The Genie-alogy of Nathan Levy

THE GENIE-ALOGY OF NATHAN LEVY

GB HOPE

PROLOGUE

'I'll meet you at the old trafford,' she had said.

Nathan Levy arrived in good time, despite taking an unintended detour through Salford Quays. He had "borrowed" his father's Audi A5, thinking it would look better to her than his battered Ford Focus. As a Manchester City fan he had never actually been to the enemy stadium before, just glimpsed the evil edifice from way off while driving along the motorway. The car-park he pulled into seemed to be the right one, empty during July except for a few coaches, one of which was disgorging African tourists in a long stream of multicoloured dresses and head scarves and aimed cameras.

Nathan stepped out into a lovely, breezy day and looked at the Sir Alex Ferguson stand high above him. A wry smile came to his face - of all places, their first meeting had to be "the old trafford". He had corrected her at first, but when she kept on referring to it that way, he decided it was how it would be for him too. Her coach was on the way up from London, stopping at the ground first, before it carried on to Liverpool, for Anfield stadium and the Beatles experience.

He turned slowly 360 degrees to take in the panorama of Trafford Park industrial estate and the glass skyscrapers of the Quays. Hitching his bag and locking the car he strolled after the Africans, up a ramp over a canal, which was a surprise to him, then down towards the entrance to the gift shop and museum. There were other solitary people moving about, so he played the role of lingering tourist. His phone buzzed in his back pocket; on inspection, she was texting to say she was close.

He drifted back over the ramp. Another coach let out a stream of Asian tourists, but they looked Japanese - he was waiting for Indonesian. He leant against the Audi. He was extraordinarily happy. Another text told him she was desperate for a pee, so would be running straight in once they arrived.

Within two minutes another coach pulled in. She was first off, looking around for him. So adorable. Jet black hair blowing in the breeze. Small and cute, wearing her nerdy glasses. She closed a maroon cardigan around herself, started walking in her skinny jeans and what looked like slippers. She saw him, smiled and waved. He waved back, watching her move towards the ramp.

Next off was the Tour Guide, immediately recognisable to him as his Uncle Simon, although he had not seen him since he was fourteen, four years ago. Aunt Nadya stepped off next. She must have been a foot shorter than her husband, and dressed in traditional white Indonesian garb. Simon Levy ran a tourism firm in Jakarta, Indonesia, usually taking business clients all over Asia. Coming to Europe was unusual to him. That's why his daughter, Kezia, had tagged along. She had volunteered to help with the clients, and being half-English, after all, it was time to see her other home while now at an age, seventeen, to be able to enjoy it.

Nathan walked over and made his presence known to his relatives. Simon's face lit up as he recognised his brother's son and took him into an embrace. Nadya smiled warmly and hugged him too.

'Kezia's run in to the loo,' said Simon.

'I know, I saw her. How's the trip working out, Uncle Simon?'

'Everything's going a treat. London was wonderful. We can't wait to see the family next week.'

'They're excited too. Listen, I'll let you care for your clients. I'll go and chase Kezia.'

The group were disembarking. One or two were already wearing the red United shirts. Nathan got a kiss on the cheek from Auntie Nadya, then stepped out of the way. He moved ahead of everyone and went over the ramp again. Over the club threshold he went. The foyer was quite busy. He sat just inside for a while watching the excited fans milling around. Then he decided to go in search of Kezia. A member of staff gave him directions to the toilets, which were upstairs, so he took the lift. Immediately on stepping out he bumped into cousin Kezia and she threw herself into his arms. The emotions of that moment would stay with Nathan for the rest of his life. There were a lot of people about so they couldn't express their delight right there. She indicated for them to go back down.