Westpoint Tales

by Kiwi

Lost Years - 6

Nicholas & Conrad

Daniel, Tony and Jinks were on the bridge into town, pushing Jink's small, but fully-loaded, truck. Daniel and Tony were at the back and Jinks walked beside the open driver's side door, steering and pushing at the same time.

Plenty of cars went past on the busy road but no-one stopped to help until Billy and Justin did.

"Get a horse, Jinks!" Billy pulled up beside them.

"I'll push! I'll push!" Jeremy struggled to escape from his booster-seat.

"You stay where you are," Justin glanced back at him. "We'll give them a tow. Are you going to the racecourse, Jinks? We'll tow you. Right, Billy?"

"Of course we will. There's a rope in the boot, I think."

Jinks said, "Thanks Guys. Yes, of course we're going to the racecourse, I'm not taking a load of straw to the house. But, do you think that this little old thing can handle it?"

"Don't you be cheeky about our car! At least it goes."

"Yeah, that's because the Master Mechanic hasn't worked on it yet, have you Tones?"

"Hey, it's not my fault. It was going, I don't know why it's not now. I'm not a master mechanic - yet. I'm doing a course by correspondence. I'm a country member."

"Oh, we remember," Jinks grinned. "How could we forget?"

"Shut up, Jinks." Daniel defended his mate "He did his best."

They hooked up the rope and easily towed the truck across town to the racecourse. Jeremy wanted to ride "on the hay" but wasn't allowed to. It was too dangerous.

"It's not hay, Son. It's straw. Right, Jinks?"

"Right, Justin. They eat hay, straw is for the floors. The horses will eat straw if they're really hungry, but not usually. Straw is for them to sleep on."

"Yeah, they crap all over it too. Dirty buggers!"

"When you've gotta go, you've gotta go."

"That's all very well," said Daniel. "But then some poor sod has to clean it all up."

"Yeah," Jinks sighed. "That'd be me. Sometimes I think that I should go back to fishing."

"You bloody will not!" Justin said and the others all agreed.

They towed the truck through the flat streets of Westpoint, tooting the horn to warn traffic that they weren't going to stop at the intersections. They got plenty of toots in return, and laughs and waves.

They left Jinks, Daniel and Tony at the racecourse stables and drove home to the Adelphi. It was past time that Jeremy had his bath and went to bed.

Justin and Billy lay, one on each side of him on the bed, and Billy read a story, because it was his turn. Then they kissed him goodnight, told him that they loved him and told him to go to sleep.

They watched TV in their room for a while, but there was nothing on worth watching so they turned out the light and went to bed early. (Not necessarily to sleep).

"Thank you, Sunny, for taking us out today."

"My pleasure, Sweetcheeks. It was a good day."

"It was. I love you, Sunny."

"I know. I love you too."

Billy woke in the morning and he was alone in the bed. That was nothing unusual, Justin didn't seem to need as much sleep as other people and he usually ran every morning.

He poured out of bed and headed down to the kitchen and the coffee-pot, but first opened the connecting door to check on Jeremy. He wasn't there, the unmade bed was flat and empty.

Where would he be? Not with Justin, much as he'd like to, he was still too little to run with him. Billy went down to the kitchen and Jeremy was there, sitting on his grandfather's knee and holding court.

"Is that boy behaving himself?" Billy growled as he poured a coffee.

"Yes, of course he is," Bob replied. "You boys worry too much. Jeremy's a good boy. Aren't you, My Darling?"

Jeremy smiled sweetly and wrapped his arms around his grandfather's neck.

"He's a bloody little con-artist, that's what he is!" Billy drank a mouthful. "He's got you lot all totally fooled."

"Well they do say that love is blind," Connors said. "And everyone's in love with the boy."

Billy sat in a chair and agreed, "They are. Jeremy, come and give me a cuddle."

Jeremy hugged his father. "I love you, Daddy."

"Yeah, I love you too, Scamp - I love you very much."

"Morning all!" Justin came in through the back-door. "It's a lovely day."

He bent and kissed Jeremy, squeezed Billy's shoulders and was gone - upstairs to shower and change.

As it was Monday, it was Billy's turn to take Jeremy to pre-school for the morning. They stopped, as usual, to run off some energy in the kids' playground in the Square, and then walked across to the kindergarten in Russley Street.

As soon as they went in there, Jeremy was gone to play with his cousins and Billy was left to sit and talk to Lana. Monday was normally Claudette's day at pre-school, but not today, she was too sick. Apparently, Jonathan had offered to stay home from work to look after her but she wasn't THAT sick, and, besides, it was all his bloody fault, wasn't it!

After "school", Billy and Jeremy went around to Ma's for lunch and stayed there for a couple of hours.

Justin went to his wok in the Adelphi's small office. He had a degree in accountancy, (Bachelor of Economics), done from home by correspondence, and had taken over all the accounting and office work for the family's businesses - the two hotels, the River Bridge Motels and Burgertown Backpackers. He also supervised the accounts for Billy's Burgers and the R&R business.

They all called him the 'Chief Accountant', because he was the only accountant, but he had 2 girls to assist him. Actually though, he spent most of his time planning and studying. The work was not onerous. He was still quite hopeless with computers, but he'd learnt what he needed to know.

