by Paul Rice
It was fours hours later when the young couple returned. The others had long since finished their meal and had kept some steak sandwiches on hold for the two riders. Well, they turned out to be ‘walkers’ actually. Hearing the back gate creaking, Jane, who was relaxing on the porch with the other three, looked up in time to see Red and Tori walking out of the darkness. They were pushing the old bike back to the house. As they neared she shouted: “Hey, are you guys OK, did it break down?” She heard Mike snort derisively next to her. The couple pushed the machine up to the porch and Red leaned it against the balustrade.
He grinned up at them. “No ma’am, we were having such a fine time, it’s just that, well… I forgot to put any juice in her!” He patted the tank with his hand. It made a nice hollow sound.
Tori laughed. “It’s as empty as our heads, but we had such fun! We went everywhere and we had just the best time! The old girl only ran out just down the path, so I guess that we’re lucky?” Her eyes reflected the burning coals of the small blaze of the smouldering barbeque. “Yes, I think I just had the best day of my life!” Tori turned to Red and touched his arm. Her touch made his eyes shine, too, but their gleam didn’t have much to do with any glowing fire, well not the one Mike had lit anyway.
Red looked at Mike and said, “Mike, uuh… do you mind if’n I give this here machine a name, sir?” Mike said he should go right ahead. Red looked up at them and said, happily: “Well ma’am,” he looked at Tori, “I was thinking of naming her Glory: ‘Tori’s Glory’. What do ya’ll think?” His face beamed in the flickering light. Tori shrieked with delight, clapped her hands and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on his cheek – it was about then that Red’s face mad a damned fine attempt at drowning out the red firelight. The on looking adults laughed at the name, and also at the reactions of the young ‘couple’.
It’s the way in which Jane had already started to think of them, a couple. She said, “Red, that’s a lovely gesture, Tori is such an unusual name anyway, Tori’s Glory it must be then – it’s brilliant!” Red and Tori grinned up at her, and then together they pushed the old grey Harley into the barn before returning to be with the others on the porch. Jane fetched some food for them, and with tales of Red and Tori’s adventures, accompanying the heaps of beef and mustard sandwiches, they wound the day down to a close. After clearing away the remnants of their meal, and collecting her paintings, Maggie said it was time for them to depart.
“My goodness me, look at the time young lady! Goodness, these fine folk must be waiting to see the back of us, come along my dear. Tomorrow’s another day?” Tori gathered her things and accompanied the old woman down to the car.
They all said their goodbyes, during which Jane reassured them: “You’re more than welcome to come by anytime, anytime at all!” They stood and watched as Maggie turned the car around and drove slowly down the track, its headlights making deep shadows run like wild animals from the car as it bumped its way back to the main road. They watched the lights slowly fade into the distance, and when they had disappeared completely, Jane turned and said, “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m completely done in! It’s this beautiful fresh air I think – it makes me so tired?”
“Yeah, that and old age, they knock the hell out of you, don’t they?” Ken said, squawking in fake agony as she poked him in the ribs, then laughing loudly, husband and wife made their way over to the comfort of the big bed in the RV.
Within minutes the farmhouse was in almost complete darkness, only the shadow of the Barn Owl disturbed the silver moonlight cascading over the land outside. She had a growing family to feed and the silent predator made the most of the welcome light, many rodents would feel the sudden pulse of air that night. But, once the rush of her wings is felt, that sudden beating pressure from above, then it’s too late, far too late. Death rides in the rush of those silent wings.
In the distance, beyond the hills, the storm clouds were gathering. Big, black mushrooming clouds began to rise menacingly in the invisible air as it lifted like a barrier from the warm earth below. Eventually they would have their way and sooner or later the clouds would breach the top of the hills, breaking free from the clutches of the hills to run down the valley – their coming would cover everything in a sinister cloak of darkness.
The clouds weren’t the only dark thing approaching through the night: billowing smoke and crashing gears signalled the coming of another type of blackness, a different kind of darkness altogether.
