The Fall of Man

Part III chapter 14

Chapter 14

“I don’ quite remember how I ended up here, exactly. Not sure how long I been here either. Down here, away from the sun, you lose track of time real easy. There’s no days as such – just one long night. But I knew a time when we saw daylight regular, that’s for sure. And cars. And burgers with cheese. And chips. I remember chips.

And television…

We lived up in the valleys, when I was a boy. School was a short bus ride from home. The old yellow double-deckers would pick us up every morning; took a bus-full of us down to the school on the edge of town. We were one of the first stops, my brother and me, and always got the best seats – up front, on top. I remember those rides - rolling about all over the place - tree branches sounded just like gunshots on the metal roof. But all that stopped when I was fourteen. We hadn’t gotten close to finishing classes, but no more diesel meant no more buses, and it was too far to walk twice a day.

The next few years was my favourite. The whole family was home, all at once, see. Me and my mam, both my sisters. Even my Da was around – he couldn’t find petrol for the drive to his office, so he had to work from home on his computer. HE said the house was too small, but I liked it alright. It was cosy with us all in there together, and my friends was just up the street. We all did what we could to make money – odd jobs, mostly. Working on other peoples’ houses. In their gardens. Growing food here and there, anywhere we could find the space… Along some streets they even broke up the roads, to make room for allotments and plant a few veg. There wasn’t much spare for anyone to give away really, but we did what we could. They were good times…

I knew Mollie right from school. Her mam knew my mam and we all started hanging out a lot when the buses stopped running; she lived just a few streets away, up on the hill. She was a tidy looking girl and always treated me nice. It wasn’t too long before we moved into a place together. She fell pregnant, so we had to really. It was no good with us both under my mam’s feet all the time. And there were so many empty houses by then; it was the food and fuel that was hard to come by. Of course, we needed them much more once the baby came. But so did everyone else. There was always people arguing across the allotments, and I remember how the hills were stripped of trees for miles around...

We had a real scare when the baby come. He was breech, see; inside Molly the wrong way up. My mam and her mam Janice were both there, all shouting and screaming, running around like headless chickens. I was probably the worst of all. Then someone found Mrs Clevedon from down the hill. She used to be a nurse, and knew exactly what to do. I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved than when little Jackson popped out. It wasn’t much fun for Mollie though. I felt terrible for her… all that pain and mess and fuss. I don’t think she ever quite recovered...

All the neighbours were brilliant after the baby was born. We didn’t have a clue, but everyone brought stuff round – out of their garages, their basements and their lofts. We had a real tidy setup for little Jackson; he never wanted for anything. He played for years up and down the street; the boy had so many aunties and uncles, we used to lose track of who had him at any one time…

It was a few years later that we was moved down to the city by the Council. A lot of people got left behind in all the commotion, mind. My ma and da – they wouldn’t come. Said it was all a conspiracy – to get them out of their house because the Council wanted the land. Things got harder for them after that, of course. No running water, no gas. Soon enough the drainage packed up. Those are the things you really took for granted back in the day. Then one morning the reception on the phone just went. No signal, it said. We never heard from them again…

We loved the city at first. It was great when things started. Everything worked, and everyone was well excited. It was all new, see. The girl had a brand new kitchen – never been used before we moved in. She was in there cooking things all the time. We all shared communal heating and electric, so no bills to pay. The boy had a school to go to, all new as well. Inside the same building as our apartment, it was. All the other kids were from the same building as ours. I thought that was a fine idea. It was a shame when they filled in the playing fields, mind. I suppose they needed the space for more homes - more people coming in all the time. So we had nowhere for football, but the boy could still ride his bike around the block. But then a few years after that, the children stopped coming. And no more kids meant no more school…