24
Brian took out his cookbook bought when he was in Barcelona.
He opened the front cover and looked long and hard at the hieroglyphs that represented the name Helen.
When he had started his journey at the beginning of the summer, he had thought he might like to take Helen away and show her some of the things that were of interest to him. His purchase of the cookbook was his panacea for not having rung her to say, “why don’t you join me?”
He had considered returning home after Barcelona but decided that he would travel by road and hitch a bit of trip around northern Spain and Southern France.
Once he’d started he just kept going, which is how he came to be in Cairo. It was here that he realised that he was missing Helen and that he would bring a little something home for her.
Looking at the hieroglyphs and the cookbook, he decided that he needed to risk calling Helen.
Perhaps she would like to know more about his journeys and the things he did. If she showed an interest perhaps he would pluck up enough courage to give her the gifts.
He reached for his phone…