End

I have just arrived at the airport and got on the train to meet up with Mark.

It has been 25 years since that trip and I remember it like it was yesterday. All of us have gone to other countries taking jobs we never knew we were even qualified for. Mark is a well known agent for a big talent agency while Daisy is a big executive in a record company. As for me I'm a little known film director.

All of us have met up few times a year but we haven't had the time in these last 5 years. Work commitments and the long flights have made it difficult.

Mark has 5 children with his European born wife which was quite a shocker to all since he was the first one to tie the knot. Daisy was married for awhile and had one child before she got a divorce. I have not taken the plunge but had gone through some hits and misses as it was with my career.

It was in the middle of winter when I had heard the news and got on the first flight here. The train ride felt like a lifetime as I reminisced times gone by. The time we had a laugh in our hometown, the times when we pranked the substitute teachers, the concerts we would go to just to avoid the many angry faces at home and of course that trip.

As I arrived at the destination Mark was waiting standing on the deck of the train station. Wearing this grey overcoat with the collars up. We was still puffing away at a light cigarette even though he had quit for the last 5 years. I got off the train and met him with a warm hug that went numb because of the cold weather. We took our bags and hoped on a cab to the hospital.

Daisy's son, John, greeted us there. We could see he had been sleeping in the hospital as pillows and a blanket was on top of the sofa. We saw her on the bed with her eyes closed. John said that she had been in a coma for the last few months but there was no good news to tell us. She was rapidly deteriorating.

We took turns accompanying her in the last couple weeks of her life on earth. She died shortly before the end of winter. Before we knew it, we were all giving eulogies at the funeral. It was an intimate funeral with few close friends and families. Distraught at the way it ended Mark, John and I stayed up all night in silence in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot coco.

Before dawn broke we took John's car and drove the night away. We reached the beach not too long afterwards and sat looking at the sunset. Telling of stories gone by to each other. I brought along a compilation cd with our favorite song on it. Put it in the car and just laid on the beach looking up at the sky.

"I fall asleep with my friends around me,
The only place I know I feel safe;
I'm gonna call this home.
The open road is still miles away.
Ain't nothing serious,
We still have our fun.
Oh we had it once.
But windows open and close,
That's just how it goes."

She's made it, somewhere.