The Long Way Home

  ****

  Laurie made his way home from work, the same way he had for the past couple of decades he had worked at the timber yard, he walked. Perhaps it was the reason that despite being in his late fifties, he still maintained his fitness. Sure he liked to have a drink with the boys at the pub almost every night of the week, but it didn’t change the fact that he felt great. He put it down to the three kilometre walk each way to work and the fact that he spent most of the day throwing lengths of timber up onto the saw bench. Sure his silver grey hair might show up his age, but with his tanned skin, stern looks and his tall, broad shoulders any man in his right mind would think twice before messing with Laurie.

  He strode confidently uphill in stark contrast to the man in front of him who was struggling to maintain momentum as he wobbled his bicycle along the edge of the road. Laurie drew alongside him as the bike leant violently to the side and the man tried desperately to plant one of his feet on the ground to steady himself.

  “Hey, are you right there mate?” Laurie leant forward and caught the man before he toppled sideways. “This hill’s a bit steep to be riding a bike up, eh?”

  “Thank you.” The man replied in a frail voice as he looked up at Laurie from beneath the brim of his hat.

  Laurie overcame the initial shock of seeing the man face to face. He was old, very old. If anyone had told him he was 120 Laurie wouldn’t have doubted them for a second. The little hair that he could see poking out from underneath his brown fedora hat looked like fine, white wire and matched his eyebrows perfectly. His face had more creases than a form guide at the local racetrack and his dark skin hung loosely from his small, spindly frame. Laurie wondered what on earth possessed this man to think he could ride his Malvern Star bicycle, which looked like it was straight out of an antique shop, up a hill as steep as this.

  “How much further up the road do you have to go mate?” Laurie asked him. He couldn’t stand the thought of leaving the old guy to roll backwards down the hill and get himself killed if he didn’t help him to get to wherever it was he was going.

  “I’ve got to get to Simon’s house.” The old man replied, his voice weak from struggling hard uphill. “He’s in great danger.”

  “What, you mean Simon, the kid that lives next door to me?” Laurie sputtered. “What do you mean he’s in danger? What’s going on?”

  “There’s no time to explain.” The old man spoke slowly. “If someone doesn’t reach him soon, then I’m afraid it could be too late.”

  Laurie stared at the old man in disbelief. Old was an understatement, he looked more like a fossil than someone who was still capable of being alive, yet there was no mistaking the man had a certain presence about himself. His face had a radiant glow that made his eyes sparkle with a youthful vigour that belied his age. Laurie found himself trusting the guy and strangely felt strengthened from simply standing next to the frail old man.

  “What’s happened, what can I do to help?” Laurie asked. His voice now filled with concern.

  The old man held Laurie’s shoulder to steady himself as he hopped off the bicycle, appearing steadier once he was standing on his own two feet again. “Here take this and ride ahead for me. The boy is in great danger as we speak, he won’t be safe until he reaches his father.”

  “Okay.” Laurie replied with a sense of urgency. He took the handlebars from the man’s shaky grasp and threw his leg over the rusty frame of the bike. “But what about you, are you going to be okay?”

  “My friend,” the old man patted him firmly on the shoulder. “I can walk through this world better than I can ride a bicycle.”