Lost In Leith

Peter
He followed her everywhere. He sat beside her at school whenever he could. She didn’t object, or complain, he was cleverer than she, and she could copy from him. Apart from that she never noticed him. It wasn’t that Peter thought he was in love, he just thought that she was the most beautiful object he had ever seen. It wasn’t that Ruth didn’t like Peter, she was just quite indifferent to him, just saw him as always being there. That is until the day he wasn’t, and she realised that she missed him.

Peter had a row with his father, and had punched him in the mouth. He had been lucky enough to get out before his father had got his belt off. He sat on the beach knowing that he couldn’t go home. Then he thought of his aunt, his mother’s sister, in the next village. She would let him stay the night. He set off along the cliff path, he never arrived.

Peter’s parents were in a panic the next morning when they discovered that his bed hadn’t been slept in. The first thing his mother did was ring her sister, but she hadn’t seen him. All of his usual hiding places, and there were many, were thoroughly searched without success. By the end of the day they assumed that he had left home as he had threatened to do many times before. Ruth’s day was equally awful, as she found herself unable to concentrate on anything. She was constantly checking to see if Peter was there, but he wasn’t. By the end of the day she came to the conclusion that he was like one of those things that you didn’t miss until it wasn’t there. Then she heard the theory that he had probably run away from home.

The truth of the matter was far more mundane. The night before Peter had been walking the path that he had walked on so many occasions that he could probably have walked it with his eyes shut. He had been walking about fifteen minutes when the path slipped away beneath his feet and tipped him over the edge. He fell about fifty feet onto a ledge, luckily unhurt. That is except for his pride. He realised that the best he could hope for was to see either a boat, or someone on the path, the next day. He saw no one. It was going to be another long, cold night.

Ruth had a restless night, constantly waking to the thought that she might never see Peter again. Finally she noticed that it was beginning to get light. She got dressed and decided to go for a walk. She left a note on the kitchen table. ‘Mum, gone for a walk, back later. R.’ in the end she walked across the beach and sat on the harbour watching the boats. She had been there about half an hour when Louis came along.
“Up early this morning girl.”
“Yeah, couldn’t sleep for wondering what happened to Peter.”
“Ah, a bit like that is Peter, you don’t notice him until he isn’t there.”
“Yeah, he was always there, now he isn’t.”
“Going out to pull me pots girl, you can come along if you like.” *
“Thanks Louis I will. I left a note for mum, so she won’t worry.”
They climbed into the boat and left the harbour.

Peter woke to the distant sound of a boat. It was too far away to see who it was. Looking down he could see a flag marking crab pots, and recognised it as Louis’. He hoped that it was Louis coming to haul his pots, and that he could attract his attention. He waited until the boat was close enough for him to be seen before standing at the edge and waving his arms above his head. Ruth was the first to see him
“Louis, is that someone stuck up in the cliff?”
Louis looked up.
“I think you’re right girl. Let me get the glasses.”
He pulled a pair of binoculars from their case and took a look.
“Bloody hell! It’s young Peter. How the hell did he get there?”
“Can we get him down?”
“No girl, too dangerous. But I can get the coastguard on the radio. They will get him up from the path.”
Louis waved back at Peter and gave him the thumbs up. It was the best part of an hour, and Louis had checked his pots, before they saw a coastguard going down on a rope to rescue Peter.

* Where most fishermen used to have a thing about women and boats there were those for whom superstition was pathetic nonsense.

Note:
I'm aware that this piece is longer than the 300-500 word limit window that I set myself - it took on a life of its own.