Papa and Me

Paul Kelly

Description

This is the story of the love of a fifteen year old boy BRADLEY ROBERTS for his grandfather whom he calls PAPA. It tells of the total understanding between the young and the old, with advice given that serves the boy through his life and well into his manhood.It is a story totally regardless of sex in its content, although Bradley learned much from his Papa that gave him a fuller understand of marriage and relationships.A story of LOVE in its purest form which gave Bradley the life that his Papa wished him to have and which filled his life with rich happiness.

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 25 février 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783336302
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
‘PAPA AND ME’
A Fiction Novel
By
Paul Kelly



Publisher Information
‘Papa and Me’
Published in 2014 by Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.
Copyright © Paul Kelly 2014
The right of Paul Kelly to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.



Chapter One
Glasgow
I had just left the library when Steven nudged me on the arm and I dropped one of my books onto the pavement. Steven and I loved reading and I think that is why we had become such close friends, but I couldn’t understand why he had pushed me so hard and for no apparent reason.
“Why did you do that?” I asked as we both bent down to pick up the books.
“That girl over there,” he went on, “I think it was a girl and I could see her looking at us but I have never seen her before, well maybe it was a boy. I can’t be sure but the person I saw could have been a boy or a girl. He or she had blonde hair and was very attractive looking. I think it must be you she is trying to attract. I could hear someone talking, but I couldn’t make out what was being said.
I strained to see what Steven was talking about but I could see no-one’
“Over there near Norfolk Close. I could hear someone talking and I think it was the girl’s name. The person who was speaking called her Marcell or Marcella I think. Do you know someone called Marcell or Mercy or Marcie?”
“No, I don’t think so, do you?”
“No, but it isn’t a very common name, is it?”
I looked again but I could see no-one and I knew of no girl named Marcella, but suddenly a girl appeared on the corner of the street and although I had never seen her before and there were many girls at our school, I could see that she was very beautiful and just for a moment, she was there and the next moment she had gone.
I looked at Steven again and shook my head. Could this ‘vision’ have been a girl... or could it have been a boy?
“Either I am imagining things or I am going blind.” said Steven and looked about him, still thinking that the person or ‘the vision’ that he ‘thought’ he saw was still apparent, but he could see nothing.
“Yes, I replied eagerly,” confirming his sight as if I had the total authority to do that, “I saw someone only just for a moment, but I heard no-one speaking, Are you sure of what you saw. I know none of the girls at our school would look at me twice, so it must have been a dream,”
We walked along together and chatted about other things, dismissing the ‘vision’ we imagined we had seen, but I had just reached the corner of Norfolk Close when I saw that face again. I stopped suddenly to get a better look and Steven was about to speak when once again, the ‘vision’ disappeared.
It was about two weeks after this incident that Steven met me again as we were leaving school and it must have been about quarter past four.
“Have you see that girl again?” he asked and I looked at him without the slightest idea of what he was talking about for a few moments and then I remembered, but I had seen nothing more of the girl that we both imagined we had seen that day.
“I saw her again this morning, but again it was only for a few moments as if she was some kind of a ghost.” Steven went on in an excited tone. “What on earth could this mean, Bradley? I have looked at every girl in the school and no-one looks at all like her. That ghost I mean... I wish I could tell if it was indeed a girl or if it was a boy, but it doesn’t really matter now as it comes and goes when it wants and it will never ever really become part of our lives, could it?”
“Steven, I am nearly fifteen and my mother thinks I should leave school and get a job or stay on and go to University, but I don’t know what to do,”
“Well what would you want to do yourself Bradley?”
“I’m not sure. I think I would like to be a Vet as I like animals especially dogs, but then I think you need mathematics to become a Vet, don’t you?”
“I’m not sure Bradley but I would like to be a film star and that might be difficult coming from Glasgow, wouldn’t it?”
“Do you mean because of your accent? Well don’t ask me Steven. I can understand you when you speak so what would be the problem?”
