The rest of the day passed in a kind of blur. Murphy couldn’t settle to his work again and was constantly distracted. Every little noise from outside his room made him jump up to see what was going on. He kind of felt like he had seen a ghost or something, and he was seriously spooked about it to be honest. The more he tried not to think about it the more he did. He started remembering even more worrying details. Like the fact that Jake was wearing the same clothes from the picture taken on the last day he was seen (he had been to the seafront with his family and they took a snap of him with an ice cream). And the fact that he had seen something else in the background, behind Jake himself. This was the bit which was making him feel the most worried for his state of mind – he could see in the background what seemed to be a village of some kind, with a sandy dirt lane leading off towards a thatched cottage. Except there were no thatched cottages nearby that he knew of. And, how could he possibly have seen all of that in the mirror at the top of his stairs? It just didn’t make sense.
He had been very quiet during lunch, and his dad had asked him if there was something wrong, but he just couldn’t bring himself to mention it – not to anyone. He felt like he was being an idiot for even considering it. He was trying to put it out of his mind as much as possible, but he was finding it very difficult to do. He just couldn’t get over how the Jake he had seen had smiled at him when he saw him. He stopped pacing his room – did he just? Jake smiled at him? As in, he’d seen his face move and smile? He racked his brain. He had – that is what he had seen standing there at the top of the stairs. So it was a moving, smiling Jake he had seen, staring out of their mirror from what seemed to be a different part of the country altogether. He flopped down onto his bed with a sigh. That settled matters – he was definitely going mad.
Abandoning all hope of working on his sketches that afternoon, Murphy threw on his jacket and trainers and headed for the door. He was going to go for a walk to clear his head. He glanced out of the window – mercifully it wasn’t even raining either. His dad was in from the garage now and playing with Darla so it would be OK for him to go. He grabbed his ipod and headed onto the landing. Then, the moment of truth: he would have to pass that mirror again. He walked slowly and purposefully towards it, with a tiny ball of fear in his stomach but a look of determination on his face. He wanted to look again, to know what was there. To confirm that he had been imagining what he thought he saw. He took a deep breath, braced himself and rounded the corner to face the mirror.
What he saw made him release his breath all at once – just himself. What a relief! Murphy bounded off down the stairs through the kitchen to tell his dad where he was going and off out of the back door. He knew he had been imagining the whole thing. It was all in his mind. He was just tired and worried about Jake: that’s why he had seen him there. It was probably just a trick of the light – nothing more. He pushed his headphones into his ears, turned on his favourite music, tucked his hands into his pockets and headed out of the back gate onto his favourite trail by the sea. The wind whipped his face and he felt it refresh him and wake him up as he made his way along the cliff tops. Looking out to sea it was hard to imagine himself as he had been just an hour ago – worried and pensive thinking he was losing his mind. He felt absolutely fine now, and he was confident he would continue to feel that way. Mirrors couldn’t show you things like that. All in his imagination it was. Simple as.
*
The walk did him so much good. Murphy bounded up the stairs an hour later, back to his sketches without sparing a moment’s thought for the mirror on the stairs. He had put it all out of his mind now. He was busily working away when he suddenly caught sight of the clock above his desk – it was 5pm. Time to log on to chat to his friends John and Sasha. They had made a pact during the holidays to be online at 5 every day to chat. They knew that they could guarantee this during the holidays much more than they could during term time. Murphy had been so caught up in his ideas he had almost forgotten. He quickly logged onto his messenger page and there they both were – their photos grinning back at him all the way from London. No sooner had he logged in than the messages started flying:“Hey Murphy, do you sound like you’re off Coronation Street yet?” Sasha – so cheeky.
“No – do you sound like someone off Albert Square?” Murphy was not going to put up with that kind of nonsense.
“Lol. You’re a funny guy you are chuck!” Sasha smiley faced him.
“Hi Murphy – how’s it going? Did you see the latest comic entry on the site? Unbelievable eh?” This was John – always so much more sensible than Sasha, “I thought it was fantastic – can’t wait for the new series to come out.”
