An Ocean Apart

by Robin Pilcher

  Twenty-five minutes and two coffees later, the doors eventually opened and the first shrieks of welcome resounded around the domelike hall. A young child was pushed under the chrome rail by encouraging parents and walked apprehensively forward to greet an old couple who struggled bravely to co-ordinate the welcome that was expected of them while still trying to keep their overladen luggage trolley on its designated course.

  Thereafter, the newly arrived passengers came thick and fast through the doors, some being welcomed by friends and families and whisked off to waiting cars, while others, casting lost looks around the terminal building, traipsed unsurely away in different directions, like sheep in desperate need of a sheep-dog to nudge some order and guidance into their lives.

  Charlie and Harriet appeared first through the door, both coming out in reverse as it happened, Charlie shrugging up his haversack onto his back as he yelled to Sophie to hurry up. David slid off his bar-stool and made his way slowly towards the barrier, content to remain at a distance, quenching the deprivation that he had felt over the past month by savouring those few seconds in which they were unaware of his presence. They turned, suddenly shy as they stood scanning the smiling faces gathered round the barrier, then Charlie caught sight of him, and with a loud shout of “Dad!” ducked under the rail, getting his rucksack caught up in the process, and ran towards him. David stayed where he was, watching his son approach, strangely lean and lanky compared with Benji, his tight jeans and cotton gingham shirt making him appear unaccountably British.

  Charlie hit him at speed and threw his arms around his waist. “Dad! We had a great time on the plane. I was allowed to go up with the pilot and watch him fly it! They wouldn’t allow me to touch anything though!”

  “I’m glad to hear it!” David laughed.

  David pulled him in close to his body and leaned forward to give him a kiss on the top of his head, relishing the slightly musty smell of his hair. Charlie immediately pushed himself away and ran back to collect Harriet, who still stood where he had left her, having become entirely captivated by the sight of a young girl lying screaming on the floor of the terminal, kicking out her little legs in temper at her parents’ luggage trolley as they tried their ineffectual best to calm her down.

  “Harriet! Quick! Here’s Dad!”

  Harriet immediately broke out of her dream-world and an expression of yearning agitation came over her face as she looked around for her father. Then seeing him, she broke into a run, taking the long way round the barrier. As she came towards him, David bent down and gathered her up, feeling her arms and legs clamp around his body like some deliciously formed octopus.

  “Hello, darling!” He nuzzled his face deep into the mop of thick black curls and kissed the nape of her smooth soft neck. “How are you?”

  Harriet lifted her head off his shoulders and looked at him, her face a mere six inches away from his own. “Daddy?”

  “Yeah?”

  She glanced back towards the door. “That little girl is behaving so badly.”

  David laughed. “I know she is. I hope you behaved better than that on the plane.”

  Harriet turned back to look at him, a grin on her face. “Of course I did!” Her smile slid into a frown. “Except I was frightened quite a lot.”

  “Why?”

  “’Cos Charlie kept saying that the plane was bound to blow up!”

  David raised his eyebrows and began walking with her towards the Arrivals door. “Oh, yeah, that sounds like him.”

  He stopped next to his son, who was leaning against the barrier, breathing on the chrome to make it fog up, then rubbing it hard with his hand to clear it.

  “Where’s Sophie got to, Charlie?”

  “She’s coming out with the stewardess. We had to have someone with us everywhere we went, ’cos they said we were too young to go by ourselves. It was really embarrassing, ’cos they put tags on us with our names. I pulled mine and Harriet’s off when we landed.”

  “And I wanted to keep mine,” Harriet whined.

  “No, you didn’t! You thought it was stupid, too. Here she is. Come on, Sophie, Dad’s here!”

