In the Summer 2022 Beautiful Girls issue on the new NMG magazine app, you can meet Elin, 12, Australia. Her older sister Megan shared this memory: a true story of Elin’s courage.
The Unexploded Bomb
The house was silent as Elin and I sat at our desks working. With our mum at work and our dad having just “popped out” to who-knows-where, we were home alone.
Our door bell ringing broke the tranquility.
I heard Elin shuffle up from her desk to answer the door. She knows I am too shy to speak to strangers, even though I am her older sister. I continued working and had forgotten about the doorbell when I heard Elin shout.
“Two police were just at the door. They’ve found an old World War II bomb in the neighborhood. We need to evacuate!”
If we’d grown up in Germany, we would have known that this can happen. Old unexploded bombs are sometimes discovered when people start digging up their yards such as when they do renovations. In our case, a neighbor, in a nearby street, was digging a new driveway. If we had grown up in Germany we would have known that when this happens, everyone evacuates, the bomb is detonated safely by professionals, and then everyone returns home. But we didn’t know. We had only been living in Germany for a year and a half.
The next 20 minutes were a blur. Elin and I were so scared. Our dad had still not come back and mum said she couldn’t get back to the house in time. We would have to evacuate on our own.
Amidst the panic, Elin tried her best to stay calm and brave. She helped me pack a bag of things we thought we would need. I knew she was scared too.
We really didn’t know what was going to happen. Just as we were about to leave, our dad came home. We all evacuated together. The bomb was detonated safely and a few hours later we were able to return home.
Read more about Elin on the subscriber NMG mag app! And tell us about girls who are beautiful as themselves. You can nominate yourself, or someone else you know — here.