--Back-on-Track-- by L. P. Donnelli
“I have to go the toilet, Dad,” Layla said quickly and stood up to leave.
“Didn’t you just go, dear?” Dad responded, but she had already gone.
“Me too, I need the toilet also,” Mike said running off before giving his dad a chance to say anything.
As luck would have it, there was a beam to block Dad’s view to the toilet, and even better, just before the toilet entrance, was a large mirror on the wall. Layla and Mike crouched down as if they were both tying their shoelaces (unlikely I know Reader!) and peered at the mirror with anticipation as they saw Ruby walk up to Dad.
With the hustle and bustle of the busy café, steamers crying and people chatting busily, they could not make out what Ruby and their father were talking about. They could see Ruby’s big red lips moving, but only the side of their father’s face. They could also see Ruby smiling at first, but this seemed to suddenly turn upside down.
It was then they heard, as everyone else did.
“Look I told you, Lady, these seats are taken for my daughter and my son!” Dad was saying loudly. “There is a seat over there if you want it! I’m sorry, you can’t sit with me . . .”
“A what website?? I don’t know what you’re talking about!!?” he continued, as both Layla and Mike gulped. Then they heard Ruby.
“You are nothing as you said you are; to play such a trick on a person is cruel! Shame on you, Michael,” she said, loud enough for them to hear, then stomped off out of the door with a sad and embarrassed look on her face.
Once everyone finally got back to their drinks (and their own business), Mike and Layla crept back to the table and noticed that some coffee had been spilt.
“There you are! I was wondering what happened to you, kids!”
“There was a large queue and the dryer was broken.” Mike was the first to respond.
“Yes we had the same in the Ladies.” Layla said quickly after.
“Oh I see.” Their Dad looked lost in thought. “Wait a minute, how did she know my name?”
“Who knew your name, Dad?” Layla asked delicately.
“Oh just some crazy woman, I didn’t mean to upset her, I just didn’t have any idea of what she was talking about! Maybe it’s the coffee, yeah it must be! I am sorry, but you are too young to have any more coffee. Promise me you will have no more!”
“We promise,” they both said together.
“Do not look so glum, you can still have other drinks, kids.”
They had left the café and walked back to the car. Dad asked if they wanted to see the station again, but they both refused, saying they were too tired -- even after the coffee. It had all been for nothing, they realised. A waste of time and planning, it went so terribly wrong. How could have it gone like that? Mike thought.
Mike realised that they had failed but then understood how to make sure they didn’t fail again. He knew what he had to do, and went to Layla’s room feeling surprisingly better about things.
Chapter 8
Plan B+
Although it was not quite back to the drawing board, they still had to plan better this time, both Mike and Layla fully understood. It had all gone wrong because of two key reasons:
1.Dad was not aware what was going on which, of course, was the case, (but more importantly)
2.His date did not know that Dad did not know.
As parents and teachers always say -- annoyingly most of the times -- ‘Honesty is the best policy,’ even though most kids didn’t know the word ‘policy’, like Mike didn’t. However, he knew the saying meant that it is best to tell the truth. Otherwise, coffee could be spilt everywhere! I know they also say ‘do not cry over spilt milk’, Reader, but spilt coffee can be lethal, as they had already found out!
They had to find someone else, but come clean, and explain that it was not their father messaging them, but their children who loved their father and only wanted the best for him. Layla had agreed to help straight away when he’d explained the improved plan: they’d meet again at the library on Monday, at lunch.
Layla was looking through all the emails they’d missed from last time, when they were only interested in setting up the meeting with Ruby. Poor Ruby. They had to tell her the truth after what they had done. They had felt guilty all weekend about it. They explained that their father had not known about the meeting and that is why they wanted to create a chance meeting and for her to act like she did not know him, as he actually didn’t. They apologised and thanked her for making the effort. They weren’t sure if they would ever hear from her again. I wouldn’t blame her if she never responded, Mike thought.
