Writing for Fun
March 2015
The Reunion - Jeanette Rothwell
George was in a dilemma. He was a home-loving mild mannered man, married with three children, working at a bank, and here he was planing to leave it all behind for the sake of meeting again with a long lost friend who hadn't been in touch for twenty years. Out of the blue a letter had arrived. Yes, an envelope with a hand written address on the front and a short letter in excellent handwriting, reminding him of schooldays and a boy nicknamed Stretch, who had been his best friend for the years they had been at school, playing football, bike rides, pranks on the teachers, disappointments, successes, laughter, fights and the final parting when they had to go away to university and future careers.
The letter was asking for his help but did not specify how, except it was not financial. It seemed that he would have to travel to New York and he knew that finding the money for the journey would stretch his delicate bank balance, but the thought of letting down his once best friend was unthinkable. He would have to convince his wife of the seriousness of his intention and that would take all his ingenuity and powers of persuasion.
A fortnight after receiving the letter he was on his way to the airport having said his fond farewells to his family, promising to return soon, at least no longer than a couple of weeks. He was, however, getting quite excited at the prospect of travelling to the United States and meeting with his old pal.
When the long flight landed at JFK Airport, there was his friend Stretch living up to his old nickname even more. Tall, thin and energetic, he swooped down on George and gave him a big manly hug, chatting all the time, now in an American accent which he did not have when they were at school together.
He hailed a Cab and they were driven to a tenement building in New York resounding with loud excited voices, bicycles in the hallway, rather grubby stairs, up to the fourth floor. Stretch unlocked his apartment door with a flourish, picked up George's suitcase, pushed aside a heavy draught proofing curtain, and held out his arm with the words 'TA DA'. George grinned at his friend's behaviour. The same old Stretch. Just with a few more laughter lines, he didn't like to think of them as wrinkles.
As they entered, a tall striking blond lady emerged from another room. She was rather scantily covered in a large bath towel, and with another smaller towel she was rubbing her hair. She held out her hand and shook George's hand firmly. Her wide mouth smiled at him and she greeted him with a low drawling accent.
George's 'How do you do' sent her into peals of laughter. It seemed his English accent was an object of amusement for her.
Stretch introduced her as his Fiancé, Julia, and put his arm around her in a possessive manner. She disentangled herself from his embrace, blew him a kiss and disappeared back into the other room, saying she would get dressed and then they could go out for a bite to eat. George wasn't particularly hungry as the flight and various snacks on board had left him with little appetite but he knew he would have to be polite and go along with the plan.
He was, of course, longing to have a private word with Stretch to discover his need for help but it wasn't to be as they all set off to a Diner to eat their fill of the various American type meals on offer. George almost dozed off during the main course. Jet lag was catching up with him. Stretch noticed it and insisted they return to the apartment so that he could catch up on some sleep.
After a good night, George was much refreshed and was looking forward to seeing some of the attractions of New York. Stretch appeared to be in a thoughtful mood and Julia had already left to go to work. She was a waitress in a big hotel in the centre of the City.
'Great,' thought George, 'now I can talk to Stretch about his troubles.'
Firstly, Stretch reminded him of why some merry wit had labelled them the Bacon twins when they were teenagers. George was also tall and thin with a nickname which he had long discarded. He had been called 'Streaky'. The difference was in their hair colour. Stretch was sandy haired and George was dark.
Stretch explained that during the past 20 years he had been married, but it hadn't worked out and divorce had been the only option. He had then met Julia, and they had been an item for some time now, but her father who was a Widower and the Chief Executive of a big international company, was rather pompous and a disciplinarian and greatly disapproved of Stretch's somewhat bohemian lifestyle. Stretch was an artist and earned his living designing graphics for an advertising company by day, using the spare room in the apartment as a studio in his free time. The smell of oil paints was very prevalent in the living quarters.
Julia was supposed to be travelling to stay with an aunt for a fortnight, (ostensibly to get her away from Stretch) but, secretly, they had both booked a fortnight's holiday and were planning to fly to Las Vegas to get married and then to Europe to visit some art galleries on their honeymoon, all of which was bound to upset her father who had employed a private detective to keep an eye on Stretch and make sure Julia was not seeing him. This was where George came into the picture. As they were similar in height and build, Stretch wanted George to dress in his clothes, including a baseball cap to cover his hair, and openly make his way to Stretch's place of work, each day, staying away from the apartment until about 6.00pm and then arriving back home from work.
