February 11th

Saturday, February 10th,1990

Like any other normal kid his age, Harry was excited about his birthday the following day. It was a big deal to reach ten years old. He had asked for new football boots and was looking forward to his birthday party at the football club. It was difficult getting to sleep, especially with his big brother, Kevin, playing Kylie Minogue’s Tears on My Pillow for the tenth time from the top bunk, rewinding the cassette player with an irritating whirr. At last, just before midnight, Harry’s eyes drooped.

***

The Earth juddered to a halt and restarted.

***

Monday, February 12th, 1990

Despite it being Winter, the sun blazed through the window, waking Harry up. My birthday, he thought. He jumped out of his cabin bed and ran downstairs. His mother was cooking pancakes, and she waved him to the table with a distracted smile, her eyes warm as she ruffled his scruffy hair.

“I thought you’d stay asleep forever! You’ve only got half an hour to get ready. You’ll have to walk to school today. I’ve got an early shift at the hospital this morning.”

“What are you going to the hospital for?” Harry asked.

“It’s my job, remember?” His mother rolled her eyes and put a plate of pancakes on the table. “Monday’s always such a busy day.”

Harry wasn’t sure if he liked pancakes but transferred one into his bowl, pouring a generous amount of golden syrup on top.

“Monday?” he echoed, confused. He was sure his birthday was at the weekend this year. He looked around for birthday presents but couldn’t see any amongst the piles of clothes and clutter. There was just one opened card on the mantelpiece, declaring in large bubble writing: ‘A decade today!’

Harry felt anger explode inside his chest. “Who opened my card?” he shouted. “Was it Kevin?”

Tears welled in his eyes. How could his mother act like this wasn’t a special day? He was ten years old! A big deal.

His mother looked at him blankly. “Who’s Kevin? Harry, I haven’t got time to mess about this morning.”

Harry put his spoon down noisily, wondering if this was her idea of a joke. He waited for Kevin to run down the stairs, as he normally did, taking two steps at a time and shouting ‘goal’ as he kicked the front door. There was only silence.

“When does my party start?” Harry asked, hoping to jog his mother into action.

She shook her head, and felt his forehead. “Did you bang your head or something? It was your birthday yesterday, Harry. Today’s just a normal day, I’m afraid.”

“What? What date is it?” Harry asked, heart thumping hard.

“Monday, February 12th love and if you don’t hurry, you’ll be late for school. I tell you what, you can use your new skateboard. Just make sure you put it in your locker when you get to school though.”

Harry looked at the skateboard, disappointment making him feel sick. No football boots then. What would he tell his mates at school?

Thursday, February 10th, 2000

Harry was looking forward to hitting twenty and putting his teenage years behind him. It was time for a change. The last year, no, the last decade had felt like one long slog, and he was ready for a reset. His mother had done her best, he supposed, but with just her and him in the family home, it had felt both claustrophobic and dull. All he ever did these days was race up and down skateboard ramps with his mates at the park and he felt like he’d outgrown it. Tomorrow was his chance to start a new chapter. He closed his eyes, willing himself to sleep.

***

The Earth juddered to a halt and restarted.

***

Saturday, February 12th, 2000

Harry stretched, opened his eyes, and sat up with a jolt. Bright sunlight poured into the large room as a young, dark-haired woman, dressed only in a skimpy t-shirt, pulled back the velvet curtains. She turned and smiled at him.

“Well, hello, sleepy head,” she said. “I thought you’d never wake up.” She slid back onto the single bed, running her hand down his chest provocatively.

“Whoa!” Harry cried, then inwardly cursed himself as she stopped and sat up, pouting in annoyance.

“What’s the matter with you now, Harry?” she asked.

“I – um,” his head pounded. “What’s going on?”

“Did you drink too much last night?”  She was clearly annoyed.

Harry tried hard to think and remember the previous night, but it was all a blank. He suddenly wondered what his mother would say when he took this unknown girl down for breakfast. His mother could be very possessive; after all it had only ever been just the two of them.

“What’s your name again?” he asked the young woman.

The slap made his head reel, and he was unsurprised to find himself alone with a bleeding nose moments later. She slammed the door with a ferocity that shook the whole frame and Harry winced, waiting for his mother to shout a fretful query. It was then he noticed several opened birthday cards pinned to a noticeboard in his bedroom, alongside framed certificates for his swimming achievements.

