Have you ever
made a snap decision and lived to regret it? I have made a few in my
life, for example, the time I packed a rucksack and left for Arizona
to surprise a male penfriend, forgetting that I only had a post box
address.
I was twenty-one,
had finished my diploma course as an OT and rather than leave London
to return home to my parents, I decided to accept his invitation to
stay with him in Bisbee, Arizona. I caught a Freddie Laker flight to
LA, and then an internal flight to Tucson. I didn’t have to book
tickets in advance, and so I just set off. I think I phoned my
parents just before leaving to tell them of my plan. It wasn’t
until I was in Tucson in the early hours of the morning that I
realised the gravity of my situation. I didn’t have an address or
even a phone number I could call to announce my arrival. My friend
had sent directions to his house in a letter but I had left it at
home. What had seemed romantic and exciting when I set off was now a
bit scary.
We all make
impulsive decisions at some point in our life, maybe several times.
We are acting on a gut instinct that it is the right thing to do,
despite it seeming to be irrational. Angie Winkle in The Borrowed
Boy does just that. Her head tells her that she must return Danny
to the young woman who lost him on the Tube and she tries to reunite
them, but her instincts tell her that Danny needs her. He has welts
on his back, and talks of being a naughty boy; he clings to Angie
when they see the woman he was parted from waiting at the statue. The
woman is smiling as she chats on her phone. Angie’s train is about
to depart and she has to decide in haste. So, she acts on instinct,
listening to her gut, and takes Danny with her on a journey that
changes both of their lives.
The decisions
that we make, shape our lives. There is a quote by Ayn Rand:
‘Everyman
builds his world in his own image.
He has the power
to choose,
But no power to
escape the necessity of choice.’
For forty years
Angie had been afraid of making wrong decisions, and so she let life
pass her by, watching from the sidelines. She found that not making
decisions comes with consequences too. It wasn’t until Angie
realised that life was short that she decided to make the most of
every minute of every day. She had let life pass her by and now she
vowed not to waste another moment.
You may be
wondering what happened to the twenty-one-year-old me, standing in
line for a cab in Tucson, Arizona, 95 miles from Bisbee at 3.00am
with no address and not enough money for a hotel. I must have a
guardian angel, or the young black guy behind me in the queue was my
angel. The cab driver asked me where I wanted to go. I said, ‘Bisbee
but I don’t have an address’.
‘Who are you
looking for in Bisbee?’ the young guy behind me said.
‘Kenneth
Cabbage.’
‘Hey, I know
KC. Give me a ride and I’ll show you where he lives.’
And that was
what happened. Bisbee was a two-hour drive and yet by a lucky
coincidence the man behind me in the line lived there and knew my
friend KC. Of course, KC was not home when I arrived to surprise him,
but that is another story.
I made a reckless
and impulsive decision. Thank goodness my own daughter has more sense
than I did at that young age. But I do not regret that decision. I
spent many happy months with KC in Bisbee and it led to other
favourable events that shaped my life.
Angie’s
decision to take Danny with her shapes her life. Whether it was the
right decision or not, I will leave you to decide. One final quote
from a meme – author unknown.
‘Sometimes
you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.’
The Borrowed
Boy by Deborah Klee
A
borrowed boy, a borrowed name and living on borrowed time.
What
do you put on a bucket list when you haven’t done anything with
your life? No interesting job, no lovers, no family, no friends.
Believing she has only weeks left to live, Angie Winkle vows to make
the most of every minute.
Going
back to Jaywick Sands, is top of her bucket list. Experiencing life
as a grandmother is not, but the universe has other plans and when
four-year-old Danny is separated from his mum on the tube, Angie goes
to his rescue. She tries to return him to his mum but things do not
go exactly as planned and the two of them embark on a life-changing
journey.
Set
in Jaywick Sands, once an idyllic Essex holiday village in the 70s,
but now a shantytown of displaced Londoners, this is a story about
hidden communities and our need to belong.
Amazon.com
- https://amzn.to/2CZIEAz
Amazon
UK - https://amzn.to/2CZJ6yL
Other
digital platforms:
Deborah has worked as an occupational therapist, a health service
manager, a freelance journalist, and management consultant in health
and social care.
Her protagonists
are often people who exist on the edges of society. Despite the very
real, but dark, subject matter her stories are uplifting, combining
pathos with humour. They are about self-discovery and the power of
friendships and community.
The Borrowed Boy,
her debut, was shortlisted for the Deviant Minds Award 2019. Just
Bea, her second novel will be published in 2021.
Deborah lives on
the Essex coast. When she is not writing she combines her love of
baking with trying to burn off the extra calories.
Twitter
@deborahKlee
Instagram:
Deborah
Klee Author
