The Cockney Canuck - 6. Chapter 6 Fun in the Snow

Sunday started early for me. It was just after six when I made my way out of Daniel’s room unable to sleep. The house was dark, quiet and unusually cold. I had already pulled on a pair of socks, a t-shirt and sweater to add to my patterned pyjama bottoms. I wasn’t about to win any fashion contests but I was warm and respectable.

I could have switched on the TV or the lights or both, but instead I chose to sit in the dark and look out of the window at the snow falling in the garden. I was still fascinated by the sheer volume; it seemed as if it hadn't stopped falling since I arrived. To a kid who had never experienced of this amount of snow before it was an invitation that I wouldn’t be able to resist for much longer and now that I had the necessary footwear and clothing there was nothing to stop me from exploring the great outdoors. I had already decided that later that day, I was going outside to make some footprints, no matter how cold it was.

As daylight broke and the sky gradually lightened, I was able to recognise some of the dark shapes that I had been staring at in the shadows for ages. The one that looked like a wolf’s head, turned out to be nothing more sinister than a rusty watering can on top of a small garden table. I had spent the best part of an hour trying to figure it out.

I heard the sound of bare feet coming down the polished wood stairs behind me and squinted to adjust my eyes as the lights came on. I turned my head to see Amy walking around the sofa. She was obviously still half-asleep and I startled her as I said good morning. She smiled, rubbed her eyes and sat next to me on the sofa unable to understand why I had been sitting there without the television on. She concluded that the only reason why I would do this was because I didn’t know how to operate it.

“You need to press this button and then this one and it works, see,” she said, pointing the remote control. Sure enough, the large flat screen television, which hung on the wall that faced Daniel’s room, powered into life with a very loud musical advert, which made us both jump.

“Oops” she said with a cheeky grin as she turned down the volume. “It was too loud.” Then she giggled. “I have to be quiet because Daniel’s still sleeping isn’t he?”

“Probably not anymore,” I said, as Amy channel hoped through endless stations and advertising until she found the cartoons that she wanted. I managed to sit through half an hour before becoming restless. I needed to get dressed anyway and I wanted to do it before Daniel woke up. I thanked Amy for showing me how to turn on the TV and escaped the cartoons to the relative sanity of the bedroom.

Daniel was still asleep, sprawled out on top of his duvet face down. He was a fidget at night and I could hear him tossing and turning, mumbling and kicking his covers onto the floor. He was quite funny to watch, because he seemed to use every inch of his bed and his arms and legs were like an octopus. It would be a nightmare to have to sleep in the same bed as him.

‘What would he have been like in Tom’s old bed’?

It’s not as if I was spending my nights watching Daniel’s sleeping habits, I wasn’t that weird, but this set up was going to take me a while to get used to. If you included the nights, then I had spent most of my time so far in his company and this would probably be the case for the next few years. I was expecting to get to know him quite well during that time and it meant I would have to get used to and put up with every little annoying habit that he had. I wondered if there was anything that I did at night that Daniel found irritating or even funny. Tom had told me that I occasionally talked in my sleep, but thankfully, nothing comprehensible.

I had talked to Tom very briefly a couple of days earlier when I called to let him know that I had arrived okay, but I hadn't talked to him since. We hadn't had a proper conversation since our emotional farewell at Heathrow three days ago and I was missing him rotten.

Daniel had told me that he would set up Skype on his computer for me, but I guessed that he hadn't had much time to do that. I could remind him of it later but I decided instead to ask Don if I could call Tom on the house phone. I had a feeling that it was going to be difficult for me to talk to him without getting emotional and probably impossible for us to keep the conversation clean. If this were the case, then we would have a lot more privacy on the phone than we would talking on Skype. In England, we hardly ever had a conversation with each other that didn’t involve sex or something naughty and if we did then we soon ran out of things to say. Tom and I had planned to keep in regular contact using Skype and it threw up a lot of exciting possibilities, but for some reason I had never considered that I may have to share a room. It meant that if Tom and I were going to talk, then we would probably have to limit our conversations to football and dance music.

After getting properly dressed, I made my way slowly up the stairs with Amy clinging to my back, her arms wrapped around my neck.

