Chapter 4. The Old Man
April 1973
‘Are you ready to play invisible football?' I said one day to the other boys.
‘No,' said Kevin. ‘I'm tired of playing that game.'
‘So am I,' said Clive, who always agreed with everything that Kevin said.
So that was the end of invisible football. They were bored with it and they were bored with me and David as well. There was nothing we could do.
‘I was tired of playing with them anyway,' said David. But I didn't believe him. We were happy playing with the other boys. We felt like we belonged to the group. We felt important. But now we were just ‘Egg and Bacon' again. We were alone.
‘Well, if nobody wants to play with us anymore, we'll do something else,' I said.
‘What?' asked David.
‘I don't know.' Andrew didn't know either. But then I had an idea. ‘Let's read some of our books. There are a lot of adventures in those stories. Maybe they'll give us some ideas.'
So we read. We read during break time. We read at home. We took as many books as we could home with us from the school library, then we talked about what we read.
It was good to live inside those stories, and then to share them with David. We often sat on the grass at his farm and talked about the stories, while eating banana sandwiches.
‘Hey, you know what?' I said one day.
‘What?' asked David.
‘It's my birthday next weekend. My dad asked me what I want for my birthday, and I said I wanted to go to London. Dad said I can bring a friend. Do you want to come with me?'
‘Yessssss!' he shouted happily. ‘Let's go to London. We can go to the zoo, and to the Natural History Museum. I'd really like to go there.'
‘Me too,' I said. ‘Let's do it.'
The next day was Monday. I didn't even care when the other children called me Egghead. All I could think about was London. What an adventure!
The week passed slowly, then Saturday arrived. The big day. Mum made me some sandwiches, and I put them in my bag.
‘Have a great time,' said Mum. ‘And put your coat on if it rains. I don't want you to get wet.'
‘OK, Mum,' I said. And then I ran out of the door and Dad and I drove to David's house.
It was a wonderful day. David bought me a present. A plane. You had to make it yourself. The picture of it on the box looked really good. We visited the zoo first. I liked the monkeys best, but the tigers and lions were also really interesting. Then we went to Hyde Park. ‘Let's go on a boat,' I said.
‘Good idea,' said David.
We both tried to move the boat to the other side of the lake, but we weren't very good. We just went round and round in a circle. We weren't going anywhere. David and I started laughing, and soon we were very wet. I was happy that Mum couldn't see us. After half an hour a man started shouting at us. ‘That's 30 minutes. Now you have to come back.' But it took a long time to get back to where the man was waiting. We weren't very good on the water, but it was fun.
After that we went to the National History Museum. It was a very old museum. The zoo was full of living animals, but this was full of dead things. There were lots of dinosaurs and all kinds of insects. It was very interesting. The best bit was when we saw a little piece of the moon.
‘Just imagine,' I said. ‘This rock was on the moon. I'd like to go there one day.'
‘Well, maybe for your next birthday,' said David smiling.
We got back from London quite late, but Mum was waiting for me at the door.
‘Did you enjoy yourselves?' asked Mum
‘Oh yes, Mum. We went to the zoo, then to Hyde Park, and then to the Natural History Museum. Oh, Mum. It was the best day ever.'
Mum seemed pleased. She smiled to herself. It was nice to see her so happy.
Soon it was Monday morning again. As usual, I walked up the hill. After such an exciting weekend it was difficult to think of school.
On my way up the hill I saw the old man, sitting in his usual place.
‘Hello, Cherub,' he said, as he always did.
‘Hello. You're always so nice to me,' I said. ‘What's your name?'
My name's Colin, but everybody calls me Tom.'
‘Pleased to meet you, Tom,' I said smiling. ‘Why do you always sit here?'
‘Well, it stops me feeling lonely, you know. Sitting here gives me a chance to meet people. People like you. I've always lived here on this street, you know. I've seen a lot of things in my time on this street.'
When I think about it, we meet different people every day. But we don't really know them. We never have the whole story. When we meet people it's like looking at a photograph. We only see them in that moment. We don't have a full picture of their lives. I just saw Tom as an old man. For me he was always an old man. But once he was young like me.
‘Will you be here tomorrow?' I asked.
‘Yes, of course,' said Tom.
‘If I leave for school a little earlier, we could have a chat, if you like.'
‘Well, bless your heart,' said Tom. ‘Not many children are like you. You're special. Of course I'll be here. I'd like to know something about you too. I'll see you tomorrow then.'
‘Ok, Tom,' I said. ‘See you tomorrow. ‘What a nice man,' I thought. ‘And he called me special. Nobody has ever called me special before, except Mum and Dad, but mums and dads always say things like that, even if it's not true. Well … maybe I am special.' With that thought, and a smile on my face I went up the hill to begin another week of school.
