Page 11 of Hold On

“How are you getting on?” she asked.

“Great.”

“Found anything?”

“Three worms. Well, two and a half.” At least no one had witnessed him freaking out.

She laughed. “We’re stopping for a cuppa. I’ll save you a seat next to me.”

She actually wriggled her arse as she walked away. Ren had no interest in maneaters like Katrina. He kept working with little expectation of finding anything worth shouting about, though he had to confess a part of him really wanted to discover something to make Will happy.

Ren had hoped that by the time he headed over to the others, there’d be no seat vacant next to Katrina, but there was. Did he want to sit between Katrina and Brett?Fuck no.He helped himself to water and wandered over to the tent. His hands were filthy but there was no point washing until he’d done for the day. He rubbed off the worst of the dirt before he undid the zip, and went inside. When he checked his phone, he found a message from Will.

U can put bike in stable block garage. Don’t overdo it. Back around 3

He lay down for a while, resting his bones, and by the time he went back out, everyone was working again. The sun blazed overhead and they were all wearing hats. Ren went back to the tent to get Will’s Indiana Jones-style Fedora. He could hear everyone chattering, but he returned to his little spot and kept scraping. Sadly, this mindless, repetitive work wasn’t going to stop him thinking, as Will and their parents had no doubt hoped.

Ren could feel himself on a downward slide into a quicksand of memories that he really didn’t want to get sucked into. He had AirPods in his bag in the tent but if he went back, he wouldn’t come out again and he didn’t have much to show for his efforts.

He’d always been the type who liked to achieve things, which often led to him pushing harder than he should have. But so far, he’d found nothing and was wondering if he ought to give up when he brushed away a layer of dirt and saw a flash of colour.Don’t get excited. It’s probably a piece of plastic.But when he brushed over it again, he saw it was a small square red tile and there was another one next to it. He should have called Brett, but he kept going. Maybe hewasgetting the appeal of this.

It crossed Ren’s mind, just for a moment, that he’d been set up by Will, who’d already made this find and covered up so Ren could re-discover it in a misguided attempt to cheer him up, give him a sense of purpose… But the soil Ren had moved had been compacted in a way that belied that theory. There were layers in it, evidence of age.

He cleaned away another section, and realised he was gradually revealing the mosaic of a flower, surrounded by a twisting vine—and there’s more.He stopped, took a picture and sent it to Will with a message.Something of interest? Or a 1960s tea tray from the Co-op? Shall I dig it up?

Even before he’d got to his feet, Will replied.Is this a wind up?

Ren took a picture of himself grinning like a chimpanzee with the mosaic in shot.

Will called him on video. “What the hell? Show me.”

“My monkey impression?”

“A chimp is an ape. Then again…”

Ren turned the camera and moved it over the place he’d excavated.

“Fuuck,” Will said. “Tell Brett. Don’t touch.”

“Don’t touch Brett? He’s not my type.”

“Ren! I’m serious. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Something exciting then?”

Will laughed—was that a touch of hysteria? —and ended the call.

That was the end of Ren’s work for the day. Once he’d told Brett what he’d found, everyone came over, there was a lot of squealing and back slapping—Ren ducked out of that—and jobs were reassigned. Since Ren didn’t fancy sieving soil all afternoon, he bowed out, took a shower—the facilities weren’t as bad as he’d imagined—and changed into his leathers.

Riding his bike released dopamine, a happy-clappy hormone, and when he reached a long open road that begged him to speed, it was like flipping a switch on his mood. He even forgot about his aches and pains. Though knowing her youngest son was riding his motorbike never improved his mother’s mood. At least she didn’tknowhe was out on it, so he didn’t need to think about her sitting there worrying until he got back. He’d lost count of the number of times she’d told him that motorcyclists were fifty times more likely to die in an accident than car drivers. As if that was going to slow him down.

The irony of her being so anxious about him biking didn’t escape him. Compared to the job he’d been doing for the last year and half, going out on his bike was akin to taking a walk in a park. Not a park with muggers and creeps and goose shit every few feet, but somewhere with neatly mown lawns and pretty flowerbeds and happy families throwing frisbees in the sun. Ren found his mind slipping to what had happened six months ago and snapped himself back. It was too dangerous to let his mind wander.

He concentrated on the road, enjoying the fast straight sections as well as negotiating bends. The level of attention required to constantly analyse the situation and adjust what he was doing, gave him no time to think about his job, his health or anything else. He had to stay alert, ready to react to some driver not spotting him, an animal wandering into the road, a horse rider, an unexpectedly sharp bend, a stalled tractor, a kid on a bicycle, a woman pushing a pram… Even then, not everything could be anticipated. His heart clenched.No more going over what happened!

Ren rode out to the coast and continued along the sea road until it turned inland. Only when he could no longer ignore his aching body did he turn back. He’d overdone it. Doctors said he’d been lucky to survive.No kidding!There was no point trying to run before he could walk. He wasn’t helping himself by not eating properly either.

By the time he’d pulled back through the main gates at Asquith, conveniently open as a line of visitors left, so he didn’t need to stop to enter the code, he was exhausted. As he headed up the avenue of trees, he turned his head for a fraction of a second, his attention snagged by something, and he’d learned not to ignore his instincts, only to find there was a guy right in front of him. Ren braked and swerved, but to his horror, he clipped him with his wing mirror.Where the fuck did you come from!

---