“Good morning honey,” said Sue. “Sit down and I’ll get you some breakfast. Amy will you leave Robbie alone dear, I’m sure he doesn't want you hanging around his neck all day.”

It seemed that I was the only one who had bothered to get dressed. Nicola smiled at me as she walked briskly past us in a fluffy bathrobe. Sue was in her dressing gown and even Don made a brief appearance in a judo style gown, which I thought was a bit strange. I didn’t know that he was into martial arts.

Maybe I was the odd one for wanting to be fully dressed on a Sunday morning. I mean it wasn’t as if I had anywhere to go. Other than in Don’s car I had yet to venture outside of the house. The harsh Canadian winter that everybody had warned me about hadn't really affected me at all so far and I was a lot warmer here than I ever was at Tom’s house.

“Would you like some tea?” asked Sue, and this at least made me laugh.

“Mom, Robbie doesn't drink tea,” said Nicola who was already making coffee. She brought me over a cup and sat down next to me at the breakfast bar. I don’t know what it was about her that made me so nervous, but I couldn't relax when she was that close. The fact that she only seemed to be wearing a skimpy bathrobe didn’t help the situation and I suddenly got a bad case of the jitters.

“Thank you,” I said taking the coffee from her while trying hard to avoid looking at her legs.

“I’ve got something else for you,” she said as she fumbled around in her pocket. “Close your eyes.” I followed her instructions. “Okay, you can open them now.”

Nicola was holding her phone in front of me and I flicked my eyes towards her impassively, waiting for an explanation.

“Do you like it?”

I nodded, unsure of where this was going. “It’s your phone,” I said.

“Well, now it’s your phone,” she said and she placed it on the counter in front of me.

“Are you giving it to me?” I asked.

“I managed to talk dad into buying me an I-phone,” she said. “So I no longer need this one, it's a Blackberry.”

“We thought that you should have your own phone honey,” said Sue.

“You’ll have my old number,” said Nicola. “So you may get a few people calling asking for me for a while. But what do you think, it’s neat eh?”

“It’s pink!” I said. I didn’t want to sound ungrateful because it was obviously a nice phone, but it was bright pink with white polka dots.

“You can buy a cover for it dummy,” she said.

‘Why am I worried about the colour anyway? Am I scared that it’ll make me look gay’?

“Thanks Nicola,” I said. “Actually I’m not that bothered about the colour.”

“Good. I’ve deleted my phone book but left all of our numbers on it for you,” she said before giving me a quick run down of the features. I didn’t expect to be using it for a while yet anyway, I would need to make some friends first.

* * * * *

“Robbie is that you?” he said. I recognised those distinctive English tones straight away.

“Of course it’s me you muppet.” I said laughing into the phone. “How many other Robbie’s from Canada do you know?” It was what his mom had shouted to him when she called him to the phone. We had talked for a bit after she had answered and I had asked her how Tom was getting on. I knew that he wouldn’t have told me if he was down and I needed to know. His mom said that he was okay but had been a bit quiet and withdrawn since I had left. It wasn’t what I had wanted to hear, but what did I expect. I knew that he wasn’t going to be having the time of his life. My heart went out to him and I felt bad once again for leaving.

Even though I had no choice about where I was going to live, I would always blame myself for destroying what we had. Unfortunately, as much as it hurt me to admit it, I think Tom did too. I felt bad because I had been the one to leave, even though it couldn’t have been any other way. I had still left and although I obviously missed him like crazy, I had a lot of other things going on to help to take my mind off him. Tom on the other hand was left to pick up the pieces of that mad month that we had spent together, on his own. I could imagine how I would have felt, had it been me, if it had been the other way round. I wouldn’t have been that reasonable about it. I wouldn’t have blamed him, but it would have knocked the stuffing out of me for sure.

“You don’t sound that far away” he said, “you sound like you’re only around the corner.”

“I wish I was only around the corner, then I would be able to come round and surprise you.” I said and he laughed.

“Yeah I wish that was true too.” Then there was a short but uncomfortable silence as we both seemed to choke up a bit. It had happened already. I had promised myself that I would try to keep our conversation cheerful and avoid being emotionally bogged down but I suppose that was always going to be a big ask of us. I needed to change the subject and be more up beat.

