A Day in the Life...
Donavan stood and admired the canopy of tree branches covering the lane ahead. The leaves were shimmering like a rainbow of copper and gold, as the light danced and shimmered its way through autumn’s curtain. Occasionally the sun got through without a filter, reminding him of the fingers of a hand stretching out to gently touch his face and warm his soul. As always, this was how and where Donavan started his exercise routine every day. He had never been a man of god or drawn to any particular belief or faith, but if he were to have a church, he knew this was it, right here. He had the strangest sense that he had somehow been here on the day he was born, and he knew without doubt, that he would choose to be here at the time of his death if he could, and have his ashes spread here afterwards without too much ceremony, that would be just fine with Donovan.
As much as he’d been in the same spot in every kind of weather, today’s warmth and backlit beauty was his favourite. It somehow made him feel charged and full of energy, almost invincible. It was hard to describe in words, but easy to understand in feelings. Just as he had yesterday, and would do tomorrow, Donovan started off at a gentle stroll and, just as every other day, he intended to explore a little farther than before in the time he had available. AS Donovan reached the gnarled old oak that stood like a sentinel at the sharp bend in the Lane, he slowed and lifted his head slightly taking a deep breath in through his nose, and smiled. He could smell her. Every day he tried to conjure up a fancy description of her smell, but it always eluded him. It didn’t matter though, because he knew exactly what it reminded him of. Love and home, and that was the best description in the world to him. He heard her giggle and opened his eyes to see her beautiful eyes and stunning smile peeking at him from behind the tree, and he smiled back from the depths of his soul as they rushed towards each other and into a full embrace.
He wondered at the magic that existed between them after all these years, that they would meet the same way every day when he walked down the lane and never tire of it, just as they would part at the same spot every day on the return journey. Life is so full of magic if you know where to look, he realised. Donovan unfolded himself from the embrace and gently took Lydia’s hand in his own, and they turned the bend and headed down the lane. They didn’t talk too much, although they often looked into each other’s eyes as they walked. Their silence wasn’t for a lack of things to say, it was more of a desire to give space to the rest of the senses, and to bask in the synergy they had between them. When they were together, they truly understood that we all have another person in the world that makes us more than we are alone, if we are fortunate enough to meet them, as Donovan and Lydia knew they had been.
When Donovan held Lydia’s hand on their daily walks, he knew that his heart, soul and mind were home, and importantly, Lydia’s smile told him the same too. So they smiled, and they walked and they let their souls mingle. He would love them to just keep walking and never look back, and one day they intended to do just that. But sadly, not today! Returning to the gnarly old oak, he embraced Lydia tightly and whispered in her ear, “Tomorrow baby, until tomorrow”. Lydia gently stepped out of the embrace, looked at him lovingly and mouthed the word `tomorrow’ through a beautiful smile, and lightly stepped out of site behind the tree and was gone.
He walked back to the spot he started from and turned, taking one last reverent look back down the lane towards the gnarly old oak and feeling the slightest breath of wind on his face, Donovan opened his eyes and smiled.
The prison exercise yard was grey concrete and barbed wire topped fences. The inhabitants funneling their way towards the gate, confirming that today’s hour of access to the sky was over. Whilst this ending bowed the heads of many heading back to their surreal existence behind bars, Donovan stood from his crouched position in the corner of the yard and stretched, then headed back to his cell with his head held high and only one conviction on his mind.
“You may hold my present in your rules and keys, but you will never hold my mind or my soul, and you will never define my future,” He was leaving again tomorrow on his daily exercise, and in just over sixteen months, he would take Lydia’s hand and together they would find out for certain, just where that lane really led, without ever looking back.