Spiked

A couple of months ago I was in another place writing about having made initial online moves towards searching for the whereabouts of Pa Wexford's younger brother - Thomas - 9 years the junior. Older Other Brother - Len - is 9 years older than Pa Wex' and is thus 18 years older than Thomas. Last contact between Pa Wex' and Thomas was about 25 years ago. Contact with Thomas ended after Len and he had had some kind of bust-up - the details of which seem not to be known to my father. The deal was that Thomas simply packed his bags and fucked off from the house that he'd been sharing with his oldest brother (their ages would have been about 19 and 37 at the time). Their parents had died young. ANYWAY, that's the background.

Last weekend I gently introduced Pa Wex' to some printouts that I'd taken related to just one of a few Thomas Wexfords (pseud.) that I'd found information on. This included a picture. Pa Wex' studied the image and as he did this I could see that he was thinking hard. It was a bit odd to think that he might not actually recognise his younger brother should he be presented with him. We soon established that the chap in the image bore some similarities to the younger Thomas but that it wasn't him as the date of birth (that I'd also fluked upon) was out by about two years. Now, Pa Wex' is not a man who is in any way hinternet-savvy, but he is a man who rather oddly occasionally drops an unnecessary 'h' in front of some words that begin with vowel sounds... happle, horange, hand so hon. I think he does this to irritate self and sister, though he merely comes across as an innocent lunatic. Anyway, beyond glancing over the afore-mentioned printout there was no greatly demonstrative indication of further interest in the missing Thomas. To my father it's a story that ended a long time ago I reasoned. Odd that he'd have totally dropped it though. So, last weekend passed and I thought at the end of it 'Oh well, there was an opportunity to show an interest and it passed'. Don't get me wrong, I was quite comfortable with this.

Then. In midweek I'm on the phone to Ma and she says just before I go 'Oh - hold on, your Dad wants a word'. This was unusual. So pa takes the phone, coughs into it and then speaks:

Pa Wex': Shane!
Shane: Hello.
Pa Wex': Y' know you showed us that stuff from the computer about that Thomas?
Shane: Yeah.
Pa Wex': Well you said there was another Thomas who was a bird-watcher...
Shane: Yeah - in either RuralCounty or ReallyRuralCounty.
Pa Wex': Yeah. Well d' y' think y' could find anything else out about him for us?
Shane: I can certainly try. It might take a little while though.
Pa Wex': That's alright - y' know - just when you've got time, see what y' can find out for us.
Shane: Ok. Will do.

And so it came to pass that after what has been a great many years Pa Wex' has volunteered an interest on Thomas. This pleased me though it carries an edge of unease. An interest has been spiked and an interest shall be pursued. It feels like a very interesting story in progress, which is a very good thing - from where I'm sitting, standing and poking my nez in where it might not be wanted.

*****
Today, I love my father. [ - SPACE FOR YOU TO WEEP/VOMIT INTO - ]