Murphy quickly typed a response – he could see his conversation window with Sasha light up as he did so. It was always such a rush to catch up with them whenever they got together like this. “Yeah, it was great. I really like the new hero – he is going to be the best one yet I think.” Murphy hit enter then turned his attention back to Sasha.
“What’s new oop North then chuck?” Sasha was always taking the mickey out of his new Yorkshire accent (which he didn’t think he had at all). Any excuse and she was off.
“It is cold but not rainy for once. I do NOT have an accent so stop calling me chuck!” Send. “It’s good here – especially now it’s half term.” Enter. Back to John’s flashing conversation.
“I am so excited about the new hero – he is so cool. Imagine being able to create an invisibility fog whenever you wanted to. Cool!”
“I’d like to be able to get rid of my fog of invisibility – around school anyway. Maybe I am the new superhero after all – it’s named after me!!”
“No mate, invisibility at school is awesome – I wish I could be invisible there. Especially in Mrs Saunders classes. That woman HATES me!”
“I wouldn’t mind being invisible from the teachers – Mrs Saunders – YUK! But invisible from the other students too….. not much fun.” Enter. Back to Sasha.
“Ok, ok…. I’ll stop – for now! Lol its good here – went to the cinema today to see The Blobster. Was so funny I almost died! What you been doing then?”
“A whole lot of nothing in the half term so far. Lots of sketching and just hanging round the house with dad and Darla. It’s been cool. No family trips to museums or anything. Long may it continue.” Enter. John.
“Yeah, that’s rough mate. Real rough. Still no change then? I thought that girl Harriet seemed to be talking to you?”
“No – not since the last time. I still just get on quietly most of the time. Nothing else doing. Lessons are OK – it’s the breaks that are hardest. Literally nothing to do at all then.” Send.
“The idea of chilling out sounds cool,” This was Sasha again, “My mum would have a fit at the very idea. Fun has to be organised or not had at all. That’s the way it is here. I don’t get a minute to myself.”
“Yeah – I remember your mum being like that. Do you remember the day of the 5 different visits?!” Send. Sasha’s mum was ace fun and a bit of a legend but she had more energy than the rest of them put together sometimes. She would organise such complicated days out for them sometimes that they’d be exhausted and have to beg to rest for a bit. He was referring to the time she had rushed them through five different museums in one day – it was an unforgettable and totally exhausting experience for all of them.
“Do I ever remember – mum is SO embarrassing. She’s a nutter!” It was common knowledge that this was where Sasha had gotten her cheekiness and energy from in the first place. She and her mum were like two peas in a pod. Definitely cut from the same cloth.
“It took two days to recover from that if I remember rightly. We were shattered and your mum was still raring to go!”
“That’s my mum – always up for a bit of educational fun! Zzzzz!!”
Murphy chuckled to himself. “Yeah – fun of the non-fun kind… I remember it well!”
“I’m sorry to hear that mate – I really am. I thought it would be better by now. I really did.” John was back.
“John, do you remember the time we went with Sasha’s mad mum to those 5 museums in a day? It was mental!” Send.
“Do I? I still have the mental scars! That was last summer wasn’t it?”
“No, the summer before. Was such a hot day too. All we wanted to do was chill out in the park. She wasn’t having any of it though. Determined she was.” Murphy smirked to himself as he hit send.
“So Sasha – what else is new? Still going out with Jim?” Murphy proper laughed as he sent this one, “What is it – your 2 year anniversary coming up?”
“I hate you Murphy – you are so mean! I’m not even going to dignify those questions with a response.”
