Mick's Landing

By Jacob Lander

This is a book about a man on a mission. His exact purpose is uncertain, as is the meaning of the mission, or exactly where he will end up. It follows a relationship break-up and the thoughts he has had since this break up. In some senses, it is the author's "Catcher in the Rye", but instead of being based in New York, the setting is Cardiff, South Wales. Following Mick's monumental walk, he also reflects on things that occurred to him before his "mission", and some events that followed. This book does contain some adult content.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jacob Lander
• Release date: Feb 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310754326

Jacob Lander

Jacob Lander lives a reclusive life in Cardiff, South Wales, venturing out only occasionally to buy cigarettes (Dunhill being his favourite when he can afford them), or his favourite newspaper, the New Day. He gets his food delivered to him by Tesco, and is particularly fond of one of the female delivery drivers. Again, when he can afford it, he likes to add Johnny Walker (blue label) to his order.

Book preview

Mick’s Landing

Jacob Lander

© Roundabout Publishing

Contents

Mick on A Mission

A Christmas Apart

Valentines

The Revelation, March the Forth (sic)

The Revolution

About the author

Mick on A Mission

Bear in mind after all that this was the day he thought Woody Allen had died. Mick had got up, put on a CD of Woody Allen doing stand-up, generally had a relaxing day. He expected the media would probably try and cover up the tragic news of the man’s death, and it would finally surface perhaps seven or eight months later.

So I guess it was a day of mourning for Mick, but also one of celebration of the life of one of the world’s greatest comics and film directors. Many times, as he was listening to the CD of Allen’s stand-up routine, he burst into fits of laughter, but then at other times, he felt so sad, that he could barely bring himself to listen to it.

At around 7pm, Mick took a bath. Very unusually, he could hear what he assumed to be his neighbours quite noisily having sex in the upstairs flat. It was odd because he rarely heard from them at all – only quite quiet footsteps as they walked around above him. The jealousy finally brought it out of him! he thought he heard one of them shout as they were doing what he assumed they were doing. Mick didn’t particularly want to listen to this, so he thought he’d finally leave the house for the first time that day and went to buy some cigarettes.

Today was also the day before the proof was due to turn up, which, Mick could not deny, he was bricking it about. The proof was not something he really wanted to see. The proof was of Dougal’s book, which he had not really wanted to have released. He wasn’t sure if Rita wanted it to be released. He wasn’t sure if it should be released, for copyright reasons. The book, the proof, everything, was, he suspected, a cover for another of Dougal’s operations.

Surprise surprise, Dougal showed up later in the evening, not long after Mick had got back from buying cigarettes. Mick let him in. They sat down and opened a bottle of red Vodka Twist which Mick had in his fridge. They clinked glasses, Mick somewhat reluctantly.

Here’s to the book! Dougal said. As they were drinking a red-coloured drink, Dougal also said something jokingly about how maybe Cardiff might go back to red which Mick didn’t find funny. As a Bluebird, he, along with other Cardiff City fans, had had to endure 2½ years of the club playing in what most perceived were the wrong colours, before more recently returning to their natural colour of blue. The chances of Cardiff going back to red, despite what Dougal said, Mick knew, were zero.

Dougal unzipped his jacket, and the next thing he said was along the lines of, I’m going to do something for Rita. Mick had no idea what he really meant by this, but he sensed trouble. Was Dougal going to finally beat him up, as he’d suspected had been on his mind all along, despite all the times Dougal had reassured Mick that he was on his side? Dougal had forever been harking back to the time Mick had intervened in a fight Dougal had got himself into in the street more or less outside Mick’s house, and Dougal had always said he’d been grateful for that. At that stage, Mick and Dougal were nothing more than neighbours who would see each other only very occasionally. Things had moved on since then.

Mick got up to let his cat, Prudence, out and went out to look at the stars. What are you doing? Dougal asked, before they both went back inside.

At this point, Mick immediately saw his chance. He went out through the open back door, through the side gate and round to the front of the street. Finally, he felt safe and he didn’t care that he’d left Dougal in the flat alone. Mick had nothing more than his keys on him – no money, no cigarettes, no wallet, nothing. But he was off, and he was going to see where the night would take him.

He felt a bit like Rita, his kind-of ex, the girl he loved more than any girl he’d ever met before, the first girl, in his forty three years who had actually moved in with him, for God’s sake! He thought about how Rita must have felt the many times, even when Rita and Mick had been living together, when she had just taken off without saying where she was going. There had been times maybe when Mick, unintentionally or not, had scared Rita, who was after all, nineteen years his junior – perhaps he’d never properly had such a realisation about those times until now. But there’d also been plenty of times that Mick had done absolutely nothing wrong at all, leading Mick to believe she had made alternative arrangements which did not involve spending the evening with Mick.

Rita had walked out on Mick just a few weeks before, this time taking all her belongings. They’d stayed in touch, but unlike other times when they’d broken up, it did not seem like this