The record now playing was ‘Took the Last Train’ by David Gates, another of Dave’s all-time favourites – he certainly had a lot of them. It was now almost unbearably hot in the studio and he couldn’t wait until he was finished to get outside and breathe some fresh air – it just had to be cooler out there. He had heard Clive Johnson’s Isuzu Trooper pull up outside during the last track, and now Clive popped his head round the studio door.
“Hi Dave, how’s it going? I hear you’re overheating. I was listening to the show on the way over. Great music tonight. I’ve brought one of your fans with me,” and he produced a big old metal desk fan of industrial proportions!
“Hello, Clive, you’ll need that. I think that’s the only fan I’ve got tonight – the phones have been dead, except for one call that keeps trying, but there’s no one there when I answer it.”
Clive had brought his own selection of CDs and albums, all ready in the order he was going to play them, and now he started to prepare his show at a table opposite Dave.
The phone rang again and Dave answered it. “Hello, Strathdee FM, Dave Buckingham here. Speak to me.”
A faint female voice at the other end said, “Dave . . . hello . . .” and then there were some crackling noises, and again, “Dave, can you here me?” Then complete silence.
“Shit – that’s Katharina’s voice – I’m bloody sure of it – IT’S KATHARINA’S VOICE!” he shouted out.
Clive looked up, startled. “Who’s Katharina?”
“It’s my girlfriend, I mean was my girlfriend, I lost her in Europe years ago, but that’s her, THAT’S HER!”
“That was a bit careless of you wasn’t it?”
“It’s a long story, Clive, a long story.”
“Dave, try 1471.”
“Good idea, Clive,” and he dialled the number.
“You were called today at 01:12 AM. We do not have the caller’s number.”
“No joy, Clive. Maybe she’ll call back. She’s got to call back.”
The years had passed, and true to the old adage that time passes quicker the older you get, Katharina just couldn’t believe how quickly her beautiful daughter Anna had grown up. She was now a nineteen-year-old young woman, and Katharina could see so much of herself in her. She could also see lots of Dave in her. Her brilliant personality, her big brown eyes and her rich brown hair which she loved to wear in a pony tail. She had been a success at school too; so much so that she had been accepted for university, and one of the ones she had been offered was The University of Aberdeen. Her chosen subject was Forestry. She had always loved the great outdoors, trees and anything to do with them, and Aberdeen had one of the best Forestry departments in Europe, with world-class forests close at hand for field visits. Now Katharina had two weeks holiday due her, so the two of them planned to come over to Aberdeen and check it out.
Rupert had been a great influencing factor in Anna’s life – almost like a father, but known to her as Uncle Rupert. From the moment she was born, he played an active part in her life, even being present at the birth. The hospital staff mistook him for the father, and neither he nor Katharina enlightened them. He quite liked it that way, and he was extremely proud of Katharina and the way she handled the whole situation. They had become very good friends, not lovers, although when the occasion suited, they had no hesitation in providing some comfort to each other. It was a strange partnership, but one which suited both of them very well.
Rupert’s father had now retired and Rupert ran the business. Katharina thought she was very lucky to have her own personal optician – not just for her, but also for her daughter, as it was very likely that she would have inherited her mother’s problem. As it happened, she had, and by the time she was five she was already prescribed glasses. Katharina had noticed her squinting a lot when she was trying to look at her, and when the television was on she would stand very close to the screen, trying hard to see it, but only making matters worse. Rupert took them to the shop and very carefully did a test on her, making it fun as he went along. She was diagnosed with the same problem as her mother, with every likelihood that it would get worse as she got older. Now, at nineteen, she had progressed through various stages to a prescription as high as her mother. Like mother – like daughter. She took this all in her stride. She was a very matter-of-fact girl, and she saw how her mother had coped over the years, and it didn’t frighten her. It was just her – and that’s the way it was.
Katharina’s job as Group Co-ordinator with the hotel had been a great success. Her English had improved by leaps and bounds after the course, and after baby Anna was born, Aunt Petra became like a grandmother to her. She loved to take her any time she could, and often it was a friendly fight between her and the crèche for Anna.