Trawling through all the new people who had responded, Likes, Winks -- depending on the site -- they found it equally as difficult as before to find someone right for Dad.
“How about this one, Mike? She says she still has her own teeth, likes to watch sport and eat popcorn.”
“Erm, I’m not sure, let see Gladis’s photo though,” Mike said back to his sister.
“Yikeees!” Layla said. Gladis had a nice smile, with clearly her own teeth! This was obvious, as you wouldn’t ever have picked these teeth if you actually had a choice in the matter! The woman in the photo looked ready to eat anyone looking at her. The mouth was huge, like a horse when it has something stuck in its teeth, and she looked extremely old. Mike could see why she was proud of having her own teeth and also why she only watched, rather than played, sports. She was too frail to do more than eat popcorn from the look of her.
“Next, Layla!”
“Oh sure, sorry, didn’t expect that myself.” Layla kept searching until she found another.
“Listen to this, Mike: Love to garden, visit museums, help charities and belch loudly!”
“Wait, what was that last part???” Mike said in shock.
“Don’t worry, Mikey, I was joking about the last bit! Here, look, she has a friendly face too.” Mike looked and agreed. She had slightly greying hair with hazel eyes and tanned skin.
Layla had sent an email to Marie, explaining what they were doing. They did not mention the smashed model railway, or the sobbing, or even the clapped-out car/mouldy bread. There is honesty and honesty, but they did explain why they were doing this, to help Dad, and hoped they could meet her first before they set up something for Dad. Now all they had to was wait the difficult wait again for a response.
Layla and Mike parted ways at the library entrance for the rest of lunch. They had around twenty minutes before it ended, so Mike took his sandwich to a bench positioned in a quiet part of the playground (the mould was probably safer than Margery’s cooking, he thought).
It was very surprising when he noticed that someone had sat on the other side from him, while he was looking down to eat, even more so, to realise that was Stephan. He actually even smiled at him.
“I can see that you think that the green on your sandwich is safer than the green in the canteen.” Stephan chuckled. Mike did not say anything. “I learnt the hard way that lesson and never went back after my first day. I thought everyone was playing a joke on me at first, including you. Sorry about that. I see now why you’ve been going to the canteen,” eyeing Mike’s shrivelled excuse of a sandwich.
Stephan then amazingly offered him some of his own sandwich, a lovely looking thing -- straight from an advert. Crisp lettuce was popping out the sides of the fluffy white bread. He could see some juicy ham also and tomato seeds leaking out invitingly.
“No thanks,” Mike said, wishing he hadn’t.
“Look, no one will know, I’m sure you would do the same for me. I am full anyway! It would be a shame to waste the rest of it.”
Mike finally gave in and took a big bite from the sandwich he could no longer resist.
“Thanmmmkkkss,” he said, with a mouth full of pleasure. After a big gulp to swallow the last pieces, he said it again, but in a more normal way. He offered his hand out, and Stephan gladly shook it.
“You know
“Me? I struggle to keep up with you.” They both laughed and Mike realised they were very alike. Like him, Stephan loved animals and football -- he even liked the same football team -- the mighty Ramsbottermly Rovers! Stephan’s favourite player was not the same as Mike’s was, but you cannot have it all, and anyway they both loved every player in the team really.
Layla was right after all. Stephan is cool. He just couldn’t see it before.
In the next History class, both of them waited for each other to answer, before offering it to the teacher. They answered nearly all of the questions correctly between them.
“Well, children, it looks like our brightest students have shown themselves today,” Mr Barnell said. A wave of groans followed.
“Blooming Teacher’s Pets!!!” Sean said, but Mike wasn’t bothered, and Stephan did seem to take much notice either.
Any bad vibes they had given to each other were now, well, history. They agreed to meet outside of school as Stephan really wanted to see Gary. He loved lizards he had said, more than anything, in fact.
