by Peter Martin
Garry frowned in despair, deciding to leave his thoughts in his head for the time being.
As always determined to have the last word, Lena said, ‘It’s possible Delia left because of something other than this island. For all you know she may have secretly been having an affair, and used her dislike of this place as an excuse to get away from here.’
Raising an eyebrow Garry, somewhat disgruntled, said, ‘I can’t believe that. Not Delia. And with due respect, Lena, you don’t really know what sort of person she is. She loves me just as much as I love her, and knowing her, believe me, it always takes a while for her to calm down.’ He gazed at Lena, then said, ‘And I’m sure if ever I did something inappropriate with Charlene, any chance of getting back with Delia would be gone altogether.’
Lena sighed, this obviously wasn’t going as she’d like it. Nonetheless, she continued, ‘Suit yourself Garry, but I’m telling you this much, if you don’t change your tune soon, you’ll end up a very lonely man.’
‘When you’ve been married as long as we have, you don’t give up on a relationship that easily. And yes maybe I might end up a lonely man: better that than a miserable one.’
‘Have it your own way, dear,’ Lena said tartly.
Then suddenly the conversation came to a halt when Tom, Jane, Cassie and Chris came towards them all smiles.
‘I trust you all had a good night’s sleep after last night’s antics,’ Lena piped up at once.
‘Slept like a log,’ Tom told her.
‘No wonder after all the dancing you were doing,’ Jane said.
‘I’m glad you all appear to have enjoyed yourself,’ Lena said. ‘Perhaps we could do it again in the future.’
‘That would be cool, but I don’t know if any of us have the stamina we once had,’ Cassie smiled avoiding Garry’s gaze.
‘I see you enjoyed yourself, didn’t you Garry?’ Lena said.
He didn’t reply immediately but knew what she was alluding to and the way her mind was working. She was trying to stir things up between him and his children. Well, it wouldn’t work. He didn’t intend letting the subject drop.
Addressing Lena, he replied curtly, ‘I thought we’d already discussed this, Lena, just now before my children arrived. But to set the record straight, the answer to your question is: No, not really. Charlene happened to be in earshot that’s all, and saw how upset I was over Delia leaving.’ And turning to look at each of his children said, ‘And if you saw any more than that you are very wrong. I’ve never looked at another woman since I married your mother. And I’m not about to start now.’
There was an uneasy silence before Tom asked ‘Have you tried ringing her again, Dad?’
‘I have, both last night and this morning and she’s still not answering the phone, so I’ve no idea what’s going on. And I don’t think there’s any need for me to say how concerned I am.’
‘Yes, we know, we’re all worried over mum, too,’ Cassie admitted.
‘But if your mother doesn’t want to speak to me, I can’t make her. Like I’ve already said, it takes her a lot of time to calm down!’
‘Well, Dad, if that’s the case, why doesn’t one of us try to phone. She’ll recognise our number and most likely answer.’ Tom said. ‘I tried before, just after she left, but she may have been in the air on the way back and couldn’t answer. But I do think we should try.’
Garry agreed, saying, ‘By all means try Tom, but I don’t hold out much hope. She’ll speak to us when she’s good and ready and not before.’ Then, almost as an afterthought said, ‘I hope to God, there isn’t anything more sinister, and something or someone is stopping her answering my calls.’
‘Oh, let’s not think that way yet. Come on, you lot, let’s look on the bright side of things,’ Lena said. ‘Perhaps even now wherever she is, she might be seeing the error of her ways.’
Then Chris in his usual frank manner said, ‘As I see it, she hasn’t done anything wrong. She just stated she doesn’t intend living here on a permanent basis. And I for one agree with her.’
When Garry pursed his lips and nodded his agreement Lena quickly ushered them into the dining room, where quietly they ate breakfast, albeit in a subdued atmosphere. She seemed to struggle to carry the conversation on or raise their spirits without Greg, who’d gone out early.
Later that morning Adam came rushing out onto the patio to greet them, running first into his mother’s arms then jumping on his father’s lap, almost overbalancing the sun lounger. He was so thrilled to see them and almost bubbling over with joy wanting to tell them what he’d been doing last night.
