Short Story
[Uploaded 12/05]
Learning To Fly (2003)
It all began much earlier really, when they first met at playgroup, but this is where their story began properly. It was Christmas 1995, there was frost on the ground and the definite threat of snow. The snow tried very hard to come through for Christmas day that year, but failed. As you may remember the snow eventually came in the middle of January, falling for two days almost continuously and sitting a couple of feet thick on every thing.
Anyway; back to Christmas day. Janet and Andrew sat next to each other at the long dining table in Janet's parent's mock Edwardian semi-detached bungalow. Andrew's parents sat opposite them, with Janet's parents at the head and foot. They were all seated at the table except Janet's mum, who was still tinkering and finishing off in the kitchen. Both families had become very close since the ‘kids' first met ten years previously. They'd been inseparable since, spending all their days close at school, evenings together and all holidays involved both families. Both ‘kids' had had fairly sheltered lives and without each other it would have been unbearable.
Dinner was ready and just being served, turkey and the full trimmings, wine for everyone. "Just a drop for you kids." From Andrew's dad, Michael.
"Oh dad! We aren't kids anymore."
"Just a drop."
"That's not the issue."
"That is enough! We are here as guests and to enjoy ourselves."
"Sorry dad."
"Go easy on him Mike, it is Christmas after all." Andrew's mum, Margaret.
Everyone got themselves settled and comfortable at the table, while Janet's mum, Pauline, finished serving. Her dad then said a short prayer. None of them were particularly, but Christmas was different with memories of their own fathers saying a short prayer of thanks for this special meal. Not that turkey and trimmings was anything but everyday ordinary now, but the spirit was Christmas.
"Crackers everyone!" Janet decided.
Crossed hands and massed confusion ensued. Well not exactly, but you know how it is when crackers are placed between settings. Half the people reach right and the others reach left, so that only three crackers are clawed for. Which is fine because only three can be pulled at once between three people, but realising that they are trying to pick up each others, they scramble for those remaining. The end result is six people holding out six crackers.
With all this eventually sorted out, Janet and Andrew pull a cracker. Out falls the hat, motto and something plastic. The hat is yellow, the plastic item is a green ring and Janet reads out the motto.
"The only boundary to freedom is the edge of the world, step off and you shall fly"
"Well, that's a bit deep." Michael.
Andrew looked puzzled. "What does it mean?"
"It means these are Chinese fortune crackers." Margaret.
"They don't have Christmas in China do they?" Asked Pauline.
"They invented paper and fireworks, so why not crackers which are just a combination of the two"
"Yes, but what does it mean?"
Janet's dad spoke for the first time since arriving at the table. "It means you can achieve as much as you are capable of. You set your own limits, and can go only as far as your imagination will take you."
"Mmm, what about your's Janet?"
"The pen is mightier than the sword."
"Only if it's a really sharp pen and an exceedingly small sword." Another quip from Margaret.
Dinner continued in the way that Christmas dinner does, petty squabbles over brussel sprouts, laughter and excess. It was a wonderful meal, the wives had done them proud. The men had brandies as the women loaded the dishwasher, James Bond on the box. All in all, a traditional Christmas.
That motto had bothered Andrew for a few days after, he tried every which way to fathom it out, so that it had meaning for him. So that he could understand it. It was forgotten by New Year, along with the underwear and t-shirts bought by distant aunts as Christmas presents.
Two weeks into January and the snow began to fall. The world was a thin blanket of white on the Thursday morning, a blanket that steadily thickened through the day.
"Can we go and see Andrew?"
"I don't think so dear, but ask your father."
"Dad?"
"Why not? But if this snow gets any thicker, we're coming back soon."
"Okay."
They loaded into the MPV, you know like a minibus only smaller, and set off on the half mile trip. The going was slow and Stuart wondered if he was going to regret this. They unloaded themselves at the other end and found Andrew in the front porch, waiting for them.
"Isn't it wonderful?"
"I know. I don't remember snow like this before."
"Come inside you two. You'll catch your deaths."
Janet and Andrew went and sat in the conservatory while Margaret busied herself making drinks for everyone. Sitting watching the world turn white, they reached out and held each others hands. Not only had they not seen snow like this, but they had never felt closer than they did now. An hour passed before Stuart called through to them.
"I've been out to the van", as he liked to call it, "and it looks like were stuck. Janet, you're in the lounge and me and your mother are in the guest room."
Janet and Andrew just looked at each other and smiled. Laughter shined in their eyes, a single moment in time. They leaned toward each other and tentatively kissed on the lips for the first time. So warm and gentle in a world of white. Andrew handed her a green plastic ring.
For some people their great achievement, their breach of the boundaries, is to write a symphony or pop tune. For others it is timeless literature, a work of outstanding art, splitting the atom, breaking a record, the list is endless. For most of us, it is something less important in the grand scheme of things, raising a child, brightening someone else's life. This list is endless, too.
But for two ‘kids' in wheelchairs this was their first, they stepped off the edge and were learning to fly.