“Aww, come on – I think it’s sweet. You and Jim are made for each other.” Jim is the boy who lives next door to Sasha who has had a crush on her forever it seems. As long as they could remember anyway. He tended to hang around her as much as he possibly could, and their parents (hers and Jim’s) seemed to do their best to make sure they had plenty of opportunities to be together. It drove Sasha mad. She had tried being kind but firm with him. She had even been downright nasty on one occasion but to no avail. Jim wasn’t budging an inch. He would hang around with her all of the time if he could – even if she didn’t speak a word to him the entire time they were together. He seemed to just be happy to be near her, and this was a constant source of embarrassment to Sasha. Murphy and John liked to do the proper supportive friend thing… and tease her about it all the time!
“Yeah right. You’re just jealous that’s what you are. Just cos no girls ever look at you!” Murphy could clearly imagine Sasha sticking her tongue out at the computer screen as she pressed enter.
“Yeah – I’d like a little kid to fancy me too……!”
“Women – they’re all determined about something or other. That’s my feeling anyway. There’s always a plan of some kind that you don’t know about – you know what I mean?” John had only had one girlfriend (and they were only together for a week) but he felt that made him an authority on the subject. That and the fact that he had three sisters and a mum to contend with at home. Not to mention several pushy aunties and cousins dotted through his family. Anyway, he seemed to think he knew a lot about how girls minds worked.
“Yeah…. I guess so.” Murphy had very little experience when it came to girls. They were a mystery to him, and he hoped it would stay that way. “You planning anything for half term? Any excellent adventures?” They were both huge Bill and Ted fans, no matter how old the films were.
“Dude – awesome! Yeah! I’m off to see my uncle Bob tomorrow in Camden. We’re going to paint the town red whatever that means.” John’s uncle was a legend to them. He was an ex-hippie who just lived life however he wanted and didn’t care what anyone else thought of him. He had a motorbike, he wore leather, he hardly seemed to work at all, in short – he was cool. Murphy had met him a few times before and had some really fond memories of his visits to Camden. Going round the market, sitting by the loch. Good times.
“Cool! Say Hi from me…. Wish I could be there.” Murphy loved Camden – it was one of his favourite places to visit with his mum too.
“Yeah, me too mate. Me too. It’s definitely not the same around here without you.”
“Shut up you! I don’t know why I bother talking to you at all! You are beneath me anyway.” Sasha again – he would have to make amends.
“OK, Sash – sorry! I was only kidding! And you know you’d miss me if you didn’t get to talk to me at all.” Murphy smiled to himself. “You’d be lost without my witty banter!”
“Yeah right – chance would be a fine thing. You never leave me alone long enough to miss you anyway!”
“Whatever!” Murphy could hear his dad shouting him for tea, “Got to go! Teatime here! Take care!” This he sent to Sasha and John.
“Bye Murphy!”
“Bye mate”
Murphy logged off and headed down for tea. He always had an extra spring in his step after talking to his friends. It put him into such a good mood. He took the stairs two at a time and bounced into the kitchen to see his dad and his sister looking at him as if he was mad.
“Blimey son – you’ll do yourself an injury one of these days. We’re not going to eat your tea for you if you aren’t here straight away!” His dad sounded amused, “Get yourself sat down.”
“Sorry dad – I didn’t realise I was being so fast. Was talking to John and Sasha.” Murphy helped himself to some bread and butter.
“Ah – I thought you were in a good mood son. You look all perky. How are they? Up to anything good?” Mike started heaping mashed potato onto their plates.
“Yeah – John’s off to see Uncle Bob again in Camden.” Murphy felt his dad stiffen a little at the mention of that name. As a policeman, his relationship with an ex-hippie was a little strained to say the least. They certainly didn’t see eye to eye when they had met. Not on any single subject really.
“Well, hope they have a good – and legal – time together.” Dad’s tone of voice said it all: he really didn’t approve of Uncle Bob at all.
Murphy tucked into his bangers and mash happily but quietly for the time being – best to leave that conversation there really. He could never convince his dad about Bob – no matter what he said dad still saw Bob as irresponsible and a bit of a rebel. Nothing would change that at all.
“How’s Sasha? Still seeing that boy Jim?”
