A Riverside

Home

2023

His son pushed past him ran out through the

open patio door and crossed the spacious

garden He exited through the low gate at the

back and moved swiftly across the marshy

f ield until he reached the river The dog had

followed him but got distracted in some

brushwood along the way Its perfect here

dad Jack yelled For a moment he wondered

how his son could run in this stif ling heat but

then his own childhood came back to him How

he had loved this place the wind in his hair the

birds rattling overhead his boots splashing in

the mud and the river steadily f lowing past

Jack did not know how hard he had worked to

be able to buy back his childhood home but

that was f ine better even children should be

able to simply enjoy things

He reached the back gate himself and looked

up There were not so many birds now he

noticed As he made his way through the f ield

he realised that his shoes did not sink into the

soil as much as they used to it had been a

hot dry summer Still it was great to be here

How remote London seemed He didnt want to

think about going back to the City on Monday

He would have to f inalise the deal with Shell

and it was going to be diff icult Margaret would

nag him no end about the environmental

implications and that theyd have to plant trees

or something to placate the activists But that

would be too expensive Keep your eyes on the

prize The money for the mortgage had to come

from somewhere after all If it worked out

they could move in next month

Why was he thinking such things Enjoy the

moment youve earned it Jack catch he

said as he threw the frisbee A plane moved

overhead The noise was vaguely oppressive

Suddenly the dog reappeared from the

brushwood He saw that it had a dead bird in its

mouth

2043

His son pushed past him Let me through

dad This box is really heavy Jack disappeared

downstairs to load the box onto the truck He

had resisted moving as long as he could But

with four f loods in seven years And then the

Government had off icially declared the area

unsafe riverbank erosion due to the new

reality of drier summers and wetter winters

Jack said that he was worried about him but

he probably was simply fed up with having

to come down from London so often to help

put in the new f loor and clean up the garden

A burden Jack called the house now that

couldnt even be sold That rankled

True he had started to feel uncomfortable

at home himself The shock of how quickly

things had changed still overwhelmed him

from time to time The river had always been

such a stable presence a constant backdrop

to his life often forgotten but always there

Now it had assumed a menacing aspect

capable of lashing out at any moment After

the f irst f loods the f ield had recovered but

then the banks had started to collapse and

layers of dirty brown soil said to come from

the industrial estate upstream now covered

everything even the garden Birds no longer

nested there and the air carried a pungent

odour of decay He couldnt shake the nagging

feeling that the river was out to get him held

him responsible somehow But how was he

supposed to have known that things would

deteriorate so rapidly

Going downstairs he tried to keep such

thoughts at bay He pulled up his collar

stepped outside and climbed into the

passenger seat of the truck As it drove off

he caught a glimpse through the rainswept

windows of the grimy garden and the f looded

f ield behind it The only thing which the river

had somehow spared he now saw was the

small boulder that marked the spot where all

those years ago at Jacks insistence he had

buried the dead bird his dog had found

Luuk Huitink is senior lecturer in Ancient

Greek at the University of Amsterdam He is

interested in the way Greek historiographical

narratives convey meaning and hopes to

continue to be able to study the ancient world

on a safe green and sustainable planet

wwwuvanlprof ielhulhuitinklhuitinkhtml

Luuk

Huitink