Of Sea and Sand by Jonah
Simon and Garret are here again,looking after their young family.If you are unfamiliar with this family,we first met Simon in 'A Letter from America' back in 2019. He was a teenager then,now he is well into adulthood. Garret originated in another author's story. I want to thank Jacob Lion, in the USA for his permission to use his characters in my story. That's one of the things I want to make plain,all the characters in this,and all my other stories are wholly fictitious. They aren't based on real people. The other thing I want to make plain is that, while Simon and Garret are both gay, as are some other characters, this is a story about love - not sex,lust,or any other substitute,but real Christian love. If it's pornography you want, you'll have to find it somewhere else. Lastly,this story is brought to you by Nifty,free of charge. Nifty doesn't charge me to publish it, nor you to read it,but it does cost money to bring it to you. Please consider donating to Nifty at https://donate.nifty.org/ so that these stories continue to be available for all to read.
Chapter 7
Bedtime for us came at around tennish and,since the Ryans didn't try to get rid of the twins,we didn't insist on our boys going to bed earlier. Mrs Kesteven had allocated us two rooms on the first floor - one of them for Grev. Ours had two double beds in it so would accomodate us and three boys easily. I don't know what was in Grev's room since I don't think I ever visited it. It was across the landing from ours, as was Mr.Stockdale's room. The Ryans were lodged on the second floor. If the twins had taken up tap-dancing,we would have heard them. As it was,we heard not a sound.
By that I mean that we heard no sound until about seven in the morning,from the Ryans at least. I did have to order Barry back to his bed at about midnight when he came to wake Garret up to complain about his snoring. I ordered him back to bed at once and pointed out that nobody else seemed to have been disturbed. I did,however,turn Garret toward me,which silenced him for a while.
The noise of childish feet running about upstairs in the morning soon roused our lot. I got myself showered and dressed and organised the boys to do the same. Breakfast started at half past eight so we had plenty of time.
Down in the dining room Mrs Kesteven informed us that,since it was Sunday,she was cooking a full English breakfast. For the rest of the week it would be cereal and continental breakfast,unless we arranged otherwise with her the day before.
I took the opportunity to ask her if there was a Methodist Church nearby. She said that the nearest Church was Anglican. If we wanted a Methodist Church it was a very long walk,way beyond the railway station,on the Canterbury Road.
"That's handy," said Garret. "I'm going down to the station to pick up the hire-car,so we can all go to Church."
"The Church of England will be good enough for me," said Grev. "It always has been up to now."
"That's fair enough," Garret told him. "After the service, make for the Lido car-park. We'll pick you up there and go and find somewhere for lunch."
Mrs. Kesteven had listened to all this in silence.
"Don't forget,dinner's at five," she said.
We assured her that we would remember and then, having breakfasted, we set off for Margate railway station. It's a good walk from Ethelbert Road,but we walked briskly and were there in twenty minutes. The car-hire firm had turned up a seven-seat people mover which we fitted into easily.
Another five minutes driving saw us at a modestly sized,but pleasantly modern looking Methodist Church on Canterbury Road. We were on the outskirts of Westgate-on-Sea and were glad we had the car. The board outside told us that the Revd. Michael Somebody-or-other was the minister here,but we never got to meet him. The service was taken by a middle aged local preacher with a penchant for traditional hymns. I tend to sing the bass line to these,while both Garret and Barry sing tenor. The other two boys have clear soprano voices. All this helped us to contribute to "Summer Suns are Glowing," as an opening hymn. The local preacher was obviously of an evengelical turn of mind. "What a Friend we have in Jesus," was followed by,"O Thou Who camest from above," and "I Will Sing the Wondrous Story." For a closing hymn we sang,"And Can it be,"with considerable gusto. Coffee was served after the service - after singing that lot we needed it.
Several of the congregation wished us an enjoyable holiday. A couple of them recommended the Hussar hotel,opposite the Church, for Sunday lunch. With this in mind,the boys and I continued to drink coffee while Garret went to fetch Grev.
The recommendations of the locals proved to be sound and we enjoyed an excellent light lunch. As a way of relaxing and allowing it to settle, Garret drove us back to the beach area, near Dreamland, and we lazed on the beach. None of us had overdressed for Church. The boys shed shoes and socks, as did Garret, but Grev and I didn't bother. After nearly an hour of pleasant inactivity we headed for the stairs back up to the road. That was the point at which a sound stopped us in our tracks.
It was the voice of a child. A cry, not of anguish,temper,petulance, or any of the other things that chldren commonly cry for. This was a cry of raw terror - a sound that nobody within earshot could ignore. I turned and saw a small boy running to his mother,who was tending a smaller child in a push-chair. To my horror I saw beyond the boy an inflatable airbed, bobbing on the waves. A small figure clung to it, but didn't seem to have the sense to lie flat and hang on. Sure enough,as I watched in horror,the bed rose on one end, depositing its human load in the sea. I had already torn off my shirt and kicked off my shoes by that time but,ahead of me,streaking for the water,was Barry. He hadn't waited to disrobe before starting to run,but was shedding clothing as he ran. By the time he reached the water he was down to his underpants. I lost sight of him momentarily as I started to run too. I tried to concentrate on the child in the water.
