Chapter 6: A Long And Winding Road

Course 8 / Day 1: Course Progress Meeting

Josephine: All the team are briefed for today's activities for the new Course 8 intake. There are five this time and they will arrive at the Centre around 19:00.

Jenny's Recollections

Joe's been gone for a couple of week. I've been working hard to prepare myself but now I'm sitting on the edge of the couch in the lounge at home staring at the papers I have just printed. I'm biting my lip and twisting a strand of hair between my fingers. Somehow, now that the time has arrived, it all seems a bit too real.

"Dear Jenny, here are your joining instructions," the e-mail says. "Please follow them exactly in order to start your experience in the most successful manner. You will understand that an important part of your experience is concerned with receiving and following instructions. You should view this as the first part of that experience. Please do not bring any personal belongings with you apart from those items mentioned in this letter, you will not need them."

Of course, it is what I had expected, but somehow it is still disturbing.

"Please do as follows:. Firstly, you are to take a shower and you will shave yourself. Dress in jeans, a tee-shirt and flip flops. Bring a towel and a swimming costume. Do not wear jewellery. Do not bring a mobile phone. You will need exactly £2.20 in coins. Do not bring money or credit cards. As a first step, you should go to the Sports Centre and swim. Be in the main pool at 11:30 exactly. You will receive further instructions there."

I take a shower, rummage in the wardrobe and put on my underwear. None of my jeans are clean, so I take a pair of linen trousers instead. A tee-shirt doesn't really go with them, I think. So, instead, I pull on a white sleeveless top. As I put on a pair of sandals I think, "Well, it isn't exactly what they'd asked, but it's close enough."

Entry to the Sports Centre costs exactly £2.20 and, at 11:20, I am sitting on the edge of the pool, my feet dangling in the water. I look up at the large competition clock on the wall above the deep end of the pool. The minute hand clunks one step further towards half past eleven. As it clunks once more to eleven twenty seven I ease myself off of the poolside and into the water, setting out with a slow breast stroke for the middle of the pool. I roll over on to my back and kick a few times, pushing slowly up the pool.

I roll over again and looked at the clock. Eleven thirty exactly. I am almost surprised that nothing happens. "But then," I think, "they only said for me to be here at half past eleven."

It is as I am wondering what to do next, that a woman surfaces beside me. "Hello, Jenny," she says, and I know that things are starting. I don't recognise the woman, even though she has recognised me. However, given that the woman is wearing a skin-tight white swim cap, goggles and a nose clip, it is hardly easy! "We need to swap keys: you have to give me your locker key," the woman says.

Puzzled, I do as I am told.

"Thank you," the woman says. "Now take mine." She passes her own key over. "Stay in the pool another half hour. Then go and get changed into the clothes you'll find in my locker. You'll find your next instructions there too." Without another word the woman swims away from me to the far side of the pool and pulls herself out. Picking a towel from one of the poolside couches, the woman walks away towards the changing rooms, wrapping the towel around herself.

At twelve o'clock, I climb out of the pool wondering what the next step will be. I, too, grab a towel and head towards the changing rooms. Inward Bound is certainly setting the scene. I'm obviously going to have to get used to following instructions. It will be interesting to see how this conditioning affects the way that the stress of the situation builds up.

As I take the woman's things from the locker I find a pair of flip-flops, jeans and a white tee-shirt, exactly what I had been told to wear in the joining instructions. Well, as my jeans were not clean and as I did not know I would be swapping clothes anyway, I guess I made the right call to do as I did. There is no underwear here! Looking back, the letter had not said to wear a bra and pants, either. But then, I had not taken the note as literally as that. So I'm definitely sure I made the right call. There's an envelope stuffed into the pocket of the jeans — and a mobile phone.

The note reads: "Hi, Jenny: Here is a mobile phone and we will be in touch with you soon. Meanwhile, you need to have your hair cut. You have an appointment at one o'clock with Isla at NX Hair in town. Ask her to give you a number four crew cut. And have another piercing put in your left ear."

I put my hand up to my left ear lobe. I haven't worn earrings as the original note had said I shouldn't wear jewellery, but I do have one piercing in either ear. I suppose that I've always thought anything more than that a bit unconventional, "But then," I think, "what I'm doing is hardly conventional anyway. I'm not sure that I'll go along with that though."

I make my way out of the Sports Centre and off towards town. I am very conscious of the fact that I am naked beneath my tee-shirt, thinking that every man I pass must be staring at my nipples. The way that my jeans rub against my naked, shaved, crotch is even worse.

As I walk on, the mobile goes off.

"Jenny?" I don't recognise the voice.

"Yes."

"Hi. Are you on your way to NX?"

"Yes."

"Good. The cut is on account and there is a message for you at reception. 'Bye." The phone goes dead, as whoever it was hangs up.

By the time I get to NX Hair, I am feeling discouraged and a little uncertain, but I overcome my fears and go in. "I'm Jenny McEwan" I say, "I've got an appointment at one o'clock. With Isla,"

"Oh yes. Take a seat," the receptionist says.

Moments later a smiling, red headed girl appears, 'Isla' is embroidered in red letters on her black, high necked shirt. "Come through," she says waving to a seat at one of the sinks. "Cut and a piercing, wasn't it?"

"Ah," I say sheepishly, "I've changed my mind about the piercing, if that's OK."

"Of course," Isla says. "Why wouldn't it be? It's your choice. Now, how about the cut. What did you have in mind?" Isla has picked up her electric clippers.

"Well, I wanted something shorter. With summer coming, I just need something easier to manage. Actually, something like yours would be good."

"This isn't all that short," Isla replies.

"Well, it's shorter than mine is now. I think it will look nice like that and it will be short enough for what I want."

"OK," says Isla, "let's go with that." She seems abrupt. I wonder how much of this has been all set up by Inward Bound, but I'm not all that brave at the hairdressers at the best of times. Isla sweeps a black sheet across me and goes to work washing the chlorinated water out of my hair before setting to with comb, scissors and clippers. It all feels odd to me, but it doesn't take all that long and when Isla has finished combing and cutting I feel rather pleased with the result.

I'm wondering what her next step will be, as Isla pulls the black sheet clear. "There you go," Isla says.

I stand up. Isla is waiting, holding the sheet. "It's on account," I say, "it should have all been arranged." Isla, evidently still hoping for a tip, looks across at the receptionist who pulls the earphones of her i-pod out of her ears.

"S'allright," the receptionist says, dropping the copy of Hello! that she'd been reading. Isla looks maybe a bit disappointed, smiles and says she hopes to see me again before too long.

"Was there a message left for me?" I ask, beginning to get the hang of the game by now.

The girl appears to drag a faint memory from the depths of her consciousness. "Oh. Yes. Well there was this." She pulls out another envelope. Inside is a note and a Travel Card good for a railway journey to London and the Underground. The note says "Warwick Station, London train 14:49"

I get to the station with fifteen minutes to spare before the train. Thinking that I'll pass the time with a cup of coffee, I almost get to the front of the queue in the station café before I realise that I have no money on me. Embarrassed I slip out of the café, feeling as though everyone is looking at me now, not just the men. I step back onto the platform.

I feel the mobile in my pocket and think at least I can report in to Angela. I dial her number. The phone replies that I need a top up. "Very clever, Inward Bound," I think. "You've given me a pay-as-you-go phone with no money on it." I can receive calls, but I can't make them. I've been neatly tied to an electronic string...