  David moved to the side so that he could see her approach, and from the moment that she appeared around the corner, chatting animatedly to the stewardess as they helped each other with the luggage trolley, he felt a smile broaden across his face and a feeling of unbelievable pride rise up in his heart. She had changed so much, not only having grown upwards, but—well, sort of everywhere. Her long auburn hair was drawn back and gathered loosely behind her head with a clip, which seemed to accentuate the contours of her face. God, it had only been a month since he had seen her last, but it was enough for him to be aware of the metamorphosis that had taken place within her—no longer the gawky, self-conscious teenager, but a young fledgling fast breaking into womanhood. David let Harriet down onto the ground without taking his eyes off his eldest daughter, watching as she and the stewardess came round the barrier towards him, and noticing out of the side of his eye that a young boy, standing with his parents at the rail, also followed her progress with interest.

  Leaving the stewardess to push the trolley the last few yards by herself, Sophie walked quickly towards her father, and just as she reached him, her face broke into a wide smile and her eyes sparkled, and in that brief, mind-shattering instance, David realized that it was as if Rachel had been re-incarnated.

  “Hi, Dad,” she said quietly.

  For a moment, David stood entranced, shaking his head slowly at this incredible apparition, then moved towards her and pulled her in close to him.

  “My God! You look wonderful!” he said, rocking her from side to side in his arms and kissing the side of her head. “Oh, it’s so lovely to see you! I really cannot begin to tell you how lovely it is to see you!”

  There was a loud tutting noise from beside him, and he looked down to see Charlie eyeing the stewardess and scuffing his feet across the floor.

  “C’mon, Dad, this is embarrassing. Can’t we go now?”

  “Okay!” David exclaimed, giving Sophie a final kiss on the cheek. “Let’s grab ourselves a horse and get the hell out of Dodge!”

  Thanking the stewardess for her help, he took over at the helm of the luggage trolley and steered it towards the door of the terminal, his two daughters holding on to the handle at either side of him while Charlie ran ahead.

  “Is this America now, Daddy?” Harriet asked as she jogged alongside David, trying to keep up with his brisk pace.

  “Yup, this is it, darling, home of hot dogs, hamburgers and er … can’t think of anything else that begins with h.”

  “And heat!” Sophie added with almost pleasurable relief, as they left the coolness of the air-conditioned building and walked out into the throat-searing swelter of the mid-day sun.

  “Yeah,” David laughed, “heat! And there’s plenty of that, I can tell you!”

  They walked across the road into the parking lot and made their way towards the Volkswagen. David had already given detailed descriptions of the car in his letters, and consequently both Charlie and Harriet spotted it at the same time and raced ahead, only to recoil sharply on reaching it, as Dodie suddenly jumped up at the half-open window and yapped fiercely at them.

  “Is that Dodie?” Charlie asked, laughing uncertainly.

  “Yup.”

  “She sort of suits the car.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “’Cos they both look, well, battered.”

  “Well, for goodness’ sakes, don’t let her hear you say that! Dodie is very sensitive about her looks! I once suggested that she should consider having a fur-lift and she wouldn’t speak to me for a week!”

  “Really?” Harriet gasped, her mouth open as she stared at Dodie through the window.

  “No, stupid!” Charlie retorted. “He’s only joking!”

  David unlocked the car, and pushing Dodie into the back seat, he reached over to release the catch for the front trunk.

&nb
sp; “Can we have the top down, Dad?” Charlie asked, grabbing hold of a suitcase and dragging it round to the front of the car.

  “Yeah, well, I guess we’ll have to, otherwise I don’t think there’ll be room for all your stuff.”

  “Great!”

  David squeezed Harriet’s haversack into the last remaining space in the trunk and carefully shut the lid. Then, unclipping the roof, he folded it down, thus releasing Dodie’s aromatic wonders to the world.

  “Phew!” Sophie said, wrinkling up her nose. “What a niff! Bags I don’t have her on my knee!”

  David grinned at her. “Yeah, I’m afraid that she does have a bit of a problem. Someone suggested that I give her garlic pills, but I think she’s built up some sort of immunity to them!”

  “I’ll take her!” Charlie said, reaching over the side of the car and ruffling Dodie’s woolly fur. He turned and gave his elder sister a narrow look. “But only if I’m allowed to sit in the front.”

