8. Dick takes a long dark road

Hi, I'm Richard Everyman but people call me Dick

I imagined giant Lenin-like effigies...

My encounter with the political campaigner had left me non the wiser about the Big Society.  If anything I became slightly scared of it with his 'esteemed leader' that 'giant in society' whose visions would change the world we live in.  I imagined giant Lenin-like effigies raised up on the front of public buildings.  I saw them waving at us, the new model citizens, as we went about volunteering and singing songs about the joys of social mobility and the attributes of our glorious leaders.  We're we destined to become insignificant players in some kind of Big government plan?

But I had to shake off these negative thoughts and awful visions if I was to find the truth.  The Eggheads needed my help to fuel their brains so my quest for eggs was more important at this moment in time.  I remember the farm down the road where Mrs Boulton used to take young Billy and his sister Brenda, to see the goats and the chickens and the time he threw me into the pig slurry.  It would be a difficult journey but I was on a mission and needed to focus on the future.  The Eggheads would surely come up with more answers once I had met their request.

Perhaps Billy had broken all the glass...

As I slipped through the back door and down the garden the coast seemed clear.  At least the cat was nowhere to be seen.  Over the fence, where once there stood a magnificent green house there was now a polythene tunnel. Perhaps Billy had broken all the glass?  But, the familiar white cottage which lay at the end of the lane to the farm was still there and that brought me some comfort.

I felt incredibly alone and decided that on my return, should I return, I would make enquiries about Yvette.  Maybe the Eggheads had seen her or perhaps had news.  I refused to believe that she could simply disappear from my life.  Yes, it had been 43 years since I had last seen her but surely, if she had survived Brenda's abuse she would also be looking for me?  I felt a tear in my eye, but undaunted I made my way through the gate.

Trees loomed above me...

The road ahead was darker than I remember.  Trees loomed above me and the farm seemed a long way off.  All around me I could hear the sound of bird song which spurred me onwards.  If the Big Society had any heart and soul, I thought, then people would have more opportunities to capture these simple pleasures.  Unlike the decades that had gone before there would be no working long hours, or scratching for a living or the fear of poverty.  People would not have to worry what lay ahead for their children, as Mr and Mrs Boulton had done as they worked day and night to keep their family together.

As I got closer to the farm I felt more and more positive about the way ahead but beneath it all I hoped that the 'esteemed leader's' vision was not a future nightmare.

This is Dick Everyman signing out...