With a spring in his step, Mike went to the library with a feeling that everything was going to go better this time with the new plan. Even before he logged on, he sensed that Marie’s email would be there, enthusiastically accepting their offer of a meeting. When he checked, there was no response yet, but this did not bother him, as he knew it hadn’t been that long since they’d emailed her.
He told Layla the same thing the next day after she had checked with him. “It will be different this time. We’re just not being patient,” Mike had said to her.
But on the Friday, when there was still no reply, he knew there would never be one as it was far too long now. Had Marie been too offended to learn that she had been tricked into thinking it was her father’s account? Was she scared of meeting them first? Mike thought he would never know.
“All’s fair in love and war,” he had heard Mr Barnell say with a chuckle when talking about Henry VIII. Mike did not think it was fair, or funny. It was not fair his dad lost his mother because of him; and it was not fair also, as his dad was the best anyone could have.
Dad would never be in a war, Mike knew, but he hoped he would again be in love.
Chapter 9
A Chance Meeting
“Gary, I would like to introduce you to Stephan . . . Stephan, this is Gary.”
“It is an honour to meet you, Gary. Please climb on me by way of a greeting, if it pleases you.” Mike and Stephan were laughing. Mike carefully passed Gary over to Stephan’s hand, where Gary began to climb up his arm to his green T-shirt, searching for camouflage.
“Wow, he is amazing, Mike, I’m so jealous! I always wanted a gecko. For you and your sister to have one each is out of this world.” Stephan was smiling broadly. “Mother will not let me have any animals. ‘Pet hairs everywhere, it would be abominable!’” Stephan said in a high shrill womanly voice that made Mike laugh. “Even when I asked for a lizard, she said that! I tried to explain to her that they didn’t even have hair or fur. Eventually, she said, ‘Well . . . they will slime-up all over our beautiful home Stephan. Certainly not! Pets are for the garden only.’” Stephan knew that most lizards required heat and therefore could not be kept in a garden when it was cold.
“Well, you are welcome to hang out here with Gary and me as much as you want.”
“Thanks, Mikey, you’re the best, and so are you, Gary,” as he stroked him under his chin. “He feels so cool to touch,” he said, as Gary’s eyelids suddenly looked heavy -- time for a gecko-nap.
Stephan’s parents seemed to have a lot of money, based on what he told Mike -- unlike Dad, but this didn’t change how similar they were to each other. Mike realised it didn’t matter at all. Even if Dad was not ‘rolling-in-it’, he was super-cool for letting him have Gary, and Layla have Lola. Stephan hardly saw his father, as he worked across the world and when he did see him, he seemed stern to Mike. He would always check his homework progress, Stephan had told him, marking it before the teacher even got a look in. Mike’s Dad certainly encouraged him to do his homework -- but he had never marked it!
Layla came into the room. “Hey, Mikey, what you up t---” She’d suddenly realised Stephan was there and went quiet -- and not a little reddish.
“Hey, Layla. Your gecko rocks! Can I play with her as well?”
“Yeah sure, anytime . . .” she said dreamily.
“Hey, doofus-girl, don’t forget you have to check your email tomorrow again, OK?!” Mike suddenly said.
“What . . . yeah, sure, Mikey.” She left, almost floating after saying goodbye -- well saying goodbye to Stephan, at least. He shouldn’t have tried to embarrass her, but then he thought she was already doing that herself with Stephan, and embarrassing him too.
It was getting a little cold, so after Gary was put back in his vivarium, he went to put on the heat pad and light whilst Stephan had Lola swinging from one ear. It was when Mike clicked the switch, that he heard a noise and realised the bulb had blown.
“Sugar! Guess I’d better go to the Pets-R-Us, as it was the last one. Wanna come with?” Mike asked Stephan.
“You are joking aren’t you? Of course, it is my favouritist store in the Universe! I spend hours in there looking at the bearded dragons and have you seen that four-foot python, Cyril?”
