THREE THOUSAND MILES
THREE THOUSAND MILES
The silver trail of a passing plane, like a snail's trail snaked across the blue sky, dodging around the puffball
clouds. He looked up, shading his eyes as he watched the speck grow smaller until it
disappeared into the setting sun.
His mind wandered back to his own flight, and to where he was now, the words that often spun through
the cobwebs of his mind surfaced once more.
Three thousand miles, and seven hours, from all he'd ever known
Way, way across the silver sea, from what he still called home
He was that and more, all his history, all his memories were those many miles away. Sure the telephone and
the emails brought people close, but they could never replace the memories of his life up to now
He walked back into the house, his eyes automatically going to the array of faces that lined the cabinet top, each
smiling picture a memory of a family he spoke to but did not see. He wondered how much the children had grown, what they were doing
and missed them all once more.
It had been something he had not looked for that day he went into a totally different chat room to the one
he normally chatted in. He was a regular on the cyber highway and had many friends around the world. He would never
know just what made him go that day, but he went and as normal started chatting to various people.
Then she was there, it started as the normal gentle banter between chat room folk, but soon they began
to realize that this was something else. They met the next night and the next night and the next. Gradually getting to know each other
better, and learn about each other. They found they could tell each other the most intimate things, things
that they had bottled up deep inside them for many years. And with each revelation, they both began to realize that
this was no online romance, it was something deeper, it was meant to be.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, until one day she let him phone her, and hearing her voice had sent bells ringing though his heart.
But life was not easy, and never is. Their's was not a simple affair, a romance that
could be reached easily. For one thing, a large ocean separated the two people, and for a second, neither of them was free to be with
the other.
From early on they had realized that things were not what they had seemed, and both knew of the other's problems and unhappiness.
Rather than remember the hurt and the pain of what happened next his mind, like a scratched record, skipped over most of the details
Flashes of crying curled up in a ball, of breaking down at work, and letting his manager know all what was going on. The way people had taken sides
hurting everybody with their own petty spite, poison pen letters, even to crashing his home computer, capturing and editing emails. Friends were lost
and all had been hurt in so many ways.
He shivered, it had been
beyond anything everybody could ever realize. But all the time they had a goal, a star they were reaching for.
As time went by and things gradually fell into some sort of place, the next step was getting across the sea to be with her
He for once found some help and luck with his work, and managed to get a transfer to the western colonies
Then had come the day his heart cried at every time he thought of it. Leaving all he had ever known, leaving his beloved England,
his family, his past, leaving it all to start once more from scratch in a new country. Saying good bye to his family, tears
streaming down faces, and not wanting to leave. But all the time his heart had told him, what he was doing was right, and if it was right then he should do it.
She had been there at the airport, falling into his arms, and both of them knew what they were doing
despite all that had gone before, the hurt, the pain, and all that was yet to come, this was right, this was what was meant to be
They started a life together, at first only managing short times with each other while she had gone through the same
hurt with her divorce as he had done with his. Still this time, she was not alone, he was there, and tried every way he could to help her. It
was not easy, it was a different country and so, so much was strange to him
He remembered holding her sobbing through the night, with such a feeling of helplessness, that
his heart had thought it would break.
He looked once more at the disappearing plane, and the silver trails left like ghost writing in the sky
Three thousand miles, and seven hours, from all he'd ever known
Way, way across the silver sea, from what he still called home
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of small footsteps climbing up the steps, and he looked down as small
hand reached for his, and a pair of eyes as blue as his own, looked up to him filled with love.
"Daddy, Daddy, up" said a small voice, and as he lifted his daughter into his arms, his wife, with their newborn son
came into the room.
"Missing home again?" she smiled at him, as it was more like a statement than a question
"No love" he smiled back, putting his arm around his wife so the four of them hugged together
"I am home"
Three thousand miles, and seven hours, from all he'd ever known
Way, way across the silver sea, from what he still called home
To follow ones heart, and reach the star, that which was meant to be
three thousand miles and seven hours, to a love, and his new family
Barry Eva 2002
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