“It’s really cold here,” I said.

‘State the bleeding obvious’.

“I told you that it was cold over there didn’t I? Is there a lot of snow?”

“I’ll have to send you some photos,” I said. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of snow. I haven’t even been outside yet, but I will later.”

“It’s raining here,” he said.

‘How did I know he was going to say that’?

“I bet it’s still not as cold here as it is in your room in the mornings.” I joked. “Even the North Pole isn’t that cold.” We laughed a bit, but it was contrived, it wasn’t even funny and we both knew it.

“Yeah well it’s got even colder now that I’ve lost my hot water bottle,” he said. I knew exactly what he meant and quickly looked around me, to be sure that there was nobody listening in.

‘No one can hear us, I should stop panicking’.

“Tom you must have the coldest feet in the world. But I swear if I was there I’d be warming them up for you.”

“You’ve got a serious problem mate,” he said. “A serious foot problem.” He giggled loudly down the phone.

“It’s only a problem because I can’t get my hands on them.”

“Yeah well you're going to have to get over my feet.”

“Been there, done that,” I said.

“You're weird, you know that?”

“You have to admit, it was hot?”

“I don’t know I only did it for you.”

“Come on Tom…admit it…you enjoyed it.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it, Robbie,” he said. “Those days are gone now. We had some fun, but now it’s over.” His words hurt me, even though I knew that what he said was true.

“It doesn't have to be over,” I said. “You can come and visit me in the summer and stay here the whole six weeks if you want. Sue said it would be okay and I can even pay you're fare, so it wouldn’t cost you anything, I have the dosh.”

“I know you do rich boy, but ask me this in six months time not now.”

“Why?”

“Because by that time you would probably have found yourself another pair of feet to play with and hopefully it’ll be someone who wants to return the favour. Some cute Canadian boy.”

“But I don’t want to find someone else,” I protested.

“Robbie, I think it’s really cool that you're prepared to wait all that time for me, but it’s not going to happen. Honestly, believe me Robbie.”

I didn’t want to believe him or even admit that he had even the slightest chance of being right about this. Before that conversation, it hadn't even crossed my mind that I might meet someone else, other than Daniel’s friend Nathan, but that was just a joke. I had remained silent, thinking hard about what he had said.

“Anyway” he said. “Maybe I won’t want to wait six months. Maybe I’ll meet someone, like a girl?”

“Yuck, you need to stay away from them,” I said. He laughed and then sighed.

“Look at it this way, even if we both save ourselves for six months and I come over there for the summer, what happens when it’s time for me to leave? I can’t go through this again; it wouldn’t be fair on me.”

It was the first time that he had mentioned that he had been hurt, but judging by the way that his voice had trembled when he said it, he was obviously suffering just as much as I was. He had made a valid point and one for which I had no answer.

“I love you Tom.”

I heard him sigh and we both fell silent for at least a minute as we gathered our thoughts. It allowed Tom the time that he needed to put his guard back up and pretend that there wasn’t a problem.

“Okay, gay boy,” he said. “Now tell me about you're new school. How are you getting there, reindeer and slay?”

“Piss off,” I said sulking. “If you must know, I have to get one of those dodgy looking yellow school buses.”

“Well, remember you have to sit at the back, because that’s where all the cool kids sit. Only dorks sit at the front of the bus.”

“I’ll try to remember.”

“You're going to sit at the front aren’t you?”

“Probably.”

“Dork! What’s your uncle’s place like? Is it big?”

“Quite big yes, but there are six of us living here,” I said.

“It’s what you always wanted,” he said. “A family of your own, I’m happy for you Robbie, really I am.” Tom was the only one who knew that, the only person who I had ever confided in. “Are they going to make it official, I mean are they going to adopt you?”

“They want …”

“Do it!” he said cutting me off. “It’s not too late to have a family you know. Your mom would approve.”

“I suppose,” I said.

“And how are you getting on with your new brother and sisters?”

“Okay, I guess. I mean it’s too early to judge but they seem to be quite cool about me being here. I have to share a room with Daniel, but we get on all right.”

“How old is he?” said Tom.

“Fourteen, I think, why?”

“Is he nice looking?” he said.

