Below the Radar - Cyprus Summer of '74

Chapter 35 : Que Sera Sera (Homeward Bound)

Chewing over the news that Simon would be leaving Cyprus in a couple of hours, Simon and Alex wandered outside. They both flopped down and sat down next to each other on the floor of the veranda, their backs against the cool concrete wall of the house. Legs bent, arms around knees they looked out across the scrubland behind the house towards the cliffs and sea beyond. The day had been another scorcher and even now the early evening temperature was still in the high seventies. They sat quietly for a while with their own thoughts. Strangely possible, even amid the ever present shrill cacophony created by the multitude of cicadas all around them creating the overriding sound of a Cypriot summer.

A radio was on somewhere in the house and the sound of Marvin Gaye singing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" drifted gently out of every open window. Alex closed his eyes, wondering what life in Cyprus would be like after Simon. In the end he gave up, knowing that after the coup everything would be different. They had seen plenty of their good mates come and go over the years. Life and people soon just moved on, but he struggled with the thought it would be like that this time. He couldn't imagine their mates forgetting Simon so quickly, or worse, any of them trying to take his place. Alex also wondered how everyone would see him. Would he still be part of the gang or with no Simon, be dismissed as a hanger on, slipping back into the company of his own group of mates at school. But even if that happened, he'd have to do it without Dan.

"Oy Alex, what's up? I'm the one flying home in a couple of hours not you."

Alex blinked a few times quickly.

"Yeah, I know, I was just ... thinking about stuff."

Simon looked across and smiled.

"Yeah, you do a lot of that. It's like I said about Kate before. You need to stop worrying about what might happen. Or what other people might think about what you might do. Sometimes you just need to be yourself and get on with it. I don't mean go crazy, but only you can decide what you think is right. Then, even if you get it wrong, at least it's your decision. Shit, I get it wrong. Well sometimes", Simon smiled and carried on with his thoughts, "anyway, when I do I know it's my mistake, nobody else is to blame. Yeah, even like up on Troodos – I saw that twat about to drop you and just did what I did. And would do again Alex. It was my decision and after that, well ..... the rest was out of my control, no good second guessing everything."

Simon snorted and looked across at Alex. "Doesn't mean I'm not still totally pissed off that you're the one with the Horseshoe Hike certificate, at the first attempt, something I haven't got after two goes at it."

Simon was quiet again for a moment before continuing. "It's a bit like this job I've got. I mean, do you really think I want to work for a bloody Insurance Company? But at least I'll soon have some money in my pocket. I'll give it a go but if the job turns out to be total crap, well I'll try something else, hopefully more exciting."

"Yeah, but it's easier for you Si. I'm not confident, or as brave as you. Whether it's around girls or when there's trouble. People are going to think I'm like you. I'm happy when we laugh and joke around with girls and I've had a few girlfriends, but never a really serious one. Plus I've never had a fight where I got really punched or beat up, even counting that night on the by-pass. What am I gonna do if there's trouble when you're gone?"

Briefly the music died away. They could barely hear the DJ's patter between records but had no trouble identifying the next record. Simon smiled at the familiar pounding intro and Roger Daltrey's frustrated, angry semi-stutter vocal on My Generation, the Who's youth anthem of the previous decade, perhaps any decade.

"Don't worry Alex, you'll be fine. You'll have a great time, while I'm slogging away at a desk. Well maybe you will, if all this trouble gets sorted out somehow."