Murphy nearly spat out his food! “No dad – she never was! We just used to wind her up about it!”
Mike smiled, “I see. Poor girl. I thought she really went out with him – you boys went on about it so much.”
“Yeah I know – we never gave her a break about it. Don’t feel too sorry for her though. She was just as bad to us whenever she got the chance.” Murphy smiled to himself. If Sasha could have heard this conversation – she would have gone totally mad! So funny. He couldn’t wait to casually mention it when they next chatted. She would hit the roof!
“So kids – what do you fancy for tonight then? I thought we could have a DVD marathon. What do you think? We might have to toss a coin for what we actually watch. I know what you two are like,” Dad gave them a slightly warning look, “No arguing you two.”
Murphy and Darla exchanged a little glance – what to watch? Could they find something they agreed on? The only sound for the next minute or so was the sound of them both eating and of their brains ticking over. What to watch? Eureka! Murphy had it suddenly-
“Wallace and Gromit Night!”
“Yay!” came from Darla, and she immediately began shuffling round the room singing the theme at the top of her voice, doing a little dance.
“Excellent choice son, excellent choice!” Murphy’s dad loved those films too, “Let’s get organised. Darla – you can clear the table mats and put them away; Murphy- you can dry the pots; Dad- I’ll wash up! Let’s go!” They worked away to the tune of the Wallace and Gromit brass band (provided by Darla) until everything was cleared away and the kitchen was all tidy.
“Right – to the living room!” Mike announced, and they made their way there to make ready for the film festival. Everything had to be just so. The curtains had to be closed, all toys and bits and pieces put away. There needed to be footstools and end tables by the sofa “for their viewing comfort” as their dad said (really mainly for their viewing treats!) and the phone needed to be switched onto silent. Once that was all sorted they set off upstairs to wash their hands and “visit the conveniences” (again one of Mike’s sayings) while Mike himself put the big bag of popcorn into the microwave and poured out fizzy drinks into large cups for them. Usually, by the time they had been to the toilet and returned to the living room everything was ready, popcorn in bowls by their seats, drinks in place and the first film set up in the player. Tonight was no exception. They settled in together and their dad pressed play. Nothing would disturb them now – not for the rest of the evening. It would be in the morning when things would get complicated. For Murphy anyway.
*
Murphy woke up late to the sounds of his dad and sister playing downstairs – playing pirates by the sounds of it. “Oo-arr me hearties!” kept drifting up to him every now and then followed by “pieces of eight” and so on. They had finished quite late last night with their Wallace and Gromit Fest (well, late for them anyway) and Murphy was glad to be allowed to lie in for once. That was something he very rarely got away with. His dad must be getting soft! He rolled over lazily and stretched, preparing to force himself out of bed – he could have stayed there quite happily for most of the day. He knew with absolute certainty that he wouldn’t get away with that. No way. He took a deep breath and heaved himself up and out of bed, heading for the bathroom. As he wandered across the landing, blearily rubbing at the sleep in his eyes, something moved out of the corner of his eye. He looked round to see what or who was there but saw no one. He stopped for a minute, feeling a little uneasy. He had the feeling that someone was watching him, but as he turned on the spot he could see that there was no one there. Those niggling thoughts that he had pushed away, about the mirror and seeing Jake were starting to return to him now. Seeing things again. He couldn’t believe it.Slowly, he headed for the bathroom to get ready for the day. As he walked along he told himself that he was just imagining things but that niggling doubt and fear wouldn’t be pushed away quite so easily. What was going on? Why was this suddenly happening to him? He had never had this kind of thing happen to him before – never. It was really starting to spook him. Not least because when he’d seen Jake he had seemed so alive, not like a reflection of himself at all. He had seemed to be there in real time. Blinking, breathing – very much in the flesh. That had been what spooked him so much about the whole thing. He had wanted to say hi, that had been his initial instinctive reaction. Before he realised what he was seeing, what he was really seeing. That was it – he had really seen it. He couldn’t dismiss it anymore. It had actually happened. He looked himself in the eye in the mirror – toothbrush working away furiously in his mouth. So that was what he was really saying? He had seen Jake? It wasn’t his imagination? He had spent his entire time since seeing Jake convincing himself that it just wasn’t true – that it was nothing more than a trick of his mind or the light. He couldn’t believe that he was so willing to go back on that. He had been telling himself that for absolutely ages. How could he have changed his mind so quickly? And why was he suddenly so sure?
