Authors: Calvin Wade
NICKY – March 2011
Simon had sprung the idea of going to Blue Planet on me on the Tuesday evening. Chloe was asleep, Will was in his room, no doubt playing FIFA on Xbox and we had just finished watching the ITV News at Ten, when Simon piped up with,
“What are your plans for tomorrow, Nicky?”
I worked Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the nursery, so Simon would have known I would be off work.
“Same as every other Wednesday, Simon. Cleaning the house from top to bottom, washing, ironing, dusting, hoovering and cleaning toilets, especially around the back where you and Will like to spray. My life is very rock ‘n’ roll, especially on a Wednesday!”
“Well, as a reward for your dedication to this family, I hereby award you the day off,” Simon said.
I gave him a puzzled look. I decided Simon must have been joking. I joked back.
“That is awfully kind of you kind, sir, but sadly I will not be able to accept your generous offer. My desire to reside in a dirty house that stinks of pee is not all that great, so unless you have invented a robot that can carry out household tasks, whilst I am resting, I’ll just have to get on with it.”
Simon looked serious.
“I’m not joking, Nicky, have the day off. We’ll do the cleaning between us tomorrow night.”
I was now suspicious. Lovely man that he was, Simon was not normally the best in involving himself in the domestic duties.
“Why do I need the day off?”
“We’re going over to the Blue Plane Aquarium on the Wirral.”
“On a Wednesday? Why?”
“I’ve arranged to meet an old school
friend, Richard Tyler, there,” Simon explained.
None of this seemed to be making much sense. It was late and my brain doesn’t tend to function properly when sleep beckons.
“Hang on Simon, can we just run through this step by step? If we are going to Blue Planet together, that means you aren’t working, why not?”
“I’ve told you we are meeting an old friend of mine.”
Yes, but we can’t afford for you to be having days off.”
“We can. My Dad is still paying me.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s my Dad.”
“Yes, but the thing with your Dad is,” I was stumbling through my words as my confusion rose, “that he isn’t really noted for his generosity. You and your Dad have done the windows together for twenty years and previously, how many paid days off have you had?”
“None.”
“Exactly! So why now?”
“Nicky, I don’t know why he’s agreed to let me have
a paid day off, maybe he’s feeling generous or maybe he’s going soft in his old age. I’m not really bothered why it’s happening, I’m just glad that it is.”
This didn’t stack up. Simon would want to know why he was handed a free day off. He doesn’t like mysteries. He likes everything to be logical and explained. If his Dad had randomly allowed him to have a paid day off, he would definitely be asking why. Something was going on. Simon was hiding something, his guilty body
language was giving it away too, with the pronounced actions he did when he was lying. I needed to probe further.
“OK. Blue Planet on Wednesday. Chloe would have loved to go there, so why are we going on a school day without her?”
“I don’t know if Richard is working on Saturday.”
“Does he work there?”
“Yes.”
“At Blue Planet?”
“Yes, that’s why we are meeting there.”
“Right. What does he do?”
“Not sure, Nicky. Some sort of manager.”
“Why would he not work on a Saturday then? Surely Saturday’s must be there busiest day!”
I could tell Simon’s patience was wearing thin.
“Look Nicky, it’s all arranged for tomorrow. We can take Chloe there another time, if, after we go, we think she’d enjoy going there.”
“What did you say this man’s name was?”
“Richard Tyler.”
“Did he go to Parklands?”
“Yes.”
“So why don’t I know him?”
“Suckering suckerfish
, Nicky! How many questions are you going to ask?”
“Calm down, Simon! What’s wrong with me asking a few questions? Have you got something to hide?” I asked innocently.
“No, a few questions would be OK, but John Humphries doesn’t ask this many questions!”
“Who’s he?”
“The bloke asking the questions on Mastermind.”
“Right. I’m only asking because I’m confused why all this is happening, that’s all.”
“Because Richard Tyler invited me and I thought you may want to come along. He went to Parklands but I didn’t see much of him out of school as he lived over in Brinscall. That is why you don’t know him because he was never hanging around Euxton with Joey and me.”
Simon was sounding more and more exasperated. I decided I was not going to break him this evening and would see if I could dig a bit deeper in the morning. I couldn’t resist doing a little more winding up though.
“I still would have thought I’d have heard of him!”
“Nicky!” Simon said now beginning to sound angry, “I haven’t made him up. Rest assured, he does exist. He changed schools at fifteen, you would have only been twelve, when he moved. Can you stop asking me questions now, I’m tired.”
“And grumpy!”
“You’d be bloody grumpy if I asked you this many questions.”
“I would not.”
“Anyway, stop with the questions now. Just come along tomorrow, meet Richard, have a look around Blue Planet and if you don’t enjoy yourself, I give you permission to moan all the way home.”
“I won’t moan, Simon. I never moan.”
“Never?”
“OK, I only moan when people don’t do what they say they are going to do. So, as long as you help me clean the house tomorrow night, I will be happy.”
“Good.”
We started switching everything off downstairs ready for bed.
“I
still can’t believe your Dad is giving you a paid day off! What happened today, did you drop a bucket on his head?”
SIMON
– March 2011
Richard Tyler was aware that Wednesday was the only day of the week that I could do, as it was Nicky’s day off. She was off at weekends too, but there was no way I could have taken Nicky to Blue Planet at the weekend, without Nicky insisting Chloe came with us. I felt a little bit sorry for our Chloe, as I knew how much she would have loved the place and the stunt we were going to pull, but on this occasion, I felt it should just be Nicky and me. Children are great but they are inconsistent and if Chloe had come along and thrown a tantrum over something ridiculous I would have been gutted.
