A Life Shattered
Lynn, Jeff and Kierney celebrated another milestone in the youngest family member’s journey to adulthood on Thursday the fifteenth of February nineteen-ninety-six, just a few days after her birthday.
She had arrived at the restaurant on Beaconsfield Parade in her own car, brandishing her new driver’s licence and a large bouquet of flowers for her mother.
‘Let me see!’ Jeff joined in her excitement, taking the licence out of her waving hand and examining the photograph.
‘That’s not you.
It’s a fake.’
Kierney stuck her tongue out at her father and snatched the licence back.
‘It’s not.
It’s real,’ she insisted, passing it to her mother.
‘Let’s see yours then.
Let’s see if yours looks like you.’
Her dad obliged, removing his wallet from his back pocket.
It was a very warm evening, and they were sitting outside in the casual dining area of the restaurant, looking out over the bay.
Other patrons sat around them, doing their best to ignore the famous trio, who in return were doing their best to be ignored.
Somehow, neither party ever quite succeeded at this game, and certainly not in their home town.
Before passing his licence over to his daughter, the celebrity took a look at the mug-shot which was now over five years old.
He held it up to his cheek for the women to adjudicate.
‘Which me do you prefer?’ he challenged them.
‘The nineteen-ninety model or the current model?’
Lynn smiled lovingly.
‘The current model, of course.
Distinguished and sophisticated.’
‘Grey and wrinkly,’ Kierney countered, looking at the detail on her father’s licence and comparing its format to her brand new one.
Jeff chuckled.
‘OK.
I know who’s paying for dinner tonight!
Somewhere between the two responses would’ve been nice.’
While they waited for their drinks to arrive, Lynn telephoned Jet in Cambridge, for Kierney to pass on the good news to her brother.
He didn’t answer, so they left a quick message and focussed on the menu.
One by one, they discussed their own driving test memories and shared the feeling of elation that each remembered after passing.
‘Sounds like the legal ability to drive on our own was a long time coming for all of us,’ the sportswoman reflected, turning to her husband.
‘Do you remember those driving lessons you gave me out on the deserted roads near the airport?’
‘Yep,’ Jeff nodded, screwing his face up at a rare less-than-happy memory.
‘That was in our blue period.
We were so short-tempered with each other, weren’t we?
And then your first licence was your Californian one, after all that.’
‘Yes.
My God, that test was pathetic!’ his wife laughed, waving her hand around as if describing an open space.
YOU ARE READING
A Life Singular - Part One
RomanceA novel in six parts, to be serialised as e-books and paperbacks, "A Life Singular" tells the story of a successful man writing his autobiography. Here is a synopsis of each book, along with the draft cover designs. In essence a love story, "A Life...
