Reunion

Bloody train's late! Trust it to be late today of all days. Overhead power line failure, so they say. Must be due to the heat. God, it's hot enough to fry an egg on this platform! Must get a grip on myself – check my watch again, stare down the tracks, even though I know there's nothing coming – anything to stop myself bottling it and running.

How long has it been? Must be nearly fifteen years now. No, fifteen and a half to be precise. Fifteen and a half years without a letter, not even a card at Christmas. Not that I blame my brother. I would've done the same myself in his shoes. I mean, what was I thinking? That's just the trouble – I wasn't thinking. Got carried away on the spur of the moment.

There's John in his Navy uniform, off to the Falklands. I can see the fear in his eyes now.

'Look after Chrissie for me', he's saying. 'Just keep an eye out for her while I'm away. You know how she worries. And just in case I don't come back.....'

His voice trails away and I'm rushing in with the reassurance: 'Don't be daft! Of course you'll come back!'

'Ah, well, you never know', he says and claps me on the shoulder, the closest we've ever got to a brotherly hug.

Then he's gone and I don't see him again until five months later when he comes back late one night and finds me looking after Chrissie all right – too bloody well – and in his own bed too!

No shouting, no punching, just that frozen look on his face and then he just turns tail and leaves the bedroom, leaves the house, walks out of both of our lives for good.

And that was that. Silence. At least until three months ago when I contacted the Navy to try and find him. I wanted to let him know that Mum had died. I got a letter from him after Mum's funeral. It didn't say a lot, just that he'd left the Navy and was coming back to see Mum's grave.

Chrissie's long gone, of course. The guilt tore us apart. She's in Australia now, married to some sheep farmer. And I'm here frying myself on this bloody platform, waiting for the brother I haven't seen for fifteen years.