Katharina was a natural for the job of looking after the conference centre delegates – very professional, yet very personal and friendly. She always got positive comments from everyone when they were leaving, and very often gifts too, ranging from bouquets of flowers to small items of jewellery, or toys for Anna. On numerous occasions, a delegate would ask her out to dinner, and although this was not recommended practice in her work detail, she was free to accept if she wanted.
On the week prior to the trip to Aberdeen, she had some delegates from Aberdeen Council attending a Budget Management seminar in the conference centre. The head of Budgeting and Finance, a certain Roy McNair, asked Katharina out to dinner on their last night there. She normally wouldn’t have accepted, but as this gentleman was from Aberdeen, she thought she would be able to get some useful information for their trip the following week.
They headed to one of the best restaurants in town where they had a table booked. After some small talk, they got round to talking about Aberdeen and some of the places they should visit while there. Roy explained how the airport was some distance away from the city centre at Dyce, but the public transport was good. He also explained that no matter how passable Katharina thought her English was, it was highly probable that she wouldn’t be able to understand a word from any of the locals. They spoke a strange dialect called ‘Doric’, where boys were called ‘loons’, girls were ‘quines’, the word ‘what’ was pronounced ‘fit’ and the word ‘how’ was pronounced ‘foo’. Katharina was fascinated, and couldn’t wait. Then the conversation got onto a more personal level when Roy asked, “Now then, Katharina, tell me all about yourself and how you got into this business.”
“Where do you want me to start?”
“Oh, let me see, how about at the beginning?” he smiled.
She gave him a condensed résumé of her life, concentrating on her spell on Mermaid Radio, which was the most influential and enjoyable time of her life.
She became very thoughtful as she said, “I had this wonderful boyfriend there. We did shows together, watched the sun rise together on the deck of the ship, had great laughs together and we just loved each other so much. When the station got into difficulties financially, he jumped ship. I was already ashore in Austria for my father’s funeral, and I waited for him to contact me, but he didn’t. I know he would have wanted to, but we just lost touch completely. I still love him so much that it hurts sometimes, even after all these years, but now I have to accept that I’ll never see him again. The worst part of it all is that he’ll never see his beautiful daughter. He is Anna’s father.”
Roy asked, “What is this marvellous boy’s name?”
“Dave Buckingham.”
They sat in silence for about a minute. Roy looked at Katharina, and she looked so sad. Then he dropped the bombshell.
“Dave Buckingham eh? Dave Buckingham.” He played with the name, repeating it slowly as he fiddled with his teaspoon. “This may be something or nothing, but I think I know where this guy is.”
“WHAT!” Katharina suddenly sat bolt upright. “You know where Dave Buckingham is?”
“Well, first I thought it might be someone else, but the more I think about it, it must be him.”
Katharina was on the edge of her seat, almost having kittens by now. “Where? WHERE IS HE?”
“Now, just calm down a minute and I’ll tell you. In Aberdeenshire we have a local radio station called Strathdee FM. It’s about thirty miles or so out of town, near Aboyne in Royal Deeside. You can pick it up in the city and I listen to it quite a lot. It’s got a homely sound which I like – makes a change to the slick city stations. There’s a guy on it called Dave Buckingham who I listen to at midnight until one-thirty. I like his choice of music and he has a nice laid-back style. He’s English, with a sort of London or Essex accent.”
“Could it not be someone else with the same name?” Katharina butted in.
“Yes, that’s possible, but I don’t think so.”
“How not?”
“Every time I’ve heard him, at some point in the programme he always plays a record and says ‘this one’s for Katharina’. He never says who this Katharina is, and it’s always a mystery. It’s not a mystery any longer – I’m looking at her right now. That’s your man, I’m positive of it.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or kiss him, so she did all three. She leaned over and kissed him while she was laughing, then sat down with tears streaming down her face. She had found Dave! But wait a minute, she thought, he might be married, he might have kids, he might not want to see me. But he must want to see me. Why else would he play records for me every night? He’s got to want to see me.