He turned to the digital alarm clock on the bedside table and noted the date: 12/02/2000. Another birthday missed.

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Harry called encouragingly to the youngster in the pool. “Long arms, stretch, kick out, remember to breathe, Boris!”

Gemma, the lifeguard on duty, grinned down from her perch. Harry felt a warm glow spread through his chest as he stared up at her beautiful dreadlocks, tied back in a ponytail style that revealed her smooth face to perfection.

They’d been dating for a while now, brought together by a shared interest in sports, and he was looking forward to his thirtieth birthday meal with her tomorrow. Just the two of them. Harry planned to make it a double celebration though. He had bought the engagement ring and was confident that she would accept his proposal. His parents would be back from their cruise at the weekend and were coming down to visit him too. He was looking forward to their delight. They loved Gemma almost as much as he did.

That evening, Harry sent Gemma a last text at 11:59, grinning as she sent back love and kisses emojis. His sister always laughed at their cheesy romantic gestures, saying he was hopelessly old fashioned, but he was so happy, he didn’t care. He couldn’t believe his luck. Life had been good to him this last decade.

***

The Earth juddered to a halt and restarted.

***

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Harry woke to a thunderclap. He sat up, throwing the covers off. February was so mild this year, there was no need for the heaters to be on. Eagerly, he picked up his phone, keen to see what Gemma had texted. She’d be the first to send love and celebrate his birthday.

There was no message. She must still be asleep, he mused, slightly disappointed. Never mind, he thought, he’d see her later for his birthday meal and then they could start planning their life together in earnest.

The phone’s home screen caught his attention. 12/02/2010. What the…?

A sudden loud cry ripped through his ears, making his shoulders tense.

The figure in bed next to him groaned and pulled the duvet over their head. “It’s your turn to see to him Harry.”

Harry pulled the duvet down and stared, baffled, at the short blonde woman beside him.

“See to who?” he asked.

“Don’t be an idiot, Harry. It’s too early in the day for that.”

The crying intensified and Harry, moving like an automaton, shuffled his way to the door.

“It’s alright, Sean,” the woman cried out. “Daddy’s coming.”

Monday, February 10th, 2020

Harry waited for Sean outside the leisure centre. He’d gone to his swimming class there and, typically last minute as usual, Chrissie had said it was Harry’s turn to pick him up, not hers. Not that Harry minded. He could do with a break from all the talk on the radio about Covid and his unsuccessful job searches on Indeed. His CV didn’t seem to show much for the last decade and since being made redundant from the tool shop last year, his confidence had dwindled rapidly.

Harry gazed through the window at all the happy people splashing around in the pool. He hadn’t been swimming since his schooldays and like Chrissie said, he’d feel an idiot if he tried starting anything like that now.

He felt the eyes of a lifeguard on him, only footsteps away on the other side of the glass. She was a tall woman with long braids and a striking face. Smiling at her, he tried to convey that he wasn’t a weirdo trying to catch a glimpse of half-naked youngsters. He wondered abruptly what it would be like to kiss her. She frowned back at him, as if reading his thoughts, and he turned away, embarrassed.

Sean came running out moments later. As promised, even though the sky was darkening, Harry and he walked to the nearby park so that Sean could practice his moves on a battered old skateboard they’d found in a charity shop.

“Do you want to try, Dad? It’s easy!” Sean shouted from the top of the ramp.

“No chance!” Harry called back. “Never been on one of those things and I never will!”

Sean grinned and raced down and up the ramp. Suddenly he was flying and spinning one hundred and eighty degrees in the air, a striking silhouette against the deep orange sky. Despite himself, Harry felt his own knees soften and flex in response. He suddenly felt happier and wondered if they could afford a trip out tomorrow evening to celebrate his birthday after all.

The fractious argument with Chrissie that followed was the worst yet, full of recriminations about finances. Harry drank the rest of the evening away until he fell unconscious at 11:59.

***

The Earth juddered to a halt and restarted.

***

Wednesday, February 12th, 2020

Harry found it difficult to open his eyes and when he did, the room seemed to circle around him. Hail battered at the window and the noise hammered like a drumbeat in his aching head. His lower abdomen ached and he was unsure if he needed to urinate or whether he’d hammered his liver too hard again. Most nights were spent drinking these days, and admittedly he’d felt miserable after the argument. He put his hand out to check if Chrissie was beside him, but her side of the king-sized bed was empty. That didn’t surprise him. She usually slept in the spare room these days. So, another terrible birthday begins, he thought and then doubt hit him.

