Chapter 22

The town was quiet, but then, it was Sunday morning and the shops weren’t open yet, apart from a couple of the small, local, shops, who weren’t covered by the Sunday opening regulations. The Blue Cup was closed, however, so I went to a different café, the Tartan Coffee Lounge on Commercial Street.

I got myself a coffee and took a seat by the window, ready to watch whatever people were going by, thinking idly of the next two years of school. Our local education system is divided into three parts, primary, for five to eleven-year-olds, high school for eleven to sixteen and sixth form college which covers the last two years before University, although we don’t have one of those, our nearest are Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield and Sheffield, but I had ambitions beyond that. I wanted to go to either Cambridge or Manchester and Cal was planning on either Royal Northern College in Manchester or a Music degree at Cambridge, depending on where I got in. However, the realistic chance of two working-class kids from industrial West Yorkshire getting into Cambridge was slim, so Manchester was much the better option. Particularly for Cal, who would be going to one of the UK’s best conservatoires.

I knew that this next two years would mean that I wouldn’t be as close to some of my friends, we had three sixth form colleges to choose from, Pontefract, Featherstone and Normanton. Pontefract was the science and maths place of choice, and I would be going there, Featherstone was an arts specialist college, and Cal would be going there, while Normanton was the sports and business college. Some of my friends would be going to each of them, and I’d see a lot less of them, but I was reasonably certain that I’d soon make some new friends, to supplement the ones I already had, not to replace them. Although, I was a little worried about whether the people at Pontefract, where I’d be going, would want to be friends with David Barker, the lad from Castleford, or whether it would be David J. Barker, Hollywood superstar (in their eyes) they’d be after.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, that I didn’t notice when someone sat across the table from me.

“You’re back from your travels then?” a familiar voice said softly.

I looked up and smiled.

“Kathy,” I exclaimed, “it’s good to see you, you look happy.”

“I am,” she replied, “especially now I’ve seen you. How are you? How was your summer? Is Cal all right?

“To take your questions in order,” I began, “I’m great, but a bit tired, I’ve spent all summer chasing all over North America doing talk shows, and the last two weeks all over Germany with Cal, who is fine, she’s off in Leeds shopping with my sister and Andy’s girlfriend.”

“And you haven’t been dragged off with them?” she asked.

“No,” I replied, “I managed to escape. How about you? What’s happening in your life.”

“In answer, she nodded towards the counter, where her brother, Mike, and Dave, the other guitarist from Cal’s short-lived band were getting drinks.

“You, and Dave?” I asked, my eyebrow raised.

“No, silly,” she replied, “Me and Mike, Dave’s just so that my Dad doesn’t get suspicious.”

I laughed

They came over and joined us.

“You’re back then?” Mike asked.

“Got back late last night,” I replied.

“Why, where have you been?” Dave asked.

I explained the tour of America, then the time in Germany with Cal.

“It must be nice to be rich and famous,” he said, a sarcastic note in his voice.

“I’m not really either,” I said, “yes, I’ve made some money, and people recognise me, but that could all change tomorrow. All I’ve got at the moment is a promise of another film part if the film is made, and a few quid in the bank. Yes, I could probably never work and if I’m careful, never have to, but that’s not what I want. Right now, I’m still at school, then I’ll be at University and then I’ll be looking for a job. What about you Dave?”

“Me?” he asked, “I start work next month.”

“Not staying on for A levels?”

“No, I’m not that academic,” he replied, “I’m joining the army as a junior soldier next month.”

“That’s good,” I said, “You’ll be a bigger star from day one than I ever will.”

“How do you work that one out?” he asked.

“Dave, while I’m charging around pretending to save the universe from bad people, you’ll be out there protecting us all from real bad people,” I replied, “so please, don’t sell yourself short.”

“A lot of people don’t like the idea of me going into the army,” he said, “they talk about warmongers and killing people like that’s all people join for.”

“Ignore them,” I replied, “chances are they’re jealous. Anyway, apart from that how’s everybody doing.?”

“Fine, mainly,” Kathy said, “not looking forward to going back to school.”

“But you love school,” I said.

“Yes, but you, Mike and the gang will all have gone, Dave will be in Harrogate, I’ll be there on my own,” she complained.

“But at least you’ll know everybody there,” Mike said, “we all have to go to new places, where we might not know anybody.”

“Where are you going, Mike?” I asked.

“Normanton,” he replied, “what about you?”

“Pontefract,” I replied, “Cal will be at Featherstone.”

“Won’t that be, like, the first time you and Cal have not been in the same school?”

“Yes,” I answered, “but at least we’ll have evenings, weekends and holidays together.”

“Which is more than we’ll manage,” Kathy said, sadly, reaching out and taking Dave’s hand in hers.

“I’ll be home as much as I can,” he said, “it’s only half an hour.”

“Nearer an hour and a half,” she replied.

“What about you Mike, what A levels are you doing?” I asked, to change the subject.

“English, Geography and Art,” he replied.

“Your three favourites,” I said.

“Yep,” he replied, “what about you?”

“Maths, further maths, and probably business,” I said.

“Wow,” Kathy said, “all that and a film star too.”

“Hardly a film star, one small part in one film, and a TV four-parter that hasn’t even been shown yet,” I retorted.

“Talking of which,” Mike said, “what’s next for you David?”

“Second film in the series, probably next summer,” I replied, and apart from that, two more years of school and then University.”

“You’re still going through with the University thing?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied, “I want something to make a living at after the film bubble bursts.”

“You think it will?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but if it does, I want to be ready.”

We chatted on for another half an hour, mainly about school and friends, who were going out with whom, who had finished going out, all that sort of stuff, before they all drifted off, and I got myself another coffee.

As they left the café, I pulled out my phone and started thumbing through my contacts list, thinking I’d ring round a few of the gang and see if I could persuade some of them to come out. After a few minutes, I put the phone away, muttered, “Fuck it,” stood up and left, my cooling coffee sat, untouched, on the table.

As I set off down Carlton Street towards home, I felt a strange emptiness. Something was going on with Mum, something she wasn’t forthcoming about, and I was worried. All sorts of possibilities were rushing through my mind. Then for some reason, my mind went off at a tangent. The police report, that Jonas had given me in Munich, I needed to pass it on to Aunt Mary, she needed to know what had happened in Munich, and before she or I told Cal what it contained, she needed to decide whether Cal would need professional help to come to terms with it. At the junction of Pontefract and Ferrybridge Roads, I took the left fork and started to walk up the hill, past what had been my school for the last five years, where I stopped and looked down the drive, feeling like something, I didn’t know what, was coming to an end, but that something else was about to start. I didn’t stop long, just long enough to take a view of the place, with its high narrow windows to the arts and craft corridor classrooms, the I strode on, up the hill to home. When I turned into our street, I walked past Cal’s house and down our short driveway and then I let myself into the house.