“Well Bradley, I had to speak to a woman on the phone the other day and she asked me what part of Scotland I came from and when I asked her how she could tell that I was from Scotland, she said ‘she could smell the heather’... “
I had to laugh when Steven said that and I had to admit that he did have somewhat of a Glasgow accent, but then, so did I.
“What does your father think,” Steven asked and I bit my lip.
“My Dad left us when I was a little boy Steven and he was just 32 I think and had been married a few years before I was born but we don’t know where he is. My grandfather might be able to tell us, but then again I don’t think so. Grandad Bradley; his name is Bradley Smithson had four children, but he married rather late in life. I think he was about thirty or maybe forty when he married my grandmother and she was about twenty years younger than him. I’m not sure of the actual dates, but they had four children, the eldest was my mother Muriel...
Steven apologised as if he had made a mistake in asking his question and then he asked me what Mr. Falkirk, one of the teachers at our school thought of my idea of wanting to be a Vet as old Falkirk was my school master and he taught me mathematics, but I didn’t like him and what was worse at that time, Falkirk was seeing my Mum and I think she was interested in seeing Falkirk. It may only be that Mum respected old Falkirk because he taught me mathematics, but my mother’s attitude towards Mr. Falkirk worried me. I was only a small baby when my father left us, but even in those few years, I had got to know something of him and loved him and with my grandfather coming regularly to our house at that time, I had grown to love him too. It was as though my grandfather replaced my Dad and I was named after him so there was no way I could ever put old Falkirk on the same level. I just did not like the man and I was beginning to dislike my mother for the way she regarded Falkirk as a possible father for me, or so I thought as Mum did not look like the woman who would be close to Falkirk in marriage. The very thought of that made me feel sick and I am also sure that most of the boys at my school had the same dislike for Falkirk. He was a slimy character, with a strange grin or smile on his face.
It was when I came home three days after we had seen that ‘vision’ which would not leave my mind, even if I could find any reason for it to be still with me, and mother was preparing dinner with a table set for THREE and I guessed she had invited old Falkirk home to eat with us. There was never any reason for three people to be sitting at our dinner table unless Papa, my grandfather had been invited, but he was not invited on this occasion and truly, just as I had imagined... the old bastard himself turned up at the door step when I went to answer the door bell. He grinned and had the nerve to ‘welcome me’ as if it was ME he had come to see, but within minutes my mother appeared and to my utter disgust. I listened with nausea to the jabbering of both as they stood inside the door chatting as if they had been friends for all of their lives and I went into the toilet and had a long ‘pee’ in sheer disgust. When I came into the lounge again, they had settled into dinner and mother with one wave of her hand invited me to sit down and eat, but she never glanced at me for a second as she smiled and gloated over the beast that sat beside her.
I ate what I could, listening to ‘them’ chatting about life in general and what each of them would do if they had to live all over again and I waited patiently until the chatter had finished before I excused myself from the table and went out into the garden. We had a little rabbit hutch out there where ‘Marmaduke’ nibbled constantly at whatever I could bring him from the kitchen. I loved that little fellow and I feel sure he loved me too as he would sit up and utter something guttural from his throat whenever I came out to see him. I waited outside hoping the two inside would finish their chatter and that he would go, but I waited in vain as more than an hour passed and I had to come inside again as it was beginning to get colder outside and it was also getting darker.
I wasn’t at all surprised when my mother said nothing to me as I came in again, but I WAS surprised when HE interrupted what my mother was talking to him about and turned his attention on me.
“How nice to see you again, Bradley,” he smirked and invited me to sit down at the table as mother gave me a dirty look and left us to go into the kitchen, “You are doing very well at Maths, Bradley,” he went on, “Are you thinking of doing anything in the accounting when you leave school which should be very soon now, I believe.”
I paid little attention to his complimentary remarks and I said nothing of my ambitions and hopes to become a Vet in the event that he might add his ‘compliments’ to that too, as I knew only too well what he would have said to me on that same subject if we were together in the classroom, but as mother was outside in the kitchen he turned to face me and reached out to