CHAPTER 66
The night also continued in its usual way, and Linda pleased me by proving to be a simple player, competent enough to enjoy the sessions without needing to take over. She actually started a couple of tunes, both morris tunes I didn’t know, so she actually challenged my own playing. Good fun!

David was not a musician in any formal way, but he was clearly enjoying both the playing and his sense of personal fame achieved by sitting next to a Real Professional Named Musician, and I had a snort, remembering a character in more than one of my lover’s Pratchett books. A street trader, he offered various animal derived products but charged a higher price for those containing ‘named meat’. That was David, and of course I started snorting with more laughter at the thought of ‘named gammon’.

That laughter died a little, because it was coming to the end of the Summer, and that meant that I was shortly to lose my Alys for a whole year. I ended up putting my whistle down, using the excuse of empty glasses to break away from our little group before my expression cracked too badly. She noticed, of course, following me to the bar and laying an arm over my shoulder for a hug.

“What’s up, love?”

“You. Not like that, never like that. Just, well, so used to you being around, and it’s going to be a year, and, well. Don’t know if I will…”

I shook my head before I could stray into what was going to end up as emotional blackmail if I wasn’t careful. She hugged me tighter.

“Yeah, I know. Been a bit up and down, what with the travel problems”

“What problems?”

I felt her shiver.

“Got my passport changed okay, but I’ve still got to go through security and stuff, and some of the transit countries can be… Until I get my surgery, I could end up in jail, or worse. We’ve had to avoid Dubai, for example”

“I didn’t realise! Sorry!”

“Well, been taking advice from Steph, of course, but turns out there’s a non-stop flight from Heathrow to Perth. Not the cheapest, and it’s going to a stupidly long time in the air, but it’s the safest”

Stupid, stupid Hiatt. I gave her a kiss in reassurance before our drinks arrived, which brough a grin from the barman, and I left her to carry them back to our table as I popped into the ladies’. When I went to wash my hands, Linda appeared from another cubicle and took the sink next to mine.

“You okay, love? You looked out of sorts with your girlfriend”

I took a slow breath. Sod it; she’d hear it from one of the others, anyway.

“Work placement year”

“Ah. Where’s she going?”

“Perth”

“Been there. Gateway to the Highlands”

“No, the other one”

“Oh! Australia… right. Where are you going?”

“Staying at home. North Wales”

“Oh. I see. This will be… First big separation for you?”

I nodded, and to my horror realised I was about to start crying. Not good.

Linda saw the tears, and surprised me by not fussing. Instead, she turned round to lean against the sink.

“Nothing I can say will make it better love, but I understand. When David and me were starting out, he got sent to cover work in Spain. Course, being him, he drove, and I didn’t see him for ages. No Skype or Zoom back then, was there? Oh, I can almost read your mind, love! I married him for a reason, and under all that stupidity, he’s still there enough of the time to keep those reasons valid. I had six months without him, not much older than you lot are. It hurts. I won’t lie about that. But the reunion, oh yes!”

Suddenly, she was blushing and waving a hand at me.

“Forget I said that! Just remember you will be able to see her and talk to her, even if it’s only through a computer. Now, I think your mates are starting to get silly. Did two of them really fly here from the other side of the world for this?”

That was when I realised how self-absorbed I really had been. It was Shrewsbury. Of course Steph and husband would be there. How much had the tickets cost?

“Er, yeah. This is where they met, so it’s sort of a pilgrimage for them”

“You really are… Change the subject, Linda! Now, I think my David’s coming round to a better way of thinking. Jimmy’s been taking the piss out of him, and I suspect that’s down to your ginger friend”

“He not upset?”

“David? He sees it as an honour! Anyway, that dark-haired one with the flute? Is she always as over the top?”

“Annie? Oh yes. They egg each other on, those two”

Linda did hug me, just then, grinning.

“Back with us then, love? Good! Besides, that Lee’s been doing good work as well. He’s a lovely boy, and I do think our Kitz has fallen on her feet there. Come on back in; beer to drink, tunes to play, husband to take the piss out of. Can’t expect that Jimmy to do all the work, can we?”

The final departure from the site was a little emotional for ‘her Kitz’, because her father insisted on shaking hands all round, after a private word with Lee. As our bus headed back towards the coast, Tref was putting him to the question.

“Whey, it was weird, like. All about my intentions towards his daughter and that, it was like being back in the nineteen fifties”

Jordan shouted something about Lee being remarkable well-preserved if he could remember those days, and of course Lee reminded us all that there were ‘bloody films, like, some even in colour’, before sobering.

“It was odd, really. I don’t think he actually said anything, not anything meaningful. I don’t think he actually HAD anything to say. He just seemed to need to say something. Do his bit as a Dad, like”

Kitzy’s voice was quiet, as always.

“He said things to me. Not bad things, before people get worried. When we go off on placement, he wanted to know where Lee was going to be. He… He offered to buy me a cheap car, so I could travel if I needed to visit any friends. Can I just say thank you, to all of you? For being there for the two of us?”

Alys replied for the two of us.

“Well, you did pull her out of that snow hole”

Lee chipped in with a comment about having done most of the digging already, and Jordan made a theatrically loud sigh.

“How it always starts. They’ll be arguing about who gets custody of the Sticht plates and the Hex 12 next”

It was a very happy trip back, laughter constant throughout, and once back at our bunkhouse, we spent a while amalgamating all the photos onto a laptop, which travelled down to the Cow that evening, and the happy mood was still strong after Alys and I had dropped everyone else off for their trains home the following day and returned the minibus to the college.

That mood was a little different the day after, for I rode that little Honda all the way round to the start of the next valley. I mean, I knew the Brenin well, but as a user, and its inner workings were unclear. For example, how much cleaning would I have to do, and would I have to cook, and if so how often, and for how many?

In the end, the first day went smoothly enough, probably as a side-effect of my place in the Rescue, and after a quick briefing I took second fiddle to one of the regulars, Sue, as she talked a couple of groups through the mechanics of a sit harness, followed by a session cleaning and hanging up wetsuits and then an early evening class on compass work. To my surprise, I had found Ricky already there, so I was even less isolated than I had hoped. The first week continued in that vein, including some canoe work and a couple of group sessions on what the English called the Ricks and Racks, as well as Tryfan Fach. It was like being back at school.

A week later, and Alys and I were having breakfast in a hotel on Bath Road, the runway of Heathrow Airport literally across the road from us and, oddly, an indoor waterfall at one end of the dining room. I had run out of words to say to her, but Vic and Nansi were eating at a different table, so that we had that last little bit of time together. It wasn’t enough, and it wouldn’t have mattered if that time was longer, for it could never be enough. We had come down by car, the four of us, but there would be much more room on the return journey.

The breakfast was a good one, and the hotel had a shuttle bus to the terminal, where we had a slice of cake together with a posh coffee. I waited with her as she checked in her luggage, and then went with her to the security check, where we just held each other for far longer than could ever have appeared normal, before a kiss, and then my love was gone.