“Oh yeah, I held him once. Pete, the attendant, knows my Dad from when he goes spotting.”
“No way, do you think he would let me have a go? Spotting what?”
He thought for a moment of saying animals, but just looking around the place, anyone could tell his dad was a train spotter and then he thought that there’s nothing really wrong with that, anyway. He did not think Stephan would mind, and he was right:
“Cool, I love the old steam trains, but never saw any closeup,” he’d said, after Mike explained what he meant.
Stephan was ogling Cyril with his nose pressed right up against the protective glass. Mike was looking at the bulbs, he knew the exact wattage and size he needed. It had to be the screw type to fit in their vivarium. There were a few new colours: blue, purple, but red was the best for geckos, he had read -- plus Ramsbottermly Rovers played in red, so it had to be that colour!
“Don’t get too close, young lad,” Mike heard someone say. “That glass is not as thick as it looks.” He then recognised it was Pete talking to Stephan.
“Hi, Pete, he is with me. He loves lizards -- he’s just been playing with Gary at my house. He was hoping that he could hold Cyril, if that’s OK, Pete?”
“Mike, hey, good to see you! How is your old man? Not seen him on the circuit much these days?
“He is well thanks, Pete. I will let him know you were asking about him.”
“Let me just get the keys. Any friend of Mike’s or his dad’s is a friend of mine, and more importantly, Cyril’s also,” he said with a grin, then moved into the back.
Stephan looked like he was in heaven handling Cyril, who wrapped his body around his arm. Having played with two geckos and a python in one day seemed to be something like a dream for him.
Mike left them together, with Pete carefully supervising as he went around the rest of the store, looking at the new arrivals: there were some huge African snails, a chameleon and a human -- someone he recognised!
He went closer and stared at her. He knew her, but from where, he wasn’t sure. School? Was she one of Dad’s friends? Something connected with Dad . . . it then clicked in his mind, like a piece of track into another. “EMMA!” He had said it without thinking when it had suddenly dawned on him, and she was now looking straight at him with a warm, if slightly confused, smile.
“Hello there. How did you know my name?” She said it in a gentle way, intrigued. Mike was feeling hot and felt if he looked at his face in a mirror it would resemble a big tomato.
“Sorry, err, I j-j-ust . . .” He had no idea what to
“It’s OK, I’m glad you know my name, what’s yours?” She politely held out her hand.
In that moment he knew he could just tell her the truth, without any worry. And he told her everything -- even the bad bits! It all came flooding out. What had happened on the terrible day in the attic, and how he and his sister were only trying to help when they started on the dating sites!
Emma listened calmly, with encouragement.
He told her of the disaster at the coffee house and of all the strange people they’d had contact with from the dating sites, which made her smile. And finally he told her how sorry he was, and especially sorry to her. He told her everything, and when he was done, she politely thanked him for explaining it all to her, and hoped he would now catch his breath back.
“Well, I have to explain something to you and also apologise , Mike. The reason I had to back out all of a sudden was because I was scared of meeting you, well, meeting your Dad, I mean. He sounds such a nice guy, especially now you have told me more about him.” She paused, “Well, I have decided I do want to meet him now, if it’s OK with you, Mike?”
Is she joking? Of course it is! He knew Layla would love her. Mike nodded eagerly like a famous dog in a car. “Now I am really scared, as he seems such a great guy, but less so in a way now I have met you. Does that make sense?” And as she said this to him it did and he knew that she had to meet Layla also. “But I will only meet him if you tell him everything, and then if he still wants to meet me, OK?”
“It’s a deal,” Mike said after a moment. He should have told his dad a long time ago, he realised.
Emma said goodbye, and Mike did the same before he went back to Stephan and Pete. Pete was just clicking the window and lock back into place.
“You both look happy as anything, you two do,” Pete said. Mike did feel happy but slightly worried about telling Dad.