Splintered Lives (28 page)

“Yes I used to walk up the mountain to school with you, do you remember?”

“Oh yes I do remember, you were one of my first pupils when I came to Nepal.
 
It is so good to see you.
  
When do you have time off?
 
We must get together for a proper chat.” Sarah replies with happiness lighting up her face because she is so thrilled to see
Raj
again.

She introduces him to David and then he has to go to attend some Americans at the next table.

“Oh my God.” Sarah is taken aback with shock at this meeting with someone from her past.
 
David holds her hand and grips it to ensure her that she has his support.
  
They drink their champagne and Sarah goes quiet as she remembers her time in Nepal and with it the terrible loss of Taj and then Simon.

David gets her up to dance a slow waltz, holding her close in his arms she feels his warmth, and she responds with a smile as she puts her depressing thoughts out of her mind.
 
The band changes the tempo and they swirl around the floor to a quickstep and they both end up laughing and breathless as the number comes to an end.
 
They return to their cabin and David pours them a brandy that they take out to the balcony where they sit watching the moonlight over the sea.

David goes back inside and comes back with the chocolates that are left on the bed each night for them.

“We’re really being spoilt,” laughs Sarah who enjoys a chocolate with her nightcap.
 
“It’s like a dream here in the warmth of the night with the balmy sea air all around us.”

They have many such days when Sarah and David feel the joy of seeing the beauty of the many tropical islands and having happy evenings making friends and dancing.
 
They are to be in Trinidad on a Sunday when the England cricket team is playing, and David and some of the male partners of the couples they have made friends with on the ship, decide to risk getting tickets at the gate.

Sarah decides to stay on the ship after going around the Duty Free shops at the port.
 
The heat is too much for her so she returns to the ship and goes to their cabin to cool down.
 
She closes the door and as she turns she sees Raj coming out of the bathroom, where he has been giving it a clean.
 

“Raj perhaps we can catch up on things in Pokhara.
 
How is Miss Menon?

Do you see her when you go home?”

“Miss Menon is the headmistress of the school now and the last time I was home my father was ill and she came with the doctor, who attends to the people of the village, out of respect for my family.
 
I thought it was her brother but she said it was her nephew, whom she called Simon.”

Sarah catches her breath.
 
“Tell me about the doctor.”
 
She almost whispers

“He was very like Miss Menon’s brother Taj.”
 
Raj looks embarrassed as he remembers that at the time Sarah was there teaching, she was very close to Taj and then he remembers the tragedy of Taj’s death.
 
“ I should have known that was impossible but I have spent so many years working on cruise ships that sometimes I forget what happened at home.” Raj continues.

“How long has the doctor been caring for your father?” Sarah asks.

“The last time I was home was two years ago, and before then the young lady Dr Taz attended my father, but she then stayed in Kathmandu at the teaching hospital.
 

I’m sorry but I have to go or I won’t have finished my round of the cabins on time.” Raj says as he moves towards the door.
 
“I’ll see again when we can talk some more.
 
I’m so pleased to see you again.”

Sarah curls up on the bed and sobs.
 
“How can that be?” she asks herself.
 
“He was killed in France with Jack and his family.
 
And how could he have got to Kathmandu?” She remembers the strange feelings she had at the funeral,

as though, Simon was not there.
 
And how she sometimes feels her love for her son overwhelming her at the strangest of times.
 
When she walks alone in the countryside near to home, when she listens to a piece of classical music she adores.
 
These are good feelings and she has had them over the years when she has been at her lowest edge, but she has not mentioned this to David or Anne, as although, she has got some comfort from these surprising emotions, she has felt a need not to upset her family by having them remember the bad times.
 
As she ruminates about the past, she finds a ray of hope shining into her thoughts.

”What if he is alive?
 
Why has he not come home? However can he be a doctor in Pokara?
 
He hadn’t finished his degree.”
 
Her mind is in a whirl as she awaits the return of David, who she urgently needs to talk to.

Chapter 41

Mark leaves
Kathmandu
after seeing Simon and his friends off and after the project of the bridge is finished he goes home for a vacation.
 
Simon is already at Bristol so he doesn’t see him.
 
His next project is in Alaska and it is whilst he is there that he hears of the awful death of Simon in France.
 
He travels home to be with the family but it is an unhappy time for them all.
 
He sees Sarah and he quietly tells her of the time he had with the lads and Simon and how he feels the loss of him.
 
He remembers the time he had with Sarah when he was Simon’s age and the wonderful time they had there on the White Mountain.
 
They hug for a long time and when he releases her, tears are streaming down both their faces.

He returns to Alaska to finish the job and eventually returns home to work in the U.K.
 
He keeps in touch with Sarah and David who he admires very much for his gentle fathering of Simon and his caring for his favourite aunt.
 
He is still working as a civil engineer but he is mostly away from home in Scotland, Wales or the south of England.
 
He has had many girlfriends, but he has not met the one.
 
He has a bachelor flat in Manchester and enjoys his life in the city when he is home.

He hears from Sarah when she gets home from her cruise and she is in a state of indecision about something she heard from a steward on the ship.
 
