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Jan. 19th, 2006 12:49 amHis watch beeps a little alarm.
He wasn't asleep anyway. The time reads ten minutes to midnight. Enough time to slip on a hat, coat and scarf and go quietly downstairs.
He walks quickly and quietly through the bar, taking care to avoid people from bizarre time zones who might question what he was up to at so late an hour for him. He goes straight out of the back door and heads for the forest, switching on a torch as he goes.
He wonders whether it matters if it is midnight, or even which time zone it is supposed to be in, but he goes into the trees nonetheless. The logical part of him tells him he is being silly. No such thing as ghosts.
The illogical part reminds him this is Milliways.
His watch bleeps midnight and he looks around. He sits down on a log and gets out a candle, which he lights and places on a saucer of water, just in case. He glances around to check he wasn't followed, then...
"Dad? Are you here?"
The darkness seems to absorb his words. He watches and listens.
"Dad, it's Gurpreet. Gorlim said I might find ghosts here. Are you here?"
The bushes gently rustle nearby. The candle flickers and goes out. Hardly daring to breathe he looks around the darkness. There is something in the distance that moves slowly. He approaches.
"Dad?"
He shines the torch and finds a tree. A tree that, by the looks of it, has long since fallen.
Burned.
A pile of charcoal. Just that one tree in isolation. And in its branches the skeleton of a tree house. The sign on the wood still reads 'Privet'.
He knows the tree house. His sanctuary when things at home just got too much until the day when his father followed him and burned it to the ground. The place where he could meet the forbidden childhood playmate.
How much he had hated his father for ruining their fun, and burning the tree house he had spent so long making. But there was something else. A new memory. A facial expression. One that had been there when his punishment was handed out.
An expression that said 'I'm sorry'.
A lost memory until tonight. He'd been so angry, he'd remembered the bitterness, how he'd thought about running away with Jake so they could play every day. He'd remembered one of his few childhood tantrums. But now that face is clear.
He breaks down and sobs bitterly. The tears are exhausting after the last few days but still they run down his cheeks.
"Dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ever hating you when you just wanted what was best for me. I'm sorry for resenting you even when Jake turned out the way he did. I'm sorry for hating you for being right about him.
I'm sorry for ever believing that you really didn't love me. Because I know you did, even if you had an odd way of showing it.
I'm sorry for yelling and screaming at you. I'm sorry for betraying you to Harry.
I'm sorry we never got to play cricket in the park.
I'm sorry for trying to force you to live up to my ideals. For not accepting you for who you were, just as you never accepted me."
He is shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.
"I love you and respect you more than anyone in the world. You were my childhood idol. I would have done anything to get your love back. I would have given anything to make up with you in those last few weeks.
The last few weeks that you took away.
Mum says I have damned you to hell. It doesn't have to be that way. Find this place Dad, find Milliways Bar. You can live here as a person. We can still have a relationship, the father son relationship we never had."
The wind howls through the trees, making the branches sway. Guppy sees a silhouette in the distance and runs towards it, the tears still running down his face. The torch drops and smashes but he keeps running towards the image.
Until he runs into something very solid indeed. At about half his height he bends double over it and drops to the floor, clutching his stomach and most definitely winded. He gasps and attempts to get his breath back.
"Dad, I'm here."
It is pitch black. He gets to his feet and feels the thing he ran into. Shaped like a figure, but just a fallen tree. Feeling sore, exhausted and rather sick he heads back in the direction he came. When he reaches the clearing he picks up the candle, wets the wick and puts it back in his pocket. Then he looks around for the tree house.
It has vanished.
Now, there are no tears. He feels completely exhausted, so much so that he could lie down right there... he blinks back the feeling and turns back to look where the house was.
"I love you Dad."
He turns and heads back to the bar.
He wasn't asleep anyway. The time reads ten minutes to midnight. Enough time to slip on a hat, coat and scarf and go quietly downstairs.
He walks quickly and quietly through the bar, taking care to avoid people from bizarre time zones who might question what he was up to at so late an hour for him. He goes straight out of the back door and heads for the forest, switching on a torch as he goes.
He wonders whether it matters if it is midnight, or even which time zone it is supposed to be in, but he goes into the trees nonetheless. The logical part of him tells him he is being silly. No such thing as ghosts.
The illogical part reminds him this is Milliways.
His watch bleeps midnight and he looks around. He sits down on a log and gets out a candle, which he lights and places on a saucer of water, just in case. He glances around to check he wasn't followed, then...
"Dad? Are you here?"
The darkness seems to absorb his words. He watches and listens.
"Dad, it's Gurpreet. Gorlim said I might find ghosts here. Are you here?"
The bushes gently rustle nearby. The candle flickers and goes out. Hardly daring to breathe he looks around the darkness. There is something in the distance that moves slowly. He approaches.
"Dad?"
He shines the torch and finds a tree. A tree that, by the looks of it, has long since fallen.
Burned.
A pile of charcoal. Just that one tree in isolation. And in its branches the skeleton of a tree house. The sign on the wood still reads 'Privet'.
He knows the tree house. His sanctuary when things at home just got too much until the day when his father followed him and burned it to the ground. The place where he could meet the forbidden childhood playmate.
How much he had hated his father for ruining their fun, and burning the tree house he had spent so long making. But there was something else. A new memory. A facial expression. One that had been there when his punishment was handed out.
An expression that said 'I'm sorry'.
A lost memory until tonight. He'd been so angry, he'd remembered the bitterness, how he'd thought about running away with Jake so they could play every day. He'd remembered one of his few childhood tantrums. But now that face is clear.
He breaks down and sobs bitterly. The tears are exhausting after the last few days but still they run down his cheeks.
"Dad, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for ever hating you when you just wanted what was best for me. I'm sorry for resenting you even when Jake turned out the way he did. I'm sorry for hating you for being right about him.
I'm sorry for ever believing that you really didn't love me. Because I know you did, even if you had an odd way of showing it.
I'm sorry for yelling and screaming at you. I'm sorry for betraying you to Harry.
I'm sorry we never got to play cricket in the park.
I'm sorry for trying to force you to live up to my ideals. For not accepting you for who you were, just as you never accepted me."
He is shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.
"I love you and respect you more than anyone in the world. You were my childhood idol. I would have done anything to get your love back. I would have given anything to make up with you in those last few weeks.
The last few weeks that you took away.
Mum says I have damned you to hell. It doesn't have to be that way. Find this place Dad, find Milliways Bar. You can live here as a person. We can still have a relationship, the father son relationship we never had."
The wind howls through the trees, making the branches sway. Guppy sees a silhouette in the distance and runs towards it, the tears still running down his face. The torch drops and smashes but he keeps running towards the image.
Until he runs into something very solid indeed. At about half his height he bends double over it and drops to the floor, clutching his stomach and most definitely winded. He gasps and attempts to get his breath back.
"Dad, I'm here."
It is pitch black. He gets to his feet and feels the thing he ran into. Shaped like a figure, but just a fallen tree. Feeling sore, exhausted and rather sick he heads back in the direction he came. When he reaches the clearing he picks up the candle, wets the wick and puts it back in his pocket. Then he looks around for the tree house.
It has vanished.
Now, there are no tears. He feels completely exhausted, so much so that he could lie down right there... he blinks back the feeling and turns back to look where the house was.
"I love you Dad."
He turns and heads back to the bar.
