The Long Way Home by Phillip Overton
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“I guess that didn’t go too well huh?” Sally asked as they drove away.
“I can’t believe her, I wish she’d just grow up. It’s so embarrassing.” Doug tried to apologise. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
“No, you’ve got nothing to apologise for Doug. I saw it wasn’t going well so I thought I’d be better off waiting in the car, maybe she’s not ready to face up to seeing you with another woman but you handled it beautifully.”
Doug pulled up at the intersection and waited for a break in the traffic. He merged out onto the highway and followed the traffic into town. Why was everything such a problem for Rowena? What was he supposed to do, stay divorced and single forever? No, she had her opportunity and it hadn’t worked out, it was over. Now he was going to move on whether she liked it or not. The first test of having Sally with him when he picked up Simon hadn’t gone at all well. He only hoped Sally wasn’t going to be scared away by his past.
“Doug?” Sally asked. “What’s wrong, you’ve gone quiet?”
“Sorry, I was just worrying that you might be finding this all a bit too much.”
“Of course not.” She reached her hand across the front seat and placed it reassuringly on his knee. “Doug I want to get to know you, I want to be a part of your life, whatever you have to face, I want to be there for you. We’ll work it all out eventually.”
“I know. I just hate going through the antics in front of others. Anyway, we’re going to have fun today aren’t we little man?” He looked through the rear vision mirror at his son who sat on the back seat oblivious to it all. He hadn’t been bothered the slightest by his Mother’s bad mood and it scared him to think that it was probably a normal part of life for him. After all, he was the only one who had to live with her.
“Are both of you going to have a swim with me at the beach?” Simon asked from the back seat.
“I reckon we will.” His Dad answered. “They said on the radio on the way to pick you up it was going to get to 34 degrees.”
“Count me in then.” Sally said with a smile. “I think we’re going to have a great day. Oh that reminds me, I brought some music along.”
She rummaged through her handbag and pulled out a cassette tape which she then slotted into the car stereo and turned the volume up. Within seconds a rhythmic beat filled the car and the strains of a female voice sang out above the noise of the traffic outside.
“Who’s this singing?” Doug grinned as he toyed with Sally. “Did I ever say you could play girl’s music in my car?”
“No but I get to choose the music now, I am your girlfriend remember.” She smiled sweetly at him.
“Yeah, when did that happen again?” He asked reflecting on how their relationship had unfolded.
“I can’t exactly remember but are you complaining?” She teased him as she began to sing along. All the while Simon sat happily in the back seat.
Sally may have been singing the song to Doug in her own romantic way, but the song would stick in Simon’s memory for a lifetime for a very different reason. From that point on, the day became a perfectly captured memory of what it was like to be part of a happy family. He pretended that it was just himself, his Dad and his teacher. The three of them a family, doing what normal, happy families would do on a perfect day out. Not just sharing the day together, but embracing it. Remembering the time spent swimming in the ocean, having fish and chips for lunch and eating ice cream under the shade of the giant Norfolk Island pines that lined Terrigal Beach. That evening, long after the sun had set on a hot summer’s day, Simon remembered the feeling as he pulled his chair out from the large table they had occupied at the Leagues Club. Seeing the faces of his Dad and Sally, Poppy, Uncle Barry and his girlfriend Teresa all happy from having enjoyed a meal together, and he felt loved.
That night as he drifted off to sleep in the spare bedroom at his Dad’s house, the song came back to play in his mind. The memories of the day set to music played like a movie in his head until he found himself singing along in his dream.
Some memories play like a song in our head. Like an old favourite, dusted off and thrown on the turntable for old time’s sake, forming a recollection of triumph or tragedy and a flood of feelings thrown in for good measure. A song on the car radio that when it comes on has us wanting to turn off the highway we are traveling along in order to trek down some lonesome, winding, long forgotten back road. Sometimes leading us back to a distant place where life was simpler, allowing us to drive through town slowly without stopping in order to remember where we’ve come from in life. Like a road, life itself is a journey, not a destination. Even when taking a detour, a short cut or the long way home, life takes us down a road to someplace, somewhere. Although eventually all roads must come to an end.