‘Hallo honey,’ Cassie said. ‘We missed you, didn’t we Dad?’
‘We did,’ Chris said. ‘How are you, son? Did you have a good time while we were out?’
Adam nodded. ‘Cor, it was great. But I missed you both… Oh, and the clown was ever so funny. And you know who he was – the clown?’ He asked, his eyes wide with amazement. ‘You’ll never guess… it was Benson. He kept making me laugh by acting silly and playing jokes. Do you know he asked one of the others to smell the flower on his coat and, oh it was so funny, I thought water would spray out of the flower, but instead it sprayed out of his ears.’
‘Well, that’s a surprise, I don’t think anyone here had guessed it was Benson,’ his father said. And they all readily agreed with Chris.
A little later on everyone went into the house, Adam still full of last night’s events.
Garry stayed in the background, to allow him to slip away at the first available opportunity and return to his room. He planned to start packing as many of his belongings in readiness to go home. Early in the afternoon he closed his bedroom door behind him and took his suitcase from the top of the wardrobe to start packing bits and pieces. Then lying on his back, in his mind’s eye, he rehearsed what he might say in England when finally, he and Delia met. She meant so much to him. and he desperately wanted her back. He no longer cared where he lived as long as it was with her.
Eventually, so tired after last night’s lack of sleep, he first dozed, then fell into a deep slumber not waking until several hours later. He glanced at his watch to find it was now early evening.
He ventured downstairs to shrieks of laughter from Adam and smiled to himself. Adam must be in the swimming pool, he thought. He walked through the empty hall into the dining room to where he had a good view of the pool through the open patio windows.
Lena was teaching Adam to swim without his armbands while the others sat by the pool watching avidly. Every now and again when the lad managed to do a few strokes unaided they clapped and cheered egging him on.
As Garry walked onto the patio, everyone acknowledged him. He went over to sit on the spare seat next to Tom who nodded to him. Being a touch apprehensive Garry tried to make light conversation with his son.
‘Phew, it’s hot isn’t it?’
‘Stifling,’
‘When it’s like this, you’re too lethargic to do anything, aren’t you? That’s the one trouble with this island,’ Garry said mopping his brow with a handkerchief.
‘That’s not the only trouble, though, is it Dad?’ Tom pointed out. ‘Like I said before, ok this house and the island are a paradise, but it’s never going to be enough to make us want to stay indefinitely.’
‘Yes, I think that’s how your mum saw it. What keeps niggling away at the back of my mind is, it’s not like her to leave without saying a word to anyone. I phone her time and time again, but she still doesn’t answer. As I see it, Tom, I’ve no option but to go home as soon as I can.’
‘Not only that, Dad. Even if mum was here, I’d still be fed up of the place. After you’ve been here for a few days, you’ve just about done everything. And when there’s nothing to do, it starts to get to you. Then there’s Chris, he hasn’t liked it here from the start. He’s always been sceptical about the whole thing – and I reckon he’s right.’
‘Well, I suppose looking at it like that, it was a bit of a pi
pe dream.’
‘There’s more to it than that, Dad. How about Adam for instance? He’s had a great time I can’t deny that – but he still misses his friends. Anyway, I doubt Chris would have agreed with Lena’s plans.’
‘What about Cassie and Jane? Do they feel the same as well?’
‘We all talked it over this morning. None of us wanted to move over here, but now mum’s gone, well… ’ He left his sentence unfinished, then carried on, ‘We appreciate what Lena’s trying to do for us, building these houses, but we have to go home to mum.’ Tom paused and when his father made him no reply he said, ‘Come on Dad, be realistic, you must admit this way of life wouldn’t suit us, after a while, we’d all be bored stiff. In some ways, Lena’s whole life has been lived in a bubble of make-believe. But you know our humdrum way of life, you might call it, isn’t that bad, is it? Sorry Dad.’
‘No need to apologise, son because I’m of the same opinion as you; it’s just that I wanted to have the best of both worlds. That’s never going to happen now, so I won’t rest easy until we’re back home and can see she’s all right.’
