Adam’s contract in South Korea was almost over. The following morning he would travel home and he was looking forward to spending some time with his son, Paul. The furnace was operating well and the client’s operators were running the furnace without any assistance from Adam or his colleagues.
Several of his colleagues were also leaving on the same day and it was planned to meet in Ban’s Bar for a final get together and a farewell beer.
This turned out to be considerably more than one and the following morning Adam’s head was throbbing. One for the road! he thought. If only it had been one. He took a light breakfast and a lot of coffee then, after breakfast and back in his room, a couple of aspirin.
The taxi was waiting for him outside the hotel to take him to the railway station at Changwon and it wasn’t long before he was in his comfortable reclining seat on the high-speed train to Seoul. He was hoping he would sleep, but sleep did not come. There was something gnawing at the back of his mind: the Korean War photograph old Mr Lim had shown him, of the British soldier, Mr Lim and the young Korean girl, Mina, now Mr Lim’s wife.
It was a fantastic story. Somebody should write a book about it, Adam thought. Jacky Gee was a real hero if what Mr Lim had told him was true, and he had no reason to doubt him.
It was late afternoon when Adam arrived at Heathrow airport in London. He collected the rental car he had reserved the day before and was driving towards the M25 when he pulled off the road and stopped the car. The sign in front of him told him he should turn left for the M4 and South Wales or straight ahead for The North. He sat for a while contemplating what to do, the photograph he had been shown still on his mind.
Adam picked up his mobile phone and called his sister, Sian, in York. She picked up straight away.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hi Sian, it’s Adam,” Adam replied.
“Hi, little bruv! Where are you?” Sian asked.
“I’m at Heathrow. I’ve just flown in from South Korea. Sian, tell me, has mum still got that old suitcase with all the old photographs?” Adam asked.
“Er, yes she has. It’s in the attic. What’s this all about, Adam?” Sian inquired.
“I’ll explain when I get there. I’ll be at your place in about four hours. Okay,” Adam said.
“Yes, sure. Drive carefully and I’ll see you soon,” Sian answered.
Adam was desperate to see his son, but this would have to be delayed by a day, he thought, as he drove past the exit to the M4 and continued north, towards the A1 exit. He drove close to the speed limit the whole way and it was evening when he arrived at his sister’s home, where his mother also now lived.
After greetings were exchanged and a quick cup of tea had, Adam opened the battered old suitcase that Sian had already brought down from the attic. When he was young, Adam had loved to look at the old black and white photos which his mother kept in this old brown suitcase.
This time he was looking for one in particular. It took him a while, but eventually, he found the one he was looking for. There were, in fact, several photographs taken at around the same time, in a public house, it appeared. Two men and his mother. The two men were smoking cigarettes and each holding a pint glass of beer. His mother held a spirit’s glass. Probably containing gin and tonic, Adam thought. The two men were his late father, Gareth, and his uncle Joe.
“This is the one!” Adam whispered to himself.
“Can I borrow this, Mum?” Adam asked his mother holding up the one with the best clarity.
“Which one, Adam? Let me see,” his mother queried.
Adam handed the photograph to his mother who, after putting on her glasses, peered at the old photograph.
“This was taken at the Wheatsheaf in Cardiff in 1949, Adam, the last time I saw Joe. But why do you want it, Adam? What have you found?” his mother asked, almost pleading.
“I’m not sure yet, mum, but I do know that I need to get back to South Korea. Old Mr Lim has not told me everything. Of that, I’m sure!”
“Who is old Mr Lim?” both Sian and his mother asked together in perfect synchronisation.
Adam gave them a brief account of what Lim had told him, but there were still a lot of gaps to be filled and he thought that Lim would be able to fill most of them, but to do that he needed to be back in South Korea.
Adam had initially intended to leave that evening and travel to South Wales, but his mother and Sian insisted that he stay the night and travel tomorrow. In the end, good sense prevailed and he slept the night in his nephew’s bed, who happened to be staying with friends overnight.
Though he was extremely tired after the flight from Seoul and the drive from Heathrow, Adam didn’t sleep too well, with the thought that just maybe he had found his long-lost Uncle Joe.
