Homecoming

Julia walked slowly out of the international terminal, stopped and gazed around.  The long roll of the hills in the background shone in the morning sun and the cool breeze still held the smell of the previous night’s rain.  Julia was simply pleased to be back home where she could find herself again.  A dynamic computer software business, frequent overseas travel, and negotiating successful deals at all levels had given her poise and self-confidence.  And a failed marriage had almost destroyed her.  Only selling out her share of the business to her ex-husband, at a healthy profit, had allowed her to regain some of her composure.

Julia lazed along, day-dreaming happily after a hectic twenty-four hours in a jumbo jet and an even more hectic three months tidying up all her business interests and packing her life into storage crates.  Eventually, she reached the taxi rank.  As she climbed into the back of a cab, the driver, well hidden behind wraparound sun glasses and a baseball cap, mumbled a terse, “Morning,” grunting when she gave her address.  Julia tried to talk to him in a half hearted way, but he was clearly absorbed in his own thoughts.  “Just as well, really,” thought Julia, “he’s a pretty unattractive guy.  That scruffy beard does nothing for him - and he smells, too!”

Nick Danton.  All of a sudden, the image of the boy who had been so much a part of her life all those years ago sprang unbidden into her mind.  He had been the centre of attention of so many of the girls in her year at university—and he had known it and traded on it.  Smart and good looking, he would have been the model for the hero of any number of cheap romances.  Nick had it all and was definitely going places.  She stopped, puzzled, unable to get his image out of her mind and unable to understand why this long forgotten infatuation should now return so strongly.

Julia relaxed in the back of the cab, reminiscing to herself about the old days and her time at university.  Once more, the image of Nick Danton rose in her mind and Julia reminisced.  Suddenly, the driver jammed on the brakes and muttered a curse at an unseen driver, causing Julia to emerge from her idle dreams.  “Good heavens, why am I having all these girlish fantasises about a guy who is probably happily married with a family by now.  Snap out of it, Julia, this isn’t the way you made a success over there.  Julia Temple, the hard headed business woman, capable of meeting the men on their own ground, and winning more often than not, would never have allowed such idle fancies to preoccupy her mind.”

Now, there was something about coming home for the first time since her father’s funeral that cold, wet winter’s day, five years ago, that made her feel positive and happy.  The remembered scenes of years ago, the sprawling, comfortable houses and the warm, soft weather helped Julia to relax and start to shake off the tensions of the recent past.

She sat up again as the driver asked for more specific directions, wondering, at the same time, what made him so surly.  Julia replied cheerfully, smiling brightly at the back of the driver’s head as she spoke to him.  But it made no difference - he sank back into the apathy that he had displayed during the whole trip.  “Well, too bad,” Julia said to herself, “Thank goodness I won’t ever have to see him again!”

Eventually, they reached the old bungalow, surrounded by the sweet smelling shrubs that she remembered so well as her father’s pride and joy, now a riot of colour and perfume in mid-spring.  As Julia’s mother bustled out to welcome her home, the taxi driver slouched to the rear of the car to take out the bags.  Julia sensed some sort of unspoken communication passing between her mother and the driver and was momentarily disconcerted.  “Maybe she doesn’t think much of him either,” thought Julia, quickly dismissing him from her mind in the warmth of her mother’s welcome.

“All the family is coming round this afternoon to welcome you home, my dear”, her mother said,“ but I wanted you to myself for a while for a good old gossip.”  Julia smiled to herself.  “It’s wonderful to be back home, Mum.  Now I want to spend a long time getting myself into some sort of routine.  I have so many plans.  There is so much I want to do, so much that I have to do and so many people I want to see.”  Her mother smiled, warmed by Julia’s sincerity and enthusiasm and bustled into the kitchen to make coffee.

“Do you know, it’s a funny thing, Mum, ever since the plane touched down, for some strange reason, I’ve been thinking about Nick Danton.  You remember that boy I was so taken with when I was in my last year at uni.  He came round here several times - I’m sure you met him.  In fact, I seem to remember that you and Dad quite approved of him.”  Julia ran on enthusiastically, still preoccupied with the idea of Nick Danton, the idealised image of him continuing to grow in her mind.  “I’d like to re-weave some of the threads of the old days; I wonder whether I could get in touch with him again?  I know it sounds silly and he’s probably married but, well, we were good friends and if things had been different, he might have been your son-in-law.”

Julia paused in her animated monologue, suddenly puzzled by her mother’s silence, and turned towards the older woman.  Her mother was looking at Julia with an indefinable expression on her face.  “Oh my dear,” she said, her voice low and full of concern, “I thought you had realised.  Nick Danton was driving your taxi.”