Kathleen was meant to be taking it easy now that Justin had taken over the manager's role, but she was totally incapable of that. She was very involved in several clubs and service organizations around the town. She'd joined the Croquet Club, as a player, and had finished up running the place.

Bob said that his Kathy just needed someone to boss around, which was fine with him as long as it was somebody else.

Kathleen's favourite job, whenever she could, was looking after Jeremy when his fathers were busy. Sometimes she got Jonathan's kids too, which was a bonus.

Billy worked for Billy's Burgers, sometimes in advertising and promotions, but mostly as a counter-hand. He enjoyed it and, besides, it was worth it just to see people's reactions when they saw who it was that was serving their burgers.

Justin got a phone-call just after one o'clock. He'd had a few calls, but this was the one that he'd been waiting for - it was from Ross and Robert. They'd been talking to Nicholas, they sat and ate lunch with him and told him what he needed to know.

"You were right, Justin. He is a nice kid. We don't think he's got a nasty-bone in his body."

"He said that he envies us. He wishes that he was Superboy's brother. Superboy is great!"

"Yeah, well! Thanks, Guys, I appreciate that."

"No probs. We love Superboy too."

"Shut up, Ross."

Justin told the girls that he was finished work for the day, and he left. He walked up Brigham Street, but didn't go into the Square, he was on a mission. Further along, he turned into Eastman's Road and walked along to Nicholas' mother's house.

He knocked at the door, and Mrs. Awatere-Jones appeared, still in her nightwear and dressing-gown. She was not a pretty sight.

"Oh. It's you. What do you want?"

"We need to talk, Mrs. Awatere-Jones. Can I come in?"

"In here? Oh, all right then. Come in the kitchen, I need a drink."

He followed inside and sat at the table while she put the kettle on and rinsed-out the teapot and a couple of cups.

"Tea?"

"Yes, thank you."

She put the teapot, 2 cups without saucers, sugar in a jar, and milk in a plastic bottle, on the table and then sat down. He noticed that a 'shot' of something went into her cup, but he said nothing. He poured himself a cup of tea - no milk, no sugar.

"All right, here we are. Talk to me."

"Mrs. Awatere-Jones, I'm gay."

She snorted into her cup. "You think that's news to anybody?"

"No, I guess not. Not around here. I'm gay but I'm not interested in your son like that, definitely not. I live with my partner, Billy, and our son, and I'm very happy with that. We've been together for years now and we always will be.

I would never do anything to risk losing all that we have. I met Nicholas, properly, for the first time on Saturday night. I like him a lot, but only as a friend. I'm very aware that he's only 15 and I'm 6 years older.

I have all the relationship I'll ever need, but I do need friends, everybody does."

"Yes. Well. Okay, I suppose you're right. Nicholas could certainly do with a friend."

"He's got friends and he'll make more. He's a nice kid."

"He is a nice kid, but he's Special Needs, you know."

"So you said. That doesn't worry me. I like him."

"I guess that I said a lot of things. I was a bit pissed."

"Lots of people were. It was Saturday night and a party night..

"Damm! It must be right. I've heard that you're too good to be true."

"No I'm not. I'm just me."

"You're one of a kind."

They sat quietly, facing each other across the table, sipping on their tea and thinking.

"What then? If you're so happy in your life, what do you want from Nicholas? He's getting big, he's very tall for his age, but he's still just 15 and very young with it."

"That's cool. I just want to be his friend, that's all."

"You've got lots of friends, all over the whole bloody town."

"I have, and that's good, but I'll never have too many."

She sighed, "Nicholas has got no friends, not a bloody one! They all think that he's a Dummy."

"I don't. I know what it's like to be young and friendless, I've been there. Now I've got plenty because someone once reached out to me."

"And that's what you want to do for Nicholas?"

"Yes I do. I'd like to see him make some friends of his own age and I'll help him to do that, if I can."

"Well good luck to you! If you can do that, then you really are Superboy. I think he's gay you know."

"He thinks so too, he told me. Would you have a problem with that?"

"A problem? No, I don't think so. But the poor kid's got enough problems without that."

"If he is, then he is, and it doesn't have to be a problem, it's not for me."

"No. But then, you're Superboy. Nicholas is no Superboy, he's a . . "

"Don't say it. Don't even think it! He's not. He's Nicholas, he's your son and he's a thoroughly nice person."

"Yes, I think you're right. He is a nice kid. It's a shame that no-one ever sees that."

"I see that. Other people are starting too. I think we can help him, if you'll let us."

"All right then! I'll let you. I'm dammed if I know why you'd want to, but Nicholas needs a friend. I'm going to trust you. Don't let me down."

"I won't let you down. I won't let Nicholas down. He's my friend and I like the kid. Thank you."

"Bloody hell, Superboy!" She shook her head. "Thank you! What do you get out of this?"

"I get a nice kid for a friend."

"Yeah, you do."

They talked a while, and then Justin had to go, time was getting on. She came to the door and shook his hand as he was leaving.

"Thanks, Superboy. If you have any trouble with Nicholas, let me know and I'll boot his backside."

"Thank you, Mrs. . . ah, Donna. There won't be any trouble."

He walked back to the school, arriving there just as everyone was coming out. A lot of kids greeted him. He smiled and waved and looked for Nicholas.