The Streets of Wilderness

Anxious

Anxious

Responding to Peter's question, Sandy mentions that Jack is still living in Massachusetts, and his internet company is doing well. When Peter asks about his father, that's when Sandy hesitates to answer. 'Peter, Dad died two years ago.'

Peter wasn't at the funeral and nobody knew where he was. Although Sandy was surprised by Peter's reaction to the news. Peter's eyes drop to the floor. Sandy, too, looked down at his feet, remembering the ordeal. It wasn't something he wanted to repeat but needed to.

Sandy's parents, Jim and Mary, were living in the small town of Woodville, NSW. They moved there after Jim retired from Boston College. Jim was forced to retire due to his health. Jim liked to drink and Mary suspected that it was the cause. He would go to the doctor and leave with the news that he was only a few bottles away from not recovering. Jim drank heavily and every day after 5 pm, he would crack open a bottle and drink until his eyes closed. Every day blended into the next. Jim's liver protested and got sick multiple times. So, he had to give it up. But it was too late, he was a long way from recovery. His last bout of sickness was his downfall. Jim was still active in attending coaching conferences. He was in his seventies, and the constant travelling was taking its toll. He decided that his next trip would be his last. The doctor advised against it, but Jim took no notice and went anyway. Mary protested against it but after years of trying to stop him worn thin. All she could do was wait for the worst. After over 50 years of marriage, they somehow agreed that Jim was on his own regarding his lifelong work.

Jim was to attend a conference in Scotland with a stopover in Bangkok. Jim had many affairs over the years and one of them was in Bangkok. The next stop was Edinburgh for a conference. During his journey, he caught a virus that made him bedridden and when he arrived in Scotland, he never made it outside the B&B place. Instead of going to the local hospital, he crawls on a plane to Boston. He had a lifelong medical cover in the US. Jack's family was still living in Boston, and when Jim arrived, Jack took him to the hospital.

Sandy remembers getting the phone call from Jack. The incompetent doctor at the local hospital had nearly drowned him from the inaccurate flow of the intravenous drip. Jim spent two weeks in intensive care and three months in rehabilitation. The long days in the rehab centre drove Jim irate. Jack visited him often and Jim persevered that he wanted to return to Australia. When Jack arrived, the first question he would ask was, "When are you going get me out of here?" Jack had no authority and kept asking the doctors. The same answer repeats. "When he gets well." In Jack's eye, he was never leaving. After spending three months in a Howard Johnson-type rehabilitation centre, Jim's demands were met. The doctor warned him against it. Finally, Jim signed a waiver for his release. Jack arranged a flight to Australia, and the journey to the airport was taxing. Jack was going to put him on the plane and say fair well. Still, after seeing his old man in a sorry state, he decided to accompany him on the airplane to Sydney. He arranged for Sandy to pick him up at the Sydney airport. Jim never made it. He died halfway over the Pacific.

Sandy looks up at Peter as he finishes the story. Peter's reaction is sombre. There are tears in his eyes and keeps wiping them away. Sandy, too, at times stopped telling the story. Sandy's father was always distant from his kids, but somehow the loss had saddened him. The father Sandy searched for his whole life was gone. Finally, to change the subject, Peter asks. 'How is Mum?'

Sandy's Mum, Mary, was a nervous wreck about Peter. She went to great lengths to find him, and if it wasn't for a bar fight in Fremantle in which Peter got arrested. Sandy wouldn't be here.

Sandy hadn't realised Peter's predicament, 'My paranoia was really bad when I was indoors,' he once say. Sandy wondered what it would be like out living on the streets. The discomforts of finding a place to lie down for an hour or two, laying on park benches, going to shelters for meals, carrying your belongings and constantly being shoved from place to place. Peter had to keep moving since people weren't sympathetic to when the homeless are in their neighbourhood. He finally ended up in Perth for the climate and he heard that there were many spots for him to go.