This story is a work of fiction. Like all works of fiction it has to have some basis in reality, even if it is only that its protagonists speak the same language as the reader, but it does NOT contain any actual people. If you think you've spotted yourself, or somebody you know in here -- you haven't. Every person in this story (and dog) is my own creation. There may also be a mention of characters created by another author. Jacob Lion, in America, has kindly permitted me to include his characters in my stories. It has been impossible to avoid some mention of real places, and some organisations. The story is a story and in no way suggests that those organisations would act in the way that they do in the story. Although several of the characters in this story are gay, that is their sexual orientation and in no way suggests promiscuity. If you are looking for pornography of any sort, I can save you some time -- look elsewhere. If you wish to read a story of love in its finest form, I hope you enjoy it.
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Scotland the Brave Chapter 5 By Jonah
Fergus and Janet let us all lie in next morning. Simon was up and breakfasted before anybody else, but that was to be expected.
When I finally did get up there was no sign of Simon.
"He's taken Lady down to the shop to get meat, milk and bread for today and tomorrow," Fergus told me. "He should be on his way back by now. If you want to take Howard to meet him and give him a hand feel free but remember that you have to get off the railway at the station. There's no trains up here, but they're running a HST shuttle from Perth."
"I'll leave Howard where he is till Luke gets up," I said. If Simon can't manage it all we can take another trip later.
The back door opened, and a huge dog came in with two teenagers in tow. There was Simon with a dog lead in one hand and a shopping bag in the other, and there was Geordie Wallace with a shopping bag in each hand.
"I just came up on the train to see if you needed anything doing Missus McAndrew," said Geordie as soon as he had closed the door.
"And it looks as if ye've just done it," Janet replied. "Ye're a good wee laddie, Thank you son."
"Simon and I are just about to clear that snow off the glass roof, when he's got his breath back" I commented.
"Geordie'll give me a hand with that," said Simon. "Climbing about up there isn't a job for old men."
"No but giving a thick ear to cheeky young scamps who haven't learned to respect their elders, IS a job for old men," I reminded him.
A quick smile told me that he was well aware that it wasn't going to happen.
Thwack!
"Ouch!" said Simon in some shock.
"And that was just to prove it," said Fergus calmly.
To be honest, I was as surprised as Simon was. Still, Fergus was the headmaster. He should know what he's doing.
I glanced at Geordie just in time to see the grin hurriedly disappear from his face.
I strongly suspected that Geordie had come to Carrbridge to see Simon, rather than his grandmother. Perhaps I needed to know more about Geordie.
The opportunity presented itself almost immediately as Fergus handed a mug of tea to him and one to Simon. I picked up my own mug and said,
"Step this way Geordie."
A minute later he was seated on the sofa, with a mug of tea in one hand while the other rested on the huge dog in his lap.
"So, Geordie," I began," what was all that about Simon had better fire the black five to Aviemore yesterday evening?"
He looked at the dog.
"I just thought he'd like to fire it on the main line."
"It was me that asked you Geordie, not the dog, and he'd been firing on the main line all day."
There was silence. I was happy with silence. I knew Geordie wasn't.
"I didn't want the crew of that other engine to see me firing on the main line." He said eventually.
I let the silence continue. Eventually he said,
"You're supposed to be eighteen to work on Network Rail."
"And you are......?"
"Fifteen."
"Simon's fourteen," I said quietly.
"Yes, but no-one at Aviemore knows that," he almost shouted. "Everybody there knows me."
"So, you'd risk Simon getting into trouble with Network Rail, just to keep you out of trouble with the Strathspey?"
"No, " he cried, "I wouldn't, I wouldn't"
"You did," I pointed out quietly.
He was almost in tears, but I hadn't finished.
"And you never realised that you did until I said it just now."
"No, I didn't, I swear I didn't."
"I know. There's one thing you must know. If you're going to be friends with Simon, you must look out for his interests, because he'll always look out for yours."
"Geordie Wallace," said Fergus as he came from the kitchen ,"you're Eli Wallace's son aren't you?"
"Yes Sir," said Geordie quietly. "How do you know my father?"
"I taught him when he was almost your age," replied Fergus." "A good boy and a hard worker, but never knew his own mind. He went to work on the railway I mind."
"Yes Sir. We don't see him now. He works down South."
"And never visits?" Queried Fergus.
"Not now Sir," replied the boy. "He and I had a falling out when I was thirteen. Mother told him that, if he couldn't accept me as I was, he could leave. He took up with a woman in London and mother divorced him. He still pays alimony, but he can afford to. He drives for Eurostar."
"Geordie," Fergus began. "This falling out with your Father...."
I pursed my lips and shook my head slightly. Fergus nodded and fell silent. Eventually he said.
"Geordie, you'll always be accepted here. So long as you do not hurt those we love, you'll always be welcome."
