One Day

chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Sam has money problems

Sam arrived at his house, number 56. The lights were on in every room, and he could see his sixteen-year-old daughter, Emma, sitting at her computer in her bedroom.

Sam went inside the house and put his bag down. 'Wonderful,' he thought. 'No more work until Monday.' Sam worked for the town's newspaper - the Bath Chronicle. He was a reporter, but not a very important one. He quite liked his job, but he didn't get a lot of money for it. When he started work at the newspaper twenty years ago, he had big ideas. He wanted to work there for a few years, and then move to London to work for one of the big newspapers. But time moved on and he didn't.

Sam still wrote about the ordinary lives of people in Bath and sometimes... sometimes a big story. Then all the people on the paper had to work together and it felt good again - for a short time.

'Hannah, where are you?' called Sam.

'Upstairs with Alicia,' a voice replied.

Sam went upstairs and found his wife, Hannah, in the bathroom. Two-year-old Alicia was playing in the bath with about ten yellow plastic ducks.

'Hello, my favourite two girls,' said Sam and kissed them both.

'I heard that, Dad,' called Emma from her bedroom. 'What about me? I thought I was your favourite.'

'That was yesterday - when you made me a cup of tea,' said Sam and walked into his older daughter's room. Emma was looking at something on the Internet.

'I'm trying to find something about Chile for my geography teacher,' said Emma and turned to give her father a kiss.

'Go and ask Maggie. She's just come back from Chile,' replied her father.

'No, it's OK. I'll find it on the Internet. It's quicker. Anyway, she probably doesn't know much about the Mapuche Indians. Dad, you know I really like geography, don't you?' asked Emma.

'Yes,' replied her father.

'Well, our teacher wants to take us to Norway after school finishes in the summer. She told us about it today. It sounds wonderful. Can I go?' Emma looked at her father. He could see how excited she was.

'It'll be expensive, won't it?' asked Sam.

'I'm not sure,' replied Emma, but she knew it wasn't cheap. 'There's the money I got for my birthday. We can use that.'

'Yes, but that's not enough for a holiday to Norway. I'll talk to your mum about it,' said Sam, and he left the room - again thinking about money.

Sam went into his other daughter's bedroom. Hannah was sitting on the bed. Alicia was nearly asleep so Sam kissed her goodnight.

'How much does Emma need for Norway?' he asked Hannah as they walked downstairs.

'A lot - about 700 pounds, I think. And she has to tell her teacher on Monday if she's going,' replied Hannah. 'She really wants to, Sam.'

'I know. I'll try to find the money from somewhere.' Sam walked into the back garden for a cigarette. Hannah sat down at the kitchen table to read the newspaper.

Hannah looked up when Sam came back in and said, 'I could get a job, Sam. But I really want to stay at home with Alicia for a bit longer.'

'I know, and that's fine,' said Sam. 'I'll ask Jeremy to lend us some money. I don't like doing it, but I've done it before.'

His older brother, Jeremy, had a good job. He worked in the world of computers where nobody thought about not having enough money. Jeremy was strong - some people thought he was hard, not strong. Every job he got was better than the last one. He wasn't happy if life was too quiet and easy. He was a doer, not a thinker. His wife was the same. They both worked and played really hard. 'It's good that they don't have any children because there isn't enough time for them in their lives,' thought Sam. Jeremy didn't understand how expensive children were. And Sam hated asking his brother for money. He could tell that Jeremy felt sorry for his younger brother.

'Why don't you get a better job, Sam?' Jeremy always asked. 'You're intelligent, you could do anything.'

'I like my job,' replied Sam. 'I don't want to work anywhere else.' That wasn't really true, but he could never let Jeremy know that.

And this was the same conversation Sam and Jeremy had on the phone that Friday evening. But then it changed...

'I'm sorry, Sam, but I'm not going to lend you the money,' said Jeremy.

'Pardon?' said Sam.

'No, no money this time. You need to think about your job. Get a job with more money. You've got to change, Sam. Every time you need money, you come to me. Well, I think it's too easy.' Jeremy stopped.

Sam put the phone down. His head was hurting. He couldn't believe it. His own brother didn't want to help him. His own brother talked to him like that, and made him feel small and dirty.

Sam went back into the kitchen.

'What did he say?' asked Hannah.

'Fine,' said Sam. 'He'll lend us the money, so Emma can go to Norway.'

'I know it's difficult for you to ask, so thank you, my love,' said Hannah and kissed him. Sam didn't look at Hannah and went to find Emma.

CHAPTER FIVE

Jason and Maria

Maria opened the front door of her house and let Jason in.

'Hi,' said Jason and kissed Maria. She took his head in her hands and looked at him for a few seconds.

