Westpoint Tales

by Kiwi

Entangled Tales - 47 - Daniel & Tony

Early in the morning, they rolled out of bed and went for a run out to the beach - down Derby Street, left into Coach street, passed the row of small beach-side cottages and out to the river mouth.

As they ran along Daniel was jogging easily, keeping his pace down to match that of the sweating red-faced boy next to him.

"Man, Tones. You're making hard work of it. There was a time when you could run rings around me."

"Don't worry," he puffed. "I will again too. I'm just a bit out of condition, that's all."

"Just a bit, yeah. But, keep this up and we'll soon sweat those extra kilos off you. You're getting plenty of exercise now with the running, the dancing and a bit of the other."

Tony grinned. "A bit of the other? Yeah. I like the other. We need to do lots of that."

"Don't worry, we will. Lots of the other. How's your arse this morning anyway?"

"A bit sore, but it's a good hurt. You stretched me, Danny. When did you get to be so big?"

"Just growing. I'm no bigger than you are. You stretched me too."

"I thought Toddy would already have done that. Is he just a little boy then?"

"Toddy's big enough, you'll find out. I think he's just not as enthusiastic about it as you are."

"Oh yes! I can't wait to find out. I want to plough his paddock too."

"Oh yes?" Daniel laughed. "We'll plough Toddy's paddock together. Speaking of paddocks, you see all these horses here?"

"Horses? What horses?"

"Shut up Tones. Those bloody great things there - they're horses. Toddy says that proves that Westpoint's not a one-horse town."

"No, it's not. I really love Westpoint, it's a great town. I wish that I could live here too."

"One day, Tones. One day you might. After we've finished school and you can leave home, we might live here, or Auckland, or Sydney, or London or somewhere. Who knows where we'll be? But Westpoint's pretty good."

"WE might live here? Are we going to live together, Danny? Always?"

"Of course we are, aren't we?"

"Are you asking me to marry you?"

"Yeah, okay. Will you marry me Tones?"

"No."

"No? Why not?"

"Because we're already married, you twit. My life is yours, your life is mine. Always has been."

"Always will be. I love you, Tones."

"I love you more."

"Do not."

"Do so."

"You can't."

"I can and I do."

They ran on down the kerbless tar-sealed road.

"What's that big building up ahead of us?"

"That's the fish factory, where they process the fish. They cut them up and I think they make fertiliser out of the guts and stuff."

"What's it doing away out here? Why didn't they build it down at the wharves where the fish comes in?"

"Because it stinks. Nobody wanted that smell at the end of the main street. It's bad enough out here when the wind's blowing in the wrong direction. Upsets the natives."

"Fish stinks all right. You know the story about Adam and Eve? Well Eve anyway."

"What's Eve got to do with it?"

"When they were living in the Garden of Eden, God came looking for them one morning and he couldn't find Eve anywhere. Then he found her, sitting waist-deep in the river and washing herself. He rushed up to her and shouted, "What are you doing? Get out of there! Don't sit in the river, you'll make the fish stink."

"Tony, that's disgusting. How do you know what women smell like anyway?"

"I don't. Brother Brian told me."

"Yeah, well. He'd know for sure. Carpet-muncher. Smells fishy to me."

"That must be where that saying comes from. Smells fishy - smells like a fanny."

"I'm glad you don't smell like that down there, Tones."

"I ain't no woman."

"You can say that again, Boy."

"I ain't no woman."

"Shut up Tones."

They turned off onto the narrow gravelled road that twisted and turned, up and over the small hill - the other end of the railway embankment? As they ran up there, a car came speeding down towards, coming out from the beach.

Tony stepped off the side of the road, and, grabbing Daniel's arm, pulled him off with him. The car shot past and away back into town, leaving them standing there in a cloud of dust.

"Wow. You're my hero Tones - Superboy Mark two."

"No I'm not. Justin is Superboy. Just call me Fatman - that's us Fatman and Throbbin'."

"And I'm Throbbin' ? Better than that, I'll be Bobbing." And he sang, (badly), "When the Red, Red Robin comes bob, bob, bobbing along."

"Shut up Danny. I'll do the singing."

"You surely will - there's nobody better."

At the end of the road they stood looking at the small beach between the two rock walls, one long, one shorter.