He agrees to meet her in Manchester where he picks her up from Victoria station and takes her back to his flat.
 
She tells him the story of Simon appearing as a doctor in the village where she taught.

“How can that be?” She asks Mark who is staring at her in wonder.

“I don’t know but I’m sure you are going to investigate it.
 
What does David think?”

David can’t take it in and although he questioned Raj, the steward, he has his doubts and he is not very sure he wants to find that Raj is mistaken and we are in for a great disappointment.

“Sarah, what do you want to do?”
 
“I’ll give you my support; hey I’d love to go to
Nepal
again.
 
How about us taking a look around the village on the mountain or to the hospital in Kathmandu?
 
I’m sure David will be willing if you really want to do this.
 
Have you spoken to Anne about it?”

“No, that’s part of the problem.
 
Anne is, as you know, having her second baby and we don’t really want to burden her with this.
 
She sailed through her first pregnancy but her health has not been as good and she is almost at her time of birth.
 
She has to be our first priority and David and I are a bit worried about her.”

“Hey, would you like me to go?
 
I have some holidays due and I love that part of the world?”
 
Mark asks, full of enthusiasm.

“I really want to go but it is such a bad time and David can’t believe it can be true and I feel that I can’t be away when Anne gives birth.
 
She is due this week.” Sarah says with a sigh.
 

Mark considers his work options, he is due some holidays and although he is not a young lad anymore, he would love to go to the White Mountains and he decides that he will go alone to see what is happening in Kathmandu or Pokhara.

Sarah is relieved when Mark decides he will go to see if he can find Simon, she hugs him again as they leave his apartment, to go to have some lunch in the city.

When she gets home Anne is there with little Dan and David is making him chuckle by bouncing him on his knee.

“How is Mark?” David asks. “Has he not got himself a girlfriend yet?”

Anne smiles as she says. “He is having a great life; I don’t think he will want to give up his freedom.”

Anne heaves her son onto her hip as she is now getting awkward at this point of her pregnancy and David relieves her of Dan and lifts him on to his head as he carries him to the car and fastens him into his baby-seat.
 
David and Sarah wave them out of sight and then go back into the house.

“Mark is going to go to Nepal.”
 
Sarah tells David.
 
“But I didn’t want to mention it whilst Anne was here, I don’t want her to know about Simon until it has been confirmed.”

David pulls her to him saying.
 
“I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed.”
  

“I’ll try not to be, but I would like us to go to find him ourselves.
 
But you can see that Anne will not be long before she needs us to help with Dan and the new baby.
 
I don’t want her to feel that she is holding us back from doing that,” Sarah says.

“It depends on what happens when Mark goes and then we will go ourselves if Simon is there.
 
Anne will be just as anxious as we are to find him, if she knew the story told to us by Raj,” David replies.

Sarah resigns herself to agreement with what David is saying as she knows she wants to be available to help Anne and her family.
  

Mark arranges his workload and then finds a flight to Delhi with connections to Kathmandu.
 
He is looking forward, to perhaps, seeing Sahida again if she still teaches in the village school.
 
She is probably married by now and may have left the area, he is thinking.
 
He decides that he will start his investigation at Pokhara in the village where Sarah used to live.
 
He finds the flight long and he eventually sleeps part of the way.
 
After his change of planes in India he starts to feel anticipation of finding Simon, and being in his beloved mountains again.
 
He decides to fly to Pokhara to save time and he hopes to get a taxi to the village.
 
He intends to stay at the hostel near the village so that he may get some answers from the local people.
 
The plane arrives at Pokhara and he manages to find a taxi to take him part way up the mountain.
 
He finds Pokhara has developed and is surprised at the new buildings around the town.
 

“This has grown since I was here in the seventies,” he exclaims to the taxi driver.

“Yes we are lucky now to have a brand new hospital that is part of the University of Kathmandu,” He replies with shy smile of pride.

“My daughter has won a place there for the next full year,” he continues.

“We have progressed since the seventies and the villagers who live on the mountains have now a better, healthier life.”

Mark pays off the taxi driver, gets his haversack and with a wave of his hand starts off to find the hostel.
 
He remembers that it is a little way outside the village but he soon finds it.
 
It has improved a lot since he was here before and he signs in and is shown his own room that he has requested.
 
It’s good to share when funds are low but now he feels he needs a bit of privacy.
 
He uses the shower to get rid of the jet lag fatigue and after a good night’s sleep he decides to have a look around the village and then go up the mountain to the school.
 
The precinct of the village is very quiet as everyone is working on their terraces, seeing to their few life-stock, fruit and vegetables.
 
The village is peaceful with nobody about so he decides to find the school.
 
He walks up the mountain until he hears children chanting their lessons as they are sitting on a terrace with the fishtail as a backdrop to their “classroom.”

Mark is charmed as he looks at the children, who are so beautiful, as they are dressed in their school uniforms with sparkling white shirts and blouses, sitting in the sunshine.

“Can I help you?” A young man says, walking up to Mark.

 
“Yes, perhaps you can.
 
I’m looking for a teacher who used to work here in the seventies, with the name of Sahida Menon,” Mark replies.
 
“Do you remember her?”