Advocate for skipping school.

School is useful and good and all, but, some days it's downright stupid to go.
This day was one of them.

I got off the train at Wyong station. From here it was a casual 10minute stroll to school. A perfect day. Autumn, warm, but not hot. Blue sky with just a whisper of clouds. Best of all, it was a Thursday.

Thursdays had 2 important features. Firstly, I had double geography in the morning. Two hours solid of Mr bloody Lardner. You ever have a teacher that wants to be your friend? That was him. Handing out lollies like we were in year 4; had "pre arranged" seating charts, and constantly lamenting about the plight of the Aboriginals (he was snow-white). You know the type, we Aussies call 'em a 'wanker'. But the other thing, the most important part. Thursdays were Julie's day off work.

What's that? Who's Julie. Julie was... nay... is my soul mate. I could praise the world to you about her, describe how she and I were friends for years, how we had been through ups and downs and supported each other; Or I could tell you to just go read any of the first 30 or so poems I wrote. She was my muse. Now years later we've drifted in geography, but she still holds a place in my heart and thoughts.

And it was her day off work.

Now, given the fact that, I didn't like school, and especially geography; And that Julie was off from work, well I didn't really have a choice did I.

Julie's house was conveniently located between the train station and school. I walked up the steps to her house, and rung the bell.

A sleepy, groggy, Julie answered the door. I apologised for waking her and we did the usual chit chat for a bit. She hoped into the shower and I made us some morning tea.

She stepped out in her dressing gown, her drenched hair falling to her shoulders. It was a platonic relationship, but at times she made me wish otherwise.

"So, what should we do?" I asked her.
"What do you mean?" She puzzled.
"I am not going to school today. Look outside, it's perfect. I say we do something a bit different."
"Lets go for a drive"
"Where"
"Wherever. Doesn't matter".

Good answer, dear Julz. Before long we were sitting in her car. I was fiddling with CDs, she was fiddling with the radio. Between the two of us we eventually found some music that was decent. It was Live - Dolphins Cry.

"Hey there's a thought" she somewhat yelled, "Lets go to the beach"
"Sounds good"

Aha! A plan! I've never understood the drive aimlessly around idea, a destination was what I needed.

So I relaxed. It was comming up 11am, I was sitting next to the love of my life, with nothing to do but listen to the radio/CD. I relaxed. I had no stress and no worries. Whatever was happening in my world could take a few hours off.

We eventually got to the beach. The water was a little too cold for a swim, and neither of us had swimmers anyhow. Instead we went rock climbing. Splashed each other a few times and carried on much like children. As it came up around 1pm, I wanted to head back to the car

"I'll be lobster red soon". I called out.

I'm a red head. My skin tries to leap off my body if it THINKS direct sunlight is around.

"Good idea, I want some lunch anyhow."
"Yeah, I'm a bit thirsty, where should we go"
"Red Rooster, let's get drivethru, I've got an idea"

Fast forward. We got our lunch and the car was quickly filling with that junk food fat smell that sticks around for a week. I wasn't too sure where we were going, but I knew it was up. Up and out of town. We soon were amongst trees, the houses were few and far between. Soon we pulled over.

"Come on." She said, jumping out of the car.

I'm not the most athletic person in the world, but I was soon out with the food and off after her. We walked down a little track in the bushland for a bit and then, almost like a magic trick, the scene changed. The dry scrub gave way for a temperate rainforest. I thought to myself the irony of knowing what that was, despite skipping geography so often.

The temperature dropped 10 degrees. The air was damp and fresh. Everything was green, like it was coloured in by a child. I followed Julie to rustic looking park bench. When I inspected the bench more it had "NCC" carved into it. Newcastle City Council. It was not only stolen, but stolen from a place 50 kilometres away.

We ate. We laughed, talked, wandered around. We lied on the ground and were silent. I closed my eyes and listened to the birds and the crickets. The distant sound of the beach, and my own heart.

Too soon, we had to leave. I had a train to catch home. My head was screaming at me not to leave her; To hold onto this day and and make it last longer. But I couldn't. We stopped again at Wyong station.
She leaned over in the car and gave me a quick, friendship kiss on the cheek.

"Today was really fun we should do it more often"

How right she was. It was magical. It was a dream. It was a...

"Where the fuck were you today, bitch." Neill was also waiting for the train. He'd clearly been at school.

Neill proceeds to tell me about the comings and goings of school. About how person A said this to person B whilst person C swore that band A was bringing out a new cd soon. Drivel.

The day was over and the magic gone. I told my brain to encrypt to memory everything that had happened. Every detail, ever second.

The actual events of the day, breakfast, beach, lunch, picnic; were nothing special by any means. For another person, they wouldn't have felt it.

But for me, for a perfect day with the woman I loved then and still love now. Love beyond all words and ramblings. The woman I call my soul mate...

That day with Julie was the happiest day of my life.