Chapter 1

Mike woke up early on Thursday morning. He looked at his watch on the floor by his bed and decided to get up: if he let himself go back to sleep he might oversleep and miss seeing Pete off.

It was another fine day and he slipped out to the corner shop for a paper and a litre of milk. Then he had some cereal, washed up all the things from last night’s meal with the Js, and sat down to read the paper.

There was an article on the military manoeuvres in China, that gave Mike the feeling that it was a press release from the armed forces, subtly written to look like straightforward, unsophisticated journalism. A public relations exercise; calculated opinion moulding; propaganda of a very sophisticated kind. He wondered how much of it was true; how much, if any, downright false; how much distorted, and in what respects. How well was it related to things people might know, to tie it into people’s perception of reality?

Or whether, perhaps, it really was straightforward, unsophisticated journalism. But how would they come by some of the information they presented as bald fact? Perhaps from armed forces press releases.

There had been an aircrash in Turkey. There’d been no Britons aboard, and only a few Americans and West Europeans; it only merited a couple of column inches.

There weren’t many jobs: the usual armed forces adverts, and the ads for ‘construction work’ – shelters – abroad had resumed after the mysterious hiatus of the last couple of weeks. A couple of jobs for trainee technicians at the new power station at Speeton; temporary labourers to help erect overhead lines on the railway; and one for a local delivery driver. Boring.

Mike walked into town via Branch Road to avoid bumping into Pete before they got to the bus station; he didn’t know why, but he wanted seeing him off to be a surprise. He got there before Pete, but there was already a motley crowd waiting at the ‘Special Coaches’ stand. He assumed that they were all waiting for the same bus. The bus arrived; it said ‘Glasgow Airport for Helsinki’ on the front. It was almost half-full already; maybe it had started at Sheffield or somewhere. Still no sign of Pete, but it was five minutes before the bus was due to leave.

Everybody got on, except a girl who seemed vaguely familiar to Mike; then a family with two small children arrived running, with an impossible amount of luggage, and finally Pete appeared round the corner of Carter’s with a small kitbag.

The girl ran over to Pete and kissed him, and said something Mike couldn’t hear; Mike didn’t know what to do with her there. They came straight over to him, and Pete was saying,

‘I’ve been down to the Britannia to say goodbye, Jenny said you’d come here,’

‘Hello Mike, this is Cathie; Cathie this is Mike.’

‘I know.’ She stretched out her arm to Mike, and pulled them all together into a big hug. ‘Look after yourself, Pete love. See you soon.’

Mike produced his camera from his haversack, and said, ‘Here, take some pictures for me. And here’s a spare roll of film. Hey, I think they want you to get on.’

Pete took the camera and the roll of film, gave Cathie one last kiss, and then the bus was roaring up the hill. They were the only two waving it off.

‘I’ve got to get back to the Britannia – I’m not supposed to have left at all. Jenny’s on her own and it’s awfully busy. If you’ve got time, come down and have a cuppa and we’ll have a chat if I can get a free moment.’

‘I can’t see anyone minding you deserting your post for a few minutes every now and then if you’re going out on the streets pulling customers in!’

Quick shy grin.

When they got to the Britannia there was a tremendous queue. Cathie apologized for having been so long and began serving beside Jenny. Mike joined the tail of the queue. There were more people behind him before he reached the counter, and his tea was finished before Cathie had a chance to come and sit down, bringing another cup of tea for Mike and one for herself.

‘He’s a dark horse, that Peter. He’s never said a word about you.’

‘There wasn’t really anything to say until yesterday.’

‘I feel a bit awkward talking like this behind his back.’

‘You don’t need to feel bad. He’s not like that. It’d never even occur to him not to trust us both, so he wouldn’t be worried what we might say to each other.’

‘You seem to know him pretty well for one day! I’ve known him for years, and I think you’re right, but I would never have worked it out so clearly for myself.’

‘We spent the whole of yesterday together, but I’ve known him a lot longer than that. He’s been a regular here for ages. He’s ever so shy, but you can read him like a book.’

Cathie had to go back to her work after a short time, but not until she’d extracted a promise from Mike to come in the following evening, when she wouldn’t be so busy. Jenny too smiled at him as he left a few minutes later.

Well, there’s a turn up for the book. Pete’s got himself a new girlfriend already. Or perhaps more like she’s got him, but he seems very happy. She seems a very nice lass. Very conscious and considerate.

