Splintered Lives (24 page)

 
The taxi takes them to the central hotel where they pick up Mark, Pete and Luke and then carry on to the airport.
 
Mark pays off the taxi and goes into the airport building with them, staying until it is time for their homebound flight.

Simon is quiet on the plane and Ben understands his somber mood, but the other two keep up the conversation and the joking, until tiredness overcomes them and they fall into a fitful sleep.

They have to change planes at New Delhi and the lads help Ben by getting him a wheel chair and whooping whilst they run with him through the airport. Simon holds on to one handle with the wish to steady his friend’s progress, and to stop the attention the group is inviting.
 
The plane arrives and the wheelchair passengers are taken first.
 
The friends meet up with Ben again when they are seated on the plane ready for takeoff.
 
Ben’s crutches are in the hold ready for him to use again when he reaches Manchester.
 
The flight is long but they sleep for part of it and waken when food is served or they need a drink.
 
When they reach Manchester, Simon rings home and David meets them at the airport.
 
He takes the others home and waits whilst Simon helps Ben with his crutches to the front door where his mother is horrified to see the plaster casts on his leg and wrist.

“Whatever has happened to you Ben?” She cries.

“I’m fine.”
 
Ben tells her.
 
“And Simon has looked after me since the accident and I’ll be able to go to university on my crutches.
 
I shall be losing my pots in about two weeks and I can manage until then.”

Simon reassures Ben’s mother and leaves him there on the doorstep whist returning to the car.
 

Simon gets into the passenger seat and David opens his arms and gives him a hug.

“We’ve missed you so much, your mother, sister and I, we have been waiting for this moment for you to you come home.” David tells him when releasing him from his hug.

Simon has been wondering all the time on the flight home how he was going to react to his family at home.
 
He remembers all the things the family have done together, the mountains they have climbed, the holidays in
France
and all the happy times he has lived through.
 
He remembers how he felt different at school to the other children.
 
His skin is darker than his mother’s but not very dark, more like a good suntan.
 
His grandparents and other members of his family have always shown him love.
 
Charlie and Joe have been great to him all his life, Charlie taking him for walks when he was quite small and pointing out the things of interest around the lake, and Joe taking him to football matches and teaching him how to fish.
 
David and his mother have taken him to art galleries, museums and theatres in London and Manchester.
 
David had also taken him to music festivals, where they had taken a tent and slept under the moon.

“Why do I have to have this other family who seem so strange to me?
 
They are lovely like my family at home, but their ways are not in my experience, and I am so confused.” Simon thinks.
 
“I liked the meditation and the candle floating down the river for my dead father, but how am I going to confront my mother who knows nothing about the time I have spent with the Menons?”

“Are you alright?”
 
Asks David with a pondering look on his face.

“Yes I’m o.k.
  
I’m a little bit tired.” Simon replies.

“Well let’s get you home so you can have a meal and a good sleep.
 
Your mother has the red carpet out for you and Anne has helped her to make you your favourite meal.” David says.

The journey home from the Airport passes with Simon telling David about the festival, and meeting Mark before he came home.
 
He hesitates to tell about the Menons, wondering if David knows the story about his mother working in Pokhara, and hoping that he does know because he does not want to cause David any heartache.

His mother and sister meet him at the door as they have heard the car coming up the drive.
 
Charlie arrives at the same time from his part of the house.
 
The table is set for five as Charlie has been invited to join the family for this welcome home dinner.

“Oh my God you have grown since we last saw you,” cries Sarah as she folds her son in her warm arms and tears fill her eyes as she welcomes him home.

Anne embraces her brother and Charlie makes it a hug for three.

“It’s so good to have you home lad.”
 
Charlie says as he holds Simon in his close embrace.
 
“We have missed you and I don’t know what we will all do when you go to university next week.”

Sarah smiles at Charlie and says, “We can’t hold him back from his chosen career, and we will see him more often than we have these last three months, we hope.

“Come on; let’s have this wonderful meal we have cooked for the prodigal son.”

 
Says Anne with laughter in her voice.

Simon gets hold of her hand and they all move into the dinning room.

“How were your exam grades?” Simon asks his sister.

“Not bad.” Anne replies with a smug smile on her face.

“They were excellent.”
 
Her mother and father say together.
 
“She got 6 A*’s and 3 A grades.

“Congratulations Sis”. Simon says.
 
“Better than mine.”

We’re very proud of both of you and I’m sure that both of you will do well at university, although it will be two years before Anne will be able to go.” Charlie says.

They have a great meal, Simon’s choice and after a bottle of wine they all become quiet and Simon yawns, excuses himself and goes to bed.

Chapter 36

When Simon is in the privacy of his room he sits on the bed and wonders how he is going to confront his mother with her secret.
 
He is annoyed that he was not told before his going to Nepal; now he is home he wishes to be back in Katmandu with his other family.
 
He only has a week at home before he leaves for Bristol.

He knows that he needs to get his degree here in Britain and if he works hard to become a doctor, he may be able to practice medicine in Nepal.