The next morning, he had a quick breakfast and said goodbye to his mother and sister and travelled on to South Wales. It was Friday and halfway through the journey that he stopped at a service station for coffee and to call his ex-wife, Helen, to ask if it would be okay to have Paul for the weekend.
“No problem,” she said, “but don’t forget he’s playing soccer for the school team on Saturday morning.”
“That’s great,” Adam replied. “It will be good to watch him play.”
Unlike his father, Paul preferred football to rugby and Adam had an idea of getting tickets for Cardiff City’s game on Saturday – he just hoped they were playing at home and not away. He would find out on the Internet when he got to his flat. He would also look for a flight back to Seoul on Monday or Tuesday of next week.
Fortunately, Cardiff City, Paul’s favourite team – apart from Chelsea – were indeed playing at home, against Plymouth Argyle, and were currently pushing for promotion from the third to the second division. Recently, the club had been taken over by the Lebanese businessman, Sam Hammam, and his investment had seen a rise in the team’s fortunes on the pitch. Paul’s favourite player was Robert Earnshaw, who Adam also thought was very talented and liked to watch, though he would have much preferred to be watching his local rugby team.
Adam collected Paul from Helen’s home on Saturday morning and took Paul to his school for his game against another local school. The weather was fine, fortunately, and Adam enjoyed watching his son play. Paul was tall for his age and played centre-half, and his game had improved considerably since Adam last saw him play, back when he was in primary school when the whole team used to swarm around the ball. It was an extremely open game, but Paul’s team lost by three goals to two.
“What do you fancy doing this weekend, Paul?” Adam asked Paul after the game and they were driving back to Adam’s flat.
“I don’t know Dad. Pizza tonight at Antonio’s?” Paul replied.
“Yeah, we can do that. But what about this afternoon?” Adam continued. “How about watching the Bluebirds?”
“Oh, lush, Dad, you got tickets?” Paul gushed. “Is Earnie playing?”
“Yeah, we pick up the tickets at the ground. I don’t know if Earnie’s playing. I suppose he’ll be playing if he’s fit,” Adam answered.
Paul continued talking about Earnie and Cardiff City for the rest of the journey back to Adam’s flat, where they dropped off Adam’s rental car and made the short walk to the railway station to catch the train to Cardiff. En route they stopped at a fast food outlet where they each got a beef burger and fries.
The game was pretty one-sided, with Cardiff City winning quite convincingly; inevitably, Earnie scored a goal, which Paul celebrated with great enthusiasm.
After the train journey back, Adam took Paul to Antonio’s restaurant as he had promised, where Paul chose pizza and Adam carbonara.
Most of the conversation at the restaurant was about football but, as they were waiting for the bill, out of the blue Paul asked his father a question.
“Dad,” he said, “is there any chance you and mum could get back together?”
Adam was taken aback by this question. His son had never spoken about the divorce before. Adam had never been with another woman since Helen and, although he was too pig-headed to admit it, he missed Helen desperately.
“There is Paul, definitely, I miss your mother, I will admit. Let’s see what happens, shall we?” Adam answered.
On the way back to the flat, they called into Blockbusters for a video to watch that evening.
While Paul was looking at the latest releases, Adam wandered over to the war section, looking for something about the Korean War. Just as he thought, there was a huge selection on the Vietnam War but nothing about the Korean one. Paul made his selection and Adam paid the rental fee.
On arriving at the flat, Paul set up the video, while Adam got himself a cold beer from the refrigerator. They both made themselves comfortable of the sofa to watch the movie, The Mummy. However, within minutes and with his beer half-finished in his hand, Adam was soon sound asleep.
When he awoke, it was after midnight and Paul was fast asleep in his bed. Adam finished his beer, which Paul had placed on the coffee table, and he too went to his bed.
The following day was a chill-out day. They watched television and played games together on the Play Station until it was time to take Paul back to Helen’s. This was a time that Adam hated, but he knew that he would be home again next weekend and that they would be able to spend more time together then; in the meantime, he was determined to unravel the mystery of the disappearance of uncle Joe Watts.