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The Unhappy Task of Looking For Sofia |
| Written by c bryan | |
| Monday, 11 February 2008 | |
 The island was small by most standards, but as a child Tempest had found it more than large enough to contain his entire world. His infrequent trips to the mainland had seemed like magical holidays to a world that he thought at times only existed in the programmes that his television showed him. As he sat on a stump of an old long-dead tree by the side of the road so many years later he reflected back on those days, and for a moment felt the calm, comforting embrace of his childhood briefly extinguish the burning cynicism that fuelled his current incarnation. Too quickly for his own good he pushed it away with a mental sneer and refocused on those around him.
He wasn’t here out of compassion exactly, but there was something in the disappearance of his childhood friend that compelled him to join the search to find her. Apart from anything else if he had decided to stay at home and admire the Christmas decorations that his mother had smothered the house with in honour of his visit, he would’ve found himself to be alone. This would not usually be a bad thing as Tempest frequently found family company to be trying on his patience, however as the whole island’s population was searching under every stone and in every gully for the missing girl he couldn’t really sit at home, sipping whisky and be able to face anyone who knew. Besides all of this he did have a genuine sense of loss at the disappearance of Sofia, albeit only a small one. She had played an important part in one or two formative experiences of his youth and to think that she may be hurt, trapped or worse out here in the rocky clefts and crevices of the island was not one that sat well with him. He knew in the end it didn’t really matter, none of it did. Those of us who don’t die young, he thought, would only die old, worn-out and wishing we’d gone earlier. Still, he couldn’t leave Sofia out here alone, he owed her that much.
He knew why Dylan was here. Dylan was on the island for similar reasons to Tempest, although he suspected that Dylan actually enjoyed returning to the island and seeing his family. To be fair to him though, in Tempest’s opinion Dylan’s family was considerably more bearable than his own and so his enthusiasm at seeing them was excusable. Also their yearly reunions at the local pubs during this period were one of the lighter points of Tempest’s holiday so he was always glad to learn that he’d made the long trip home. That was why he was on the island, but as for why he was on the northern side of the island with this little group, hunting for signs of Sofia went down to the kind of person Dylan was. Dylan was a good person. That was one thing that Tempest new for sure, and try as he might to dissuade Dylan from the path of righteousness or ridicule his moral fibre, Tempest just could not dismiss the fact that the things Dylan did for other people came from a reserve of something good within him that Tempest felt he had obviously either not been born with or misplaced along the way.
The little group checked each others presence visually, and in an unspoken conversation carried out through hand gestures, nods, shrugs, looks and general body-language agreed that they should pick up their bags and head off, away from the road and down the uneven close-cropped grass that covered most of this part of the island. Dirty looking sheep with ragged woollen coats gave way in a half-hearted manner as the five of them moved down into the valley. The grey of the wool on sheep’s backs was matched by the clouds that encroached on the valley from the west, bringing cool air and the damp low-pressured air that didn’t so much hint at rain as promise it.
Walking at the head of the line in a dark world of his own that had nothing to do with the heavy clouds was Sofia’s father, Daniel. Copyright 2008 c bryan |
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