George Has Been Missing for 15 Days

A True Story of the Search for George

“Bloody hell, I need to wash the sofa covers,” I said to myself, and that is how far I got with that. After I had finished my work emails and all the orders were printed, I began making lots of noise as to wake Martyn up; I really wanted him to finish the map today so that I could print it and stick it all together. Great, he was up. It was now 7am. I made him a coffee and then gave him today’s plan: “You make the map, it needs to be as big as my dining room table, I am off to warehouse in a bit to pack the orders, then I am going to take them to Acox, so I can then forget about TNT as Kate is coming round at 10:30am to help me search. Then when I get home, we will go to the One-Stop-Shop and print the map.”

Walking with Kate

Thankfully the rain had eased off, and by the time Kate arrived, it had totally stopped. “Bye,” I shouted to Martyn, and off I went. It was a strange feeling this time walking with Kate. We decided to take a different route yet still head towards where the photo was taken of George. It was like I wasn’t actually looking; I was just chatting away to Kate, thankfully she was concentrating, though. I knew this as it wasn’t long before she was peering down her nose into her binoculars. “What is it? what can you see, Kate?” I panicked. “There is a bird of prey circling over there in that field,” she said. “And?” I said. “Christine, sometimes they circle if they see a dead animal on the ground,” Kate explained. “Oh,” is all I could manage.

A Walk That Felt Different

It wasn’t George, nor was the dead body that we later passed in the middle of a track as we headed back to mine. As we got to mine, I thanked Kate, and it was strange as this particular walk had made me feel kind of different, to say I enjoyed it would be the wrong thing to say, I can only think that because I just walked and for the first time I didn’t actually look it was kind of like a break. “Martyn, have you finished the map? Are you ready?” I shouted as I walked in the gate. “Nearly, oh, and a woman called Julie has been messaging a lot,” he said. It was from that moment that me Julie became our Julie.

Printing the Map

So, map now finished, off we went to La Trocha One Stop Shop to get it printed. Martyn had put it on a memory stick thing, and as we went into see Jake, I just broke. “Can you print this please as quickly as possible,” I sobbed. “Go and take a coffee and I will have it ready in 20 minutes, oh and Claudia ordered another 1000 leaflets, so you might as well take those as well,” said Jake.

Piecing the Map Together

Now at home Martyn and I began piecing together the map, and then it dawned on me that Martyn was flying back to the UK tomorrow. Carol had been amazing, in contact with me every day and popping in practically every other day. Claudia was also back tomorrow, Gordon, Gary were there for me at the drop of a hat, and I now had my Find George WhatsApp group. Yet, for some reason, I still felt lost, sad. It’s also strange how kindness can make you feel sad, I doubt anyone could understand that, yet it does. However, sadness in a strangely good way.

Takeaway Dinner

“Balls, Martyn, we have no food left. Is it OK if we get an Indian takeaway delivered?” I asked. “That’s OK with me,” he said. Not sure if there was a little smile on his face as he turned around. Maybe he was mining the word yippee as within seconds he said, “I will have a .........................” I am so very lucky living here as Mumtaz, the best Indian around, actually deliver to me, I just send them a WhatsApp message with my order, and it arrives in around 20 minutes.

Eating & Guilt

Eating was still giving me a feeling of total guilt, then the sick would rise from my stomach, and knowing that I couldn’t let Martyn see my true feelings, well, it’s actually amazing what you can convince people of. So, Martyn was full, and I could tell he felt good inside himself as he had been my rock, and he was full; plus, I had just got him another beer.

Evening Conversation

“Christine will you go up to your bed tonight,” said Martyn. “I so will Martyn, thank you so much for today, in fact, I will go up now,” I said (well bloody hell, the thought of him making me watch another film was kind of scary), and there was me thinking that his taste in music was bad, no shitting you the music that Martyn listens to is unbelievable and for me is unbearable.

Late-Night Reflections

I sat upstairs on Facebook, watching share after share on George’s posts, then one message jumped out at me: “Shared, for Mr. George,” that’s all it said.

It was around midnight, and I heard Martyn fumble off to bed, I waited 20 minutes and then off to the sofa I went.

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