Murphy finished brushing his teeth, ran his hands through his messy hair and headed back to his room. His eyes felt as though they were out on stalks – desperately trying to get a glimpse of something/someone but at the same time hoping desperately that he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of anything either. He didn’t want to be thinking or seeing these things – definitely not. What was happening to him? He wasn’t even sure why this was making him so anxious in the first place – after all he had explained it all away once before as a trick of his mind and the light in the hall. Why now was he so convinced that what he had seen was real? One thing was absolutely certain though – he wanted to get to the bottom of this and fast. He couldn’t just forget about it, he realised that now.
He dressed quickly and headed downstairs for some food. He stopped in front of the mirror on the stairs and looked thoughtfully into its surface. He could only see himself looking back. Nothing more, nothing less. He sighed. What to do, that was the question. How could he solve this puzzle and stop him from wondering and worrying? He headed down the stairs feeling very preoccupied and uneasy. He didn’t see the glimmer of movement which came from behind him, as though someone had walked across the landing. He was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice.
*
The school holidays no longer seemed quite so much fun to Murphy anymore. He veered wildly between wanting to spend all of his time keeping a look out for further activity from the mirror and wanting to be out of the house and as far away as possible. Whatever he did he found he just couldn’t quite settle to. If he was watching TV he would suddenly realise he hadn’t been taking in the last few minutes at all. Even working on his sketches didn’t hold his attention for long. He would find himself staring aimlessly into space and was worried that he would ruin them by carelessly scribbling in the wrong place. It was a nightmare, and it was now looking like he wouldn’t get any of them finished at all. Murphy just couldn’t understand why he was letting this whole thing get to him so much. So he thought he’d seen Jake in the mirror at the top of his stairs – so what. Why did it matter so much anyway? It was turning into a burning obsession for him, and it was something he just couldn’t stop thinking about. No amount of reasoning and rational thought seemed to be enough to bring him round to dismissing any of this. On the contrary – the more he thought about it and tried to push it away the more absorbed he became in these thoughts. He just wasn’t sure what to do for the best – how could he possibly cure this? How could he set his mind at rest and prove to himself that there was no truth in what he had seen or felt.
He was really wracking his brains now – he wanted to put this behind him and start enjoying his half term again and he knew he wouldn’t be able to until he had reached some kind of conclusion about this. What could he do to make that happen though? He had it – he would steak out the mirror at the top of the stairs. He would watch it as much as he could and see if he saw anything like it again. If after two days of watching he hadn’t seen anything he could stop worrying about it – it must have been his imagination. Right, this was a plan – finally! He rushed from his room onto the landing and sat himself down at the top of the stairs to begin his vigil. Two days of observation and this would all be behind him. This was definitely the best plan he had come up with so far. It would almost certainly work.
He paused for a second – how weird would this look when his dad and sister came past him? Him just sitting there on the landing staring in the direction of the mirror. Hmm. He’d have to think of a cover story of some kind. What could he do to make it seem less weird? He had it. He’d grab his sketch book and pencils. That way he could say he was using the mirror to do a self portrait. Genius. That was definitely the thing to do.
He rushed off and grabbed his stuff and was seated back at the top of the stairs in no time, turning to a fresh page and eying the mirror warily. All he could see at the moment was himself looking back out at the world, a bit dazed and puzzled to say the least. He sighed. Half of him still felt extremely silly for even contemplating doing this. It wasn’t exactly the sanest thing to do under the circumstances. But still, at least he would be able to put his mind at rest. Hopefully.