It raced towards the farm with only a cloud of blue smoke and a half empty bottle of cheap rye for company. Oh, a big chunk of madness had hitched a ride with it as well, just for the hell of it. And, rather like the beautiful owl, their passing also caused a rush of wind, a hot blast of thick, oily wind. It, too, carried death upon its wings.
Chapter 27 - Gifts
Over the next few weeks the relationship between the young couple blossomed like the proverbial flowers in spring time. They became constant companions and were very rarely apart. The only periods of separation, which they endured, were during the working week. Maggie ensured that Tori earned her keep and kept the headstrong young lady gainfully employed alongside her good self in the shop.
Red, in the meantime, had his hands full on the farm. Mike had decided it would a good idea to get the old windmill back into some kind of working order, the three men had no previous experience at such a project but, as Mike had said: “It’s only a machine, guys; just some bits of wood, a few cogs and a couple of drive-shafts. How hard can it be?” And that was that, it became an obsession for all of them, the second of Red’s, and they worked tirelessly at it. Ken spent hours up to his knees in mud and water as he cleared out the overgrown and collapsed water channels. It wasn’t long before the old mill began to regain some of its former glory. Jane was delighted by the idea and helped them in anyway she could. Ken didn’t let her do any heavy lifting or other strenuous tasks, even though she brushed off his concerns, he knew that she still wasn’t fully healed and had seen her occasional wince of pain when she didn’t think anyone was watching. A lot of the time, Jane simply took a hamper of food down to the mill and then happily sat and painted all day. She had begun to realise what the scribbled note on the back cover of the map had meant.
‘Look and you will see��’
Jane had been looking, and she did see – she saw a whole lot. She saw the beauty of the farm for a start; it had thrown off the dirty veil of neglect and washed away the mantle of bitter poison, which it had worn for the best part of sixteen long years. It seemed to flourish, and in doing so rewarded them in many pleasant ways. The gardens were growing magnificently, the lake teemed with fish, and even the house itself seemed to have taken on a different persona. It felt happy and alive. Which, just so happened to coincide with exactly how Jane herself had begun to feel, sitting and looking at the men as they worked, she could see their surroundings were also having a positive effect on them, too. All three were lean and tanned; the sweat glistened on their naked torsos, sinews and muscles standing out sharply as they manoeuvred yet another heavy oak beam into place. Sitting in the warm sun she watched them and smiled, as she did so, Jane knew this moment in their lives had been decided long ago, it was the way things were supposed to be. Knowing that helped push the fear of an unknown future to the back of her mind. “One day at time, just enjoy it and let’s see where we end up, shall we?” She marvelled at the easy way in which the thoughts trickled through her mind, but she knew it was the truth.
Every day after lunch, Mike would take Red into town and drop him off at the store. Maggie had said that he may visit whenever he chose and Jane had struck up a deal with her. “Let him come, but you should get him to help out, Maggie. He’s a big guy and I don’t see that having him moping around like a love sick puppy will be achieving anything?”
Maggie had looked at her knowingly. “Ah, Jane my dear, you are so wise and so forthright as well; it’s the perfect solution, actually I could do with so
me help. The big boxes are getting too much for me and Tori’s up to her eyes with the accounts. Yes, yes he can be of use and I’ll pay him for his time, after all, he’s a man now and should be learning the value of work?” The deal was done: Red would work at the store, where he could be with Tori, and he would have some money in his pocket, too. Every evening after the store closed, he and Tori would wander down to the ice cream parlour where ‘Big Tony’ did the most amazing hot chocolate fudge Sundaes, and then, once she had cashed up, Maggie would join the couple for a while before taking them back out to the farm. The short journey became a regular thing and they all looked forward to meeting up every evening.