Finally she spoke. “I don’t know what to say, Roy, it must be fate that you asked me out tonight. I’m so sorry that we can’t take the night further, but you see, I have this boyfriend in Aberdeenshire waiting for me! And I’m going to see him next week! My daughter is going to meet her father for the first time! This is going to take a bit of organising.”
“Do you have a personal radio?” asked Roy.
“Yes. I have a Walkman with a radio on it.”
“Take it with you and take your mobile phone.” Roy wrote something down on a piece of paper he tore out of his diary. “This is a note of the frequency they broadcast on – 104 Megahertz. You will be able to pick it up in the city OK. Now, I suggest you tune in at midnight to Dave’s show. He will read out the station’s phone number several times during the show, and all you’ve got to do is call him. Here is my mobile number and my office number. I’d love to hear how you get on, but also if you have any problems or need any help, please don’t hesitate to phone me at any time, day or night.”
“You are so kind,” Katharina said, and kissed him again. She was on cloud nine for the rest of the evening as they finished their meals.
When she got back to the hotel and the staff quarters which she and Anna shared, she thought she would keep silent about this just in case it amounted to nothing and disappointed Anna. Katharina had always been upfront with her about her father, and Anna had often asked about him and made it quite clear how wonderful it would be to meet him one day. Anna was out at a concert, so Katharina sat back to relax with a magazine and her old favourite – a brandy. She only got about twenty minutes of calm before Anna swept through the door like a mini tornado. She was always so full of the joys of life, and her presence filled a room.
“Hi Mama,” she shouted cheerily as she breezed across the room. “How was your date?”
“It wasn’t a date, darling, I was getting information for our trip next week,” Katharina said patiently.
Anna sat down, reached over to Katharina’s brandy bottle, and poured herself one.
“Hey – buy your own,” Katharina scolded her.
“I don’t get wages or tips like you do, Mama Moneybags!” Katharina loved her little girl, and she loved the way she kept her so young. If the information she received was correct, then all this girl’s Christmases were going to come at once. Good job Johanna isn’t here tonight, she thought, the secret would be well and truly out!
“How was your concert, dear?” she asked her daughter.
“Oh, wicked, Mama, just wicked! You know, they released a hundred white doves into the arena and they were pooing on everyone! I put my programme over my head!”
They had a clear weekend, so they spent Saturday shopping for stuff they didn’t really need, but would be nice to have on holiday. They dived in and out of cafés and shops like bees round a flower bed, and then they went for a meal before heading back to the hotel around eight o’clock. Katharina loved these days out with her daughter. She wasn’t just a daughter, but her best friend too. Sunday started off with a lie-in, then a lazy day just lounging about their staff apartment. Around late afternoon they both took a walk in the park, feeling guilty about being so lazy. Well, we’re conserving our energy for the week ahead, Katharina thought.
Monday morning found them jostling through the crowds at Vienna International Airport for their flight to London Heathrow, where they would pick up a connecting flight to Aberdeen. It was mainly businessmen at this time on a Monday, searching through their brief cases for documents they had forgotten, speaking on mobile phones to their offices or frantically tapping on laptops trying to finish presentations they were going to need in an hour or two.
Katharina and Anna should have boarded the plane half an hour ago, but they were still sitting waiting for the announcement. Other passengers were getting very agitated and Katharina went up to the check-in desk to ask what was going on.
“Oh, I’m sorry, there has been a slight technical fault,” the girl behind the desk said to her in her best customer relations voice. “There will be an announcement made very soon.”
Within ten minutes, an announcement came over the PA system to say that the plane was experiencing technical difficulties due to a bird strike on landing, and they were waiting for technicians to arrive to assess the damage. A further announcement would follow shortly.
“This is all we need,” said Katharina in disgust. “We’ve got a two hour interval at Heathrow before our connecting flight, so they better get a move on.”
Two hours passed with no information announced. Everyone was now getting irate, and the poor check-in girl had to bring in reinforcements to help her with the onslaught. Eventually, they managed to drag the information from her that the plane had suffered fatal turbine blade damage to an engine by the bird strike, and would not be flying. A replacement plane was due to arrive in under an hour.
“What about our connecting flight at Heathrow?” Katharina screamed at the girl. “We’ve missed it altogether now. What are you going to do about that?”