He started to mark out his proportions on the paper and sketched in certain things first, as his mum had taught him to do. He started by focusing in on his face and sketching in proportionally where his eye line was, the tip of his nose, his mouth then ears and hair (although only roughly at first). He looked at the picture and his reflection to check his proportions, and then started on the detail of the sketch. The eyes came first, filled in with as much detail as he could muster – right down to the pupils and the patterns surrounding them. His lashes were painstakingly filled in one lash at a time then his brows. He always started with the eyes as they were his favourite part to sketch. His least favourite parts of the face were the nose and the chin and jaw. He always found these difficult, as they were key to making the portrait look like the actual person but they were also the most tricky to get right. Deciding when to outline a feature and when to shade around it he found so difficult. It was like some kind of torture for him really. It was certainly the bit where he had to rub out and start again the most frequently.
He looked up into the mirror again in time to see his tongue sticking out of his mouth as usual – he put it away sharpish, and carried on with his sketch completely absorbed in his task. He didn’t hear his dad coming into the hallway downstairs. Mike looked up at his son with a fond smile on his face. He hadn’t seen him do any “classical” artwork since before his mother died. They had sat together and sketched their portraits in front of that mirror lots of times. He hadn’t seen Murphy do this for a long time. He suddenly had the urge to go and hug his son. Seeing him like that not only reminded him of just how talented a young man he was, but also reminded him of his lost wife Kathy. He felt hot tears welling up in his eyes as he stood there, and decided to move on without disturbing Murphy. He walked quietly into the living room where Darla was watching TV and settled in behind her, trying to get a hold on his emotions. He didn’t quite know why the sight of Murphy there had upset him so much but he knew he shouldn’t be inexplicably crying in front of him and Darla. That wasn’t logical behaviour. And he desperately didn’t want to upset them – they were doing so well really, both of them.
He tried to focus on the TV programme Darla was singing along to. Lots of brightly coloured characters were bouncing around on the screen merrily and Darla was copying them with her hands as best she could whilst singing along with every word. She was concentrating so hard to keep up, he could see that in her face. She was completely absorbed in what she was doing, and so didn’t notice her old dad in the background looking a little forlorn and sad. Which was a good thing – he didn’t want to drag his children down when they were obviously settled, occupied and happy.
He pottered off into the kitchen and put the kettle on. A nice cup of tea would cure him he thought – it was the fix for everything according to his mum. No sooner had he thought that then – the phone rang. It was his mum.
“Hiya son. How are things? The children enjoying their hols are they?” She always seemed to know somehow – whenever he was feeling down she had always known about it.
“The kids are fine mum – really enjoying their holiday. I think I might have a job getting them back to school next week. There will be some long faces in our house that day, I bet.” Mike smiled wryly.
“Kids never want to go to school really – they’d all much rather spend their time at home doing nice things. Don’t worry about it, they’ll get back into the swing of things.”
“Yeah, you’re right as usual. I shouldn’t worry about things that haven’t actually happened yet. How are you mum? You been out in the garden this week?” She was a fanatical gardener, although she only had a very small garden. She tended to those roses like they were extra children.
“Oh yes. Had a good potter around with my secateurs yesterday. Shipped off some dead leaves and shoots. I have to go out every day to them though to keep a watch for greenfly. Tricky things those greenfly you know.”
“Yeah, mum. Tricky little bugs they are,” Mike smiled to himself. This was, he knew, one of his mother’s favourite pet subjects: her battle with the greenflies.
“Yep. You take your eyes off those roses for a day and they’ll be in there like a shot. It’s only the constant threat of death that keeps them away at the moment. I tell you, they’re a menace to society.”
“I keep expecting to be asked to head up a task force at work to be honest. It’s such a nuisance to the community at large.” Mike held back a little snigger.
“No need to be funny with me son, you know what I mean. Cheeky.” Gran was having none of it from him. He wasn’t too old to be put across her knee (as she was fond of telling him – much to his own children’s amusement).