I wasn’t expecting that, especially from Tom. “I dunno, I haven’t noticed.”

“Bollocks,” he said. “What do you mean you haven’t noticed?”

“Well,…yes. I mean no…he’s my cousin for goodness sake,” I whispered.

“Your brother you mean,” he said.

“Whatever.”

“Have you seen him naked yet?”

“What are you like?”

“Well?”

“No, now stop it.”

“Ha, I’m only winding you up mate,” he said.

“Bastard!”

“Hurry up and get Skype sorted out, then I’ll be able to see for myself who’s hot and who’s not,” he said.

“I can get an email address so we can send photographs and shit,” I said.

“That will be good.”

I had another look around me, I was in the living room, Sue was in the kitchen and Don was in his study. “I can send you over some nude photographs if you want,” I whispered in a sexy voice.

“What of Daniel?” he replied.

“No of me, you fuck wit!” I said loudly.

“Robbie, language please,” said Sue.

“Sorry Sue,” I shouted. “See, now you got me into trouble.” There was a long silence and I decided to use this to end our conversation.

“I’m going to have to go, Tom.”

“You need to get Skype,” he said, “then we can talk forever.”

“Yeah,” I said followed by another long silence. “Tom, you still there?”

“Yes,” he said, “I’m here.”

“I miss you,” I said.

“Me too.”

“No, I mean I really miss you,” I said trying to whisper as quietly as I could. I knew that I was breaking my own rules, but I also wanted him to know how I was feeling and how much it hurt me to be this far away from him. I didn’t want him thinking that it hadn't bothered me to walk away from him. I started to choke up a bit.

‘Shit, I can’t let them see me crying on the phone to Tom that would just be too weird for them’.

“You can’t really talk there at the moment can you,” he said.

“Only very quietly,” I whispered.

“Okay Robbie mate. I love you okay.”

“Me too,” I said, but I was having trouble holding back the tears. I sniffed and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

“Robbie, are you crying?” said Tom.

“No of course not I’m just…yes I am…sorry. Look I should go now. We’ll talk later.”

“Sure. Look, I’m always here on the end of this phone if you need me,” he said. “And well I want you to know that…I’m not going anywhere. Shit. What I wanted to say was that I’m still going to be here…that is…if you needed to come back…for any reason.”

‘Why did he have to say that? He knows that I can’t go back’?

I didn’t want to hang up and I guess that he didn’t either. I felt a lump in my throat and I was fighting to control my emotions. So much for not crying, I was close to breaking down. I couldn’t hear anything coming from the other end and I wondered if he was even there still. I struggled to say something, then sobbed.

“Robbie, are you still there?”

“Yes, Tom.”

“Robbie, don’t be angry at me.”

“I’m not angry, Tom.”

“Are we still mates?”

“Yes, of course we’re still mates.”

“Good, oh and if you must know, you were right earlier,” he said. “It was hot. Just don’t ever tell anyone that I did it.” Then he was gone.

“Bye Tom,” I said as I put the phone down gently. “I won’t tell anyone.”

I spent the next twenty minutes in the bathroom, splashing water on my face and trying not to look upset. I didn’t cry anymore and my face looked a little happier after a while but inside the pain was as bad as I had ever known it. If I didn’t have to spend an hour getting ready, I would have gone out for a walk. I needed some fresh air, it was too hot indoors and I couldn’t breathe.

For the first time since I got there, I was missing England where at least I was able to go out for a walk whenever I wanted.

I guessed that this was what they called homesickness and I went to the bedroom to lie down for a while hoping it would go away. Even though he had tried to disguise it probably for my benefit, I knew that nearly four thousand miles away Tom was going through the same thing.

I don’t know if Sue had been able to sense that something was wrong after my call to Tom or if she had been able to hear me sobbing on the phone to him, but I knew that she was worried. I had already told her how much I missed him and tried to let her know how special he was to me, without giving anything away. She could probably understand why I was upset, but I didn’t want her to find out anything more. It was probably just me but I had a feeling that maybe she already had her suspicions about Tom and me. She might have noticed something in England that gave her a clue. She hadn't said anything or dropped any hints, but sometimes I thought that I could see it in the way that she looked at me. Maybe it was just me as usual trying to over analyze everything and creating problems that weren’t there.