A shadow crossed the boy's face until I said,
"And Geordie -- Mr. McAndrew was talking about the future -- not the past."
"Well the ladder's up" said Simon from the doorway, "but I'm not clearing it on my own. Who wants the other snow shovel? The old man or the poofter?"
Geordie doubled up with laughter which, I suspect, was the only thing that prevented Fergus from administering another belt round the ear. For my part I just said,
"Simon Khan, I have only one thing to say to you."
"What's that."
"People who listen to other people's conversations never hear anything good about themselves."
Simon grinned then turned to go. Geordie rose to follow him.
"Oh no you don't," I said, rising also. "Age before beauty.
Unfortunately, as I said it I looked him full in the face. Instant defeat. I had thought that Simon had big brown eyes that were impossible to resist when he wanted something. Well, so he had, but they were nothing to Geordie's blue ones.
I sat back down.
"Still think you're past it?" said Fergus once he had gone.
"Every day's a school day." I replied.
Well the snow clearing didn't take long, and it was followed by more clearing between the bathroom and the railway in which Luke and Peter joined when they finally surfaced. They finally got through the field to the foot of the embankment in time for a snowball fight to take place there. It started off being the boys against Geordie and I but we weren't particularly religious about who was on which side. Two excited dogs rejoiced in being the targets for a good many snowballs. Lady would bark until somebody threw her a snowball which she would try to catch. Howard ran away from the first two missiles, but then he saw Lady trying to catch them, so he did that instead.
Of course, the boys seemed to have forgotten how wet dogs dry themselves. Luke and Peter both ran to congratulate Lady on actually catching one, only to find themselves caught in a blizzard as soon as they came within range. I could almost hear Lady laughing. She might not be able to throw snowballs, but she was far from being helpless.
Howard had discovered another trick. He realised that he could actually fling up a torrent of snow as if he were trying to bury something in it. Well he was -- Simon.
Lunchtime came with steaming hot mugs of beef broth and bread rolls which were more than welcome. Wet clothing, including shoes and socks, was shed outside the kitchen door and a happy gang of people sat in front of the fire in the lounge -- so did two dogs once Fergus and Luke had dried them.
Janet stood in the doorway and surveyed us contentedly. While we had played, she had worked. The beef broth was a by-product of the huge steak and onion pie that she had made ready for dinner, and the cooking had followed making of beds and fetching in more logs from what she called the woodshed, meaning a sort of box affair - very like a grit bin, but with a tarpaulin front-- that leaned against the wall of the cottage. A woman's work is never done, they say, but what she had really been manufacturing was happiness, and she stood in the doorway and beamed delightedly as she surveyed the fruits of her labours.
The broth being supped, and mugs collected by Janet we all rested contentedly. Fergus and Simon both appeared to have dozed off. I was seated on the floor with my back against a corner of Fergus' armchair, in order to leave the sofa free for Simon and Geordie. The latter simply lay back and planted his bare feet in my lap. I was not displeased with this but pretended to concentrate on the game of chess that Peter and Luke were playing on the hearthrug. Peter had clearly noticed this and had placed one of his feet in my lap, using his toes to tickle the sole of one of Geordie's feet. Neither acknowledged this, Geordie pretending to be asleep, and Peter apparently concentrating on the chessboard.
Sensing that nobody had objected and content with what Peter was doing, Geordie moved his other foot closer to my chest. I absent-mindedly put an arm across his leg and began gently massaging his foot.
Does that sound gay?
Well two of the three people involved in all this interaction were undoubtedly gay, but no. What we were doing had nothing to do with sex or eroticism, and everything to do with love in its proper sense. We were not IN love, but we loved one another in the way that Jesus told us to and being relaxed and comfortable with one another was all a part of that.
After an hour of relaxing and, in some cases, napping, we stirred into life again. Luke and I helped Janet with the washing up and Fergus chopped more logs to fill up the woodshed. Simon and Geordie, aided by Peter, started digging out at the front of the house to where we had last seen the Landrover. They found it eventually and uncovered one side of it so that they could get in and start the engine. It started on only the second attempt, so Geordie ran it for a while to try to build up some charge on its battery.
All that brought dinner-time and we sat down to steak and onion pie with mash and peas, though I'd never seen peas cooked the way Janet cooked them. What a precursor to spotted dick and custard.
After dinner all four boys got wrapped up and leads were attached to both dogs. It was time for them to escort Geordie back to the station.
Once they were gone the radio was on again. Fergus found a concert on Radio three that we all sat down and listened to.
We didn't listen for more than half an hour before the gang were back, minus Howard, Simon and Geordie.
"Jonah! Geordie's missed the last train," Peter shouted excitedly, "so he says he has to walk back to Aviemore. He says can we ring his mother to let her know he'll be late. Simon's taken Howard so he didn't have to walk on his own."
"The wee fool, why didn't he come back here, " Fergus demanded. "It'll take them hours to walk to Aviemore. It's almost freezing out there and there's more snow coming."