The girl quite calmly said, “There are other flights going to Aberdeen from Heathrow. If at all possible, you will be allocated seats on one of them. If this is not possible, buses will be provided.”
Katharina completely lost it now. “Buses? BUSES? We’re not sitting on a bus from London to Aberdeen, you better believe it! You will give us hotel accommodation at no cost until there is a flight, and we will be expecting compensation! Have you got that?”
She almost felt sorry for the poor girl when she replied, “Yes, madam, I’m sorry; I will see what I can do.”
This was almost more than Katharina could bear. She was so near to Dave, yet so far away. This was fate at its worst. Eventually, the replacement plane arrived, and they were herded up along with the other irate passengers. They boarded the plane, and just flopped down into their seats with sheer relief. The flight was uneventful, which pleased Katharina as she couldn’t take much more drama. On arrival at Heathrow, they were informed that seats were available for them on a flight to Aberdeen leaving in four hours. It would arrive in Aberdeen at midnight – not the best of times to be arriving when you haven’t got any accommodation booked. The original plan was to arrive late afternoon and book into a hotel near the airport, but all that had now changed.
They spent the four hours wandering about the terminal at Heathrow, looking in the shops, drinking coffee, people watching. By the time the Aberdeen flight was announced, they knew almost every brick in the walls, every light bulb that wasn’t working, and felt they knew the girl making the announcements so well that they could ask her out for a night on the town!
“Right, here we go – it’s the final stretch,” Katharina said with a big sigh as she made herself comfy on the plane. “Isn’t it exciting?”
“Well, it certainly is exciting that we don’t even have anywhere to stay tonight,” said Anna, bringing her back down to earth.
“Let’s get some sleep now, then we can stay awake all night and just wander around Aberdeen and get booked in somewhere in the morning.”
Anna thought this defied all logic, and she knew her mother’s quirky ways, but she thought something didn’t quite fit here.
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Mama?” she asked. “Have you already made some other arrangements?”
“No, my darling, it’s just that I maybe have to phone someone when we arrive. It’s information that I received from that visitor who I met for dinner the other night. Just wait and see – it’ll be alright, I promise.”
They landed just after midnight, and Aberdeen airport was deadly quiet at this time of night. Their plane was the only arrival, apart from a helicopter which had just arrived from an oil rig. The workers from it were milling about the terminal, and they looked exhausted, like they had just finished a shift. They still managed to laugh and joke with each other, although they were badly in need of a good shower, and probably a good meal followed by a cosy night with their loved ones. The other passengers on the plane had either people meeting them with cars, or they had their own cars parked in the car park. They trickled out gradually until they were all gone. The oil workers boarded a waiting coach which quickly left, and the only people remaining were Katharina, Anna, a man in a fluorescent yellow hi-viz coat who was standing near the door speaking on his mobile phone, and a young man in a yellow reflective vest guiding a big floor polishing machine back and forward along the concourse, it’s yellow flashing light reflecting off anything it could find – the drinks dispenser; the chrome frames of the seats; the stainless steel panels in front of the check-in desks, and the windows themselves. Anna went over to a coffee machine, but realised it only took British coins. They had changed their money before they left, but had no coins – only notes. The man in the yellow coat finished his call and was about to leave when he noticed them. He turned round and walked over to them, saying, “Hey, can I help you two gals?”
Anna smiled at him and asked, “Could you give me some change for the coffee machine, please?”
He replied, returning the smile, “I’ll do better than that. I’ll buy you coffee. I sure could do with one myself – it’s pretty darned hot here.”
And then, as if he had noticed the yellow coat for the first time, he looked down at it and immediately wrenched it off, laughing, “Hey, this isn’t helping, is it? Well, it is a bit colder out on the rig.”
They both smiled at him, and he went up to the machine and got three coffees. He also got three Mars bars from the dispenser next to it and brought them over to the seat where Katharina was sitting. Anna followed him with two of the coffees.
“I’m just going outside for a minute,” Katharina said to Anna. “You stay here just now.”
