It was December the 11th and an emotional time for Steve. He had lost his mother in the previous December to a terrible disease and now it wasn’t long until Christmas again. Steve was usually a happy young man and at nineteen years old, he had his whole life ahead of him, it was just that time of the year. He was in the allotment today, exercising his father’s pigeons. His father had twenty-four racing pigeons, there were more once but the flock had reduced over the years. No longer were they entered into racing, Steve’s father was a little frail, he had retired from the local steelworks and the tragic loss of his wife caused him to lose interest in racing them, they were like pets now. Nonetheless, these birds like any other creature, needed exercise and Steve knew how to do this and although he wasn’t interested in the birds, he did it to help his father.
The birds were released from their loft each day for about an hour, Steve saw it as a necessary chore. When they were released, they would fly out and up, circle then disappear for a while. Then without warning, almost as if on purpose, they would suddenly fly at great speed and pass just over the allotment, whizzing past and you could hear them as they went by, it was a whooshing sound. The sky was a beautiful dominating blue, with no clouds in sight and there was no wind either today, great flying weather. Steve opened the front flap and called the birds out, they gathered themselves coming out two or three at a time, then flying out and circling until they were together. This routine was daily and today was no different. Once the birds disappeared, Steve would sit on an old chair outside the loft and wait for them to start circling above, usually after thirty or forty minutes. Then he would put some feed in a metal bowl and shake it so it rattled. He would call them at the same time and slowly they would return to the loft, one or two at a time landing on the flap, then going back inside.
Today was cold though and whilst the birds were away, Steve sat on a box inside the loft. There were some newspapers that his father had left there from the week before, they were old, but Steve picked them up. He never looked at them though, he just gazed out through the bars of the loft, not really looking at anything. He was thinking. He was thinking about his father, they were never close but the loss of a mother and a wife had forced them both to become closer, they had to.
Earlier that morning, Steve’s father had gone to the corner shop to buy his regular newspaper. Steve was in the kitchen when his father returned and came in taking off his flat cap and coat and hanging them on the back of the door. He was very tall and slim with it and his eyes were quite sunken in his face.
Steve turned to him “Alright dad” as if a question.
His father replied with a “Yep” and then it was quiet.
“I’m making some tea, would you like one?” Steve asked.
“Please” said his father.
It was all a matter of fact. Steve made the tea and passed the cup to his father. He put it on the table and sat down opening his newspaper and Steve knew there would be little if any, conversation.
Steve was like his father, tall, fair, slim and with a sort of baby face that if left unshaven, it still wouldn’t show. He always wore jeans and was frequently unshaven and his father often quipped him about that. He worked part time at one of those large chain stores that sells cycles, camping equipment and anything related to cars and just about all the staff were part time. Wages were not particularly high and the staff tended not to be the most loyal. Steve did enjoy working there though and he was actually interested. He would often prove himself most helpful towards customers that were unsure about a purchase, he really was quite knowledgeable and popular with the other staff too. He paid his way at home and he could save a little each month from his wages. He wasn’t sure how much he had accrued, but he had been saving regularly now for a couple of years. Steve did not know how important these savings would be to him over the coming few days.
He had a girlfriend, Hannah, a local girl who was very pretty with light brown hair. She was not the slimmest of girls but far from being overweight and had the most beautiful large dark brown eyes. She was in love with Steve and would do anything for him. Steve liked Hannah very much, but he did not truly love her, not deep down, even though at times their relationship was intimate and very close. Hannah lived with her parents too and worked as a nurse at the local hospital, she was part qualified and was keen to finish her training. As she did shift work, they met most days either in the evenings or daytime as her work permitted. They had been together for four years and Hannah had helped him through the loss of his mother.
So the pigeons were out. They were flying around, somewhere in that beautiful crisp blue sky. Steve was sitting on an old wooden box inside the loft, with his collar up clutching those newspapers, gazing out. Time was passing and his daydreaming continued holding the newspapers. He blinked suddenly and lifted the papers up on to his lap. They were just regular newspapers that were a week or so old. Something to read, he thought and started to look at them, just browsing, not really reading any particular story. He just flipped through the pages and threw it down on the floor. He looked at more closely at the second and he read a couple of the articles, they meant nothing though. The odd advert was in fact quite interesting sometimes and the pictures almost entertaining, causing Steve the occasional wry smile. Towards the back pages of the newspaper were the usual seasonal adverts at Christmas time for holidays and cruises and Steve looked at them as there was nothing else to look at. Little did he know, that one of those little adverts would eventually change his life forever. His eyes rolled enviously over the different adverts, wondering how on earth people could possibly afford them. He had never travelled; Hannah had suggested a few times that they tried a cheap package holiday but it never happened. Towards the bottom of the page were the smaller adverts, just text, no colour, with just phone numbers or a website address. Corfu, Tenerife, Ibiza were all there and Steve wondered, for the first time in his life, what it would be like in these apparent sun-drenched countries. He read one in detail, it was about a hotel in Nice in the south of France. It sounded so beautiful to read, but is it really like that, he thought? There was something about the south of France that got Steve thinking, wondering. Can it really be like that, all that sunshine, blue skies, cars, girls and lovely flora? He was gazing out through those bars of the loft again, when two of the birds suddenly landed on the flap. They almost startled him as he realised the time had passed quickly and they were returning from their exercise. He jumped up and threw the newspapers down, going outside to call the rest of the birds back in. He counted them all back, closed the flap and started the walk home. He had forgotten about the birds, he was on autopilot and didn’t even remember shutting them in safely. He walked down the hill, thinking about this paradise he had read about in the newspaper. He wondered if he had enough savings to ever go to such a place. The pretty girl behind the desk at the bank smiled at Steve as she confirmed his savings account balance as £2,156.00.
“Wow” he exclaimed, he was excited that he had saved so much.
She laughed as he said it. Perhaps there is enough money to go to this paradise, he thought.
“Thank you so much” he said to her excitedly, as if she had given him the money herself.
Something had ignited a fire inside him, he was deeply excited by what he had read and how much money he had in his bank. His shift was due to start in an hour and now he had to concentrate on getting home and ready for work. When he arrived at the store, he asked his supervisor if he was entitled to any holiday time. “Yes, sixteen days” she said. Steve thanked her and went out on to the shop floor smiling, but for the first time at work, he was not thinking of work. He was thinking about that paradise, how much money he had and now, how much holiday time he had accrued.
He wanted to go there and now he could, but what about Hannah, how would she take it? There was not enough money for the two of them and besides, he knew she didn’t have very much holiday time accrued at the hospital. If he was going to go there, it would have to be alone. What about his father, the birds? His mother wasn’t there, but what would she say? He thought about his mother and how they had all been together on holidays when he was young, but they had never travelled far and certainly not in another country. He wanted to go, he had to try it.