With Richard long since on board for my whacky plan, the next person I needed to confide in was my Dad, as I would need a day off work. My Dad was normally tighter than a pair of size 6 stilettos on a female Sasquatch, so I was stunned when he wished me luck, patted me on the back and even said he would split the day’s takings with me.
With Richard and Dad all sorted, the next person I needed to focus on was Nicky. I decided not to tell her until late on Tuesday evening, as the less time she had to pressure and prompt me about the reasons for going to Blue Planet, the better. Tuesday evening went as expected with a million and one questions, but after seeing Will off to college and Chloe off to school, I was keen to get Nicky into the car and be on our way. Blue Planet was only an hour away, but I was keen to arrive before anything could possibly go wrong.
“What time are we meeting your friend, Richard, then?” Nicky asked as we hurtled down the M6 in our Vauxhall Meriva.
“Half twelve,” I replied casually and then waited for the explosion from the lady in the seat next to me.
“Half twelve!” Nicky cried out “It’s only quarter to ten. I could have had some breakfast before we left.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Simon! You kept hurrying me along, telling me we were going to be late.”
“Because I want us to have a look around the place before we meet Richard.”
“I hope I don’t hate him after all this! Can we not stop at McDonalds for a muffin?”
“No!”
Blue Planet aquarium is an amazing place. We will definitely take Chloe there and perhaps may even bribe Will to come with us by offering him a few beers as a reward. I don’t know much about fish and Nicky knows even less, but the place has some of the weirdest, most wonderful fish you could ever see. The tanks are just as a mass of colour. There are not just fish in the tanks either, there are sharks and stingrays too. Nicky and I were particularly fascinated with the stingrays. We meant to ask Richard before we left whether they are classed as fish or sharks, but whatever they are, they are amazing things with their flat bodies and their weird eyes and mouths. We listened to a member of staff telling a French couple that female stingrays have been known to store sperm for a couple of years and then impregnate themselves at a convenient time.
“Would have saved me a lot of hassle if I’d have learnt that trick,” Nicky whispered over to me.
We had good look around for about an hour, with me fending off regular questions from Nicky about where we were meeting Richard and whether we should just pop our heads in and say a quick hello. A quarter to twelve, as part of the masterplan, I took Nicky into the underwater aquatunnel, which was a seventy metre tunnel that you could walk through , allowing you to be surrounded by tropical fish. They swim right up to your face and over your head too.
“Look at all the little ‘Nemos’ swimming around,” Nicky cried out with delight, “I didn’t even realise it was a real type of fish!”
A couple of minutes later, we were walking along and Nicky tightly grabbed hold of my hand,
“Oh my God, look at that shark! How evil is he? You don’t think the glass could crack, do you?”
“Don’t be daft!”
Nicky was like a big kid in there. It was exciting to see her so enthusiastic about the place. I kept a regular eye on the time and at a minute to twelve, deliberately found myself suddenly fascinated by a bit of coral. Nicky ignored my strange fascination as she had spotted something far more interesting.
“Wow! Come and have a look at this, Simon, there’s a scuba diver in there with the sharks. Simon? Where’s he disappeared to?”
The tunnel wasn’t packed full of peple, but there were about thirty people in there, enough to provide me with some temporary cover. Nicky did not exert herself in her bid to find me, as she was transfixed by the diver. It amused me that she was saying her thoughts out loud.
“I hope he’s going to be alright in there with those sharks. I won’t be happy if they eat him. God, he’s brave, he’s swimming right down here towards us. Simon, where are you? Come and have a look at this bloke diving with the sharks. He’s coming right up to the glass now. Trust Simon to miss this.”
Right on cue, Richard Tyler, former deep sea diver and now scuba diving guide, who took qualified divers for shark dives, swam right up to Nicky, so his mask was almost touching her face. He was carrying some small pieces of card and he held the first one up in front of Nicky which had a simple request on it,
‘Please nod if you are Nicky Moyes.’
Nicky saw it straight away and began to panic. She looked around for me, but thankfully didn’t look down, as I was, by now, sprawled out horizontally, not far from her feet.
“Oh my God, what’s going on? Simon!”
Richard was still holding up his sign. Nicky nodded. He put that card to the back of his pack. The one below simply said ‘Good!’ but then that was quickly put to the back too. The third card had much smaller writing and had on it,
‘Simon says you ask lots of questions but he has one for you.’
By now, Nicky had twigged what was going on. She began trembling. Richard brought out the fourth and final card, which simply said,
‘Will you marry me, Nicky Moyes?’
Although I say it myself, I crept into Nicky’s focus at perfectly the right time, rose up on to one knee and took her hand,
“So how about it, Nicky Moyes,” I asked presenting a box with a dia
mond engagement ring in, “will you marry me?”
Nicky looked at the ring in the box. My Mum described it as a ‘solitaire diamond engagement ring with a double halo setting’. Rather than just being teary eyed now, the tears were flowing.
“Is that my Mum’s engagement ring?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get it?”
“I asked your Dad’s permission to marry you and the following day, he called round with it. Nicky, you haven’t answered my question yet?”
“Oh, right, I thought it was that scuba diver that wanted to marry me!” Nicky teased.
“He probably does too, but I had the idea first. Come on, Nicky, I am the luckiest man alive anyway, make me even luckier.”
“Of course I will marry you!”
I came up off my knee and gave Richard a thumbs up, before slipping the engagement ring on to Nicky’s finger. Arthur thought Nicky’s finger would be a similar size to her mother’s and he was right, it was a perfect fit. Richard clapped his hands in the water before swimming off. I gave Nicky a hug, a kiss and a tissue whilst the fascinated eyewitnesses clapped. Once she had dried her eyes, Nicky stretched up to give me another kiss.
“I love you Simon Strong and if my Mum had ever met you, I am sure she would have loved you too.”