Stretch took him to the window that overlooked the street and directed his gaze to a shop doorway on the opposite side of the road where lurked a Colombo type chap in an old Mac, smoking a cigarette. That was the private detective and Stretch assured George that the detective did no more than observe the start of his journey to work and then the arrival home.
Stretch's idea was that George would carry a back pack in which he could take his own clothes to change into once he arrive at his office, who were already aware of the plan, when he could then explore to his heart's content changing back for the journey home. This would keep Julia's father happy. They would slip out the back way and set off on their travels. Julia had filled the fridge and larder with plenty of food to keep George fed. The biggest difficulty was shoe size. George's feet were smaller than Stretch's and his trainers weren't quite as tatty, but they hoped that the detective wasn't too observant on that score.
George's protests at the scheme were loud and long but he was not immune to Stretch's powers of persuasion and after a lot of discussion and talk about details, the whole plan was agreed.
The following morning Julia took a taxi to the nearest station, carrying a suitcase, saying a fond farewell to Stretch at the front door of the tenement building. Stretch then skipped out the back way, thanking George profusely for his help, and waving goodbye.
George donned Stretch's baseball cap, well worn leather jacket and rather ragged jeans, but his own trainers, folded his own clothes into a back pack and made his way openly out of the building, he mounted Stretch's bicycle, noting out of the corner of his eye that the detective was watching, and rode off in the direction of Stretch's office, hoping that he had remembered the route correctly.
For the following 10 days, George followed the same routine, arriving back at about 6.30pm each evening. During the day he explored New York in depth, Ellis Island, The Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Harlem, Greenwich Village, Wall Street, Times Square. He knew the map of the City by heart and spent happy hours watching the New Yorkers enjoying the delights of Central Park.
At last the newly-weds returned, glowing with happiness and full of tales of their travels, etc. However, Julia still had to break the news to her father whom, she believed, was in the process of returning from a Conference in Washington. She rang his office and was told that he would be back that afternoon.
The newlyweds were determined to face the music together and so they took a cab to the Father's office, Stretch somewhat quaking in his tatty trainers. They were shown up to the Chief Executive's office where they tentatively sat in the modern expensively furnished ante room, sipping some coffee served by one of staff.
Julia's father entered the room in a rather flamboyant fashion. He looked rather flushed and embarrassed which made Julia look at him intently.
'Hello, you two,' he said. 'To what do I owe this pleasure?'
They looked at each other in puzzlement.
'Have you come to tell me you are married?' he asked.
'How did you know?' They protested.
'I think you underestimated my private detective, your friend's shoes were far too smart for you to wear. He kept me well informed and I rang your aunt who told me you had not visited her so I presumed you two had probably eloped,' he explained.
Julia was astonished. 'And you don't mind?' she asked.
Her father answered 'Well, you see . . .' He broke off and walked to the door calling 'Miranda!' An attractive middle-aged lady came in. 'I can hardly disapprove of your behaviour when I was doing exactly the same thing.' He put his arm around Miranda. 'This lady used to be my secretary, but allow me to introduce you to your new stepmother, Julia. We were married in Las Vegas last week. Is that where you went?' They nodded. 'Well, let's hope we can all live happily ever after.'
Julia gasped in surprise but Stretch groaned. 'Oh, Lord, what will George say when I tell him his journey has all been in vain.'
Having drunk some champagne, each couple congratulating the other, they arrived back at the apartment, and tentatively told George the big surprise, expecting him to be very upset and angry at the very least. However, he just laughed at the whole situation.
'I've grown to love New York during this visit and I'm going to save up and bring my family here on a visit as soon as we can afford it. Who knows, we might even move here. I'm sorry my disguise didn't really work, though. I don't think I'm cut out for deception. Let's have some more champagne and then enjoy our own celebration before I fly back home.' He grinned and then observed 'I hope we won't let another twenty years go by before we meet again, Stretch, it has been quite a re-union.'