They became so regular that Ken had asked someone from the town council if they objected to him constructing an extension to the house; the middle-aged man in the Mayor’s office had looked at him as though he thought Ken had maybe been out in the sun a bit too much? He smiled, and said, “Well sir, it’s young Dwayne’s place, and since his Daddy ain’t aroun’ to say otherwise, yo’all can build whatever it is you need, as long as it’s only a dwelling and not some commercial thang, then yo’all can build right up to the road, if’n you want to?” Ken laughed, shook his hand warmly, and then made his way straight over to Frank’s hardware store. He had a big order in mind. And so, with the completion of the windmill project… it now happily spun it’s newly painted sails whenever the slightest breeze conjured up… they set about the task of building somewhere more permanent to live on the farm. The plan would be for a small self-contained extension to be added on the side of the original house. Once completed, Ken and Jane would occupy it and leave the motorhome for their guests, Maggie and Tori, to use whenever they came to stay. It was a grand plan and was soon underway with plenty of able assistance in the form of the frequent arrivals of Frank and his green, flatbed delivery truck.
Red had turned sixteen; at least they guessed he had as no one was really quite sure of the actual day? Maggie dug out an old newspaper clipping, which mentioned the death of his mother, and between them they ‘guesstimated’ the date of his arrival in this world. Red laughed at Jane’s slang and said he didn’t really mind, either way. “I ain’t ever had a birthday before anyways?” He said, with a shrug of his enormous shoulders. The three women looked at each other; between them they decided to change all that and threw a rather grand surprise party for young man. On the day, it was to more than half the town that came by. Mike ensured they parked behind the barn so all the vehicles were out of sight, and Ken put on the biggest roast pig one could have imagined. He and Mike had spent long hours hidden in the barn figuring out the design of the spit-roaster. With some welding and a bit of ‘good luck’, as Mike called it, they had manufactured a giant device on which to impale the celebratory carcass. Come the happy day, Ken had taken Red into town on some false pretext and then returned to help prepare the festivities. The look upon Red’s face, when he arrived back at the farm and stepped out of Maggie’s car, was one to behold. The entire front of the house was draped in ribbons and balloons and the previously barren driveway had now been laid with a thick covering of fresh, white gravel. In the middle lay a large bonfire that blazed away beneath the huge steel frame as it stood in readiness for the spit roast to be laid.
Red stood there with his mouth open. “What!” He turned to Tori as she stood grinning by his side. She wore tight blue jeans and a white blouse, the heels on her boots easily propelled her height to six feet and with her black hair hanging loose, she looked stunning, as usual. Still smiling, she reached in to the Mazda and gave the horn a good blast. Hearing the signal, the guests burst forth from their hiding places within the house and the barn. Running over, they all gathered around the stunned young man and then burst into the obligatory birthday song, even managing to keep it going all the way to the: ‘Hip, Hip Hoorays!’
Their congratulatory tunes made Red even more embarrassed. “I… I… well, thank yo’all kindly, I mean, you gone and done all this for me, gee… I mean…?” He never knew what to say, and Tori only made it worse by reaching up with her graceful neck and planting a long kiss straight on his lips. It was the first time that she had kissed him that way, in public, and all the guests applauded warmly.
Ken shouted from the porch: “Let the party begin!” And so it did.
Red was totally amazed by the array of wonderful gifts their friends and neighbours presented him with. There wasn’t one person there who didn’t know about the young man’s previous problems and they were all happy for him. Every one of them gave him a hug and spoke words of congratulations and well wishes to him. It was almost too much for Red to comprehend.
Jane caught up with him as he sat on the steps of the veranda with Tori next to him. “Hello there, sweetheart, is everything OK with the birthday boy?” She squeezed in next to them and took his free hand in hers. “This is what life is supposed to be like, Red; you do know that don’t you, love?” He looked down at her and Jane saw he was very near to tears again.
“Yes ma’am I do, it’s just that, well… look at all these folks, look at all these presents!” He motioned with his head towards the mound of gifts, which lay piled on the table behind them. “Why are people so nice, why am I so lucky all of the time, why is all of this happening to me?”
He looked at Tori and then turned back to Jane, who still sat on his left. Jane said, “Because, Red – you are a very special young man, very special indeed! A lot of people are depending on you, and your presence here makes a difference to us every day.” She smiled at him and then rose to her feet. “Just you enjoy this day and make sure you become the good man that I know you are. Otherwise all this will have been wasted?”
