Living Again

Part 7

      In the plane the next day David tried to think of the best way to approach Kristin. Maybe she still lived with her parents. They would be a bit suspicious of an older man turning up on their doorstep asking for their daughter. Or maybe she lived on her own. Maybe she had a boyfriend. That would complicate things.

He still didn't have a plan when the plane landed in Canberra. He rented a car at the airport and found a motel. Then he drove to Kristin's address. It was a big house in a tree lined street. Unless she was renting it, he assumed it was the family home and she was still living there. He sat in the car across from the house wondering whether he should just go up and ring the doorbell. Finally he decided to try the phone first, so he keyed in the number on his mobile. An answering machine announced that they were out and would the caller like to leave a message. It was a male voice, possibly her father. He hung up. Were they screening their calls, or had they actually gone out? He walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. They might just be out, or perhaps they were away on holidays, after all it was the holiday season.

He went back to the motel. Later he tried the number again with no luck.

His Canberra stay became an extended one as he waited for Kristin or someone to return to the house. He rang twice a day every day only to get the answering machine every time. They must be away on holidays.

Finally after a frustrating week of fruitless waiting and ringing and touring around Canberra to fill in time, he decided on another approach. He drove back to the house. The lawn was growing higher, but the mailbox appeared to be empty. Someone must be collecting their mail, a neighbour perhaps. With his cover story ready he knocked on the door of the house next door. No answer. He tried the house on the other side, and an elderly woman with a kindly face answered.

"Good morning, I'm David Thomas," he said giving a false surname. "I'm trying to catch up with the Haywards next door. I'm an old friend of theirs, but I've been out of touch for some time. I thought I'd call in and surprise them, but they're not home."

"Oh John and Helen are away on holidays," she answered. "They've gone to the south coast. Said they'd be back around the 25th. I've been collecting their mail."

The 25th was nine days away. David decided to try a little probing. He didn't know how many children they had, but he took a gamble. "What a shame, I won't be here after a couple more days. Are they well? And how about the kids?" He hit pay dirt with that one.

"They're fine, and the kids of course have grown up and left home. Young Kristin was the last to move out. That was about three months ago, she moved to Sydney."

"To take a job or study at University perhaps?"

"Oh it was the take a job. She came and told me about it, she was so happy. She was going to work on those long distance trains, you know the ones that go over to Perth and to Darwin." She paused trying to think of the names.

"You mean the Indian Pacific?"

"That's it, and the other one is The Ghan. Her job is passenger attendant. She said it would be a great job because she would get to travel and spend time in Adelaide and Darwin. She was getting a flat in Sydney and then training for six weeks before starting the job. It's so good she's going out in the world on her own especially after that nasty accident she had."

"What accident was that?"

"Oh it was years ago. The poor little thing was about ten when she fell off her bike. Hit her head badly. She was in hospital for weeks. The doctors thought her memory might be affected, but she seemed to recover okay."

The old lady then rambled about the rest of the family for several minutes. Finally she asked, "Where did you say you know John and Helen from?"

David muttered some vague answer about knowing them back in the old days not long after they were married. He thanked her and went back to his car. When he arrived back at the motel he plugged in his laptop computer and connected to the internet. The Indian Pacific and The Ghan were operated by a private company called Great Southern Railway based in Adelaide. The page which listed employment opportunities indicated that they were hiring and training on board staff to work either the Adelaide to Perth leg of the trip, Adelaide to Sydney, or Adelaide to Darwin.

He rang Paul and Rachel and told them what he had found out. "And she had an accident when she was ten," he told them, "Hit her head falling off a bike and her doctors thought she might have memory loss. That could explain why she hasn't tried to find me. Maybe this head injury caused her to lose her memories of her past lives. Anyway, I'm not giving up. I'm off to Sydney, tomorrow," he added.

His plane landed in Sydney at eleven o'clock the next morning. His next move was already planned. He had checked the on-line Sydney phone directory, but there was no entry for a K. Hayward. He knew her employers wouldn't give out her address or phone number, so he decided to meet the train on its next arrival in Sydney. The on-line timetable showed it was next due into Sydney the following morning at ten o'clock. He found a motel not far from Central railway station, then spent the afternoon sight seeing to fill in the time. He couldn't wait for the next morning to come.

Will David finally meet Kristin the next day?
You'll have to keep reading to find out.
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