A Debt of Honour – Episode 27
A Debt Of Honour
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- 1. A Debt of Honour – Episode 27
From the back of the graduation hall, she looked so tiny, Shauna thought.
Waiting in line below the main platform in her black undergraduate gown, hair spilling down across her shoulders in a shining mane, in a neat dress and high-heeled shoes, her little Ellie seemed a stranger.
Tears blurred Shauna’s vision.
She wiped them hurriedly away, because she wanted to see and remember every moment.
Ellie was the first ever graduate from either side of the family.
For almost an hour Shauna clapped until her hands were sore, as graduates from the different disciplines climbed the steps and walked across the stage.
First they shook the president’s hand, then went over to a university official who threw the graduation hood over their head and shoulders, and another who handed them the parchment awarding the degree.
Beside her, virtually silent, sat Calum.
Shauna clapped even harder than before, as she watched the tiny figure climb up the steps and set off across the stage.
A huge sob was torn from Shauna, and the whole scene disappeared behind a flood of tears, making her miss the very moment she had come halfway across the world to see.
By the time Shauna’s eyes cleared, Ellie’s hood was dangling crookedly over her shoulders, and she was scurrying back from the stage behind the previous graduate.
“Rats!” Shauna muttered, mopping her eyes with a soggy tissue.
“Here.” Calum smiled, reaching into the breast pocket of his jacket and taking out a pristine folded handkerchief.
“I promised myself I wouldn’t crack up.” Shauna groaned.
“Everyone does. The place is throbbing with pride and emotion, and it explodes when your own graduate steps up to take her bow.” Calum grinned.
“I had a sniffle myself – but don’t tell her.”
“What happens now?” Shauna asked, busy with the borrowed handkerchief.
“More clapping until everybody goes through.” Calum sighed.
“Then being harangued by speeches about how it is the responsibility of every graduate to change the world and sponsor the university once they get rich.”
Finally, when the speeches were over, the small hired orchestra struck up again and everybody filed out into the sunshine.
“How will we know where to meet her?” Shauna asked helplessly, looking at the milling crowd of students and their families.
“No worries,” the taller Calum said. “I can see her – she’s fighting through the crowd to get here . . .”
When Ellie finally wriggled through the jostling bodies, Shauna opened her arms to embrace her – but it was to Calum that Ellie ran.
He picked her up and they swung round in a squealing circle of streaming gown and hood.
When Ellie regained her feet, she scooped up her mum into a hug which was so tight Shauna thought her ribs would crack. She hugged back fiercely.
“I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me and Charlie,” Ellie whispered into her ear.
“We both owe you – and we’ll never forget that.”
She pushed her mum away.
“Let’s have a photo. Calum, use my phone . . .”
They took a photo of every combination: Ellie and her mum; Ellie and Calum; and then the tried and trusted selfie with all three of them.
At last, they broke free of the mêlée.
“What next?” Shauna asked.
“I go and find where the free champagne is being served,” Calum said.
“Mind you, it’s probably a knock-down brand rather than real stuff. But it’ll do.
“Then I have to solve the problem of carrying three glasses with two hands.”
“Drink your own first,” Ellie suggested, smiling.
“Remember what happened last time!” He grinned, then disappeared.
Shauna hugged her daughter again.
“What a lovely lad he is,” she said.
“You like him then?” Ellie asked, sounding pleased.
“Who wouldn’t?” Shauna replied. “And what happened last time?”
Ellie paused.
“He asked me to marry him, about a week ago.”
Shauna held her daughter out at arm’s length.
“And?”
“I ran away,” Ellie said.
“You what?”
“I turned and ran from the shop. Then waited until he came to find me.”
Shauna frowned.
“How did he take that?”
“Like a true gentleman. On the chin.”
“But you love him, don’t you?” Shauna asked.
“Of course. But it was too early . . . I didn’t know where I was going.”
Shauna looked into her daughter’s eyes.
“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” she said at last.
“But I know now. I mean, if I get that research job.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then I’ve still found out what I want to do with my life – even if it’s for someone other than Neil.
“I want to be part of that world-wide crusade.
“I want to do what I can to help save our planet from choking in its own filth.”
“And what are you going to do about Calum?” Shauna asked.
“Let things lie until the job interview is over.”
“And then?” Shauna could not stop herself from behaving like a dog with a bone.
“You’ll be the first to know.” Ellie smiled.
The smile widened as she studied her mum.
“And you?” she asked. “What are you going to do about Neil?”
Her mum’s sun-burned face became deep pink.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said. “Oh, good, here’s Calum.”
To be continued…