He sat up, holding his head as the room span around him.

“Alexa,” he called. “What’s the date today?”

“The date is Wednesday, February 12th, 2020,” Alexa intoned. Harry lay back down, pulling the duvet over his head. Another birthday down the drain, he thought.

“Dad?” called a voice outside the door. “I need £5 for my lunch.”

“Who is it?” Harry called, sitting up and blinking as a teenage girl turned on the bedroom light.

“It’s me, Samantha, who did you think it was?” The girl’s hair was streaked with white stripes, and her suspicious eyes were heavily ringed in black eyeliner, contrasting with her pale face. It’s a panda, Harry thought, confused.

“Look at the state of you,” she snapped. “Dad, I’m going to college. I’ll take the lunch money from your wallet, ok? Remember you’ve got your clinic appointment this morning and make sure you attend this time. I’ve left all the details on the table for you. Don’t start drinking again before you go!”

Harry nodded obediently and waited until she had thundered down the stairs before he gingerly got out of bed. Once downstairs, he felt at the back of the cleaning cupboard for the bottle he’d hidden there.

Sunday, February 10th, 2030

Harry lay in the hospital bed, his right-side aching from the biopsy. They were talking about irrevocable damage with words like cirrhosis and transplant. Tears of self-pity stung his eyes as he gazed at the black clouds amassing outside.

“Harry?”

He squinted at one of the nursing staff, standing by the side of the bed, adjusting the rate on his drip. This one had lovely warm eyes and smelt unaccountably of pancakes.

“It’s time for your medicine, Harry.”

She helped him to sit up, placing pillows expertly behind his back to keep him propped up.

“More comfortable now?” she asked, handing him two tablets and a drink.

He nodded but grimaced as the man opposite, legs in traction, began singing old pop songs from the 1990s again. “I would be if it wasn’t for him making a racket.”

The nurse smiled. “Ah, Kevin’s not doing any harm. I love a bit of Kylie Minogue myself. It’s good to find something that makes you happy, despite circumstances.”

She tapped on a holopad, recording Harry’s medicines and temperature, making a soft surprised sound as she noted his date of birth. “February 11th, 1980! My son is exactly the same age as you, isn’t that a strange coincidence? Happy Birthday for tomorrow, Harry.”

She patted his hand kindly, avoiding the cannula, and briefly lay her hand on his forehead to check for his temperature in the old-fashioned way. In that moment, he felt his mind whirr into action. Fragments of memories and feelings floated across his mind. He remembered music from a top bunk, pancakes cooking, the sound of splashing in a swimming pool, an engagement ring, a baby crying, a boy flying on a skateboard and his daughter’s pale face as she watched him drink himself into a stupor.

“Will you see your son tomorrow, for his birthday?” Harry asked. It suddenly seemed incredibly important to know.

“He’s a grown man now, like you, with his own family,” she answered. “I might not see him, but I’ll feel him in here and he’ll know I love him.” She patted her chest and smiled.

Harry looked back at his life with its inexplicable stops and starts, broken relationships and disappointment. Yet in that moment, he also recalled the warmth of love and being loved. He resolved to contact his daughter, Samantha, the next day. She should know he too felt her inside him, right here, in his chest, and he was going to do things so much better from now on.

Later that evening, when the ward was quiet at last, Harry asked his Alexa implant for the time and date. Her voice tingled through his synapses. “The time is 11:59pm and the date is Sunday, February 10th, 2030.”

Harry smiled and waited for his birthday to begin. He wasn’t going to miss February 11th this time. This year, he hoped his birthday would be a blast.

***

The Earth juddered to a halt.

“The Earth has failed.” An impassive voice echoed through the galaxies.

“Just one more rotation around the sun might correct the course?” A lighter tone floated above the stars.

“That does not compute. The rotational quota has overrun. The Earth has veered away from its correct orbit due to misuse. It is no longer valid and will now be deleted.”

***

As Monday, February 11th, 2030, began, Harry’s eyes drooped and he smiled to himself. He’d made it to fifty years old - a miracle, considering everything he’d done to his body. He didn’t intend to waste a second more of this life.

***

Monday, February 11th, 2030

A deafening roar exploded through the sound barrier and a blinding light engulfed the Earth.

Tuesday, February 12th, 2030

Only a sprinkle of ash remained, gradually dispersing across the vast, empty galaxy.