Ian came up with the idea – "You're off the scale weird, mate," said Harry, when Ian told him his idea.
Harry and Ian had been best friends since they were three years old. And now, at fifteen, they were bored.
Well, Ian was bored, Harry was worried, "My lucks gotta change sometime soon; seriously mate, since dad left us things are going from bad to worse," he said, shaking his head as if to shake away this most unfortunate fact of his life.
When Ian repeated his idea Harry stood up and thrust his hand in front of his friends face, "Park it; talk to the palm cos the pallet won't listen," he said, patting his head.
But Ian's power's of persuasion were strong, and that night as Harry lay in bed knowing it would be the same frantic morning routine as his mum battled to cope as a single parent to him and his little sister, he started to think of Ian's idea. When a car alarm woke him in the middle of the night, he sat up in the darkness and and actually considered Ian's idea.
But on the bus on the way into school, he dismissed the idea for what it was: stupidly reckless.
In the school hallway, his sleepiness fell away and his eyes lit up when he saw Catarina walking towards him; as always she looked like a total Goddess. He immediately noticed she didn't seem as pleased to see him as he did her. Her face dropped, kind of darkened, "Look Harry, I'm dropping out of the Cinema on Saturday." She averted his gaze, "I don't wanna give you the wrong idea, sorry mate." She called him mate, he knew what that meant, the old 'let's just be friends' dump bomb.
"He watched her walk away as two of her words floated in front of him 'wrong idea' – it made him seriously think that 'Ian's idea' might be the right one, after all.
His luck had to change.
He made a decision, albeit based on despair rather that rationale – he'd give Ian's idea a go. If anything it would be a test of his endurance, strength and stamina. And besides, it would be something to look back on when he's older, have a laugh about with the guys in the pub. It would be something Ian could entertain the wedding guests with in his Best Man's speech at Harry's wedding.
The wedding he always dreamed of, because Harry was a hopeless romantic. And when Harry got married it would be for life; divorce was for losers are far as Harry was concerned. At least he could now stop daydreaming about Catarina being his bride. But who knows, his luck might change. As Ian says, "If you wanna change your luck and become a superstar, pray no more – endure!"
'Pray no more – endure!' That was Ian's new motto, his mantra, and that autumn he repeated it, continually.
###
One thing Harry admired about Ian was his creativity, he always thought outside the box. Except this time, Ian's idea involved getting in the box, literally.
Ian saw to all the logistics. He bought the planks of wood, the plastic sheeting and the pipes. He even scouted the location, a secluded piece of woodland on the edge of rolling parkland not far from their homes.
Harry bought the shovel and stored it under his bed until the designated day arrived.
On that day, Ian and Harry dodged school and made their way to the woods at lunchtime. Ian had already half completed the task earlier in the week, so on this day, Harry started digging first...
...then passed the digging baton to Ian. It took them nearly three hours to complete the grave. Ian made the makeshift coffin with the plastic sheeting and planks of wood that had been stored on the location in advance. Ian liked to be organized.