I heard her knocking on the door and told her to come in. She walked over and sat on the bed while I lie there looking towards the window.

“You’re really going through it aren’t you hun?” she said.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Things will get better for you honey I promise,” she said. “You just have to draw on some of that strength that your mother left you.”

“I don’t think that I have any,” I said.

“Yes, you do Robbie,” she said. “You have plenty of it and pretty soon you’re going to wake up happy and realise how lucky you are.”

I turned over and sat up looking at her confused.

“I know that you’re in a bad place at the moment, but it doesn't last forever. You’ll see."

Daniel walked in looked over at his mom then stopped in his tracks and began to walk back to the door. She got up and beat him to it. “Why are you looking so guilty?” she asked.

“Sorry,” he said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“You’re not interrupting anything Daniel,” I said as Sue left closing the door behind her. It was his room after all.

As soon as the door closed, he pulled off his t-shirt, sat down at his desk and switched on the computer. It wasn’t the first time that I had seen him do this. Daniel was either an exhibitionist or a naturist? Exhibitionists want people to look at them and as he did this whether I was in the room or not, I could safely say that he was a naturist and given a chance, he would probably lose the shorts as well. I allowed myself a little smile as I remembered what Tom had said to me earlier. He had only been joking at the time, but I wondered what he would say if he could see me now with Daniel, wearing only a pair of swimming shorts. There was a foot of snow outside and he was dressed as if he was in the Bahamas. I didn’t want to admit it to Tom but he was right, my cousin was hot! I needed to stop gawping at him, as if I had never seen a boy without a top on before. At least he had managed to cheer me up a bit.

‘I need to stop doing this before he becomes my brother or that will be really weird’.

“I thought that you might want to look at the school website and see some pictures," he said. "It’s really cool.”

The stunning pictures of the school taken a few years back when it was first built took my mind off Daniel’s body for a moment.

“So who was this William Stephenson geezer anyway? And why did they name the school after him?” I asked. If I had had to guess, I would have said that he was an explorer or the first Canadian Prime Minister or something but I would never have guessed that he was a spy.

“He was a spy who did some things in WW2,” he said.

‘Thanks Daniel for the detailed information’.

When he had finished with the computer, I decided to look up him up myself on google and discovered that this bloke really had been something special. He was apparently a spymaster who set up the west’s first training camp for espionage called Camp X, located on Lake Ontario just east of Toronto.

‘Isn’t that where we are now’?

At the end of WW2, he helped to set up the CIA whose agents were trained at Camp X under the guidance of Stephenson, right up until the 1960’s.

‘Ha, the CIA was started by a Canadian, that’s funny’.

British author Ian Fleming, who was also trained at Camp X, was said to have based his fictional James Bond character on William Stephenson.

“Shit this geezer was JAMES FUCKING BOND.” I could hear Sue shouting my name as she heard me swear from upstairs and it made me laugh. “Sorry” I yelled back.

‘I would be going to a school, named after the real James Bond. How cool was that’.

“I always thought he was English.”

“James Bond isn’t real Robbie,” said Daniel.

“He is in my bloody book,” I said. “I love the Bond films and I’ve seen every one of them. The early ones I’ve seen again and again.”

I leapt onto my bed striking a classic Bond pose and Daniel laughed at my boyish enthusiasm. “Yeah I’m a big fan too,” he said. At least we had something in common. I couldn’t wait to tell Tom that my new school was named after James Bond. The only problem was that I would have to wait until next weekend. Meanwhile I was going to think up some Bond trivia questions for Daniel to answer and prove to me that he was a real fan.

* * * * *

Later that day, three days after arriving in the country, I was finally able to step outside of the house and play in the snow that had been teasing me since I got there. It took me ages to get ready as I pulled on several layers of clothing as Sues had instructed. The temperature had risen a little since Friday, but it was still cold. I was dressed like a true Canadian, in thermal socks, long johns, a thermal vest, t-shirt, sweatshirt, snow pants, waterproof coat, woolly hat, gloves and snow boots. It felt as if I was preparing to set foot on the moon rather than just going out to the garden.