  The bargain was struck, and once the remainder of the luggage was jammed into the small compartment behind the rear seat, they set off on their journey back to Leesport.

  Once they reached the Southern State Parkway, the traffic eased considerably, and as they bumbled along eastwards, David decided that this was the perfect opportunity to teach them the words of “Dodie the Fun-Loving Poodle.” Three times through it, and Charlie and Harriet had picked it up completely, singing along with enthusiasm and rocking themselves side to side in time with the tune. Sophie, however, seemed reticent to participate, and as he accompanied his two youngest children through the verses, he eyed her in the rear-view mirror, as she sat leaning her elbow on the sill of the car and gazing absently at the passing scenery.

  They eventually arrived at the traffic lights on Leesport’s main street at exactly two-thirty, and thinking that Jasmine and Benji would have yet to complete their work on the welcoming banner, David pulled to a halt outside Helping Hands, giving the horn two quick beeps. He watched through the window of the shop as Clive and Dotti looked up from their desks and, on recognizing the car, both jumped to their feet.

  “Why are we stopping here?” Charlie asked.

  “I just want you to meet a couple of my friends.” With that, the door of the shop flew open, and Clive came rushing across the sidewalk to the car, followed closely by Dotti.

  “Well, for heaven’s sakes!” he said, putting a hand to his cheek and surveying the incredulous looks on the children’s faces. “Oh, David, they are simply wonderful! All so good-looking!” He grinned, giving his shoulders a cosy shrug, before offering his hand to each of the children in turn. “Hi, my name is Clive. You are? Sophie—hello, Sophie, and—Charlie, and—Harriet. Well, I can’t tell you how fantastic it is to meet you all! Oh, and by the way, this”—he turned and put an arm around his assistant, who smiled shyly, pushing up her spectacles onto her nose—“is Dotti.” He sighed, surveying the children with a look of sheer delight on his face. “So where are you off to now? Straight to the beach, I’d guess.”

  David looked around at the children, who had not taken their eyes off Clive, riveted by his boisterous enthusiasm.

  “Well, we’ll go back to the house first and get the car unpacked, but then maybe a cool-down might be the order of the day.”

  “I think that sounds like a great idea!” He leaned his hands on the side of the car. “Now, any time you kids want to drop into the shop, you’re more than welcome. Dotti has already got some Coke in the refrigerator, so come soon, won’t you?”

  The children smiled, mumbling a thank-you, and David turned the key and started the engine.

  “We’d better be off, Clive. We’re meeting Jasmine and Benji at the house, so we’d better not be late.”

  “Okay!” Clive said, jumping back from the car. “Remember now, any time you want, kids, just drop in!”

  The white tip of the welcoming banner was clearly visible, fluttering high above the hedge, as David turned the car into Shore Street. He pulled to a halt outside the house, hearing immediately Benji’s voice shout out excitedly from the garden.

  “Jasmine, they’re here!”

  The gate flew open and he came running out onto the sidewalk. Then, stopping at a distance from the side of the car, he stood grinning and shifting his weight self-consciously from one foot to the other, as he was scrutinized by the new arrivals. David jumped out of the car and came round to the sidewalk.

  “Right! Introductions!” He pointed to each of his children in turn. “Sophie—Charlie—Harriet. This is Benji.”

  There were a few uncertain murmurings as they acknowledged one another’s existence, and David watched the whole scene with quiet amusement as he leaned over the side of the car and pulled the trunk lever.

  “All out and we’ll get the cases inside. Where’s Jasmine, Benji?”

  “I’m here!” a voice called out from behind the hedge. She appeared through the gate, a hammer under her arm as she wiped her glistening forehead with the back of her hand. “My goodness, you nearly caught us nappin’ there!” She scanned the children, and her face broke into a huge smile. “Hi, everybody, I’m Jasmine. Now, Benji, I heard you bein’ introduced, so you can go ahead and tell me who everyone is.”

