John Paul
(Part one)
Why me?
He lay on his bed, alone with his thoughts, his mind in turmoil, looking at the ceiling fingers clasped behind his head, occasionally he would rise,walk around his room looking at all the familiar objects.... his decks....the collection of twelve inch vinyl discs... his football posters.... all the bits collected over the years.... the picture of him and Craig, sweet memories!
He also remembered and looked back over the last four weeks, he went over the events in his mind, he had managed to keep it a secret even from the scandal and gossip hungry McQueen family, of course the knew something was amiss, even Myra went on the occasional fishing expedition but he gave nothing away, he did his best to act as though nothing had changed, but Oh yes it really had, for JP life would never be the same again!.
The last time he was like this was the day Craig and Sarah stole away on their holiday, Craig's actions crushing him, he could not sleep then either.
He knew, he knew more than any other how a secret was as much a lie as was a lie, he had written that in the letter he put through the letterbox of the pub flat for Frankie to see even though she never saw it it was still the truth.
Now he had another secret, and he was trying to kid himself that this secret was different, that this one would not make any difference to those around him, but he knew in his heart it would, to his family, his friends, to those who knew him one way or another, would they hate him or shun him, would they be lying or telling the truth, his life would never be the same again.
It was all about odds, mathematical statistics if you like, he had only done it six times. Once when he was the loving boyfriend of Hannah and five times during the on off relationships with him,Craig and Spike and then it happened to HIM, what were the odds of that eh? Not that it would ever happen to him, it happened to other people... people you read about in the paper or if they managed to keep it out of the paper then by secret whispers, nods and winks, someone close letting it slip, not that it made much difference now, it had happened to him, John Paul McQueen.
It was exactly four weeks to the day that he found out and exactly one week to the day that he got the confirmation, seven short days on top of the twenty one that had become the longest twenty eight days in his life, he was used to keeping secrets after all he was a McQueen, this one however was the biggest of them all, the fallout from this revelation could, no would carry far and wide, what was he going to do, who should he tell first?
When he made the phone call it was just short of three weeks after he found out the result, it was a time of disbelief, doubt, uncertainty, he knew he had to call to confirm it, he was so scared someone overheard the conversation that he went for a walk to avoid anyone he knew or even anyone he did not know, he then finally looked at the slip of paper in his hand with the results printed on it and turned it over, there was the contact number printed on the back, he carefully put the number into the phone took a deep breath and pressed call, it seemed to take an eternity for someone to reply then came a voice at the other end,
Erm ... my name is John Paul McQueen I think I need to make an appointment.