I never left the property. I didn’t really need to; it was a mission for me to reach the back fence, which was 40 metres away at the top of a steep hill. The snow was mostly about a foot deep but in places was almost at knee height. When I reached the back of the garden it was quiet and still with the only sound coming from the gentle crushing of snow beneath my feet.

I had photographs of me standing waist height in snow taken by my mum when I was just three years old, so this wasn’t the first time that I had experienced a Canadian winter but the first that I could remember. The cold was making my face sting and I had difficulty breathing through my nose because the hairs inside my nostrils were frozen. It was a weird sensation as I wriggled my nose to try to clear it. I laughed to myself and sat in the snow at the top of the hill looking down at the ravine. The house was built on the side of the hill opposite and although it wasn’t that far away from where I was it seemed distant. I decided that I liked this spot, which was fairly isolated considering we were supposedly living in a town. It was exposed but very private, I could talk to myself and nobody could hear me up here. It was a place that I would come to regard as my quiet place, where I could go if I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. Behind me was an old wooden fence that marked the end of their property and behind that, an even bigger garden that led to an even bigger house in the distance. They had neighbours on either side but the houses were spaced a long way apart.

This was strange coming from London where several million people all lived within a few hundred square miles. Cobourg, admittedly was a small town, but situated in the most populated part of Canada, southern Ontario. It was right on the lake that divided the USA from Canada and located between the two big cities of Toronto and Montreal. When I stood up and turned around I could only count ten houses dotted among thousands of trees and the whole landscape for as far as you could see in every direction was covered in white. From this spot, I couldn’t hear or see a single person, no sound at all of human activity. It was awesome but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to live in a place like that forever.

‘Maybe I’ve lived too long in London. If this is what it’s like in the most populated area of Canada then what is it like up north? Does anyone live up there at all? Is it even possible for humans to live up there'?

I started to make my way back to the house where I was both surprised and pleased to see that Daniel had decided to join me outside. At last, someone to throw a snowball at and he obviously had the same idea as one hit me square on the head. I returned fire and before long, we had taken up positions at opposite sides of the garden to bombard each other. Daniel was on the decking next to the stairs leaving me a little exposed in the garden and with only a bush for cover. I was being hit too often for my liking so I ran over to the shed and hid at the side where he couldn’t see, hoping to draw him out into the open. I stood with my back to the shed laughing and trying to catch my breath. My eyes were watering and I couldn’t breathe through my nose anymore. My face was stinging from the cold, but I was having fun. Finally, I could hear him approaching in the snow and I jumped into the open unleashing my best shot, which missed by a country mile. He reached down and scooped up some more snow, but before he could let go at point blank range, I grabbed his arm and we wrestled before we both hit the snow covered decking. We were rolling in the snow, laughing and gasping for air. He was strong but we were laughing so hard that neither of us had any strength left and finally, he managed to pin me down in the snow by holding onto my arms and sitting on my stomach, legs either side of me. We were both still laughing.

“Do you expect me to talk?” I said in between laughs and wondered if he would pick up on it.

“No, Mr Bond I expect you to die.” He said finishing off the famous line from 'Goldfinger', much to my amusement. Then I gathered all my strength and threw him off and once again, we were rolling around in the snow and laughing so much that we couldn’t even stand up. Don, Sue and Amy had come out onto the balcony upstairs to watch us and laugh at our antics after hearing the commotion. They were still laughing as we dragged ourselves into the house through the basement door and into the bedroom to thaw. I had never played like that in snow before and it had been a long time since I had had a play fight with a friend. We hadn’t really been fighting of course it was just a boy kind of thing that we all seemed compelled to do especially, in our teenage years. I remembered what Doug had said to Daniel yesterday about having a brother to compete with and he had been right, it had started already. It was inevitable considering we were almost the same age and it made me realise that I wasn’t the only one here for whom having a brother was a new experience. Daniel was in the same boat.

He had been the one who had been most affected by my sudden arrival and the only one who had had to give up his privacy. Under the circumstances I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had been a little putout. However, so far he had shown no animosity at all towards me and seemed to be doing everything he could to make me feel at home. I think that he genuinely enjoyed having me around. I was under no illusions, it was inevitable that we would have our arguments and disagreements in the future. We may even fight but that had to be expected when two teenage boys with little experience of sharing their space, were suddenly paired together in the same room.

