CHAPTER 20
It wasn’t the best day for flying, but at least the skies were clear. It was the wind that was the problem, and I wondered if my attempt at cleverness would backfire.

The Emirates plane was a Boeing 777, and I had spotted that the seating towards the rear was in blocks of two instead of three. That would give us more room and privacy, but the wind made it likely that the plane would be a bit lively in its motion, and that would be amplified by our position. I didn’t really fancy starting the trip on my knees in an aeroplane toilet.

Dennis and Kirsty had brought my godson to the airport to see us off, the mite wrapped up in enough gear for an Everest attempt. They made an odd pairing, not just because of their difference in height, but because of the way they attended to little DA. Both of them were so protective it frightened me, and I was friend rather than foe. Kirsty was never out of contact with the baby, her expression forever slightly tense, as she spotted yet another problem, whether it be a loose booty or incipient wind. Den, on the other hand, whilst just as protective, spent a great deal of time just smiling in a slightly dreamy way. It was clear to us both exactly how much the child meant to both, and the added bonus for me was seeing how they were so clearly as devoted to each other as to their child. God help a certain older woman if Kirsty ever got her alone.

We took a quick lunch with them in the Wetherspoon’s, Eric eager to have his last taste of real beer before their enforced separation. Den was thoughtful, his son on his lap as he fed him a bottle.

“So, Annie…big step”

“Dennis Armstrong, that is about as banal a statement of utter truth as I have ever heard, aye? Yes, it is a big step, but it is a step I should have taken years and years ago. Look, it’s like…like you being a dad, aye? I know you went through an awful lot of shit before getting to where you are, so it’s the best analogy I can find. Same here, aye? Years and years of false starts, lost hopes, and then someone comes along, and smiles at me, and takes me warts and all for myself, and the world’s suddenly right”

Eric had taken my hand at that, and when he quietly muttered “Bloody big wart” Kirsty laughed so hard DA began crying, so he was taken from bottle to breast. One of the bar staff was quickly over.

“Do you have to do that here? People are complaining”

Eric sighed. “Look, love, the way she has her top, nobody can see anything, and after all there is nothing more natural”

“It’s indecent. There are laws.”

Eric’s tone changed, sharply, and I saw the man I was marrying come out to play.

“Firstly, MISS, it is not indecent. Secondly, people have not complained, as you came straight over as soon as the child started to feed. Thirdly, as a regular at these establishments, they pride themselves on being family friendly. And last of all, no, there is no law against it.”

She drew herself up to her full anaemic height. “What are you, some sort of copper?”

Eric smiled, and there were teeth there. “No, I run a path lab. These three, however…”

We got an apology twenty minutes later from the bar manager. In the presence of our young lady, and I bit my tongue before I said anything that might, er, bring the Force into disrepute. As we walked towards the security checks, Kirsty whispered to me.

“Do you think your surgeon might have a bed for that bitch? Hers has obviously healed up”

I was still laughing at X-ray.

That farewell was emotional, Kirsty in tears and Dennis nearly breaking my ribs. He held Eric’s hand for the longest of moments, before a mutter of “Bring her back, mate” and they were gone.

I had chosen a lightweight maxi skirt with flat shoes for the trip, something to wrap my legs in as I tried to sleep, and a loose peasant-style blouse. I wanted to be obviously female, but just in case of problems I was carrying the notes from Raj and Sally. To my delight, there wasn’t even a flicker of interest from the security people, no rub-down, no accusatory shout of ‘freak’, and it wasn’t till after we were in the duty-free lounge that I realised how worried I had been.

We bought books, we bought memory cards, and we had an expensive coffee looking out over the airfield.

“This seat free?”

Steph, and more emotion. I caught her eye as Eric disappeared to the gents’, and she knew immediately.

“Yes, Annie, it will hurt, but that just emphasises what a step you are taking. It’s matchmaking, really, finding a body you can live with for the rest of your natural”

Her eyes had caught Eric as he walked off to the toilets, and she smiled.

“Mind you, his isn’t exactly bad, is it?”

So typical of her, she hits me spot on with such an important point, and then leaves me laughing.

“We both seem to like the small athletic sort, aye? Sarah must think we lack all taste in men”

“Yes, and there’s our problem. Lithe athletes, yeah, and a full year. Are you with us in August? Up for a ride in a van?”

Arsebollocks, I had almost forgotten, and in a moment of uncharitable thoughts about my man I wondered if he had arranged this trip so that I would be fit not only for our nuptials, and Den and Kirsty’s, but also for doing support duties on the Paris Brest Paris. That tickled Steph.

“Being suspicious, love, goes with both our jobs. Na, Bill and Jan are coming over, and I rather suspect Kelly and Mark, so there will be plenty there, no need for you…”

“Do not be so bloody stupid, Steph, you teasing sod! Just let me know what we will need, what I will need, and I will be there. Now, man on horizon…”

"Yes, Annie, and gate number on the screen. Look after yourself, and you know, if you need anything, just call. I do have a bit of an inside track on this one, yeah?”

Hugs, and tears, and off to the gate, and suddenly we were rolling down the runway and I was, Annie was, finally on her way to reality. Eric was fumbling beside the window (he’s a man, of course he got the window seat) and then he turned to me with a smile, showing me the screen of his camera.

“Got it!”

There, on the camera’s viewscreen, was a neatly framed picture of our house. Well, I had to kiss him again. I was right about the turbulence, though, and as we climbed the tail definitely wagged, and I had visions of the boys with the kite in Wales, the long and serpentine chain of ribbons was where I seemed to be sitting, but it smoothed as we climbed, and then the cabin crew were up and about, and that was another pleasant surprise: the food was actually more than edible!

“Eric, love, we seem to have a busy year lined up”

“Why, what do you have planned?”

“Two weddings and a funeral if you keep teasing. What do you want to do about PBP?”

“Well, I rather thought I might start by riding from Paris to Brest, and then…back again?”

“Sod that you are. Steph was talking about doing support for the two of you”

The teasing manner stopped, as if a switch had been thrown.

“As long as you are there, I will feel better. I will admit, I am nervous as all hell about the ride”

“You will have Geoff with you, aye?”

“Yeah, but it’s twelve hundred K, yeah?”

“I’ll take a crate of ale over….”

He started to laugh again.

“What’s so funny?”

“You realise now what image I am going to be holding in my head for the ride, now? You, in a Paris hotel room, lying naked on the bed, a bottle of Hook Norton in each hand!

I cuddled up to him across the armrest.

“Could be arranged, aye?”

We changed planes in the dark at Dubai, a soulless shopping complex with all sorts of odd people from a vast array of origins all seeming in a hurry to spend cash on everything from gold to chocolate, and then we were off again into the darkness, and after I had struggled to keep up with the plots of the various films on the back of the seat in front of me I realised that I had actually been sleeping in short bursts. Everything was topsy-turvy; the brilliant daylight outside the cabin contrasted with the darkness within, as people fought to adjust their body clocks. Time dragged, until the cabin began to stir, and suddenly we had food again, and the blinds were going up. I looked out of the plane once more, at the arid plains of India, and giggled.

“Penny for them?”

“Nothing big, Eric, was just thinking that the baby was wrapped up ready for climbing Everest, and, well, it’s just over there, aye?”

A long flight, and all it was broke down into little snippets of silliness and affection. That was how my life now was, I realised, just like the flight. I woke up, I reached out, and there he was beside me.