Old Boys by Nick Spalding

Author:Nick Spalding [Spalding, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amazon Publishing UK
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Bridge

‘Oh my. That must be so hard for Red.’

‘Mmmm.’

‘To have something you love . . . the thing that made you who you are, taken away from you like that must be just awful.’

‘Mmmm.’

‘Will? Are you listening to me?’

‘Mmmm.’

‘Will!’

‘Aah!’ Banjo’s lead jerks in my hand as I start. ‘Christ, Audrey, do you want to give me a heart attack?’

‘Are you listening to anything I’m saying?’ my wife repeats as we stroll alongside the canal – a regular walking spot for Banjo over the years, and one we have very much enjoyed coming to in the past.

‘Yeah, yeah. I’m listening,’ I lie.

I haven’t been listening at all.

I’ve been stuck in a cloud of rumination almost the entire time we’ve been walking. This is partly because I’m not sure that there’s much conversation to be had with my wife at the moment that won’t prove painful – and partly because the things Red told me in his studio are revelations I’m having trouble dealing with.

Audrey’s eyes narrow. ‘You don’t seem all that concerned about your father’s failing health.’

I stop in my tracks. ‘I’m concerned about it alright,’ I tell her. ‘I just . . . don’t really know what to say or do about it.’

Audrey looks me square in the eyes. ‘It’s a shock to you, isn’t it?’

‘Of course it’s a shock! There’s clearly a real human being underneath all that leather and attitude, and I don’t know how to cope with that.’

Audrey scoffs. ‘You didn’t think of him as a real human being?’

‘No. Not really. When your bloody father is a rock god, it’s hard to think of him as anything other than that. Especially when you’re a kid. I never got to know him as an adult, so the rock god thing stuck in my head.’ I look out over the canal for a moment. ‘It’s like finding out Superman has haemorrhoids.’

Audrey laughs at this, possibly involuntarily. It’s nice to hear, even if the subject matter is a little dark.

She’s the one who suggested we meet up here for this walk with Banjo when I called her. She could tell there was something playing on my mind almost the second she got on the phone.

I leapt at the chance, suffice to say.

Nothing has really changed in the shifted dynamic of our relationship, I’m sad to report. There’s a . . . coldness? A reluctance? A strangeness there now, that makes me feel a little sick. Our problems have most definitely not gone away.

But it’s clear she misses me. The same way I miss her.

And I will take some sort of solace in that fact, if nothing else.

Banjo spent five minutes acting like an excited, furry maniac when he saw me get out of the car, and I can’t pretend I was less excited to see him.

‘Well, Red is human, Will. Just like the rest of us,’ Audrey says. ‘And maybe one who could do with accepting he has to slow down a little.’

It’s my turn to scoff. ‘Red admit he needs to slow down? Good luck with that.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.