It's Only Temporary (29 page)

‘Sure, help yourself my dad said.

We made eye contact as she carried Max towards the entrance,
get on with it!
Seemed to be the message.

‘So
are
you?’ my mum asked.

‘Linda, just let him speak,’ my dad said.

‘Well what else could have made him travel over here, with Stacy as well?’

‘Linda!’

She folded her arms and looked belligerently at my dad.

‘No and No. I’m not getting married and Max isn’t mine,’ I said.

‘So what is it Son?’ my dad asked.

‘I’m going away,’ they waited. ‘To
America, to live and work…probably.’

Thankfully my mum didn’t say anything.

‘Probably?’

‘Yeah Dad, I’ve got an interview next week in
Texas.’

‘Wow!’

I went on to explain about how I had lost my job and Hank’s offer, how important it was to me and that I saw it as a great opportunity. Neither of them spoke when I had finished, they just sat there looking at me.

‘
America?’ my mum eventually said.

‘Sounds good Son.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Well we will help in any way possible, you know that. Had you been straight with us about what was going on before we could have helped,’ he said giving my mum a pointed look.

‘That’s fine dad, but thanks.’

‘So how does Stacy fit in to all this?’ my mum asked?

‘Oh I just tend to bail him out of police custody when he needs it.’ Stacy said. She had remerged from the Tepee at what seemed to be an altogether too convenient moment to be by chance.

There was another pause before my dad then my mum stared laughing, I was aware that Stacy had very skilfully diverted the conversation away from the subject of the nature of our relationship, whatever that was. As much for her benefit as mine I assumed.  Between us we explained how the centre worked, my role, the new course and the attempt to get the youth club up and running.

‘The youth club sounds like it will make a big difference,’ my dad said.

‘In more ways than one,’ Stacy replied with what I assumed she thought was a throw away comment. My dad was not letting that one go and gave her a look that virtually demanded she explain herself.

‘Without it we are sunk, if I can’t bring in the extra money I will have to close. The new course will help but there is still a short fall.’

The enormit
y of her situation was laid open by that statement, succeed or die it seemed and I was once again aware that I was walking away from it all, from her, probably when she needed me the most.

‘Well,’ my dad said. ‘You’re just gonna have to give em hell in that meeting darling, make sure they know how valuable it is to the young people. Don’t be overawed by em if they get all pompous and they probably will, imagine them naked, they will seem less intimidating then. I know.’ He added with a laugh.

‘I’ll try,’ she said quietly.

‘So that’s your big news, what are you doing now?’ my mum asked.

‘I promised Max a trip to the beach,’ Stacy said. ‘And…I was hoping to have a look at your camper? I’ve got splitty too, it’s parked near the café, but it’s nowhere near as nice as yours.’

‘Why don’t we multitask?’ my dad replied. ‘We go to the beach in the van?’

I thought Stacy was going to explode with excitement.

‘With two conditions,’ my dad added. She was totally attentive now, ‘First I get to look at yours later?’

‘Of course.’

‘And you drive.’

She looked stunned, ‘Are you serious?’

‘Totally.’

‘Oh my god!’ she launched out of her chair and hugged him.

Chapter 35.

Watching Stacy as she drove my dad’s camper was like seeing her with new eyes, she was in her element, vibrant, carefree, and happy. I wanted her to stay that way; I hoped she would be able to. We had transferred Max’s car seat into my dad’s van and he had been highly amused at Max’s battle cry of “Rock and Roll” as soon as we started moving. After the beach he had directed us to a restaurant where it seemed my parents were well known.

We spent a very pleasant evening discussing all things VW and Max related, we even ventured into talking about
Texas and the Centre but mercifully we stayed away from the topic of myself and Stacy. Perhaps they could tell there was an underlying issue there for me, if not both of us.

Max was very tired but wanted desperately to sleep in the Tepee, there was plenty of room and he and Stacy we agreed
, would stay with my mum, my dad decided to sleep in his van and I elected to return to Dolly ostensibly to ensure she was not at risk of being broken into. In reality I needed some time to myself to process yet another day in what I was beginning to refer to as the rollercoaster of my life.

‘I’ll walk back with you,’ my dad told me as I was about to leave.

‘That’s ok.’ But he was already striding out ahead of me.

As I caught him he said ‘Busy time huh?’

‘You could say that.’

‘You sure this is the right thing?’

‘It’s the only thing,’ I had not told him about my meeting at the Poly.

‘Hmm, there’s always other choices.’

‘Not this time.’

We walked on quietly for a bit, ‘What about Stacy?’

‘What about her?’

‘Leaving her behind.’ It was not a question. I did not reply, not because I did not want to but I simply couldn’t. As we reached Dolly he gave her a quick appraisal in the darkness. ‘I’ll look properly tomorrow.’

‘Ok.’

‘There’s
always choices Son,’ he said turning and walking away before I could respond.

‘Not this time,’ I said again but only I was listening.

The following morning I made my way back to my parents pitch and found my dad had already started cooking breakfast. ‘Ah the ancient art of Ti Ming!’ he called as I approached.

