SUNLIGHT MEADOWS

Chas has always lived at Sunlight Meadow. He knows the score. He is a carpenter and deals weed. People rely on Chas. Tania loves him. She works as a carer in the locality. Martin works for the council maintaining parks and gardens. Martin and Tania have been friends since they were teenagers. They grew up together at Springtime Flowers. Next door to Martin lives Matilda. She remembers when the Sunlight Meadow was built. She moved there when they knocked down the old back to backs on Hawthorn Road. Martin likes to make sure she is managing okay. Sophy no longer lives in the meadow. She has a job in the city but she comes back regularly to see her father Chris. Chris worked on the London Underground and is comfortably retired. Chas leans out of his window smoking. He sees Sophy pull up in her Suzuki Ignis. She steps out in an elegant white linen outfit which complements her long blond hair. With her weekend bag slung over her shoulder she breezes towards the building’s entrance. Martin is heading out dressed for work. Noticing Sophy approach he feels a jolt of excitement. He wishes to talk to her. They exchange a greeting and she continues into the building and along the corridor towards her father’s flat. Chris is watching television when Sophy arrives. He is pleased to see her and gets up to greet her. She puts down her bag and they sit down. His attention drifts back to the television. Sophy ponders the hectic social life she has left behind in London. She decides to nip out to the shop but her feet take her in the other direction. Up the stairs to the fourth floor and along to Chas’s flat. She knocks and Chas welcomes her in. He takes a joint he rolled earlier and sparks it up. After taking a long drag he passes it to Sophy. She smiles and takes a few tokes. They sit down and Sophy talks about a rave she went to at the Hythe road industrial estate. A key turns in the door and Tania enters. She smiles as she registers the situation and nods politely to Sophy. Sophy purchases a £20 bag of grass and heads down and out of the building to the shops. She buys four bottles of old speckled hen and a bottle of Rioja and heads back to her father. Entering the flat she places the beer and wine on the coffee table and brings an opener and glasses from the kitchen. As she pops a bottle Chris begins to relax. He turns off the television and pours his drink. The beer gently fizzes and Chris breathes a sigh of relief. He asks Sophy about London and recalls his work on the underground. He recounts a humorous story of a disoriented passenger waking up at the wrong destination. They remember Elsie, Sophy’s mum and Chris’s wife for thirty two years. She was a gentle soul and they miss her dearly.



PETE EASTHAM'S SHORT STORIES