 
He decides to keep his mother’s secret untold, and he will ask Ben to do the same.
  
He gets through the following week by telling his parents that he needs to catch up on some reading.
 
He keeps out of their way the best he can. His mother and Anne are back at school and David goes in to work each morning to prepare for his following year’s lectures.
 
He sees Charlie every day but he thinks Charlie may not know the story.
 
He has been in touch with Ben and asked him to keep the time in Katmandu quiet because he has not had the time to confront his mother with her secret.

The time comes for him to go to university and after a leaving party at the house David and the family take him to Bristol on the Sunday, as he starts his course on the following day.
 
They see him to his room and approve the accommodation as he is in the residential part of the university and they are sure he will make friends there.
 
When he waves them off he sees tears in his mother’s eyes, as well as, his sister’s.
 
He feels sad but he also feels let down, especially by his mother.
 
He doesn’t know if David is in on the secret, but he is sure that Anne is not.

He puts his worries out of his mind before unpacking his clothes and books and then goes to find if there are any other students about.
 
He finds a central area within the block and sees that there are four other lads lounging on two settees

They introduce themselves and settle down to chatting about what they have been doing in the summer.
  
There is a kitchen and Simon offers to make them all coffee.
 
He brings in the beakers and they find him a seat on the larger settee.
 
The living space is oblong and there are two settees, one a three seater and one that will sit two, a large coffee table and a thirty-two inch television.
 
The kitchen is fitted out with a microwave and a dishwasher the counters are scruff free at the moment.

In the meanwhile Sarah and David feel sad after leaving Simon but they know there is a time when they have to let go of the children and this is the first time

Simon will be gone for years and probably never come back to live at home.
 
His chosen career will take a lot of study and then he will have to work in hospitals wherever he is sent.

Sarah and David arrive home and go straight up to Simon’s room.
 
It’s been left in a mess as they have taken out what he needed and left the clearing up until they return.
 
Sarah strips the bed whilst David tidies Simon’s things that are left about the room.
 
He hears a sob escape from Sarah.
 
He takes her in his arms and sheds a tear along with her.

“It’s so hard to let him go”. Sarah sobs.
 
“I just hope he will settle in and make friends”.

“Of course he will.”
 
David holds her close until her shaking stops, then he kisses her deeply and they cling together holding each other tight and finding comfort there.
  

Sarah feels bereaved at first without his noisy music and the lack of the houseful of his friends but she has work to do and her daughter is still there to console her.

Simon goes to the central hall in the main building to find the registration desks for various activities. They have to line up to register.
 
Jack, one of the boys in Simon’s residential place joins the same queue for extra curricular sports and they find themselves interested in rambling and tennis.
 
The tennis coach takes the rambling group, as well as, tennis.
 
He takes their names and shakes their hands as he explains that the walking group, usually twelve or thirteen members, begin the walks on the hills at the weekends, usually on Saturdays, and they have a mini bus to take them to the beginning of various walks.
  
The tennis courts are in the sports’ area where the rugby and football pitches are also situated.
 
Simon will use the extensive gym equipment, as well as, his chosen sports.
 
He is feeling happier than when he first arrived and he knows that he will soon make new friends.
 
Jack is taking a medical course so they go to classes together the following day and they are soon working hard at their courses, with little time for Simon to worry about his family problem.

Time goes quickly and by the Christmas break he is enmeshed in his studies and ready for a break.
 
But he doesn’t want to confront his mother, and as Jack’s family is off to the French Alps for the skiing, Simon is asked to join them.
 
He would not have gone before because he would have wanted to see the family but in his mixed up state he decides to go, so that his problem at home will not have to be resolved.
 
Jack’s family pick up the boys at the university and take them to
Portsmouth
for the ferry to
Santander
so that they can drive across country to the French Alps.
 
Jack has a sister who is studying at
Durham
University
so she had to reach home the day before the family left for
Bristol
.
 
There is a feeling of camaraderie and laughter in the car, as they get to know each other and Simon thinks. “Amy, Jack’s sister, is lovely.”
 
She reminds him of Anne and he takes to her immediately.

The weather is great for skiing when they reach their destination, as soon as they have settled in their rooms at the Ski Lodge, they are all eager to get out on to the snow.
 
The members of the family are all competent but Simon, who has done very little skiing, is finding it difficult at first, but as he concentrates he soon gets the hang of it, or so he thinks.
 
Jack’s mother, father and Amy, who ski every Christmas break, are keen to get to the upper slopes.
 
Simon does not want to hold them back so he says he is happy to go up there with them.
 
By the time they have to drive back to the ferry Simon has found his feet on the mountain and loves this new sport. The mountain range reminds him a little of
Nepal
, and he hugs his photo of his granddad to him, as he remembers the other family there.
   

The mountain passes are precarious and although Jack’s dad is a careful and competent driver, he has problems with some of bends in the road.
 
They are travelling uphill when a large animal jumps onto the road.
 
Jack’s dad swerves to avoid it and the car leaves the road.
 
It turns over as it tumbles down the hillside and eventually ignites and flames reach the sky.