‘Ti Ming?’ I had to ask against my better judgement.

‘Timing!’

‘Ah, of course….silly me.’

After breakfast we all walked back to Dolly and my dad had a good look at her, giving Stacy some tips. He even offered to do some of the work for her if she came and visited during the winter when he would have a garage at whatever place they had decided to rent. She was thrilled but we were at a point where had to say goodbye.

‘Can’t you stay longer Marky?’ this was from my mum who had not wanted me to come in the first place.

‘No, I’m off to America tomorrow. Got to get back and get sorted.’ This was a lie as the entire contents of my room were packed in my suit cases waiting to be collected or were in my rucksack similarly packed and in the back of Dolly. “Grab n Go” as Stacy had put it.

The journey back was fairly uneventful and our conversation was mainly limited to Campers, Max, Nudists and Traffic Jams. Eventually we pulled up in
Henrietta Street, and as I climbed out I noticed Max was fast asleep. Without thinking I leant over him and kissed the top of his head, ‘Rock and Roll,’ I whispered.

I suddenly realised I really should have asked Stacy’s permission before
I had done that and I looked at her nervously, would she be angry. All I saw was the back of her head as she climbed out as well. She came around the front to meet me and I could see she had tears in her eyes.

‘Send me a post card?’ she was crying properly now, so I was I realised.

‘I’ll call, ‘I promised.

She suddenly threw her arms around my neck and I held her close to me with my hands
on her waist, she reached up and kissed me again. There was no doubt that this was more than affection, I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but she stopped me by putting her finger to my lips.

‘Find what you are looking for,’ she said then turned away and got back into Dolly. We were both still crying as she pulled away.

Chapter 36.

The next morning I showered, changed my clothes and repacked my ruck sack. Locking my door behind me for what I realised was possibly the final time I lugged my two suitcases and rucksack down the stairs onto the street to wait for the taxi I had booked with a few minutes of credit from Stacy’s old phone.

‘Wotcha mate.’

I turned to find Alfie standing in the doorway, ‘Hey Alfie.’

‘You all set then?’

‘Yep, oh can you drop this into the centre for me at some point?’ I said handing him the phone.

‘No worries. Gonna miss you mate.’

‘Me too, but you said you’re gonna come and visit?’

‘Try stopping me’ he grinned.

The taxi pulled up and the driver was surprised to find I had so much luggage for a three mile trip to the local Poly. I extended my hand to Alfie, ‘Come here,’ he said grabbing me
in a bear hug.

‘Look after Stacy for me? Help her with the council?’ I asked.

‘You know it. Now get going and give them yanks some stick.’

Arriving at Mr Russell’s office I could see that the fact I had copious amounts of luggage with me was a bit of a surprise to him.

‘Moving in?’ he asked genially.

‘Oh,
er sorry. Off to the airport from here. The States if you remember?’

‘Yes, yes. Well maybe I can change your mind?’

I doubt it, I thought to myself. We talked generally about teaching, the Poly and the local area. I was conscious of the time as the car was due to arrive soon; he seemed to notice this and evidently decided to cut to the chase.

‘So in a nutshell Marcus, I need a Head of History for September. You can still teach Egyptology if you see fit but none of my current tutors have your range and depth of experience. I know you are off to the
USA but would you at least think about it?’

Mr Russell, or Keith as he insisted I call him was an very likable man, the salary was fair and although it was a more generic and managerial post it was still a good offer. If I had not been going to
America I would have said yes. I promised him I would think about it and let him know within a week. He helped me take my luggage to the pick-up point and let out a low whistle of appreciation as a gleaming black limousine pulled up to collect me.

‘Now what does
Texas have that we don’t?’ he said jokingly.

I again promised him I would consider his offer and get back to him as soon as I could, I probably should have told him I wasn’t interested there and then but I did not have the heart to disappoint him, after all he had made such a big effort to meet me on a bank holiday.

As the car pulled up at Heathrow I was astounded to see that a “customer service agent” was already removing my luggage from the boot and placing it on a trolley whilst another one was attaching the required labels before the driver had even opened the door for me.

‘Do you need anything from you luggage sir, or shall we check it in for you?’ he asked.

I retrieved my passport, tickets and money before they whisked it away. Turning to tip the driver he politely informed me that it was not required before wishing me a good journey. This was a far cry from not being able to afford to catch the bus I reflected.

The flight was comfortable and uneventful, despite having more money on my person at one time than I had managed to have cumulatively over the past five weeks I was unable to spend any, everything was complimentary. I could get used to this I decided.

Landing at New York I anticipated, would mean an arduous process for deplaning, gathering my luggage and then re-boarding, I was wrong. A very polite young man named Arlo ensured my luggage was transferred on my behalf and directly escorted me through passport control to my once again first class seat on the flight to Austin. Landing in Austin my Luggage was waiting for me as I exited customs and an equally pleasant young lady called Kelly wheeled it all on a trolley to the pick-up lounge.

‘Howdy Partner, good trip?’ Hank asked me as we shook hands.

‘Extremely pleasant,’ I told him. I had a feeling this was going to prove to be the right choice for me.