The Weight of Things Removed | Novel | Milo
Chapter 3 (Part 2)
He was early for his meeting with
Tyrone, and so he ordered himself a glass of orange juice at the bar before
grabbing a table. Leonard made sure to watch the liquid as he walked in order
to keep it steady, and as he sat down he noticed that the entire room steady in
a number of different ways; the background chatter was a regular static gurgle,
the waiters seemed occupied without being overworked and his drink was cool but
not cold. In other words, all of the pieces of the pub were steady and
generally mundane in their own way. He noticed that the table was a bit sticky
on his side, however as he was about to switch sides he saw his old friend
enter. Instead of moving he placed the thick, card menu on top of the gunk and
waved at Tyrone, and once Tyrone noticed him he offered a bashful, crunched
grin. They shook hands before Tyrone sat down, and Leonard noticed him eyeing
his glass of juice.
“Oh sorry Ty, didn’t know when
you’d get here. Did you fancy a drink?”
“Yes could you get me a glass of
coke mate?” He replied and Leonard nodded before heading to the bar, grimacing
a little as he ordered the drink. The bartender casually poured out a glass of
coke and plopped in two ice cubes before heading on to the next customer, the
glass was now damp and wet his fingers.
“Thanks,”
“No problem.”
“So how’ve you been?” Tyrone
asked sheepishly as he took a swig of his glass and smacked his lips
afterwards. They spent a minute or so catching up on each other’s affairs which
was mildly amusing, albeit largely unnecessary, due to their mutual friends
already filling the one in about the other. Shortly afterwards they reminisced
about the fun times they had shared during their university days, with both men
glossing over the many snarky comments and puerile disputes that weren’t worth
revisiting. Fifteen minutes passed in this meandering fashion with little to no
revelation to speak of, and Leonard was beginning to fear that this meeting
would be a waste of his time. However, as an awkward silence threatened to
loom, Tyrone took the impending pause as his cue to get to the point.
“I really appreciate you coming
down here mate, especially at such short notice. Didn’t expect you to get back
to me today to be honest,” he abruptly paused and rubbed his hands across his
eyes, sniffing and exhaling quite dramatically.
“What’s the problem?”
“Oh there’s no problem, it’s all
good. It’s all good because recently I’ve given myself up to the two G’s,” he
said to a mildly confused look on Leonard’s face.
“The two G’s?”
“God and the gym,” he
clarified.
“Oh well now that you mention it
you do look a lot bigger than I remember, looks like it’s going well?” Leonard noted,
and he could now see that Tyrone was far more angular and edged. As if in
acknowledgement of Leonard’s probing eyes, he stretched out his arms and
grinned a short, smug grin.
“It is, and it’s sorted me out in
a number of ways. You know I was a bit wild back in the day, I mean I wasn’t
the biggest party animal but I, I wasn’t always sensible and I did embarrass
myself a lot. I’ve been thinking about myself a lot recently, and it’s all
thanks to going back to church and taking my workouts more seriously. It’s all
about being regular and positive, however, I’ve been told that in order to
fully move on I need to seek forgiveness from those I had wronged in the past.”
“That’s a bit dramatic isn’t it? My
priest normally tells me to say five Hail Mary’s,”
“Priest? What? No that was from
my trainer, he told me, he said: guilt kills gains. How can I give the gym my
all if I have distractions bubbling around in the back of my head right? So
here I am to confess my sins and to seek forgiveness,”
“I don’t remember you doing
anything to wrong me Tyrone?”
“Well, well, well not that you
know of. Ok so do you remember in our first year of uni when there was that fire
scare in the common room?”
“How could I forget! For some
reason both the groundskeeper and the house rep thought…that…it…was…me…”
Leonard trailed as he suddenly realised what Tyrone was apologising for; it had
been Tyrone all along! When Leonard was in his first year of university, he had
been the primary suspect of causing a fire by leaving a lit cigarette in a bin.
At the time he had been a heavy smoker and was often seen smoking in and around
that particular area, and whilst he wasn’t the only prolific smoker on campus the
blame had been levied at him. Ultimately there was no real damage and the
threats of expulsion had proved to be empty, however he had been forced to pay
for a replacement bin.
“I told them it was you, when in
fact it was me. I didn’t stub my cigarette properly, and I just threw you under
the bus.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“I panicked, you were the first
person I thought of and I didn’t want to get into trouble. I’d already been
fired for stealing drinks from the bar, and I’d just had that argument with those
girls next door; you remember them?”
