Westpoint Tales

by Kiwi

Entangled Tales - 35 - Crispian

"Jeremy? Our Jeremy? Jakie's brother! Sit down, Mr. St. Clair. Sit down. Butch get this man a drink. You want tea, Mr., or a soft drink? We've got no beer. Don't have beer here anymore."

"No beer, Ma? Really?"

"No beer. I told you, Justin, there's going to be changes around here. They can have a beer, but not in the daytime and not inside my house."

"Wow! Radical changes, Ma."

"Yes. Take them by surprise and hit them hard. That's how it goes isn't it?"

He grinned and shook his head. "You're amazing, Ma. You really are."

She smiled back and reached out and squeezed his hand. "I'm trying, Justin - I had a good teacher. Butch, where's these bloody drinks?"

"I wish you'd get yourself a proper servant, Ma."

"Maybe I will. After you get yourself a proper job."

Crispian frowned, not understanding a word of these exchanges. Then he brightened as Ma turned back to him. "So, Mr. St. Clair, tell us about Jeremy. What was he doing in London?"

He took some papers from his suit-jacket pocket. "I have his death certificate here, his passport and the birth certificate - it shows his parent's names etc."

"Mr., if Justin says this Gemmy is our Jeremy, then he is. We don't need any more proof than that. Justin, sweetheart, would you get my husband's photos from the walls in the lounge please. There's a wedding photo and a couple of others."

Justin went into the living room. Crispian watched him going. "You think a lot of that young man, don't you, Mrs. Carver?"

Ma's hard face softened as she replied. "You don't know the half of it Mr. St. Clair. Justin can do no wrong around here."

Butch put the mugs and the teapot down on the paper. "They call him Superboy, because that's what he is - he's a boy and he's Super."

"Now, Mr. St. Clair, about Jeremy?"

They spent a couple of hours there, talking and hearing about Jeremy. By the time they left the house was full and overflowing with members of the huge Carver family - there were far more than thirty of them.

Billy had arrived with his mother and their family, but Justin and Billy were only able to get a couple of minutes together alone. They parted reluctantly but promised to talk on the phone later. Both were looking forward hugely to their planned adventure on Monday.

Crispian left, promising to return the next day, and he drove Justin around to the Adelphi Hotel. He parked where directed, in the car park out the back, and Justin led the way into the busy kitchen.

"Hello Grandmother, Granddad. Everyone."

Kathleen peered at him, "Hello, ah - green - Justin."

Crispian frowned, he didn't understand this exchange either.

"Grandmother, this is Crispian St. Clair. He needs a room for a few days."

"Oh, does he now? I'm sorry Mr. St. Clair, you'll have to go somewhere else. We're full up at the moment."

"I'm sorry too. Can you recommend another hotel where I could go?"

"No. You're not going anywhere, Crispian. You can stay here. Grandmother, you really want this guest - he's from London and he's a count. That's right isn't it?"

"Indeed, yes. But it's no big deal really."

Kathleen, a devoted royalist, queried, "Really? Is that right? Are you really a count?"

"Yes. Ah...Mrs. Reynolds is it? I am a real live count - or 'compte' to call it by the proper name. Not that it means much really. It is just an old family title that I inherited when my father passed away. Just the title, no money came with it unfortunately. My ancestors were refugees who fled from France at the time of the Huguenots. They arrived with the title, but left their money behind I'm afraid."

Nevertheless, Kathleen was impressed - as Justin had known she would be.

"But still - a real live aristocrat standing here in my kitchen! Fancy that. I really am sorry now, but we just don't have any empty rooms at all. I wonder, Robert, could we get someone else to move out/ We could get them a room at the Westpoint Motor Hotel or somewhere."

"Grandmother, there's no need for that. Crispian can have Jonathan's room. He never uses it anyway."

"Jonathan's room! That's a good idea. Do you think he'd mind? We could move his stuff out for a few days. It's not our best room, My Lord, the boys have that one - but it is one of our better rooms."

"I don't want to be any trouble. It would be best if I just went elsewhere."

"Oh. It's no trouble at all, My Lord. Jonathan won't mind - he sleeps with Justin anyway."

"Jonathan sleeps with Justin?"

"Yeah, of course he does. Jonathan's my brother, my twin. We always sleep together - it's another long story."

"Well then, if you're sure it's all right with everybody, Jonathan's room sounds fine. And - you don't have to call me 'My Lord' - it's only a grace and favour title from an old dead French system. Crispian is my name. Just call me Crispian please."

"Oh, I couldn't do that, My Lord. Certainly not. I'll go and prepare the room for you."

"I'll do that, Grandmother. I'll go and change the bed, move Jonathan's gear out and clean up. It'll only take a few minutes. Why don't you give 'My Lord' a drink? I'll be back soon."

