THE BOAT TRIP: Stampy And Squid

Those Who Wait

TEN YEARS LATER

-SQUIDS POV-
Thirty years had passed since my boat trip with Joe. Sometimes I forgot it ever happened, the youthful romances, the heartbreak and fear.

Tom was released from prison in Adelaide two days ago. That was the most surreal phonecall I'd ever received. He sounded so old, with a twinge of an Australian accent.
I agreed to pick him up from Heathrow Airport today. He said he had a flat in London that he'd stay until he bought a house.

"morning Dad." greeted Ollie, my oldest son. Who was now thirty years old. He was sitting on the sofa with his eight month old daughter that he named Katie on his lap.
"Morning." I echoed back, before seeing the baby, who I took into my arms, "where is the lady of the house?" I missed having young children so much.
"morning Dave." greeted Claire, Ollie's fiance, Katie's mother.
Ollie had been given a job as an animator for pixar five years ago by none other than Joseph Garrett. He met Claire out in California then decided to move home after Katie was born. They were living with me and Nicole while they found a place to buy a house.
Nicole exited the kitchen into the connecting sitting room where myself and the others were lounging, she sat down beside me and handed me a cup of tea before kissing my cheek.
"morning love!" I exclaimed, it was as if I fell more and more in love with Nicole every single day. Ollie and Cooper were disgusted by it.
I hadnt told anyone what I was going to do today. Nicole definitely wouldn't have allowed it. All I had said to them was that it was a work-do. That I was going into central London for a conference and dinner. Not that I was seeing my brother who tried to kill me for the first time in thirty years.

I'm nearly sixty years old. Tom will be sixty two. He'll be so much older than the thirty year old I remember. I'll be so much older than the young man in my twenties that I was back in Australia. Back with Sarah.

There I was, standing at the arrivals gate. I didn't know who to look out for, would we recognise each other? And then there he was. So so very aged.
For a moment we both stopped in our steps, making direct eye contact. I felt as cold as ice. I'm sure I went white. I remembered how he tortured me under the name of Amud and how he shot Stampy.
"you've grown up." said Tom, that was about all he could muster.
I almost laughed, "so have you." I replied.
He carried a tiny suitcase, which supposedly carried all his possessions. I didn't know whether to offer to carry it for him, what terms were we on? Surely its up to me to decide that? He's paid for what he's done.. Thirty years, thirty years is more than enough. Surely..

We sat back down in my car. I only had the one car now. It was a Mercedes, a modest but classy car, nothing to show off. I'm sure it appeared fancy to Tom, as cars had certainty evolved in the last thirty years.
"so.. How are you?" asked Tom, as I began driving. It was so strange. Everything was so strange.
"I'm okay." I replied, "you?"
"yeah, tired. Long flight." he responded before gazing into the back seat where there was a booster seat for Katie.
"who owns that?" he asked, before his gaze dropped.
"my granddaughter.. Katie." I told him, my eyes beginning to water as a I thought about everything I had to tell him.
"oh my god." he sighed, covering his mouth with one hand. I could see the regrets spiralling from his eyes.
"Sarah died... Just after you were sentenced. She was in a plane crash." I began to tell him everything.
"I heard about that." he said, nodding, making eye contact with me. "I'm sorry, I was really truly sorry to hear that."
I nodded and carried on, speaking as if Tom was a diary.
"I had three more kids with Nicole after we got home. Ollie, Katie and Cooper."
Tom's lips parted slightly and his head tilted in interest.
"Ollie's the eldest, he's thirty now has a lovely fiance and daughter. He just moved back from California." I told him.
"Cooper is an accountant in London, he's done very well for himself. He's twenty three, and has already bought himself an apartment in Chelsea ."
"Wow.. Wow that's amazing. and, and.. How about Katie?" asked Tom, before he recognised that Ollie's daughter shared the same name as his sister.