Man With A Backpack

Van was an old man who lived alone . He loved to paint and sketch at home all day , every day . He was still quite able to do things for himself .
He was mobile and very much in control of his life .
Or so he thought ,
His step daughter who never got on very well with him had expressed her concern to the aged care assessment team .about her Fathers health .
Somehow she had convinced a guardianship tribunal that Van had some severe behaviour problems and was unable to look after himself at home.
She told how he often went walking around at night talking to himself .
She made up some frightening stories and went on to explain of her plight . Because of her commitments running a small business she never had enough time to devote to her Father . She had come to the point of no return and decided it was time to ask for a care plan for Van .
Within a short time it was decided that Van would be placed in a facility for 50 days for a further assessment .

It was a sad day for Van when the taxi brought him into Restlanes .
This small step into Restlanes old peoples home was too much for Van .
For one , not being able to understand or speak English was difficult .

When the staff at Restlanes discovered this, a linguist was provided and they had even acquired members of the Dutch community to visit regularly .
This however only added fuel to the fire and made things worse .
The thing was Van was homesick .
No one understood that .
He had been away from Holland too long and after his second wife died Van had made a promise to himself that he would see Holland again before he passed away .

So after forty days in Restlanes Van was ready to make his escape .
There was no real plan .
Except for the backpack he had placed in his room for the right moment to present itself . And the day came .
It began like any other full of incidents and things unknown .
The staff in Restlanes were too busy showering and dressing the residents to see Van sitting there near the door with his backpack on .
The breakfast trolley arrived early as did some of the visitors who arrived unexpectedly . A group of auditors walked in on a follow up visit catching some staff members on the hop . Suddenly there was an accident in one of the rooms .
Mr Oldbury had taken a bad fall and was in need of assistance .
The front door opened when the morning newspapers arrived and Van
slipped away unseen out the door .
There he was heading down towards the main street of town .
An ambulance with lights flashing rushed past him .
Van turned around and watched it drive into the front gate of Restlanes .
He said a silent prayer for the person it was going to collect and then he continued on his way down the sidewalk .

At the traffic lights he waited to cross over the road with some other people .

"Good morning . So you're out for your constitutional as well then ? "
She said .

Van looked at her, shrugged his shoulders and smiled .
The green man signalled it was safe to cross and the pedestrians all made their way to the other side of the road .

He saw a park and made his way there taking a seat under a tree .
Opening up his backpack he took out a flask and proceeded to poured out a small drink for himself . He sat there and rested a while . The birds sang softly and sweetly in the branches of the trees . He had never seen the blossoms look so vivid and beautiful before . He heard the dogs bark as they walked around with their masters on a leash . He watched the joggers and power walkers pass by . He saw Mums pushing prams and kids walk past witht heri school bags on . He poured another drink from his flask and realised how good it felt to be free .
The church bells chimed and he realised time was getting on so he got to his feet and made his way back out to the street .
He walked slowly to town stopping here and there to listen to the buskers play .
He saw a street artist and using sign language asked for the charcoal and a a sheet of paper . The artist agreed and soon Van went to work . It wasn't long before an audience gathered around to watch Van sketch the street artist . The work of his hands was fantastic . The detail and precision was that of a master at work . The portrait was presented in about three minutes to the applause and the appreciation of all the audience that had witnessed the work in progress . He turned and took a bow and then continued on his way .

The noise of the traffic was loud . Trucks , cars and motor bikes roared along the road with fumes choking the morning air .
Whistling a tune from his childhood Van was able to block out the sounds of a mechanical morning motion that grinded away like a wild animal in its cage .
The sun was shinning and the sky was blue and the train station was just in view . Van was soon standing before an automatic ticket machine where he purchased a one way ticket to the airport .
Van took a seat and waited for his train to roll in .

Meanwhile back at Restlanes they had just discovered that Van was no where to be found . It was like panic stations . Nurses looked around the grounds . Questions were being asked . Phone calls were being made .

Van was oblivious to all of this as he boarded the train to the airport .
A half an hour later Van stood inside the international airport .
He earnest gazed at all the passengers there .
He made his way over to a young lady who was checking in her baggage .
Her luggage had stickers from Holland all over it .
After a few moment he spoke to her .
He explained that he needed a standby ticket on the next flight to Holland .
It was a matter of extreme urgency .
The young girl said she would help and she approached the airport staff .
She made up some story that brought tears to all the eyes of the airport staff .
Van was asked if his passport was still in order .
As he opened his backpack no one noticed it had enough money in their to but his own private jet , Anyway Van presented his passport and unbelievably he actually got a seat on the next flight to Holland . There had been a cancellation and that meant there was a ticket available for Van .

When Van asked the young girl what she had said the airport staff she
said that she told the staff at the airport that Van only had a week to live
and how much he wanted to say goodbye to his last living family member in Holland . She asked if there was anything they could do to help .
Apparently as it turned out the officer she spoke to was from Holland himself and did everything he could to help .

When Van heard that he gave the young lady a big hug and thanked her for her help .

That evening Van was on his way home .
In the weeks that followed Van sent Restlanes some pictures of him backpacking around Holland .
Van never stopped in Holland .
Now he had the wanderlust at his feet and ventured to other romantic destinations like Paris , London and Rome .
He painted some beautiful landscapes at each place he went and sent them all over to Restlanes . The last painting he had done was of a bird in flight with a paintbrush in its talons .

After this one the pictures stopped arriving at Restlanes .
The whereabouts of the man with the backpack is a mystery .

THE END

By Paul McCann