"They call it the Shingle Beach, but don't ask me why. There's hardly any stones on it - just sand. Come over here."

He walked over to the shorter wall on the river side, went along a bit and climbed up on a big flat-topped rock.

"Sit down, Tones. Welcome to my rock."

"Your rock? What makes it yours? I don't see your name on it."

"No. Not yet. Maybe when I'm rich and famous they'll put my name on it. Like those historic places plaques you see around. This is where it all started for me."

"Where what started for you?"

"Where my new life started. I'd been here in Westpoint for three days and nothing was going right. I was thoroughly miserable. I'd lost everything, my gran, my home, my Tones. Then Toddy came along, sat down and started talking to me and my new life began."

"Thank goodness for Toddy then. I think that when I'm rich and famous, they can put a plaque on the end of George's bed, 'cos that's where it started for me."

"Okay then. But make sure my name's on it as well."

"Okay. Mr. and Mrs. No, Mr. and Mr., that could work."

"Works for me."

"Yeah, works for me too. How come there's no waves on this beach? I thought the West Coast was known for its wild surf beaches."

"Look around you. This is just a river beach really. The real beach, and the surf, is on the other side of the tiphead over there. Come on, on your feet. We'll go over to the beach, run up to Derby Street along there and go back and get cleaned up. Then we'll go around to Peter's.

Peter opened the door when Daniel knocked. "Hey Guys. Come on in. Come and see the comedy in the kitchen."

"Comedy in the kitchen?" Daniel queried as they followed him in.

"Yeah. Dad's trying to teach Jay to flip pancakes. He's bloody hopeless, aren't you Big Guy?"

Jay looked around and grinned at them. He was standing by to the stove, next to Peter's laughing father, a small dough-caked spatula in one hand. Dressed in his usual black t-shirt and black jeans, he was splattered in the pancake mixture from his bare feet to the specks in his black hair.

"Hey Guys. Want some pancakes?"

"Hey Jay. What are you doing - you're covered in the stuff."

"We're having a bit of trouble here. Stuff flies everywhere when we do manage to flip them over."

"We? What do you mean, we?" Peter's dad laughed. "Peter's right. You're bloody hopeless, Jay. I give up. You're even splattering the stuff on me. I think we should forget about the pancakes. Make toast, if you can manage that."

"We're having pancakes." Claire pushed her father and Jay out of the way. "I'll do them. You can go and get yourselves cleaned up and then somebody had better clean up this mess before Mum sees what you've done to her kitchen.

Honestly, Jay, you should sign up for the Justin Reynolds School of Cookery. He's bloody hopeless too."

Mr. Lewis stood back, wiping his hands with a dish-cloth. "Well I did my best, but I'm not cleaning up the mess. You'd better learn to cook, Peter, or you two are going to be in trouble. Hello Daniel, and, " (extending his hand), "You must be Tony. I'm Don Lewis, call me "Face"."

"Hello Mr., umm, Face?"

"That's it. Claire, I'm going to clean up. Call me when breakfast is ready. I hope you've got some clean clothes with you, Jay. I've never seen anything like it. If Justin's worse than you, then he must be really bad." He left, shaking his head and laughing.

"Jay, you're just spreading it around and making it worse!" Peter took the cloth off Jay and proceeded to clean him up himself.

"You'll cook for me, won't you Elf?" Jay grabbed Peter and hugged him.

"Get off me you messy beggar! Now you've got it all over me as well. I need a clean shirt now. Come on, let's go and get changed. We won't be long, Guys. Sit down, talk to Sis."

Daniel pulled out a chair for Tony, then sat down himself.

"Don't worry about any for us, Claire. We've already eaten."

"Okay. Hello Tony, I'm Claire. How do you like Westpoint so far?"

"It's great, really great. If you're Claire, then you must be Justin's friend. He talks about you all the time."

"Does he just? Nothing nice I hope. How is the boy? I haven't seen him since I got back."

"Justin's fine, I think. We haven't seen much of him since I got here. Claire, umm, does Jay keep some of his clothes here?"

"Jay leaves his stuff everywhere. You've never seen such a messy kid. He sleeps here two or three nights a week and he's always leaving things behind. We think he's moving in in stages."

"Really? Two or three nights a week?"

