We once had hair
“Oh, I wish you could’ve been there when he ran.” Dan laughed at his recollection. “You could always tell where he was on the track. He had this long hair flowing behind him. Others with long hair would tie theirs behind in a ponytail or in a braid, but not him, he just let it flow and flow it did. Thick black shoulder length hair flowed behind him majestically as he ran around the track. I wish you had been there.”
“Did he have a beard?” Dan laughed. “Yes, he did, but not earlier on. Later when he was in university, he let his beard grow. It was all the rage in those days, the late 60s you know. All his friends had long hair and beards and so I guess he felt it was in vogue. Yes, yes, he was a great runner. One of the best the world has ever known. But you know what?” Dan thought for a couple of seconds and then looked at Rachel, “you know what, he could’ve been the best. People loved to come and watch him run. He was like the wind. From the beginning to end of the race, it was as if he was shot out of a canon. He ran and he ran and he ran.”
Dan looked up from the ground for a second or two and then looked back down. “I wish you had been there and seen the way your father used to run. Everyone loved watching him race.” Dan took a deep breath and shook his head. He was in danger of being overwhelmed by his thoughts. “He and I used to go for early morning runs along the river. We began just outside the school gates and then 10 or 12 miles later, I don’t remember which, we would return. I would be exhausted but he, your father, looked as if he could’ve gone another 10. He was hardly out of breath. He didn’t have long hair in those days we couldn’t, not in boarding school.” Dan paused for a second his mind filling with memories of old.
“When I first saw him after school, he hadn’t started college yet, so we would run through the streets. Some kids along the way would try to keep up, but your father never let them. As they got close, he would pick up speed and soon the kids would drop away.”
Rachel had tears in her eyes. She would’ve loved to have known her father back in those days. When she was born, her father was already in his 40s and had hung up his running shoes.
“When did I last see him?” Dan had to think for a minute, “I would have to say about a year or so ago.” He let out another laugh, “and he certainly didn’t have that long hair anymore. In fact, he was much like me, no hair.” Dan ran the palm of his hand over his bald head. “Yes, I miss him too. It’s a shame there aren’t any movies or videos of your father running. Back in those days they just didn’t do things like that. Now everyone is a celebrity. There are videos of people walking, forget about running. I wish we would’ve kept in touch over the decades. Once we were out of school all of us, we went in different directions. Some stayed close to home, some left the country and went here there everywhere, but your dad, I’m not sure he really knew what he wanted to do. So, he wasted a lot of time. He stayed here for a while and could’ve gone to college here, but then decided to leave the country because he got a scholarship to run. He should’ve stayed here. He would’ve done very well here. But instead, he felt that by going abroad he would do better.” Dan paused for a second while he watched an eagle soar overhead.
“Did he ask me? No, he didn’t. No, I have no idea why he thought he would better abroad. I tried over the years to get him to return, but he always had an excuse why he wouldn’t or couldn’t but in actuality, I think he just didn’t know what was best for him. I tried, yes, I tried, but in the final analysis the decision was always going to be his.” Dan looked up at the eagle again and wondered, “but you should’ve seen him run. His coach and I and everyone who knew him, even those on the Olympic team felt he was going to win that elusive gold medal, but instead as you know he didn’t. Yes, I did watch the race on the TV, we all did. I think his entire class did. We held our breath for as long as the race took to run and then we let it out collapsing on the floor. To say we were disappointed, would be an understatement. But he will never be forgotten. There’s a plaque on the wall of the assembly hall in school with his name enshrined on it. A photograph of him in his racing uniform with a garland hung around it. No, he will never be forgotten.”
Dan looked at Rachel for a minute or so. He just sat there watching her closely. It struck him how much like her father she was. She too was a runner. But unlike her father she had won a gold medal at the Olympics. She had dedicated her race and the medal to her father, who because of his illness couldn’t be there.
The first thing Rachel did when she came home was to hang the medal around his neck as he lay in his hospital bed. He had looked up at her with tears flowing down his face. He reached his arms out for his daughter and hugged her. And then she felt his arms go limp and drop by his side. She stood back and knew he had passed. He was still wearing her medal.
When he was buried in the family cemetery, the medal remained around his neck. Rachel felt it belonged there.
After the service, Rachel walked along a stream which meandered at the bottom of the garden and sat down. She looked through the clear water at the rocks on the bottom. She aimlessly picked up a pebble and skipped it across the water watching it land on the other bank. She smiled sadly. Rachel and her father used to do that when she was child. She swore he always let her win, but he didn’t agree. “You’re just so much better than me at skipping rocks,” he had said to her.
Rachel was about to get up and join the rest of the family who were leaving to go to a nearby restaurant for lunch. Her father’s favourite food. Goat curry and rice. That was it. Just goat curry and rice. She remembered him once saying that if they banned goat curry, there wouldn’t be a reason to live. She wiped a tear from her cheek when she heard a voice next to her. She looked up and saw one of her father’s closest friends Daniel Greene standing there.
“I’d like to talk to you about your father for a few minutes, if I may,” Rachel nodded and with that he sat down close to her and began.