Chapter Two: Fire Burning
The sun was glaring through the slight gap between the curtains, the birds were singing loudly, out of tune as always. Sounds sweet but I was always grouchy in the morning and did not appreciate being woken up in such a way. It was nine on the dot. My dad was at work, he always was. He worked in and around a car plant but I don’t know much more but that is probably because I didn’t really care about what he did. He stuck with me and I would love him forever, even if he went on to eventually clean toilets for a living.
Back to that morning though and once I crossed the minefield which is my bedroom safely I went about throwing on some black joggers and a black and red t-shirt and like that, quick as a flash I was ready for an exciting camping trip. My preparation had been endless as you can obviously see. Next on the list would be my normal, wonderfully nutritious breakfast, well that’s what I considered half a packet of scrummy Jammy dodgers and a glass of milk to be, especially when my Dad wasn’t around to cook me bacon or even sausage on special occasions.
‘Buzz’, went the door, my good friend Dan was coming to pick me up. I picked up the phone “Hello welcome to Jamie Pizza place” trying to hold my own laughter. He laughed and brushed his hand through his hedgehog like spiky, dark brown hair but then quickly and decisively replied “Jamie, I can’t be bothered with your pizza place joke, where late so grab your stuff and meet me in the Bitterbite in two minutes”. It was the same old Dan, he was always in a rush but that was because he never wanted to be late, it made him barmy if we were a second out on the arranged time. By the way the ‘Bitterbite’ is his little excuse of a car and it get’s called that because he had this ex girlfriend, Toni, she was bitter as cheap Chinese food and one night, well you can just imagine what comes next. I grabbed my bag filled with all the necessary camping gear, an I pod docking station and a packet of half eaten Wine Gums and of course my I love New York jumper. So I left my little flat, which was just ordinary, plain white walls, little kitchen, living room with two bedrooms. Nothing special, it was just like me. Dan had been my friend for a very long time, we had a lot of history, I was happy his life seemed to be coming together..
The sun beamed bright but the air was harshly chilly. I climbed into Dan’s little car where he sat with a massive smile pasted on his face, Grumpy to ecstatic in matter of seconds, typical Dan he was always unpredictable producing the unexpected. He had a twinkle in his dark brown eyes as the car took off sounding like it had a bad case of the flu. We were cruising with the radio up high bopping our heads in perfect time with one and other, like the Mearcats on Madagascar actually, but obviously a lot less entertaining to the odd pedestrian who were the unfortunate ones to see us showing off our moves. It was just a laugh, something I rarely get to do anymore.
It was then I realized we were going in the complete wrong direction and it would not be the first time Dan had got us lost. I asked politely “Erm Dan where on heaven and Earth are you going?
He just kept bopping along as said “Cool off Jamie where picking up Scotty, he said something to David and they totally bailed on him, so where picking him up”. Well that was a perfect way for me to introduce Scott or Scotty as I call him, as to be frank he speaks his mind always, sometimes at the right time, well honestly more often than not the wrong time. Five minutes and counting later we were at his door. He lived on quite a soiled estate with his stories from home often including blue and red flashing lights. We weren’t extraordinary kids, quite the opposite looking back.
His house was a semi detached, scarlet bricks, colorless windows and a white door and there is no more description than that. It was simply basic and boring. I rang Scott ‘ring ring’ “go away ill be two minutes, I’m not ready okay? Okay bye”. Dan looked at me and then we both just laughed. Typical Scott being totally unprepared no wonder the rest of the lads drove off and left him. See nobody could beat my extensive preparation. A considerable amount of time later my light brown haired friend appeared with sweat dripping from his forehead, probably due to his minor panic attack he had just had down the phone.