As soon as she was outside, she took her little Walkman out of her bag, put the headphones on and tuned the radio to 104 Megahertz. Nothing. Just the continuous FM mush, with the hint of some faint music in the background. Her heart sank. She walked around, trying to get a better signal, but to no avail. She put it away and went back into the terminal where Anna was chatting to the man.
“Mama, this is Ritchie Allman. He’s a genuine Texas oilman and he’s in charge of one of the North Sea oil rigs. He says we can’t stay here all night, so he’s suggested we go with him in his car to the city centre where we might get a hotel even at this time of night. He’s got to go to the harbour first, to see the captain on one of the supply ships about stuff he’s taking out to the rig.”
Katharina held out her hand to him. “Hi Ritchie. I’m Katharina, Anna’s mother. Yes, thank you, we will come with you, and thank you for the coffee and chocolate bar. You’re very kind.”
They climbed into Ritchie’s top-of-the-range BMW in the car park, and drove off. Katharina immediately felt scared sitting on the wrong side of the car, and driving on the wrong side of the road. Ritchie could see this, and said, “It’s OK. It just takes a bit of getting used to. When I go back home now, I feel weird for a few days driving on the right.”
After leaving the airport, they drove through the outskirts of the city until they came to a BP petrol station on the left. The sign at the entrance said ‘Propeller Service Station’. Ritchie said, “Gotta get some gas,” and drove into it. As he was filling up, Anna popped into the shop for some sandwiches, Coke and sweets. After she was out of the car, Katharina switched the car radio on. The display on the radio said N’SOUND1, and the DJ announced the station as Northsound One. Then he played the latest chart buster by the Scissor Sisters. Katharina pressed the ‘scan up’ button, and held it until the display read 104 Megahertz. Coming through the speakers loud and clear was David Bowie and ‘Rebel Rebel’, and the RDS signal on the digital display suddenly changed to ‘S’THDEE’. Her heart leapt, her stomach was full of butterflies and she quickly switched it off as Ritchie and Anna walked back to the car.
“I’ll take you down to the harbour with me,” Ritchie said after starting the engine. “It’s safer than leaving you in the middle of town at this time in the morning, and you can wait in the car until I’ve finished my business with the captain of the supply boat. Then we shall see about finding you some accommodation. I just can’t dump you in town – it wouldn’t be right.”
They could see they were getting nearer the city centre, and Katharina said, “This town looks very nice – very clean and solid buildings.”
“That’s because the whole place is built of granite. It’s called ‘the granite city’, and they don’t come any more solid than that,” Ritchie explained.
They left the central area, and Ritchie drove down some side streets. Katharina caught sight of some ships at the quayside. They were all oil rig supply vessels, all brightly illuminated by their halogen spot lamps shining down on their decks.
“The one I want is berthed at the Pocra Quay which is almost at the harbour mouth,” Ritchie explained as he slowed down. “If you didn’t know where you were going, then it’s a hell of a place to find.”
The road opened out a bit where there were some huge tanks on the quayside, and there, fiercely illuminated by its own lights, was the Star Venturer, a huge supply vessel painted a bright orange.
Ritchie parked the car adjacent to the water’s edge, and said, “Look, you guys, I’ve got to see the captain about some last minute details for the rig. You can wait in the car or stretch your legs a bit, but don’t go too far away.”
They elected to stretch their legs a bit, and they walked slowly along the quayside towards the harbour mouth. They stopped in front of a curious tall tower like a Dutch barn. It had windows right round its top storey and a circular balcony half way up. Behind it was a much bigger ultra-modern tower which was obviously the main control centre for the harbour’s operation. Katharina liked the atmosphere about this place – and it was very warm, unusual for this time of night, and definitely unusual for Aberdeen.
They walked back over to where the ship was berthed, and Anna went to the car and took out the packs of sandwiches and cans of Coke she had bought at the garage. They sat down on a bollard and started to eat. Katharina took out her Walkman, put the earphones on and switched it on. She tuned it to 104 Megahertz, and there, before her very ears, was Dave. She almost dropped her sandwich when she heard him, and let out a squeal which alarmed Anna.
“What is it? What is it, Mama?”