“Sorry mum. Now, what can I do for you today – or did you just phone up for a chat?” He knew that wouldn’t be the case. His mum never just phoned for a chat. There was always a purpose to her calls.
“Well, son. I wondered if you’d like to bring the kids over today for a spot of lunch? It would be nice to see them and I have made a nice Victoria sponge for us all.” She knew how to get his attention.
“Sure mum, I’ll round ‘em up and head ‘em on down. What time do you want us?”
“About 1ish if that’s OK with you?”
Mike looked at the clock in the kitchen – only 10:30am. That gave them plenty of time to get organised. “Sure mum. See you at 1.”
“See you later son, bye!”
Now to rustle up the troops. Mike stopped – he thought he’d allow himself his cup of tea in peace and quiet first. No rush to get going. He settled himself in one of the comfy conservatory chairs with his cuppa and just let his mind drift off. He was so glad that they had moved here, close to his mum. He was so glad to be back in touch with his mum in the first place. That was something he never expected to happen really, what with the stranglehold his dad had over her and his feelings about Kathy. He didn’t think he’d ever be reunited with his family at all, and he didn’t let it bother him. He had Kathy – that was what mattered. But since he’d lost her he was adrift for a while, with friends to help and support – and they had been a great help – it just wasn’t the same though. Having your family around you is something so important to Mike; he just felt such relief when his mum had gotten back in touch. The idea of moving up here was all hers also, and it made such sense to leave the bad memories behind and move to somewhere where he could get some help with his life and some support from his family.
His mum had made a huge sacrifice in letting him go in the first place. It was his father who had had such a problem with Kathy, not her. She had really liked her (although she’d had to keep her opinions hidden from dad). He was so controlling and hated that Mike had disobeyed him and married Kathy against his will. He could never forgive him for that. And if he wasn’t going to see his son then nobody else in his family would be able to either. He was such a powerful and scary man that the whole family felt obliged to follow his lead. In fact, some of them agreed with him anyway – an artist was not a suitable profession for anyone they felt. She would be sponging off him for the rest of their lives together. She’d never amount to anything – she was little more than a hippie. That was their feeling about her. They didn’t see the wonderful woman that Mike saw at all. They just saw her as not suitable. Not good enough in fact. And nothing he said could possibly change their minds it seemed.
So, it had taken a lot of courage for his mum to get back in touch, even though his father had passed away before then. His family had still very much had a stranglehold on her and had forbidden her to contact him. When she’d heard about Kathy dying, and knew just how much pain he’d be in she just couldn’t help but get in touch with him. She had to make contact and check that her son was alright. She had consequently lost all contact with dad’s family but that was a small price to pay she felt for the opportunity to get to know her son and grandchildren. She wouldn’t change her decision now at all. She only wished there was some way to go back and reclaim those lost years. As did Mike really, although he wouldn’t admit this out loud. He had hardened his heart against his dad and his family over this and wouldn’t let on just how much it had hurt him when he was cut off. He had never really given up on his mum though. Somehow he’d known all along that she’d come through for him. He’d known that they would be reunited somehow. He still felt a little angry with her though for allowing dad to push her around. He thought there must have been something she could have done – if it had been him he would have rather left his dad behind than his son – that was for certain. But his mum was too in awe of her husband to consider disobeying him in this. She loved him too much and was brought up to be a good wife to her husband and that meant for her that his word was law. It was a generation thing really. And something she couldn’t bring herself to break with. Until her husband had passed away. Then she felt finally free enough to make contact again.
Still, he was so glad of her support and her company now that he was willing to overlook and put behind him the years where he was without her. After all, he felt she had suffered just as much as him about this. She hadn’t really wanted to lose touch at all.
He drained his cup and stretched lazily – time to rally the troops. He heaved himself out of his chair in the sunshine and went off to find his children. They would definitely be excited at the prospect of Gran’s cake – he knew that much!
*
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