"You can't sit here in the kitchen, My Lord. If you'll come through to the dining room, I'll get the fire going in there."

Crispian smiled, pulled out a chair and sat down. "The kitchen looks much friendlier to me, Mrs. Reynolds. I'll just sit here, if you'll take pity on a lonely traveller."

"Of course! Sit there. I'll make you some tea. We have Earl Grey, I think." She started searching around. "Lisa, get some cups from the dining room would you please."

"The boy, Justin. He's your grandson, Mrs. Reynolds? A fine young man. You must be very proud of him."

"You could say that," said Bob sitting down at the table. "We are a little proud of our grandson."

"Don't talk rubbish, Robert! A 'Little' proud, indeed! Justin is a wonderful young man and I would think that even if he wasn't our Grandson. He's practically perfect and sometimes I'm so proud of him I feel like I could burst."

"Kathleen's a little in love with the boy," said Bob smiling broadly. "Everyone is. So what brings you to Westpoint, Crispian?"

They sat around the table and talked. Crispian, Count St. Clair, told them his story - about Gemmy, ("Jeremy Carver! Jakie's twin brother!!"), and a little of his life and history in London.

Justin returned and Crispian was duly installed in Jonathan's room. He joined the family for their evening meal in the kitchen. Kathleen compromised by laying a small table-cloth in front of His Lordship, and giving him only the best silver cutlery and the fancy dishes from the main dining room. She served her best bottle of wine with the meal. Jonathan missed out as he wasn't eating at home. Justin had Orange Juice.

After dining, Crispian went with Bob into the public bar. He had a couple more white wines, but then went to bed early as he was still really tired. "Don't ever let them tell you that first class passengers don't get jet-lag too. It simply isn't true."

Justin spent the evening watching DVDs with Claire, Carl, Lucas and Dee. Jonathan was out 'til late with Claudette (or Lana?)

Next morning, Crispian showed up at the kitchen door shortly after 7.00am, and asked if he could come in. Of course he could! He was sitting there by the heater, drinking coffee, when Bob came in.

"Morning Lordship. You're up bright and early aren't you?"

"Yes. Good morning Bob. I've been awake for ages. The body clock's still all out of synch. Still, if I can stay awake all day, I should be right by tomorrow. I've already been out for a walk. There's runners everywhere, in the park and all around the streets. Is the whole town mad on running?"

"No. Not really. Just the silly buggers. There are a lot doing it though. It might be partly Justin's influence."

"Justin runs does he?"

"Oh, yes. He hasn't been recently because of his injuries. But now he's got the cast off his leg, he'll be away again soon. If you stay around long enough you'll see. Justin loves to run, and he's fast! He runs like ..."

"Robert!"

"I was going to say he runs like Superboy, on speed. Nothing about a rocket stuck anywhere."

"Just see that you don't, Robert."

"I think I get the picture anyway. So he's really fast?"

"He's fast - world class, our boy. Anyway, it's more likely than everyone's training for the Gorge Marathon, that's coming up soon. My days of running in that are well and truly over."

The boys came in together, dressed identically and no dark glasses anywhere in sight.

"Good morning Boys. Sit down, breakfast's ready. What the plan for today then?"

Jonathan grinned, "I'm going to MacDonalds for lunch. It's a nice day for a drive down the Coast Road, so we're going to cruise down to Brownsville and back."

Justin said, "We? Who's we?"

"Lana Shaw, Claudette Storer and me - that's we."

"Lana and Claudette. Both of them?"

"Yes, both of them. Why not?"

"Bit greedy aren't you?"

"Just keeping up the family average - Gayboy!"

"Cheeky Sod."

Kathleen interrupted, "Okay. Okay. Don't start. And what are you going to do, Justin?"

"I don't know really. Billy will be in to stay, later. I suppose I'll go and hang around the Square until then and see what happens."

"Why don't you take his Lordship around to see Emily Lewis sometime. I'm sure she'd love to meet him, and the rest of her family too. I've never seen a family so mad on music and performing. His Lordship has had years of experience working around the West End theatres in London, and in the record industry too."

"Sounds interesting. I'd love to meet your friends, Justin. But first, I promised Mrs. Carver that I'd come back there for a while. Perhaps we could meet back here at lunchtime? And, Mrs. Reynolds, I do wish you'd call me Crispian. The Lordship sunk years ago."

Later, Justin and Billy took Crispian around to meet the Lewises and he was a huge hit with the whole family - except the father who was away fishing. Mrs. Lewis was fascinated with his stories about the musicals. Claire wanted to know the celebrity gossip - he was a bit out of touch, but he did know the gossip. When he sat and started fiddling with Peter's audio equipment, Peter was instantly star-struck.

In the end, Justin and Billy left them to it, and they went for a walk out to the beach.