The trouble with buying something new for the house is that it tends to lead on to buying something else to enhance the original purchase. So it is with my new chair. We've been in this unit almost 5 years and, for all of that time, my habit has been to sit in my chair reading a book. At my left shoulder I had a smallish table lamp which illuminated the pages of the book so I could read reasonably comfortably.
With the new arrangement, the table (and the lamp) has moved to my right side between my chair and Marilyn's and she is now more aware of how relatively poor the lighting is.
We need a standard lamp, she decides, about 6 foot tall to throw a light on your book. "Check out Buy, Swap and Sell on Facebook," she instructs me.
I do, and also look at the websites of various shops in Launceston, but they're either short of suitable items or they're too dear. I fall back on Amazon, find exactly what I want at a reasonable price and, with one click, it's on its way. It will be here by August 1st.
Today's story goes back 4 years.
THE ONE WHO CAME BEFORE 2021
Liam knew from an early age that his parents had high expectations
of him. His mother had taught him how to
make his bed as soon as he was tall enough to pull up the blanket, his father
gave him chores to do in the garden and, on his 6th birthday he was
allowed to steer the electric mower around the lawn, under strict supervision,
of course. His parents often said they
wanted him to be able to look after himself.
There was vague talk that one day he would study to be an
accountant and eventually be able to take over the family business. Liam watched his father go off to work each
morning, always dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, and carrying a
briefcase.
As he grew older, he became aware that there were some
things in the house which seemed not quite right but were never talked
about. There was a bedroom which he
wasn’t allowed to go in, there was a shed in the yard which was always
locked. He never seemed to get any new
clothes; when he needed another singlet or pair of shorts, his mother would
look in a drawer and find what he needed.
All his toys had a ‘used-before’ look about them and he was never
allowed to ask for a particular present for Christmas. His presents didn’t even
seem to come from a shop, they seemed to have been in the house all the
time. At first, Liam didn’t think this
was odd; as far as he knew this was normal but, when he became more aware of
how his friends’ lives differed, he started to wonder.
One time he found some picture books in the bookcase with
the name William inside the front cover.
I wonder who William is, he thought.
Another time, he found his mother crying in the kitchen. He had never seen his mother cry before, but
she never laughed either, or even smiled.
“Don’t worry, William,” she said. “I’m only thinking about someone that
I used to know.”
Why is she calling me William, Liam thought. That’s not my name.
On his 12th birthday, his parents sat Liam down
and said. “Now that you are 12, there is something important that we have to
tell you. Before you were born we had
another child, your brother, William.
Sadly, he died. All our hopes and
dreams rested on that little boy and, when he was gone, we decided to have
another child as soon as possible.”
That night, Liam thought about this for a long time. From what his parents had said, he was only a
replacement for the one who came before.
Even his name was just a shorter form of William: a bit like William,
but not as good. Everything I have, he realised, was William’s first. William is so important, Liam thought, that,
even now he is dead, he still has a bedroom in the house and a special locked
shed in the yard.
It was William, Liam understood, who was supposed to train
as an accountant and take over the family business. Well, I’m not going to be just a substitute
for William, he decided. I’m not going
to spend my life stuck in an office. I’m
going to follow my own dream.
I’m going to be … a Lumberjack!
