once the children had said goodbye to their house , some taking chips of brick or flowers from the garden as forget-me-nots , we made one last trip across the island : through the smoking charred woods and the flat bog dug with bomb holes , over the ridge and down through the little town hung with peat smoke , where the townspeople lingered on porches and in doorways , so tired and numb with shock that they hardly seemed to notice the small parade of peculiar-looking children passing them by .