The Long Way Home

by Phillip Overton

  Chapter 19

  July 1986

  Rowena looked through the curtains at the car headlights that swung into her driveway and slowly made their way up to the front of the house. The quiet Sunday evening was shattered as the car engine died and the doors opened to the sound of three squealing kids who raced up the steps of the front porch and banged excitedly on the front door. Rowena opened the front door to be greeted with a chorus of excited chatter from her niece, nephew and son, all talking over each other so that she couldn’t understand a single word they were saying.

  “Hi Rowena.” Her sister Gail laughed as she walked up the front steps. “Did you catch any of that?”

  “Not a word. Hi Tim, thanks for bringing him back.” Rowena called to Tim who was busy locking the doors on his new silver BMW. Tim just waved as he walked around the car, checking each door twice before he too made his way up the front steps. “Come inside, I’ll put the kettle on and make us all coffee.”

  The children stepped inside the house and stood blocking the doorway as they continued to talk loudly about everything they had done over the school holidays.

  “Look Mum, Uncle Tim got me a rugby league jersey when he took me to see the Sea Eagles play, and Manly won!” Simon finally got a word in.

  “That’s fantastic Simon.” She said as she looked down at the baggy jersey her son was wearing. It was white with maroon stripes and looked five sizes too big for him. Judging by the printed sponsor name across the chest and embroidered team badge, Tim had spared no expense. It looked like an authentic player’s jersey. “Make sure you look after it won’t you, it will probably last you a long time.”

  “I hope you don’t mind.” Tim laughed as he stepped inside. “I wanted to get him a jersey the same as the players wear on field as a little goodbye present, but the smallest size I could get him was a small men’s. He didn’t seem to mind, and at least it should last him a few years.”

  “It almost looks like a dress on him, it’ll probably last him ‘till he’s 20.” Rowena laughed. “Thanks Tim, you didn’t have to do that.”

  “I hope it helps him remember the fun times we all had together.” Tim said as put Simon’s bag down on the floor beside the lounge chair.

  Simon had already raced down the hallway to his bedroom with Justin and Lynnie. No doubt they would already be pulling all the toys out of the toy box and making a mess on the floor.

  “Have you had dinner?” Rowena asked as she picked up her empty dinner plate from the coffee table in front of the television.

  “Yeah, we stopped and took the kids to McDonalds on the way here. I noticed they’ve just opened one beside the highway as you come into town, the area must really be going ahead.” Gail commented as she sat down in what used to be her mother’s lounge chair.

  “It’s grown heaps out this way, the council even changed its name from Gosford Shire to Gosford City Council recently, it’s a real boom area now.” Rowena called over her shoulder as she left the room. “I’ll just put the kettle on.”

  Gail and Tim sat quietly on the lounge chair, listening to Rowena in the kitchen as she got the coffee mugs from the cupboard while in the background the sound of the kids playing happily filtered through from the other end of the house. A few minutes later she returned carrying a small tray with three mugs of fresh coffee and a packet of biscuits and set it down on the coffee table.

  “Thanks Rowena.” Gail said as she carefully picked up her mug before turning to face her sister with a huge smile on her face. “Guess what happened last week?”

  “You got an offer on the house?”

  “Even better, they signed a contract. We didn’t even have to negotiate a price they just put a deposit down after they looked through the house.”

  “You’re kidding, that’s unheard of.” Rowena tried to be happy for her sister. “So I guess that’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about now.”

  “Yeah, it’s a real blessing.” Gail sighed with the sickly sweet tone that Rowena had come to hate.

  “It means that we can move down earlier than we had planned.” Tim said as he reached forward to help himself to another biscuit. “I need to start work in Melbourne next week so there’s no need for Gail to stay behind now, the agent will take care of the rest when the settlement date is reached.”

  “So when are you leaving?” Rowena asked, already afraid that the date was going to be sooner than she had expected.

  “The removal truck is coming on Wednesday morning. They’ve let Tim take the week off work, we’ll be packed by then. Once they start loading the furniture there’s no need for us to hang around so we’ve arranged for the agent to stop by and collect the keys and we’re going to head off in the car. We figure we’ll stay the night in a motel somewhere along the way and arrive the next day before the removalist truck gets there.”

  “That is sooner than you thought.” Rowena felt saddened by the news.

  “I know. The kids are going to school on Monday and Tuesday to say goodbye to their friends and come next Monday they’ll be starting at their new school down in Melbourne.” Gail paused to let her sister absorb the news. “I guess tonight is goodbye Rowena. I’m going to miss being able to drive up and see you like this.”

  “Don’t go crying on me Gail. We’ll see each other again when you come to visit soon. Who knows, I may even come down to Melbourne for a holiday.”

  “I’d like that.” Gail sobbed as she wiped away the tears that ran down her cheeks.

  “How did Simon take the news when you told him?” Rowena asked.

  “Oh we had some tears that night, but I think he understands now that just because we’re going to be living further away doesn’t mean we’re going to love him any less. He’s had a great time for the last two weeks. We took him to the city on the ferry, they had the day at the pier and we even went for a swim at Manly Beach one last time even though its winter and the water was more than just a bit chilly.”

  “He loved going to the football.” Tim added. “I told him that any time he missed us all he had to do was put on his Manly Sea Eagles jersey and watch them play on the telly. By the way, you might want to wash it as soon as you can, Gail’s managed to get it off him once to put through the wash but apart from that he’s practically lived in it for the last week.”

  The three of them shared a laugh.

  “Hey, I noticed the for sale sign on the elderly couple’s home across the road.” Gail suddenly remembered. “We saw it as we arrived, are they selling up?”

  Rowena’s smile disappeared as a saddened look washed over her face.

  “No Gail,” she sighed. “They passed away just a week and a half ago.”

  “I’m sorry to hear Rowena, what happened?”

  “She died of old age, I guess time just caught up to her. I went to her funeral on the Wednesday, by the Friday he was gone too. They say he died of a broken heart, his family buried him just last Tuesday less than a week later. It was so sad, the Braddleys were such a lovely old couple, they’d lived across the street since before Doug and I bought this place shortly after we got married. It seemed like they would always be there, and now they’re gone.”

  “That’s so sad. They sound like they were in love ‘till the end. Does Simon know because he was friends with them am I right?”

  “Not yet, it happened after I dropped him off at your place for the school holidays. I don’t want to break it to him tonight, he’s come back so happy. I guess I’ll have to tell him in the morning before he starts back at school, otherwise he’s likely to call around there in the afternoon.”

  “That’s too bad, I’m sure by the sound of them that they’re in a better place right now watching over him proudly.”

  The three of them sat quietly in the lounge room listening to the kids playing happily in Simon’s bedroom. There were so many memories that Rowena had in this house that involved her sister. She had been here for her when she had separated from Doug, when the two of them had go
t back together and finally she had supported her through their divorce. When Simon had been in the hospital for nearly six weeks she had driven up to help with the housework, do the washing, the shopping and even pay some of her bills for her while Rowena had stayed at Simon’s bedside. There were good memories too, birthdays and outings together to the beach up to recently when the two of them seemed to drift apart. Finally there was the memory they were creating now, sitting quietly in the lounge room sharing a cup of coffee for the last time. Unknown to either of them, it would be the last time they would see each other again.