"I'll get after them," I said. "It's too risky letting them walk all that way in this weather."
"Take Lady if you think you can stop them," Fergus replied.
"No, she could slow me down. I'll take a torch. I know neither of them have got one."
"I'll ring Aviemore Station." Said Fergus. " They need to know there's people on the line. Especially ones without lamps. You'd have thought volunteers would know better."
"Best have a word with Geordie's mother too," I told him. "Tell her what's happened and that it isn't safe for him to try to get home. Did he give you her number Peter?"
Luke handed Fergus a scrap of paper.
"I told them you wouldn't like it, "he said.
I heard no more, as I closed the kitchen door behind me. I was glad we'd cleared a path as I scramble up the bank to the line. There were no lights on the railway. The station was in darkness. I began walking at a fairly rapid pace, trying to fit my steps to the ballast between the sleepers. Wooden sleepers, I knew, would be slippery. It sounds easy, but a spacing of twenty-four sleepers per sixty feet does not amount to a natural stride. I was performing a rapid waddle, like Charlie Chaplin in a silent movie.
Surprisingly the rapid waddle did lead to fast progress. In no time I was through the platforms, and that was where the going got harder. The torch allowed me to move faster than the boys would be able to, but they had a good start on me. More to the point the wind was biting now that I had rounded the curve South of the station, and there were snowflakes in the air. Suddenly it was even more imperative to avoid stepping on the sleepers. After another hundred yards or so the sleepers changed to concrete ones, but that wasn't an improvement.
I don't know how much more ground I covered but it was impossible to see more than around ten feet ahead or behind, and the torch made little difference to that. The snowflakes were whirling fast and it was no longer possible to see where the sleepers were. Since it was flat-bottom rail the fastenings weren't visible to give any clue either. The front of my coat was thick with snow, and I suspect that my face wasn't much better.
There was an excited bark somewhere near at hand and within a few seconds a snow-coated mongrel bounded at my chest.
I took hold of his lead.
"Where are they Howard?" I said. "Come on boy. Let's go find."
After another unknown distance I found two snowmen.
"Jonah!" said Simon. "What are you doing here?"
"I've got a good reason," I replied, "but I'd like to hear your excuse."
"He was looking out for me," said Geordie, "just like you said he would."
"You're a railway volunteer too Geordie." I told him. "You should both know better. Here you are in the dark, in foul weather, on a main line, in the four-foot, not a handlamp between you and there's not a signalman anywhere that knows you're here. What sort of railwaymen does that make you?"
"Very poor ones," said Simon weakly. "After Howard ran away we didn't even know which direction we were walking in. We had to keep kicking the rail to make sure we were still in the four foot, so that we didn't fall down the bank."
"Well you know which way you're going now," I told him. "No more talking -- walk!"
"I don't know if I can," said Geordie.
"I'm feeling faint too,"
"Well it was your bright idea to come for a stroll down here, so now you can walk back again," I told them. "It'll no doubt slow me down if I have to kick your backsides back to Carrbridge, but I've a dog with sharp teeth here, who'll doubtless help."
It was indeed a slow business but move they did. Within a few hundred yards there was a glow through the fog of swirling snowflakes. It took a few more strides to discern that the lights of Carrbridge Station were on.
"On the platform lads," said a burly policeman as we drew close to the ramp. "Ye'll be lucky if Network Rail do not sue ye both for trespass. Ye're both old enough to know it's illegal to trespass on a railway. Here, have a drop of this."
He poured some steaming liquid from his Thermos, into a cup. Geordie and Simon both sipped gratefully.
Howard was in conference with Lady.
"I think ye've frightened them enough, Rabbie," said Fergus, dropping a blanket around each boy's shoulders.
"Well we'll see," said the constable. "Are ye sure ye're OK to put them up Fergus?"
"They'll not be going anywhere else," he replied."
"Aye, well," said the constable. "Ye'd best be on your way then. I'll wait till ye're clear o' the platform before I turn the lights off."
As soon as we were in, Fergus set about drying down both dogs. I would have sat on the sofa, but Luke was asleep on it.
"He insisted on sleeping there," Fergus whispered. "He said the sofa would fit him better than it would either you or Geordie."
The two older boys were at the kitchen table, swathed in blankets.
"Janet has put hot chocolate in these flasks" said Fergus. "She says ye're to have it before ye go to bed. Did you want something stronger Jonah?"
"No," I said. "That'll be fine. Is Peter in his own bed?"
"Aye, and Simon can join him. You take Geordie up. Will you be OK with that?"
I didn't answer for a few seconds, causing him to add sternly:
"It's a serious question Jonah."
"Good," I replied. "Because I'm feeling serious. I've still got some serious talking to do to both of these boys."
"Aye, well you'll have to do that in the morning."
TO BE CONTINUED