25 Years

It was my day off and I was getting anxious. I was waiting for Jill to send me the details of how to pick Bear up who [you are only supposed to use who for people, but what do you actually use here?] was arriving on the 3pm flight. Jill had sent me the details already, (twice, actually) a link, (the second time) which, when I opened it, it said error document not found. I sent Jill back a screen shot of the message. She clearly didn’t look at her messages, as she didn’t respond and it was right on the time I had to leave. Grrrr!

Did she want her dog picked up, or what?

I had to call her. “Oh really,” she casually replied. She finally sent me the details.

I left at 3pm, to be there at 3.30pm, 3.45pm.

I listened to music on my headphones until I got to the on-ramp of the freeway, when I pulled my head phones off and hit go on my GPS.

The traffic was pretty busy, I had no idea where I had to go, not really. And my GPS was silent. Although I knew it was somewhere near Keilor Park Drive. Damn thing! Where is that annoying woman giving me directions? Why wasn’t she speaking? If I knew my GPS was going to fuck up on me, I would have taken more notice of the map I checked before I left home. I have a good memory, if I’d looked at the map more closely, I could have done directions old school.

There I was fiddling around with my phone trying to get it to work as I drove at 100 k’s in heavy traffic on the freeway. I never use my phone when I am driving, never ever. I could see why now. I was trying to look at the screen, which was just stupid. Fuck it! I couldn’t get it to speak. Damn it I didn’t know where I was going. WTF!

None of this had gone smoothly, thus far.

The phone rang, (I could see it on the screen) I hit answer as it lay on the passenger seat of my car. I do that with calls I don’t know now, I just push answer and leave it on my desk, leave it on the coffee table, hold it in my hand. The phone rang again, so they were keen, and I raised it to my ear and said hello. (I was getting close to Keilor Park Drive)

“Hi, it is blah, blah, from blah blah, the plane is delayed, Bear won’t be here until closer to 5pm.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m sorry but I am not,” he said. “So, you shouldn’t get here until around 5pm.”

Grrrrrr. Bulla Road was coming up, I could turn off and sort the GPS problem. “Well, I am going to be there in a few minutes I’m already on my way, so…”

“Okay,” he said. Or something like it. “See you soon.”

Okay, I thought. You are calling me when I am due there? Really?

I turned off at Bulla Road. I pulled up in Dan Murphy’s car park. Fuck, fuck, fuck, I thought.

I threw the phone down next to me, next to my headphones on the passenger seat. My head phones? On the passenger seat. Oh? You idiot! Oh fuck it! They were still switched on, of course, the GPS was talking into my headphones.

I called Sam and whinged down the phone at him.

“Switch your headphones off,” he said. “Really?”

I set off again.

Turn off at Keilor Park Drive. Take the second exit at the round a bout, take the second exit at the round a bout, take the second exit at the round a bout, take the first exit at the round a bout, your destination is on the left.

I was already to be shitty with the pet pack people. “What do you mean you are calling me to tell me the plane is late when I am supposed to be here! Fuck you!” But they were too nice and it wasn’t their fault.

“You can wait in our waiting room,” said the nice pet pack person. “You can come and go as you please. Feel free to watch TV.”

So, the next thing is that I am watching Murder Mysteries with Dick van Dyke, until I think to myself, Anything would be better than this! I’ve got a script to get filled and my TattsLotto to lodge and at this rate I won’t be home in time to do either. So, I get up and head to the desk.

“I’m just heading down to the shops to waste time in a newsagent and a chemist,” I say. “There were shops just down the road?”

“If you want a newsagent and a chemist you will have to head around to the shopping centre…”

“The shopping centre?” I question.

“[Name of shopping centre], that is where you’ll find the shops you are looking for.”

“I used to work at the cinema there,” I said. “In another life time.” I laughed, to myself mostly.

When I left uni and I didn’t want to work on, let’s say the 25th floor, in a corporate office, as I do now, I managed cinemas for a few years. It was fun. It was something I never thought I’d do. I worked in the cinema bar as a uni job, just after I graduated they offered me the trainee managers job, and I took it. There was 5 of us, we were like the new breed of managers, or some such thing. All I knew was I didn’t want to work 9 to 5 corporate. I did that until I wanted to take 6 months off to travel to Europe and they wouldn’t give me 6 months leave of absence. They wanted to break the unions so they wanted everyone on board. (Am I remembering that right?)

“Yeah, well, the cinemas are still there.” Both the boys laughed, as if that was meant to mean something, what I didn’t know.

“Where is that?”

“Go down to Keilor Park Drive and turn left. Then turn right into Sharps Road and then turn right at the first set of traffic lights.”

“Go down here, turn left, turn right into Sharps Road and then take the first right?”

“Turn right at the first set of traffic lights.”

“Okay, got it. Left, right, right at the first lights?”

“Yes.”

Back to the dreaded Keilor Park Drive, I thought, as I got in the car. Right. Right at the lights. And that road just seemed to head off into the wilderness. Ah? Um? I guess I just keep going. Not in Kansas now. A round a bout. Another round a bout. A shopping centre sign, follow that, go that way. Up and around and another round a bout, another shopping centre sign, over a bridge and voila! The arsehole of the world, welcome. I parked right outside a door.

So, TattsLotto, get a script filled, waste an hour.

I headed around to the cinema. I couldn’t remember the place, not really. It all seemed so much smaller. I opened that cinema, with other managers.

I didn’t remember the stairs at the entrance.

I stood in the foyer taking it in, trying to remember it. Hiding in full sight, if you like. I’m sure it was bigger. The open space to the manager’s office longer.

I used to park on the upper level, I remembered that. Maybe, that was why I didn’t remember the stairs at the front?

Then I saw something familiar. I was kind of surprised, not something I expected.

There was [name of person] still working in the candy bar, twenty five years later, she was still there. Well, how about that, I thought. She looked the same, as if time hadn’t moved much, a bit older, a little stooped. I thought of all the things I’d done in 25 years. So many things.

We used to get on really well. She liked my black sense of humour and I used to say things that would make her mouth drop open and then laugh. She had a cackle. She was genuinely funny.

I didn’t say hello, she didn’t look over at me. Truth is I couldn’t remember her name, as I stood there.

Just as I thought that I should just say hello, [name of person] as I felt somewhat ashamed of deciding not to say hello, my phone rang. “Hello, just letting you know Bear has arrived and is ready to be picked up.”

I took one last look, it was one of the saddest things I have ever seen, and turned and headed down the stairs.