  As the children clambered out of the car, Benji went through their names faultlessly, and Jasmine stepped forward to shake the hand of each in turn.

  “Right!” David said, unloading the suitcases and putting them on the sidewalk. “Everyone grab something!”

  Scooping up the two largest suitcases in an immediate test of individual strength, Charlie and Benji struggled with them through the gate into the garden.

  “Hey, Sophie! Harriet! Come quickly!” Charlie’s voice sounded out. “Come and have a look at this!”

  The two girls picked up their haversacks and hurried through the gate to find Charlie standing in the middle of the garden, looking around in sheer wonderment.

  “Isn’t this great? Look, we’re right by the beach! And look at the sign on the house! Benji says he made it himself!”

  “You missed out the E in my name,” Harriet said, disappointed.

  “Harry, don’t be so tactless!” Sophie scolded her.

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” Benji said quietly, pushing his hands deep into the pockets of his shorts. “I sorta got mixed up with the spelling—but I did put it in at the end.”

  Sophie smiled at him. “Well, I think it’s great, Benji. It’s really well done!”

  Benji looked down at his feet, his face colouring with embarrassment.

  “And I think so too!” Charlie said, grabbing Benji by the arm. “Come on, let’s go and explore!” The two boys turned to run off together down to the jetty just as David came into the garden, carrying the last of the suitcases.

  “Hang on, you two! Where are you heading off to?”

  “We’re going to explore, Dad!”

  “Not just yet. We’ll get the suitcases inside first, and I’ll show you where you’re sleeping.”

  “Yesss!” Charlie shouted out in excitement, and he and Benji ran back across the lawn towards the house.

  It turned out that Jasmine had not only busied herself in putting up the banner, but had also gone through the house plumping up the cushions on the sofa and clearing away the cups and plates that David had left to dry on the draining-board. Harriet and Charlie were delighted with their bedroom out on the screened porch, both throwing themselves onto their beds and looking around to see what views were afforded them from their supine positions. However, Sophie showed little emotion at what the house had to offer, having placed her suitcase on her bed in the sitting-room and begun to unpack it with quiet and methodical efficiency.

  “Okay!” David said, clapping his hands to assemble the company in the sitting-room. “Let’s forget about unpacking for now. What do you think, Jasmine? The ferry to Fire Island?”

  There was a whoop of joy from Benji, immediately echoed by Charlie and Harriet, who hadn’t a clue what
or where Fire Island was, but if Benji thought it was a good idea and it needed a ferry to get to, then it must be an idea worth agreeing with.

  “Looks like you’ve hit on a good plan there!” Jasmine said with a laugh.

  “Okay! Fire Island it is! Let’s get your swimming things out of the suitcases, and we’ll be off!”

  Charlie and Benji ran through to the porch and began tearing at the contents of his haversack, while Jasmine gave Harriet a hand to sort through her belongings to find her swim-suit. David went into his bedroom alcove and took a pair of trunks from the top of his chest of drawers, and came back to find that Sophie had made no move to find her own.

  “Can’t you find yours, darling?”

  Sophie looked up at him, her mouth lifting into a light smile. “If you don’t mind, Dad, I don’t think I’ll come.”

  “Oh,” David said, disappointed, “do come, darling. It really will be good fun. It’s a beautiful beach, and—”

  “Dad, I just don’t want to!” She picked up a shirt from her suitcase and threw it down on the bed. “Do you really mind that much?”

  For a moment, David stood staring at her, taken aback by the razor tone in her voice. He was about to answer her when he felt a hand on his arm, and turned to find Jasmine and the other children standing silently behind him. She walked towards the door of the house, gesturing with her head for him to follow.

  “Come on, you lot,” he said, waving his hand at the children. “Let’s go out into the garden for a minute.”

  As soon as they were all outside, Benji, Charlie and Harriet ran off down to the jetty, yelling with enthusiasm as they went.

  “Do you want to stay here for a while?” Jasmine asked quietly.