‘You really mean that, Dad?’
Garry nodded and saw the relief on his son’s face.
‘We all want to go home as soon as possible.’
‘I’ll talk to Lena about it. It’s just a question of finding the right moment and telling her tactfully without offending her. I’ll just say now Delia’s gone, we need to return home to make sure nothing’s happened to her. With a bit of luck, we should be back in a few days.’ Garry’s face started to redden as he contemplated confronting his mother.
‘That’s great Dad. I mean she’s a nice old stick, but her world is totally different to ours. We’ll never have much in common – will we?’
Garry smiled, but his stomach churned at the prospect of leaving. Watching Lena in her element as she played with Adam, convinced him she wouldn’t take it well, but he couldn’t do anything about that. He had to be strong for his family’s sake.
Lena helped Adam out of the pool then. He was laughing, over the moon that at last he could swim.
‘Hallo there Garry – you should have come in for a swim with us,’ Lena said.
‘Yes, but it’s too much like hard work right now. Must be getting old.’
Lena laughed heartily. ‘You’re only as old as you feel.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘I’ll have to find you a personal trainer Garry, get a few of those pounds off your midriff. Let me get changed and we’ll talk some more – all right?’
Garry nodded, but while Lena disappeared back into the house, he made his way over to where his grandson was sitting. The boy continued to dry himself as Garry came to sit beside him.
‘So how’s my favourite grandson doing?’
‘All right.’
‘Enjoy your swim?’
‘Yes Grandad, can you believe I can really swim? Lena’s a great teacher. You can swim with me if you want.’
‘I would, but I’m tired. Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself. You are enjoying yourself, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, Grandad and I can’t wait to tell my friends I can swim without my armbands… because you know none of them can… ’ Adam began, but Garry detected something in his grandson’s voice straight away. He waited sensing Adam had more to add. ‘It’s nice and I like it here.’
Adam stared into space for a moment, it seemed the boy wasn’t comfortable about telling him the truth – there was a ‘but’ inside Adam’s head and Garry was determined to get it out of him.
‘Come on Adam, tell me what’s wrong. Please, honestly I won’t be upset whatever you tell me,’ Garry said.
Adam hesitated before answering. ‘I do like it here, but I wish I had my friends to play with. And I wish nan was here too.’
‘Sadly, that isn’t possible. Lena can do almost anything, but she can’t bring your friends over here, can she? And as you know your nan’s gone home.’
‘I think I’ll get something, you know, to give my friends when I get back.’ Adam said, looking anxious.
‘That’s a good idea, Adam, perhaps you could get a proper football or cricket bat, something in the sporting line.’ From the look of things, although Adam seemed to be happy, he wanted to see his friends and get back to his normal life. Garry breathed easier upon hearing this, then said, ‘I’ll speak with Lena, see if she can get us a plane to take us back as soon as possible. What do you think about that?’
‘That would be brilliant, Grandad.’ A bright smile appeared on Adam’s face
‘Tell you what I’ll do – as soon as I see her on her own, I’ll ask her. She’ll be upset because she likes you so much, but I’m sure she’ll understand.’ Garry put his arm around his grandson, and when he felt Adam squeezing him tightly, it tugged at his heartstrings.
‘Thanks, Grandad, but can I still come here during my holidays? And can I bring a friend too?’ Adam asked.
‘Don’t see why not. But don’t say anything to anyone yet; I have to find the right time to speak to Lena.’
Adam nodded before moving off, appearing a lot happier now.
<><><>
After lunch, Garry spent the afternoon on the beach, pondering over what he’d say to Lena, and when to confront her. She wasn’t about much; apparently, she’d locked herself away needing peace and quiet to read through various scripts in order to think about which role to take on next.