He nodded. “I will ma’am, I owe people a lot and I like my life right now, I want it to be like this forever!” He grasped Tori’s hand and they both looked up at Jane again.
“Well then,” she said. “That’s all we can ask for isn’t it, that’s more than enough.” She climbed onto the porch and made her way inside to catch up with some of their guests. Midway through the evening, Ken gathered everyone onto the porch and announced that Mike had something to show them. As they stood in the glow of the large fire, which he had stoked up after the pig had become nothing more than a pleasant memory, Ken called Red and Tori over; they went and stood next to him as he stood with his back to the flames.
Red looked at Ken, expectantly. “What yo’all gone and done now, there ain’t no more surprises, are there?” His excitement once more allowed some of the mostly absent twang to have a return to his deep voice. Ken nodded his head to where Mike was walking out of the shadows. Red looked over and watched – Mike was pushing the old Harley, only it didn’t look so old anymore and it most definitely wasn’t grey, either. Mike had been in the barn working on the bike for the past few nights, Jane had been there with him, painting as normal, but this time it wasn’t watercolours that she had been using, and the motorcycle had been her blank canvas. She’d done several trips into the nearby towns and eventually managed to gather a large box filled with primers, paints and lacquers. As Mike pushed the bike into the light of the fire, the results of their labours could be seen more clearly.
Every nut and bolt had been cleaned and polished; the springs and cables, levers, grips and foot pegs, all looked like new. Even the ancient spokes had received some of Mike’s magic. The motorcycle rolled effortlessly on its freshly greased bearings as Mike brought it to a halt in the centre of the driveway. Red stepped across and, holding Tori by the hand, squatted next to the machine to look at the paintwork. The bike was mostly black and red in colour, Jane had managed to get it so the paints seemed to melt into each other and it looked really great, but the tank was something else – Jane had painted a mural upon its tear-drop shape and it was simply stunning. The mural depicted a scene of Red and Tori.
They were riding a fire breathing white horse that rose onto its hind legs and was pawing at the air with its front hooves. Tori sat clutching Red around the waist, w
ith that long black hair billowing out behind her, she was pointing over his shoulder at the sky above them. Red had a grin on his face and was also looking up at the sky. The blood red horizon had a green tinge to its outer edges, and was also speckled with tiny dots of light. The real Red saw that his image was gazing up at a strange spaceship, one that seemed to be bursting free from the clutches of a spinning black whirlpool. All around the ship were beautiful pictures of planets and stars. Red knelt and looked at them in awe. The final thing, which Jane had done, was to paint the bike’s name down each side of the tank. It stood out in deep red letters and seemed to have been highlighted with some amazingly translucent, green paint. Tori whispered: “Oh wow!” and then reached out to stroke her fingers across the words as they lay in magnificence on the side of the petrol tank.
‘TORI’S GLORY’
’
Tori stood, walked across to Mike and then kissed him on the cheek; he pushed the hair back from her forehead and gave her a gentle, brotherly kiss on both cheeks. She and Mike had a certain ease with each other and, just as he was with Red, Mike easily wore the mantle of the older, caring brother for Tori as well. Jane had seen them together and Tori seemed completely at ease when in the company of their tall friend. Actually, if the truth were to be known, Jane had encountered some other thoughts regarding the handsome couple who presently stood looking into each other’s eyes. Thoughts she perhaps shouldn’t have allowed to enter her head, scandalous thoughts that would have done any weekly women’s magazine proud – thoughts that were nothing more than shallow, baseless, and spiteful, – but when she had seen them together, walking along the banks of the lake, shoulders rubbing and heads turned towards each other as they shared some deep conversation, Jane wondered about them. They had an easy way with each other and on the odd occasion when she had seen them glancing at one and other, there had been the sense of some shared secret lying beneath the surface of their casual friendship? Tori did seem very much in love with Red, but… Mike was an extremely good looking guy, and Jane knew that he had a way with women. Shaking off those silly thoughts, she turned back to the fire and watched the proceedings