“Oh, nothing, darling, I . . . I, umm, I had the volume turned up too far when I switched it on and it gave me a fright. Now quiet for a minute, please.” She was mesmerised as she listened to Dave’s unmistakeable voice:
“Nine minutes forty-eight seconds there of The Who, and a live version of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, and the reason I wanted to play that one was that it would give me ten minutes to do some big game hunting here and try to track down this beast. Well, things have happened and events have moved on. I think the noise we heard outside earlier on was actually Mebo the studio cat, because he’s just popped in through the window, yes, Mebo the moggie has just popped in through the window and he took one look at our visitor, launched a full-scale attack at it, and it disappeared out of the window at roughly two hundred miles an hour. So, thanks to the studio cat there, he’s definitely earning his keep. We’ll play the next track for him. And don’t forget that number if you want to give me a call for a dedication to your loved one, or your dog, or cat, or even your budgie – we’ll take them all – it’s 01339 450450.”
Katharina scrambled for a pen in her bag, found one, and then wrote the number down in her diary. Now he was playing one of her favourite tracks by Heart – it was as if he already knew she was here listening. She pulled her mobile phone from her bag and keyed in the number, not certain whether to put in the country code or not. She heard something connecting – then nothing. She looked at her display – the ‘battery low’ symbol was on! This is just typical, she thought, it’s fate at its worst! A few minutes later, she tried it again. This time she thought she got through as she heard it ringing and someone answered, but then – nothing.
“Who are you phoning, Mama?” asked Anna.
“It’s just a number I have for accommodation that I thought I’d try, but my battery is low.”
“You are up to something, aren’t you, Mama? I can tell.” Anna was suspicious. “What are you up to? Come on. Tell me!”
“It’s nothing, darling, honest. I wish you had brought your phone with you.”
She took some peppermints from her bag and offered one to Anna. Then she just sat there listening to her favourite Heart track. When it faded out, Dave immediately went straight into the next track, but she wasn’t expecting what followed next. He spoke over the intro, and said, “This one’s dedicated this morning to a lovely lady called Katharina. I know you won’t hear this, but let’s hope the spirits are working.” And then Donna Lewis came in singing ‘Without Love’. Katharina almost went wild, jumping up and shouting, “Oh my God!”
Anna really was getting suspicious by now. “Mama, what is it? What are you listening to?”
“It’s just one of my favourite records. I haven’t heard it for years – I got such a surprise!”
At this point, Ritchie came down the gangway from the ship, and walked over to the girls. “Look, girls, I’m really sorry but this is going to take me longer than I thought. We have a few problems to sort out on board. Now, I don’t intend to abandon you here at the harbour, so the captain has suggested you both come on board and the chef will make you a lovely cooked breakfast and fresh coffee. Then we can see what happens. How about it?”
“Yes,” Katharina replied, “that sounds great.”
They followed Ritchie up the gangway, and immediately Katharina felt like she was back on the Mermaid. Ritchie took them onto the bridge to meet the captain, and Katharina heard the same electronic whine coming from all of the equipment that she heard all those years ago when she was on the Mermaid’s bridge taking that awful call about her Papa. Even the smell here was the same - a hot, plasticky, electronic smell if such a thing existed. She wondered if all ships smelled the same. The chef popped his head through the door and invited them to come down to the galley for their meal. A wonderful smell of bacon and eggs was wafting up the stairwell, beckoning them down.
As they sat wolfing their breakfasts down, Katharina got up and moved to the other side of the dining room. She tried the station’s number again. This time it rang, and Dave answered it.
“Hello, Strathdee FM, Dave Buckingham here. Speak to me.”
Katharina quickly said, “Dave . . . hello . . .” and then there were some crackling noises, and again, “Dave, can you here me?” Then complete silence. She looked at her phone and the display was completely blank. The battery was dead and it had turned itself off.
“Oh shit!” she exclaimed, “My battery’s run out! Oops! Sorry, please excuse me!”
The chef heard her comments and called her through to the galley. “Here,” he said cheerfully, “use my phone,” and he took his mobile from his jacket pocket and handed it to Katharina.
“Can I stay in here to make the call?” she asked. “I don’t wan