Excalibur

'If you could have any object you desire, whether it be from the
present or the past, or even from myth and legend, what would it be?' I
asked.

I was at the pub with two friends, Sarah and Nick, and the conversation
had dried up. For the past ten minutes we had sat sipping our drinks,
viewing the other people in the pub, pretending not to notice the
silence, or each other. But then it began to annoy me, so I tried to be
a little more interesting and I asked any question that I could think
of. Sarah screwed up her nose, and Nick frowned, both displaying that
they were actually putting some thought into my question. Yes, I was
slightly surprised as I had always thought Nick was a little uncaring
for anything other than computers, and that Sarah would just laugh at
the question, and me, and ignore it.
'I would like the Seychelles', said Sarah, while combing her hair with
her fingers. 'My own paradise in the sun'.
I smiled at Sarah, said what a marvellous choice she had made, but
secretly decided that she had missed the point of the question
entirely.
'Nick?' I said. 'What would you chose?'
'You won't laugh, will you?'
'Is it embarrassing?' I asked.
'Slightly'.
I assured him that I would not laugh.
'Excalibur', he said. 'I would like King Arthur's sword'.

Yes, I was amazed, but not in a bad way. I had expected Nick to say
that he wanted the latest PC with all the latest technology, or the
newest microchip; I had not expected him to choose a sword surrounded
by myth, magic, kingship, war and masculinity. Nick was pasty, thin,
wore shirts, ties and trousers, never jeans and T-shirts and had never,
in the twenty years that I had known him, wanted to play outside, or,
as we got older, to socialise outside. Or perhaps, I should have
expected the answer he had given me. Maybe Nick wanted to be more
outgoing, or at least, different to whom he was now.

'Why?' Sarah asked, just as I opened my mouth to ask the same
question.
Nick shrugged.
'I don't know he said.
And silence ensued once again.

I looked at my two friends as they studied the bar. I had known them
both for twenty years, ever since I had moved into Woodrow Lane. Sarah
had lived two houses down from me and Nick had lived in the house
opposite Sarah. But we all had eventually moved away and our gatherings
became sparser. Now we only meet once every year or two. The format is
the same. We spend the first two hours catching up on gossip and then
realise that we don't have anything in common anymore. As children we
had common identity. We lived in the same road and avoided the same
bullies, and as I look back now, I realise that it was nothing more
than that. Even then we had not got on particularly well with each
other. We only met now for old time's sake.

'What about you?' Sarah had directed her question to me. 'You never
answered your question'.
Oh', I said. I had not really thought about it myself, and now it was
my turn to puzzle over the question for a couple of minutes.
'Perhaps Doctor Who's Tardis', I said eventually. 'Then I could travel
anywhere and any when I wanted. I wouldn't have to pay rent and I would
have a very deceptive large house'.

'If I tell you something', said Nick, ignoring my comment and squirming
in his seat. 'Will you promise not to tell anyone?'
That sentence always sounds childish, no matter in what context it is
said, but at this moment Nick did look fifteen years younger and
immature.
'I promise', said Sarah. I observed that she had matured a great deal
since I had seen her last, which was two years ago, and then she had
ridiculed Nick and I whenever she could.
'Okay', said Nick. 'I have found Excalibur itself'.
I tried not to laugh, as did Sarah, but she failed.
'I'm serious', said Nick. 'Really'.
And he was. I wanted to believe him, but I found I couldn't. Such a
find would mean that the myth was partially true.
'Where did you find it?' asked Sarah.
'In the pond at the end of my garden'.
'Well', I said. 'King Arthur was supposed to have thrown Excalibur into
a lake. Maybe the lake has dried up a bit'.
'Is the Lady of the Lake there too?' said Sarah.
'Why don't you come and look at the sword', said Nick.
And we did.

Sarah and I followed Nick to his house to see the sword, and when I saw
it, I could believe that Nick was telling the truth. It was beautiful
and was decorated with strange motifs along the blade, but it was also
very clean.
'I cleaned it myself', said Nick, and I could not help but imagine that
he had read my mind. I told myself that he had probably read the
expression on my face. And as he held the sword in his hands I could
not help thinking how valiant, chivalrous and noble he was, though I
could not explain why.

The sword belonged to him.

'I'm leaving', said Nick. 'I've had enough of my life here, I need to
look for something else'.

Sarah, Nick and I spent the rest of the evening examining both the
sword and Nick's books on the legend of King Arthur. Sarah and I left
late that night. And when I returned in the morning Nick had already
left.

He has been gone for sixteen months now, but we have another gathering
in seven weeks. I am hoping that he will come. I want to find out what
happened to him, and of the sword which he believes to be Excalibur,
and which I, for approximately five hours, had also believed in.