“Lena! Leeen!” A boy with a bicycle stood below the five-story building, its entrance door swinging loosely on its hinges. He craned his neck, shouting up at the windows.
“Lenaaa, Len”
“I swear I’ll throttle someone in a minute,” grumbled a burly man in a blue vest, leaning out. “Clear off!”
“Wasnt calling youLenkaaa!”
“For heaven’s sake,” a woman in a nightgown and curlers peered from another window. “Its Saturdaypeople are trying to sleep!”
“Shut it, the lot of you!” A tall, balding man yelled, rubbing his eyes. “Just got to bed, and now this racket”
“Lenkaaa, you coming or what?”
The door creaked open, and out stepped a girl in a light summer dress, clutching a tote bag with something wrapped in parchment.
“Took your time. Oversleep?”
“Nope. Making sandwiches,” she said flatly, securing the bag on the bikes rack before perching on the frame. The boy wheeled around, pedaling off as laughter trailed behind them.
“Bloody hooligans!” shouted the irritable man.
“Let us sleep!” another voice groaned.
“Sleep then!” the boy called over his shoulder as they circled past the building. “Its Saturday morningwhats your excuse?”
They sped out of the estate, the town fading behind them as they bounced along a dirt road.
“Len, you tired?”
“Nope. You?”
“Not a bit,” he said, pushing harder.
A burst of laughter as the bike skidded, the front wheel buckling. They tumbled into the grass.
“Oy, now what, Al?”
“Dunno,” he grinned, sprawled out. “Guess we live here now.”
“Al!”
“What? Build a hut by the river. Ill fish, well grill it over a fire.”
“And wheres the fire coming from?”
“Rub sticks togetheror nick matches off anglers.”
They dissolved into laughter.
“Al, that cloudlooks like a teapot.”
“Now its a dog.”
They lay there, tracing shapes in the sky.
“Fancy a swim?”
“Go on, then.”
They raced to the river, dried off on warm golden sand.
“Len, whatll you do when youre grown?”
“Finish school, maybe uni, then work. You?”
“Marry you. Get richor the other way round. Those two things.”
“Prat.”
“Fair. Might squeeze in the Army first, learn a tradebefore you run off with, say, Vic.”
She snorted. “Vic? We were making the school paper!”
“Saw you leaning in, all giggly.”
“Al!”
“Doesnt matter. Ill steal you back from anyone.”
***
Years later, another Saturday dawned. The roar of a motorbike shattered the quiet.
“Lenaaa!”
“Yobbo!” a woman shrieked from a window.
“Some of us are sleeping!”
“Keep it down!”
“Lenkaaanot you! Its Saturday, for pitys sake!”
The same rickety door groaned open, and out stepped Lena, now a woman.
“Late again?”
“Nah. Packing sandwiches.”
“Pipe down out there!” a voice snapped.
Al handed her a helmet. She slid onto the bike, arms tight around him as they tore out of the estate.
“Disgraceful!” a sleepless man yelled.
They wove through town, onto country roads.
“You alright back there?” he called.
“Fine!” She pressed closer, wind whipping loose strands of hair.
At the riverbank, they sprawled in the grass.
“Lookthat clouds two cats!”
“Now its a bike. Swim?”
They splashed, sunbathed, kissed till dizzy.
“Len Ive been called up. Army. Tomorrow.”
“What? Why didnt you”
“Just got the papers. Ill go, then uni after. Marry you. You wont run off with Vic, yeah?”
***
The station platform buzzed. Soldiers poured off the train.
“Al, love!” His mother clung to him, weeping. His father shook his hand stiffly; his sister tackled him, sobbing.
Then he saw herLena, hands clasped, eyes shimmering. He pushed through the crowd.
“Crying, Lenka?”
“Happy tears, Al.”
“Plenty more ahead.”
His family huffed, but he didnt care. She was his childhood sweetheart.
***
“Son, its too soon! What about uni?” his mother fretted.
“Enrolled. And Im marrying Lena.”
“That girls in a rush to trap you! You should sow wild oats!”
“Mum, shes nineteen. I only want her.”
“Too young!”
“Funnyyou nagged me to settle after the Army.”
“We saved you from your drunken mates!”
He kissed her cheek and left.
***
“Its a boy!” Al burst into his parents house, radiant. “A son!”
His mother wept; his father dabbed his eyes.
Five years later, a princess joined them.
***
“Son, you quit your job? How will you live?”
“Tired of working for pennies. Well manage.”
“And Lena agreed? Its reckless!”
“Mum, I wont raise kids splitting one chocolate bar. Well be alright.”
And they were.
Not without stumbles. Nights he wanted to scream, quitbut there was Lena, calmly buttering bread.
She handed him a guitar.
“Whats this?” He bit back a snarl.
“Sing, Al. Bad things fade when you sing.”
They murmured the old tune: *”Ill ride my bike through fields so wide”*
She cried when he wasnt looking. He knewpretended not to.
They thrived. A house, holidays, kids set for life.
Yet Al grew restless. Life felt stagnant.
A mate dragged him to a club.
“Len, weve got theatre tickets.”
“Work thing. Cant make it.”
First lie hed ever told. He sat miserably at the bar.
A woman approachedpolished, poised.
“Lets get out of here.”
“Whyd you come?”
“Needs must.”
Outside, she confessed: a deadbeat ex, a son to feed.
“Just saving up. Or finding a decent man like you.”
He walked her home, talked till dawn.
A month of secret meetings.
Then, one evening, the house stood silent.
Lena was gone.
He called the kids, his parentsno one knew.
He met the other woman, looked her in the eye.
“I love my wife. You were fresh air. But its her.”
She smiled sadly. “Tell her the truth. We never even kissed.”
***
Lena sat in her childhood kitchen, buttering bread.
“Lenkaaa!” A motorbike roared below.
“Give us peace!” a neighbor yelled.
Al sang under her window: *”Ill ride my bike pick flowers for the girl I love.”*
She grabbed a helmet. They sped past the estate, onto the old dirt road.
In the meadow, they lay side by side.
“That clouds a ship.”
“Now its Gran and Grandad having tea.”
“Len forgive me?”
“For what?”
“I hurt you.”
She squeezed his hand. “Nothing to forgive.”
“Wont happen again.”
“What?”
“You singing alone. You did, didnt you?”
“I did.”
“So did I. Lets do it together.”
And they did.
