Optimism and Hope - Tony Blair in the Wilderness

...Tony has to leave Scotland, but he decides to go back for his diary...and he sees two people on the runway fighting...things are going to get messy...



Breath, tired smoke swirls against the drab sky, hung over the runway. McKong and Freeman circled each other on the runway, their arms raised like prizefighters.

“Keep out of it, Blair.”

“The show’s over don’t you think, sir?”

“Too right, guys. It’s curtains for us all with global warming and rising sea levels, but hey! I’ve packed my sun block.”

Sparks from a brazier, like fireworks, came from the tops of their heads. I wanted to see this one out, but there was a shout from the gloom. Someone called my name. Someone was walking across the runway into the light, someone I knew very well, someone I’d spent ages trying to avoid.

“Tony. You’re off without saying goodbye to your old friend Mrs. Harris, and I’ve a small leaving present for you too. I saw you from the terminal, and I decided to brave the cold. I can see you’re very busy, but here it is.”

She held something out.

“There you go, Tony. God’s own fruit from the tree of life. I remembered what a good help you were picking those apples.”

I took hold of something frozen, but the icy surface stuck to my fingers. Putting it down, I prised my fingers away. A frozen apple pie was the last thing I wanted to be stuck to. Nothing stuck to me.

“I’m sorry to see you go, Tony. But you should be running along. I hope it’s been a good stay here with us.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but Mrs. Harris was staring at McKong, and she didn’t look as though she was about to invite him over for coffee.

“It won’t have been plain sailing though. I can see that because I know that one. He’s a finger in every pie, and don’t think you can get away with what you did to my husband. You made our lives hell, Breeze McKong, destroying Sorensen’s business, destroying my husband’s job, ruining my sister.”

McKong lowered his guard and backed away.

“It was inevitable. The fish stocks were dwindling anyway.”

I folded my arms.

“No, look, you two. You’re being negative here, guys. There’s always plenty more fish in the sea. No use crying over spilt milk.”

These people were obviously having difficulty coming to terms with the benefits of progress.

“I pity you, Breeze McKong. You’re a villain, and he will have the final say not me. He never forgets. It’s all here in God’s eye. May God’s oceans swallow you up, McKong, and may the teeth of hell bare themselves and chew your feet and leave you floating in little pieces.”

“That’s all very well, madam. But I don’t see how that affects Colonel William O’McCreedie’s men on Colonel William O’McCreedie’s building site.”

...to be continued...

Tony Blair: The Wilderness Years ISBN 1-4196-0573-9