CHAPTER 48
We were back to the grind of our studies after that, of course, and I found it a particular variety of ‘interesting’ the way my attitude to them was changing. In climbing guides, ‘interesting’ is often a euphemism for ‘terrifying’, but this was the more commonly understood meaning.

The first few days at Bangor had been exciting, everything being new and engrossing. The first lectures and tutorials had reinforced that mood, as a wealth of new fields of study had opened up and… now it was more of a chore. I had imagined an endless round of physical activities, but so much of it was in the classroom. My interest was still there, but I found myself having to work hard on such things as time management and focus. I might find, for example, that Subject A was more interesting than Subject B, but both were necessary for my final success, and so I had to fight the temptation to put all of my efforts into the area I found interesting in the common sense, because if I didn’t, that other meaning of the word would take over. Mam was the one who put me straight in the end, with advice about pacing, scheduling and all sorts of stuff about organised task lists.

It took a while, but I got there. Alys didn’t seem to be in the same boat, but that was Alys—always far more cerebral than me. Her work in the hills had always been systematic, such as her use of that metre square plant-counting thing, whereas while my own focus could be just as narrow, it shifted from hold to hold as I moved.

It took until after the Christmas holidays before I finally settled into a routine, and if it hadn’t been for the support I got from Alys and our families, I might have walked away. There was one thing, though, that held me there, and that was the way I realised some of my fellow students needed me.

Trefor had been the first, then Lee, and for some odd reason, I seemed to fall into the role of Agony Aunt. Alys, as ever, saw things far more clearly than I did.

“I think they see you as safe, love. I don’t think there are any other girls like you in the class, so the boys see you as ‘safe’, and Tref wouldn’t be interested anyway. Safe to talk to, no assumptions to be made”

She laughed, suddenly.

“And I think that they worry that if they stepped over the mark, Jordan, Tref or Lee would gut them!”

That remark shocked me.

“Really? Why?”

We were sitting on her sofa, waiting for the rest of our families to arrive for a joint meal, as her Mam did something technical in the kitchen. She pulled me into a tighter cuddle.

“So blind at times, you are. .Jordan because of all sorts of stuff, but mainly because we took him out and let him say who he is for the first time. We introduced Tref to Neil, of course. Lee because… Because you took him over a roadblock in his climbing. That bit with Steph’n’Geoff, looking at climbs harder than he could do, letting him see how they could be done. You all made a big impression there”

She sighed, and kissed me on top of my head.

“I suspect, with that bit about his Dad, he has a need for someone to look up to. You know what?”

“What?”

“I think this fits in with your course. Not just coaching someone, but that bit you showed me, about outdoor activity as therapy? I suspect that’s where Lee might be. Sorry love”

“Sorry for what?”

“Gives you a load you have to live up to”

Suddenly, she giggled.

“How does it go? You can say ‘arsebollocks’ now if you want”

“Arsebollocks, then! Now, there’s something else going on. I know when you are moving and shaking. What are you up to?”

“Ah, after Christmas it is. And it involves the two lads. There are a couple of shared houses coming up in the New Year, according to the student housing office, and I fancy a bit of independence, I do. We spoke about this before. For me, it’s a double whammy—I get to live somewhere that isn’t full of people who know my history. Just another woman student doing her best to balance learning and liver destruction”

She was teasing, as she had never shown any inclination for getting drunk, or at least not that drunk, taking Tenerife into account. I suppose her need to remain in control, not getting ‘read’ by strangers, lay behind some of that, but then again she was in so many ways an observer. She led conversations by sitting and listening, then sliding a bon mot in, rather than declaiming loudly. Once again, so unlike the boys we had been at school with.

“Alys?”

“That’s my name”

“You talked this over with your parents?”

“I have. I thought, you know, we had already discussed it, the two of us…”

“Yup. We did. That means, if you spoke to yours, then mine will most definitely know. Where are these places, then?”

Deal done. Mam just grinned when I cornered her at home, in the kitchen, where she had just brewed up.

“You didn’t think it was going to be Mam Taxi forever, did you? Dad has been planning this for a while. Have you considered where rent money is to come from?”

That was a moment I felt how utterly immature I really was.

“Oh…”

Mam continued, almost seamlessly.

“Which is why we prepared for this, me and your Dad. We have been looking at the way things have changed over the years. When we were young—don’t you look at me like that! We were, once!”

We laughed together, and she leant back against the sink.

“Tuition was free back then. Grants, as well. You know we sorted out your fees, yes?”

“Yes…”

“Well, we also went all posh as well. You, love… You are all we have, yes? Well, we set up a fund, one of those tax-free savings things. Been adding to it, and, well, this is the hard bit for you. You will be working the holidays from now on, in the bunkhouse”

“I know, Mam. I already do that”

“Yes, but from now on its not family stuff. We will be employing you, formally, wages and all. Your mission, should you choose to accept it--- hang on, do you know that one? Anyway, you need to make sure that whatever you do for your gap year, placement, whatever they call it, is a paying job”

She took a sip of her tea, then grinned.

“Which is why we have already collared Vernon at the Brenin, and sorted that bit. Not stupid, your parents”

We ended up in a hug, of course, and she continued her sort of interrogation.

“House share, yes? Any candidates?”

“Ah. Places Alys found, they’re three-beds. She’s already got the other two rooms sorted, couple of lads on my course. You met them at the cow, yeah? Trefor and Lee”

“The climber, and the lad Neil cornered? Yes. I remember. Enfys… can I just say you’ve done us proud, choosing someone like… Choosing Alys to love. I can’t think of a better choice2

“No choice, Mam. Just, well, how could I not?”

“Fair point, fairly made. Now. What we need to do is see how the rent agreement works, wherever you end up. I have some friends in the Uni legal office, and they can have a look at it, see if there are any obvious nasties. Proud of you, love. Sorts out one big problem for me and Dad, of course”

“Such as?”

She put on an arch look.

“Who to sponge off in our dotage, of course”

Alys, Trefor, Lee and I moved into the house in the Spring term. I will gloss over the shock of having to sort everything from electricity bills to food runs, and pointedly ignore the subject of housework rosters. In the end, we found a sort of armed truce, but Tref still took a long time to understand that if he wanted to eat porridge every morning, he needed to ensure the milk supply was topped up.

In the end, though, it was me and Alys, and we were together, which was all that mattered.