"Yeah, about that. Peter stays at his place on the other nights, usually."

"They sleep together every night?"

"Yes, basically. Sometimes they have a night apart, but not usually."

"But, doesn't that bother anybody? What about your parents? And Jay's parents?"

"Of course it doesn't bother anybody. They're not hurting anyone. Jay's parents like Peter, we love Jay. They're happy, so there's no problems."

"Wow. That's amazing. I hope my family will be so understanding."

"Understanding? Of you and Daniel? Man, I'm surrounded by them - gayboys everywhere. Maybe I should dump Carl and get myself a girlfriend? No, I don't think so. I'll stick with Carl.

Look, Tony, my brother was a sad and lonely little git before Jay came along. As far as I know, Jay was much the same. Now they're together, they're happy, schoolwork's improving and they're not just lovers, they're friends, they help and support each other. Everything's good and no-one's complaining about that.

Maybe they won't last. Who knows? Maybe Carl and I won't. Maybe Mum and Dad won't either. But I think Peter and Jay will, they're a good couple and so sweet the way they look out for each other.

So, Peter says that you're a star. Are you the singer that Whozzat's been looking for?"

"No, not me. I wish I could, but I'm just a visitor here, I've got to go home next week. Speaking of which, Danny, we'd better go and book a flight back. Is there somewhere in Westpoint where we can do that?"

"We'll do it online tonight. If we can get John and Grant off the computer that is."

"Danny?" Peter asked as he came back in.

"That's Mr.O'Brien to you, Peter Lewis. Danny is my name for him. Always has been."

"Always will be." Daniel finished.

"Okay, Mr. - ah, Tones, isn't it?" Peter picked up a cloth and started wiping up the splattered pancake mix." What a bloody mess, Jay. You should clean this up yourself."

The doorbell rang. Peter looked around.

"See who that is, would you Guitar-man? It's probably the girls."

Daniel went and opened the door, to find Toddy standing there, grinning at him.

"Hey,Guitar-man. Forget something did you? Or somebody?"

"Oh shit, Toddy! I'm sorry, we forgot all about you. Come in here."

He pulled him inside and pushed him back against the door, closing it.

"I'm sorry." Daniel kissed Toddy on the lips. "Forgive me?"

"'Course." Toddy kissed him back.

They sprang apart when a hand landed on each one's shoulders. "Jay!"

"Hey Toddy. I didn't know that you were playing on our team. You're a bit greedy aren't you, Guitar-man? I thought you were with Tony now."

"Shut it, Jay. Tones is my friend, my best friend."

"Yeah well. Looks like Toddy's pretty friendly too."

Jay led them back into the kitchen. "You guys want some pancakes?"

Claire waved the spatula at him. "You stay right away from the pancakes, Big Guy."

"You leave him alone, Sis." Peter pushed her hand back towards the stove. "Hey Toddy. How's it hanging?"

"None of your business," Toddy and Jay both said together. Then they hi-fived each other with a grin. "Snap."

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis came back to the kitchen. Peter took Daniel, Tony and Toddy through to the living room to listen to the music he'd downloaded the night before.

Kadie, Shelley and Sandie all arrived together and joined them in there. Peter turned on the tape of California Sun and left them to it while he went back for his breakfast.

Crispian came into the room while they were listening and Tony sat and grinned at him throughout the rest of the song. When the song finished, Crispian said, "That's it, people. What do you think? Why are you grinning at me, Tony?"

"This is a joke - right?"

"No. It's no joke, that's the song I'm thinking of. We just need to change a few words."

"Crispian, it's crap. It is a joke. You guys can do what you like, but I'm not singing that garbage. I couldn't keep a straight face."

"I don't know what you mean, Tony. I think it's a great song. Play the other version, Sandy - the one by the Ramones."

This time they all sat and looked at Tony while he laughed out loud.. "Yes! See? Those guys knew it too. They knew it's a joke, they're laughing at it."

"What do you mean, Tony? No-one else thinks it's funny."

"But it is. Listen to it - bouncy, bouncy bouncy - like one of those balls bouncing along on the sub-titles of an old singalong movie. It's utter garbage. But it's none of my business, I'm not part of Whozzat. I'll go and leave you to it, but if you record that, you'll be a joke too."