After a few moments the boy said “All right now, Nan, you get yourself back inside in the warm.” The old lady, who was looking anxious, left, reluctantly.
He was wearing his good, dark suit with a dark tie. I decided he must be going to a funeral – to be frank I did not think he would need a suit even for an interview for the kind of job which he might get without (probably) the kind of GCSE’s which count.
My musings were interrupted by a sudden burst of horn blowing & shouting from a group of young people in a passing car. My companion at the bus stop shouted back his explanation: he was on his way to the Army Recruitment Centre to get the results of his fitness test. All being well he’d be out of this sh**hole & in the army before the end of November.
I see his Nan quite frequently round & about, fearing that I might see the sadness there one day. Presumptuous, it’s not my business, but when I was young we knew lots of Nans, & mothers & widows (including both my own grandmothers) who had suffered the bereavement of war. And not just through death. There was the way adults would shake their heads sadly at the thought of the young man who did come back from his service in the Commandos, but was no longer recognisable as her son by his mother. You can see it in his eyes, they used to say.
On Saturday Nan got on the bus again, looking unusually sprightly even though it’s the first time I have seen her carrying a stick. I did not realised that she was with the young man who boarded the bus behind her, dressed defiantly in the colours of a struggling local team – hat, scarf, gloves, the lot. But when he sat down I realised that it was the soldier.
He hasn’t changed all that much – doesn’t seem to have put on weight, though he looks more defined & polished. Not sunburnt, though not as pasty as before. And very very confident, walking tall & relaxed.
Others on the bus knew him, so there was a lively exchange of news. He will be getting married while he’s home. After the match he was going to pick up one of the two cars he has been offered the use of for the duration of his leave.
A result, I suppose. Until I started thinking that maybe this is pre-deployment leave.
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