Later on at dinner she talked about her work, giving them tasters of the different characters she might play, and the story lines in which they were set. In the end, she decided to take the role of a mother obsessed with moulding her daughter into a child film star. And said she’d let the studio know the next day about the role she’d chosen and suggest her family be allowed to accompany the film crew on location when the time came. At this Garry’s stomach turned over. First of all, from what his family had said they wouldn’t want to do this. And secondly, she must still be thinking along the lines they intended to live here. When he raised the subject of going home in the very near future Lena would be upset. Either way, he was faced with a dilemma.
<><><>
The whole family had arranged to meet up to discuss the best way forward, and they were now congregated around the bed in Cassie and Chris’s room. In the tense atmosphere, Garry couldn’t keep still, and feeling agitated said, ‘Lena was on form tonight, wasn’t she? I love the way she tries to involve us in her work and even her suggestion to go on location with her. Which you must agree would be an experience, don’t you think?’
‘Yes, I agree,’ Cassie said. ‘We’d remember it for the rest of our lives.’
‘She might let us to be in the film as well, mightn’t she Grandad?’ Adam asked, jumping about with excitement.
‘Can’t promise anything, but you never know, Adam,’ Garry grinned at the others.
‘Wow, wouldn’t that be brilliant?’
‘Yes it would.’ Garry agreed. Then changing the subject continued, ‘I don’t know if Tom’s told you – I’m waiting for the right time to tell Lena we need to go home. Your mum leaving, changes everything. How Lena will take it, I don’t know, she may be angry or upset - but we must stand firm and not be swayed.’
‘And about time too,’ Chris said looking vindicated. ‘No offence Garry mate, but I’ve said all along that woman is a bit loopy. Ok, she’s been great with Adam, but she’s a little too nice at times, and too over-generous. It feels like there’s something behind it. When Delia went like she did, it only added to the sense of uneasiness I’ve had all along.’
‘I like Lena,’ Adam said, picking up the thread of conversation. ‘I’ve had a great time, but I want to see my friends and nan as well.’
‘To my way of thinking, she’s probably got more than an inkling our departure is imminent so it may not be such a shock to her. She can’t expect you to want to stop here when mom’s gone home!’
‘Let’s hope you’re right Tom. I’ll go a
nd see Lena at once. Wish me luck. Hope she doesn’t take it the wrong way,’ he said raising his eyebrows a little edgily.
Garry went downstairs determined to do this, but in his heart felt he was throwing her hospitality back in her face. It had all been an unforgettable experience, and he truly was thrilled he’d been reconciled with his mother, but the bottom line was it hadn’t worked out for them on the island. She would surely want to remain in contact with them, and perhaps even spend time together when their commitments allowed; maybe one day she might even visit them in ‘dreary Dexford’.
He had hoped to find her either in the dining room or outside on the patio, but she was in neither of these places. Instead, he entered the lounge to see her walking back and forth, manuscript in hand. Peering down through a pair of oval spectacles, she seemed totally immersed in learning her lines, and hadn’t noticed him enter the room.
‘Are you all right, Lena?’ He asked apprehensively as he sat in the armchair opposite her.
‘Oh hello Garry - I’m fine thanks. Just reading through this script, trying to get my head inside the character I’m hoping to play.’
‘From what you’ve told me, I’d say you’re perfect for the role.’
‘Do you think so?’ Her face came alive with pleasure and smiles, obviously thrilled he should say such a nice thing.
‘Of course, it’s you to a tee.’
‘It’s lovely of you to say so – that means everything to me, son. With you and your family’s support, I’m sure this part will bring the best out of me.’
Garry bit his bottom lip and rubbed his nose, almost changing his mind about telling her they all wanted to leave. But he had to do this, and wouldn’t sleep easy until he knew Delia was safe.
‘I’m not sure how to tell you this Lena… ’ he began.
‘Tell me what, darling?’ Lena mumbled, still pre-occupied with the script she was reading, her eyes never leaving the paper.
Garry rolled his eyes at her; was she acting or genuinely preoccupied? There was an eerie silence for what seemed like an eternity, until finally as if it had suddenly come back to her, she spoke. ‘So what’s on your mind Garry? You seem worried about something. There’s no need to be, dear. But if you’re going to tell me, would you please hurry up? I haven’t got time to dawdle; I must get back to this script.’
