach them. It's fun, and I enjoy spending more time with Bessie and Joan. Now, I will not spend time with them this weekend. Why did my parents agree to let Henry and his siblings stay for the weekend? It is bound to be a recipe for disaster.

When Mr and Mrs Tudor arrive, they have ten-year-old Arthur, eight-year-old Margaret and five-year-old Henry in tow. 'Thank you for letting our children stay with you,' Mr Tudor says. 'We understand how difficult it must be for you.'
'It's no problem, Mr Tudor. We will appreciate the company, and I'm sure Emma will too.' No, it's going to end up being the worst-case scenario. Mum shoos us out into the garden to play at that point.

Arthur lies down on the grass, staring up at the sky. He has shoulder-length auburn hair and sparkling blue eyes. His green t-shirt is slightly creased, and he's wearing shorts and trainers. Margaret has long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and she is wearing a red t-shirt and shorts. I know it is almost summer, but seriously?

'What shall we do?' Margaret asks.
'I have a basketball here, we can practice throwing and catching,' I suggest.
'Boring!' Arthur says.
'It sounds like a great idea,' I notice that Henry is looking at me. 
'You look like a younger version of my last wife, Emma Smith-White.'

'You never married an Emma Smith-White. You married Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katheryn Howard and Catherine Parr.'
'I know my wives, thank you very much! I never married Catherine Parr.' Henry stands up. 'What sort of books have you been reading?'
'Biographies on your wives.'
'If they got your name wrong, I'm worried about what else historians have said. We better have a look later.' Margaret nods. Arthur hasn't moved from his spot on the grass. He continues staring up at the blue sky and the fluffy white clouds.

'Shall we look now?' Margaret asks. 'I think our parents almost finished.' The three of us begin heading back inside.
'Everything all right?' Mrs Tudor asks. 'Why is Arthur still outside?'
'He doesn't want to do anything we want to do,' Henry says. 'All he wants to do is stare up at the clouds.'
'I feared this would happen,' Mr Tudor sighs. 'I'll go and check on him.' Margaret, Henry and I head into my room to check out my biographies.

When we pull them out, I notice something strange with my Catherine Parr biographies. The name begins shifting, changing. When it stops, it reads 'Emma Smith-White'. 'Now it's got my name on it.'

We all stare at the books, then begin going through each of them to find what else has changed. Almost everything else has about Catherine Parr. Now, I serve five of Henry's wives before becoming Queen after the death of Katheryn Howard.

The weekend drags after that. Margaret is happy to play with Henry and me, but Arthur remains boring as ever. He seems to only look at the sky and think about life. Relief floods through me when they leave.

On Monday, I go into school to find someone vandalized my desk. There are words on there that no five-year-old should know. I stare at my desk. Who did it? I turn and run into the cloakroom, hoping to find some quiet so I can cry.

'Emma?' A familiar Spanish voice asks, and Lina wraps me in a hug. Anne, Jane, Anna and Kitty join us in a group hug. 'We'll help you clean up your desk. Do you have any idea what could have caused it?' I'm about to shake my head when I remember.
'Henry stayed with us over the weekend. During that time, my biographies changed. They name me as Henry's last wife.'
'Great, that b-' Anne covers Anna's mouth before she can get the rest of the word out.
'Just because Henry called you a rude word while you were married doesn't mean you can call him one now. We should blend in, for crying out loud!' Anna tries to say something, but Anne still covers Anna's mouth with her hand.
'We're not doing such a good job of it,'Jane warns. 'If we keep all this up, someone will get suspicious.'

I don't want to go back into the classroom. My friends understand, and Anne heads back into the classroom to explain everything to the teacher. Before too long, Mum and Mummy turn up to bring me back home.