“Yeah, yeah I remember Suzie and
Karen.”
“A lot had happened and I thought
that if I screwed up again I’d be out, and I knew you’d be alright in the long
run, I hoped so anyway. Forget all that though because I’m not trying to make
excuses, I just want to say that I’m sorry mate,” He sighed as he spoke and
twiddled his thumbs contemplatively, as Leonard eyed his now empty glass. He
twirled the cup and watched as the last drop of juice rolled around the bottom,
and its mouth ate its trail.
“I appreciate the honesty I
guess,”
“Are we cool?”
“I mean nothing really came of
it, and that moment actually convinced me to quit smoking so there’s nothing to
cry about. We’re cool Tyrone,” Leonard muttered and Tyrone’s body language
visibly loosened, they continued chatting idly for a few more minutes before
Tyrone checked the time.
“It’s probably time I headed off
but thank you so much for today Leo, I mean it!”
“No problem, honestly I feel
better knowing. Don’t be a stranger,”
“Same to you man, oh and a word
of advice avoid drinking juice unless you’ve made it yourself. You never know
what sort of “E” chemicals and crap they’ve put into it. Get yourself a juicer
and make it at home,”
“Are you really trying to tell me
that juice is unhealthy? I’m guessing
this is more advice from your trainer?”
“What? No, that advice was from
my priest.”
“Of course, why on earth would
your trainer offer you nutritional advice?” Leonard joked to a look of
confusion on Tyrone’s face, and this caused him to chuckle again, “I’ll be
seeing you Tyrone.”
“Likewise,” he replied as they
clasped hands once more and departed the bar together, only to wander off in
opposite directions. Leonard felt quite satisfied with the outcome of their
meeting, and as he nestled his key in his car’s ignition he realised that it’d
make sense to approach Marta and Paulie in the same direct way. After all, what
other option did he have?
Once
Leonard had returned home, and left again to pick up Marley from his afterschool
football club, he settled in front of the television with the laptop on his
lap. It hummed and whirred obnoxiously loudly as it booted up, and as he
browsed a variety of websites it grew quite hot and started to bother his
thighs. He thought absentmindedly about a rumour he had heard many years ago,
that claimed that laptops and mobile phones could deplete your sperm cell count
if in close proximity for too great a period of time. He, nevertheless, kept it
planted on his lap because the heat hadn’t started to bother him, and he also
figured that, at the worst, one child was enough for now anyway. The night
descended quite suddenly and Leonard become starkly aware that the living room
was far too dark, his eyes were straining to read the screen and the television
somehow sounded too loud despite the volume remaining unchanged. It seemed to
him as good a time as any to hunt down Marta and Paulie, and so he opened a new
tab on his browser and traversed to his Facebook page. Fortunately, he was
already connected to Marta and so he decided it was best to get in touch with
her first, and besides if Paulie was in fact in prison he wouldn’t have access
to the internet anyway. He opened up his messages and glanced over Tyrone’s
impromptu message again, in a bid to find the right sort of phrasing that wouldn’t
deter Marta from replying to him. In a manner that had become increasingly
common for the young father, Leonard typed out a few drafts before erasing them
and typing them out again from scratch. This recent indecisiveness irked him
quite considerably as he was a confident and easy-going conversationalist for
the most part, and he didn’t understand this sudden sense of doubt and
apprehension, nevertheless he soon found the right words and re-read them
before clicking ‘send’. The message was as follows:
Hi Marta,
Long-time no speak! I hope you’ve been well? It has been a long time
hasn’t it, probably too long, and maybe if we had kept in touch this message
would feel so awkward.
But I have something important to talk to you about, and it’s not
entirely pleasant. Marta I was wondering if you had the time to talk about what
happened with Paulie, way back when.
I’ll completely understand if you don’t want to respond to this or if I
have offended you and I’m truly sorry if I have. However, Paulie’s case has
recently been brought to my attention because of my line or work, and it’s led to
a few questions that I can’t answer without your help.
All the best,
Leo
He re-read it a few times after sending, before slapping the laptop screen down and heading to his bedroom to begin his nightly ritual. It wasn't long before he was undressed and had fallen into a serviceable slumber
End of Chapter 3 (Part 2)