It would have been asking a lot to expect us to become instant friends, but so far we seemed to be getting on quite well, and that was a huge relief for me.

The new winter coat, waterproofs and snow boots that Don had bought for me the day before did their job perfectly. They had undergone the most vigorous test imaginable but I was able to keep relatively dry even after being completely submerged in the snow. These items were quickly discarded and left by the back door as we both headed to the bedroom to get changed. It was too cold for me to worry about changing in front of him and we both stripped as quickly as we could down to our underpants and threw on some cloths to wear around the house.

I could hear a phone ringing and naturally thought it was Daniel’s, but it was Nicola’s old phone and it had to be someone for her, so I answered.

“Sorry, Nicola isn’t on this number anymore,” I said.

“Oh are you Robbie?” she said.

“Yes, I am,” I replied and she giggled.

“Hi Robbie,” she said. “My name’s Stacy and I’m a friend of Nicola.

I had already guessed that much.

“Hello Stacy,” I said looking at Daniel who was laughing at me. “I can text you her new number if you want.”

“Sure,” she said. “Are you going to be starting school tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Great, Nicola told me all about you. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah bye.” I looked over at Daniel as I hung up and wondered what Nicola had told her.

“That was Stacy right?” said Daniel.

“Yeah, she sounds like a nice enough girl.”

“Stacy’s cool,” he said. “It’s Naomi that you’ll need to worry about.” I looked over to him expecting a reason. “You’ll soon see what I mean.”

I was grateful for the warning, even if he wouldn’t elaborate. I would be sure to watch out for Naomi.

“Do you ever get to go skating in England?” he asked me.

“No,” I replied, “I’ve never been skating and it doesn't look that easy to do either.”

“Wait a minute” he said, “You mean to say that you’ve never been ice skating before?

I didn’t realise that it was such a big deal. Nobody that I knew ever did that kind of thing. “No not ever,” I said and I tried to search for a reason why but there wasn’t any reason other than the fact that I had never really had the opportunity to go skating.

“We need to get you a pair of ice skates dude, and then you can start practicing on the rink out the back. Believe me it’s the most fun you can have.”

I could easily think of any number of things that had to be more fun than ice skating, particularly because I assumed that falling over would be a big part of it. However, he seemed to be passionate about it and with Daniel, having fun seemed to take priority over everything else. Therefore, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and reluctantly agreed to go with him one day after school to buy myself some ice skates. In for a penny in for a pound as they say in England. If I was going to live in Canada and be taken seriously then I suppose that I would have to learn how to skate.

“Even old people over here skate,” he said in his attempt to persuade me. “You can’t be a Canadian, if you can’t skate Robbie.”

I didn’t feel very Canadian at the time, but I was learning fast. I had a lot of fun that afternoon with Daniel and it was the kind of fun that I hadn't had in a long time. It felt good to be able to relax and have some innocent fun with someone for a change. I realised that this was something that had been missing from my life lately. I was fifteen and officially, still a minor, but events in my life over the past year and a half had seemed to fast track me into adulthood. I had to take on responsibilities that I probably wasn’t ready for and had to deal with emotions that I barely understood.

Really, I was still just a kid and it felt good to be able to go back to acting like one. I seemed to spend so much time analyzing everything and trying to control my feelings and emotions that I hardly ever did anything without a reason anymore. What had happened with Daniel had been totally natural and spontaneous and it made no sense at all, but it was a lot of fun. I couldn’t even remember the last time that I had laughed so hard that it hurt. At one point, I had been doubled up in pain in the snow, laughing so much.

It was also pleasing for me to see Don and Sue up there watching us and laughing. I had the feeling that they wasn’t just laughing at our antics in the garden but at the bigger picture that was unfolding in front of them. They were nice people and I was beginning to understand why my mom had been so determined that I should live with them. They had welcomed me into their family and I knew that I would never be able to pay them back for that in terms of money. Yet I could sense that seeing Daniel and I interact like that and seeing me happy so soon after moving in had been a relief for them as much as anything else. It may have gone some way to re-paying some of the debt that I thought I owed them.