Aaron Connor by Nathan Davey

maybe even some black pudding.
    I and Lizzie were broke. So we
sat among the others and nibbled away at some buttered toast that
came with the table. We were content with this until a waiter came
to us and placed two large breakfasts in front of us. We were
confused at first and looked back at the waiter baffled. The waiter
was about to go when Lizzie called him back.
    “ I’m sorry”
she began, “but we didn’t order a breakfast”
    “ I know you
didn’t” said Stewie, who was for some reason looking a bit bashful,
“I ordered them. Just to say thanks for carrying my bass. It was
the least I could do.”
    “ Thank you” we
said together. Stewie smiled at that before going back to eating
his rashes of bacon.
    We thankfully tucked into our
breakfasts. Blimey they were fantastic! Everything was cooked to
perfection. The bacon was succulent, the eggs weren’t too runny,
and the sausages were cooked just right and tasted amazing when
dipped in the baked bean sauce. I have no idea how many times we
thanked Stewie for paying for the meal. It must have been at least
ten times throughout the day. We couldn’t believe that he’d spend
his money on complete strangers like us. It was so nice that it
touched us. We completely forgot about how rude he was when we
first met him. He shall always be in my memory as a nice bloke,
simple as.
    We didn’t really do an awful
lot during the day, at least not much that I can really write that
much about. We just moved from café to café drinking tea and
chatting about nothing in particular. We and the band talked about
our favourite music, films and books and so on, those usual topics
of conversation that pop up when you have nothing else to talk
about.
    Lizzie and Ritchie got into a
long chat about the American sitcom Friends, they were even quoting
their favourite lines and jokes to each other. Some of the others
joined in and stated their favourite jokes from the show. When
someone told the group of their favourite moment, everyone would
laugh at the memory of watching it. It was a pleasant and light
hearted conversation, as we were talking about a pleasant and light
hearted television show.
    I was really beginning to like
these guys. I told myself to try to not get too fond of these guys.
The mission I set for myself and Lizzie was to go around the nation
and be as helpful to as many people as possible. Even though I was
enjoying the company of the band, I knew that we’d have to move on
from them eventually. Life’s too short to be doing the same thing
all the time. Things would need to change. That didn’t necessarily
mean that I wouldn’t be sad when it did happen.
    I listened to the film based
debates and books. I listened to the chat about TV shows and what
was and wasn’t good music. I rarely added to the conversation. I
like to listen. I love stories as I told you before. A story from a
book is one thing, a story was the mouth of another is a different
thing entirely. Everyone has their own way of telling a story,
whether it be comic or serious, and is usually always worth a
listen. Even the tedious stories you hear can be at least bearable
if the person telling it can deliver it in the right way. If you
talk you only tell others of what you already know, if you listen
you learn what others know and expand your mind to new places.
    We had lunch at a restaurant in
Town. The band was once again generous and pulled their money
together to buy me and Lizzie a small pizza to share. I think by
this time me and Lizzie were accepted into the group. This meant
that they were willing to share a few coins, they’ve earned from
playing various gigs, to make sure we didn’t go hungry. They really
were proper decent lads, even now I miss their company and wish I
could find out where to meet them. One day I might, hopefully.
    Anyway, night was drawing in so
we headed back to the hotel to fetch the equipment. I was surprised
to see, after taking off the cover from the side car,