Jill and Mike had arranged to meet in the library; whichever of them got there first would be reading ‘current periodicals’. Only a few new issues had come in since he’d last been there, and he’d got right down to ‘The Engineer’ and ‘Sweden Now’ before Jill arrived. ‘Sweden Now’ was more interesting than he’d anticipated – he’d never read it before – with some not-quite-orthodox political analyses backed up with some solid information, complete with sources.

Maybe I should check some of them out. Anyone can quote sources if the’re confident no-one will follow them up. But I know I’ll never bother – it all FEELS right.

‘Hello love.’

‘Hello.’ There was no-one else in the reading room to mind the noise. ‘June’s gone to help her Auntie Alice decorate her living room now that the workmen have gone; there’s only thee and me.’

‘It’s a lovely day. Let’s get some pies and fruit and go and sit in the sun on Rose Hill or somewhere.’

The market was quite busy. They bumped into Tony and Steve, who chatted to them about nothing in particular for ten minutes; and Pete’s upstairs neighbour Timothy, who didn’t. He nodded in acknowledgement and hurried on his way.

On Rose Hill they were alone again.

‘You won’t believe this. You’ll never guess who else saw Pete off this morning.’

‘I can’t.’

‘No, I know, I really meant you’d never guess. One of the waitresses from the Britannia, Cathie her name is. They spent all yesterday together and seem quite serious about each other.’

‘It’s a bit quick isn’t it? Doesn’t sound like Pete.’

‘I don’t think Pete made any of the moves. I think Cathie’s had her eye on him for a while. And she’s quite self-assured.’

‘You seem to know a lot about her.’

‘She took me back to the Britannia after we’d seen Pete off and we had quite a chat. She seems a very nice girl.’

‘Hey, what are we going to do about Pete and June? I’m sure there’s no way they’re going to get back together, but they can’t drive a wedge between everyone else. I’ve scarcely seen Pete since; and you are starting to lead two separate lives.’

‘I wish I knew. Perhaps Pete being away for a couple of weeks is a blessing in disguise: maybe I should introduce you and June to Cathie and all be friends when he gets back.’

‘That doesn’t sound like such a bright idea to me. He’d feel we’d been plotting behind his back. I could see him getting squeezed out again.’

‘Maybe, but I don’t think so. Cathie said something very true, that wouldn’t have occurred to me. She said... I can’t remember exactly, but something about how unsuspicious Pete is. He just assumes his friends are his friends. I know, she said she was sure he wouldn’t mind me and her chatting about him with him away.’

‘I bet Cathie’d be as embarrassed as hell meeting June.’

‘I doubt it, but June might be; but I’m sure I can ask Cathie about meeting you. And if Cathie’s game, you can ask June.’

‘Mmm.’ Doubtful sounding.

A jet trail was progressing across the sky, away over to the east; it pointed out the little silent brilliant speck that was the aircraft catching the sun. It put Mike in mind of Pete, and that by now he’d be in a plane for the first time in his life. None of the rest of them ever had been. He’d be over the North Sea by now, or somewhere over Scandinavia.

Mike thought of the aircrash in Turkey, and then tried to forget about it again.

I cross roads every day without thinking about the old lady I saw knocked down.

When it began to get cold in the early evening, they went back to Jill and June’s house, and did a bit of tidying up and made themselves a meal. Old George from next door came round to ask for help with the crossword, and they had a very difficult time with it until they realized that he’d got a crucial clue wrong. Then he got them playing cards until June came in about nine o’clock.

‘I’d better be going on home, ’ he said, and shuffled out.

It wasn’t that June was openly hostile or impolite towards him, but he made her uneasy and he knew it. Mike and Jill took him as they found him, and he felt relaxed with them.

They drank tea and chatted until quite late, but somehow the subject of Pete, and Finland, and Cathie, didn’t seem to come up at all.

It had clouded over and was beginning to drizzle by the time Mike was walking home. He wondered what Pete’s hotel in Helsinki was like. What would Pete do tomorrow – well, today – in a big city, not knowing a word of the language, and with next to no money? Or, for that matter, what had Pete been doing for the past couple of weeks, in Burnfield, with next to no money?

Mike was confident Pete would find things to do. Though he might get lonely, he’d manage all right. Mike hoped he’d done the right thing pressing him into going. The Cathie question complicated the whole issue, but there was no allowing for the completely unforeseen.

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