"Life's a Bitch"
Friday 8th May 2008 Despite the pain he was in from his injuries resulting from the car accident, Archie wouldn't let him vegetate. As soon as possible, Archie changed the old-fashioned plaster cast on his leg, for a lightweight fibrecast one and got him up on his feet and onto a pair of crutches. When Sean dared to complain, Archie rounded on him, "Life is a Bitch, isn't it. The sooner you are back on your feet, the sooner you can begin your life afresh. Consider yourself lucky that you have that opportunity." Sean bit back the retort on his lips, despite the physiotherapy he was forced into doing and the fact that he was used to being more active, he felt stifled by the slow pace of his recovery. He slumped back into his chair and stared morosely out of the window. Archie took the hint and left him alone to his thoughts. The rain streamed down the windows and the mist covered the hills, it was a depressing sight and knowing he was going to be stuck here for at least another month before he could get the cast off his leg just made the whole outlook look bleak. Everything he had worked for the past 10 years was all for nothing, he was washed up, with nowhere to go. Rationally he examined his options; he could take a job in any security firm with his background, but when he thought about it, he realised it was not what he wanted to do. He preferred being a free agent, even the thought of working for himself would be preferable to working to line someone else's pockets. He had enough money in the bank, stored in an account under a different name, which would cover the next few months and as he had nothing to hold him here he resolved that once he was free of Archie he would travel, visiting all the places he had never had time to see; Greece, Italy to mention just a few, while he decided on how he was going to spend the rest of his life. When he mentioned the idea of travelling to Archie, he got a surprising response, Archie beamed a wide smile and got him some brochures to look at and a few days later made suggestions as to places to visit. Sean listened to the ideas with amazement, "Tell me Archie, have you been everywhere?" Archie just laughed "at my age, you've either been there, done it or decided that it was not important enough. I think you should travel, you're young, free and not tied down." Sean got the feeling that he was getting `official' encouragement, but he had heard nothing from Andrea or anyone at MI9 as to what they had in mind for him; perhaps this was their way of getting rid of him. When he tried to contact Gray, the number was answered by a woman who said he must have the wrong number; there was no Gray Wellman on that number. He put the receiver back on the base unit disconnecting the call, realising that TPTB had shut down his avenue of communications, there was little he could do to find out what the consequences of his previous call to Gray were. He sat and brooded about it until he realised that while he was still stuck in Scotland he couldn't do very much, and while he was still limited by the cast on his leg, which still had another 4 weeks before it would be removed; he had to bide his time, until he was free and then he could decide what to do. In the meantime, he would stick to his idea of travelling while he considered his future options and hope that in the near future he would be able to make contact with Gray. He hoped that she would be ok, no matter what she was involved in, she had always found the way back; he had teased her when they were at Cambridge, by saying she had more lives than a cat; he was sure that she would be fine, but he knew that if he tried to make contact with her the chances of a rejection was high and at the moment he couldn't face it. He pushed himself into the physio sessions, making Archie comment, "I can see you are impatient to leave, but careful laddie, you don't want to overdo it." Sean just nodded, and took another turn up the corridor with his crutches. Two weeks later, his headaches had gone, his memories restored. Apart from an itch under the cast he couldn't reach to scratch, he felt fine. He still hadn't heard anything from Andrea, he was now resigned to receiving his P60 in the post, along with details of the termination payoff he was entitled to. During the long evenings he played chess with Archie, or they listened to the radio quizzes that Archie loved. Gradually he relaxed, stopped worrying about events he couldn't change and made his plans for the future, which didn't include waiting to see what Andrea had in store for him. Return