Back to the Old Street

After ten years abroad, Clara returned to the town where she had grown up. She had been looking forward to the trip for weeks, yet she was uneasy too, unsure what the place would make of her. Despite the long journey, she decided to walk straight from the station to the street where her family used to live.

The baker’s shop that had stood on the corner was now a phone repair centre. Clara felt a pang of disappointment, though her curiosity was stronger than her regret. She paused to read a sign announcing a new library and was struck by how quickly everything had changed in her absence.

At the end of the street she bumped into Mr Ortega, an old neighbour who had always been famous for his dreadful jokes. It took him a moment to recognise her. “You haven’t changed,” he declared. “You’re the image of your mother.” They talked for a few minutes about the people they had both lost touch with over the years.

Mr Ortega told her that the old school was closing because of falling numbers. “We did all we could to keep it open,” he said, “but in the end the council gave up.” Clara also discovered that her favourite teacher, Miss Vega, was still alive and living nearby. She wrote down the address with a hand that was not quite steady.

The next morning Clara knocked on a green door. Miss Vega was eighty-four, yet she remembered every one of her former students. “Would you like to see the old photographs?” she asked. They spent the afternoon over tea and a box of memories, and Clara felt, for the first time in years, that she belonged somewhere.