'What are you looking at? Have I got something on my face?' asked Jason, and he kissed her again.

'No, I just wanted to look at you - you've got a lovely face,' replied Maria and walked into the living room.

'Are you OK?' asked Jason, following her. 'I haven't seen much of you this week.'

'I'm fine,' replied Maria. Then she turned and looked at Jason. She saw someone who was her best friend. She saw a person she loved, but she knew that she was going to change everything.

'Jason, sit down. I need to talk to you,' said Maria. She took his hand. 'There isn't an easy way to say this, but I've met someone else.'

'What do you mean - met someone else?' For a moment Jason didn't understand. Then his face went white.

'When I was on holiday with my family in France at New Year I met a man and...' (this was the difficult bit to say) 'and I think I love him.'

'You said you love me,' said Jason in a loud voice.

'I did. I do. I do love you, but maybe like a brother. I feel a different love for Francois.' Maria looked at Jason. 'Oh Jason, I'm sorry. I didn't want this to happen.'

'You don't love him,' said Jason. 'It was just a holiday romance. How can you fall in love with someone else? Have you heard from him since the holiday? Have you seen him? Does he say that he loves you?'

'Yes, he loves me too,' Maria answered. 'We've emailed each other every day, and he came to London last week for a few days. I saw him then when I stayed at my sister's.'

'You told me your sister wanted to spend some time with you,' said Jason. 'So that wasn't true, was it?'

Jason looked at Maria. He couldn't believe what was happening.

'When we finish school in the summer, I'm going to Paris to study. Francois is studying there at the moment,' Maria said, not looking at Jason.

'You've thought of everything, haven't you? When did you decide all this?' Jason asked.

Maria didn't reply.

Jason got up, put on his coat and said, 'I'm going. I can't stay here. It hurts just to look at you.'

'Will you be all right?' asked Maria.

'I don't know. And anyway it's not your problem now, is it?' replied Jason angrily.

'Jason, please don't,' said Maria. 'Don't go. We need to talk some more.' But Jason was already running out of the front door.

He ran and ran until he couldn't run any more. He wasn't angry any more, but just so sad. He started to walk slowly home. He hoped his mother was out - he didn't want to talk to anyone.

When he got to his house, he saw the lights were on. He tried to open the door quietly, but he couldn't.

'Is that you, Jason?' called his mother from the living room.

'Yes,' he replied.

She came to the door of the living room. 'Why are you back so early?'

'I'll tell you tomorrow,' replied Jason. 'I'm going to my room now.'

'Please can you come into the living room for a moment,' his mother said.

'Do I have to?' asked Jason.

'Yes,' his mother replied.

Jason followed his mother into the living room and saw a man sitting on the sofa.

'Jason,' said his mother. 'This is your father, Simon.'

Jason looked at the man and said nothing. Simon said nothing, but couldn't look at Jason. After a minute or two Jason said coldly, 'So where have you been for the last twelve years?'

His father replied, 'It's difficult, but let me try and tell you what happened.'

But Jason didn't want to hear any more things that evening. For the second time that day he ran out of a house. He went to the river and sat looking at the water. He felt lost. Everything was different. Maria loved someone else. A strange man - someone he called 'Dad' twelve years ago - was sitting in his house. Jason felt he was going mad.

The weather was cold and it was raining, but he just sat looking at the river. For a moment he thought about jumping into the water and letting it take him away. 'Who will be sorry? Nobody,' he thought. But, deep inside, he didn't really believe that.

He put his hand into his pocket and found some cigarettes. He lit one, stood up and turned away from the river. For hours he walked the streets of Bath. The rain was still falling and he was wet through. At about three o'clock in the morning he was outside the city's mail depot. There was a lot happening. Big vans were arriving with bags of letters. Jason was happy to stand outside the gate and watch the bags going into the building. He stopped thinking about his problems for a bit and time passed. One of the men shouted to him, 'Hey mate, you all right? Want a job or something?' Jason didn't answer.

A voice called out from inside the building, 'Harry, tea's ready. Leave those bags and come and get it.'

The big gate opened to let the next van in. And Jason just followed. The man at the gate didn't see him behind the van - he was too busy reading his newspaper. The driver got out of the van and went inside. Then there was nobody but Jason. He wanted to get out of the rain, so he got into the van and sat down between the bags of letters. It was dry and comfortable. He smoked his last cigarette and then closed his eyes.

He woke up a short time later when he heard the sound of people laughing in the building. For a moment he didn't know where he was. Then he remembered. He knew he must go home and talk to his mother. Then there was his father. Jason was angry with him, but he did want to know why he was back. 'And I don't want anyone to find me in this van,' he thought. He jumped out and waited in the dark for the gate to open again.