Several yards separated the child from his air-bed and the gap was widening. His reaction to that was panic and,for once, that was the right thing to do. His thrashing about resulted in his treading water. I had no way of telling whether he had been taught to keep his lungs full of air for as much of the time as possible. It looked as if he hadn't but another head was bobbing nearby. Barry was within arms length of the child and he had grasped him from behind. I was in the water too,but some way off. I struck out for the errant air-bed. Barry seemed to be making for that and I could usefully arrest its flight so that he stood a chance of making it. It took several minutes but,once I reached it,it was not a difficult task to propel it in the opposite direction,toward the two boys.
It was not a big sea,on a cosmic scale of things,but the effort of propelling the air-bed kept my head low so I couldn't see much above the waves. I bet the waves looked bigger to the child.
I hadn't seen either of them for a minute or two. My task of propelling the air-bed took all my concentration. There was a moment when I wondered,what if they had both gone under? Would I be pushing this thing forever? There was a sudden shout.
"Dad! Give us a hand."
Did he call me "Dad" because he had mistaken me for Garret? In his haste to get into the water had he not noticed which adult was following? Had he decided that considerations like that had to take their turn behind the over-riding priority? If so,he was right,so what was I thinking of?
Clawing my way to the end of the bed I peered around it and saw that Barry was trying to lift the child's left arm onto the air-bed. The child was still panicking and the fact that there was nothing on the air-bed for him to get hold of didn't help. I returned to my side of the bed,grasped its edge in both hands and,with one mighty kick, heaved myself out of the water and across the air-bed.
From my new position it was possible for me to grasp the flailing child beneath his armpits.
"Can you get his legs on?" I shouted to Barry.
"Got them," shouted a new voice.
Grev Kennedy was holding down the end of the air-bed and helping Barry to lift the child on board.
It was the work of a couple of minutes to get the boy face down on the airbed with Barry and I holding an arm each. Grev had got himself at the end of the air-bed and was kicking fiercely with his feet.
"On your back Barry," I shouted.
I could have saved my breath because Barry already had his back to the beach and was kicking like a good'un. The only one providing no propulsion was me. I soon put that right and, as soon as I did, we seemed to get under way. Not that it is possible to tell when you are facing away from the only datum, but it was less than five minutes before my feet touched sand. The others were still kicking so I shouted.
"Walk chaps"
When will I learn not to waste my breath? Garret had taken the front end from Grev and was dragging the air-bed on to the beach. As I stood and turned around I saw the other boy come running back. Philip had joined the mother and baby.
"Are you Tommy or Timmy," Grev called to the running boy. "Quickly boy!"
What? How had I not noticed that?
"T...T...Timmy, " said the frightened boy.
"Thanks son," said Grev in a gentler tone.
He knelt besiide the boy on the airbed.
"Can you hear me Tommy?" he said gently.
The boy did not reply but his body shook with fierce convulsions. He was sobbing his heart out.
Grev stood and lifted the chld in his arms.
"It's alright Tommy. You're safe now," he told the sobbing boy.
Philip arrived with the boy's mother. I wanted a word with Timmy while he was still distracting her. I stepped between Timmy and the others.
"What happened Timmy?" I asked in as matter-of-fact a voice as I could manage in my breathless state.
The boy looked at me - sheer terror in his eyes.
I dropped myself to his level,made eye contact and asked quietly,
"Whose idea was it to take the Lilo into the water?"
There was no reply, unless you count the flood of tears and the sudden bawling. I pulled the boy to me and held him in my arms.
"Well you won't do THAT again," I said quietly.
I stood,lifting him in my arms. For a male homosexual,holding an almost naked boy like that ought to have been pleasurable,but the thought couldn't have been further from my mind. Turning,I saw Grev holding Tommy the same way. I strode over to him and put Timmy on his feet.
"You put yours down as well," I told Grev.
He did so and the two boys were immediately in each other's arms. I turned to Sharon,who was now advancing.
"Look after Crystal," I told her."The boys just need a moment."
She turned and obeyed as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
"Do me a favour Lloyd," I said.
The boy said not a word, but looked at me and waited.
"Pull the plug out of that air-bed and fold it up. I don't think they'll be using it again today."
Today,everybody is obeying orders.
"I don't know if they'll ever want to use it again," Grev observed.
"Oh, they'll get over it," I replied. "It would have been a different story if Barry wasn't quicker than I was."
"He's joining us in September?" he queried.
"Yes, he is."
"I'll look forward to it."