Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:50:01 +0000 (GMT)
From: Nathan Me <nathan7new@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Luke 1

'LUKE' by Nathan

Email address nathan7new@yahoo.co.uk

My stories are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nathansstories/

This story contains material of a sexual nature and describes sexual acts
between adults and children. If you find this kind of material offensive,
if you are under the legal age to read such material or if it is illegal in
your country, please do not read any further.

My stories may contain some factual or autobiographical elements, but they
are works of fiction and any apparent similarities of my characters to real
people are not intended.

This story is protected by copyright. It may not be downloaded, copied,
printed or otherwise reproduced in any way other than for your private
enjoyment and may not be changed in any way without express written consent
of the author, me!

I hope you enjoy this story.


Luke: Chapter 1

UK Map Link showing location of Crewe, Cheshire
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=crewe&ie=UTF8&z=6&ll=52.456009,
0.197754&spn=6.268433,22.016602&om=1

In the 1970's, Crewe, a small industrial town in Cheshire, in the northwest
of England, survived because of three main employers: the Railway and
locomotive yards; Rolls Royce and, finally, The Welcome Foundation, part of
the Welcome Pharmaceutical Group. The Welcome Foundation had offices in the
grounds of Crewe Hall, and many of the Foundation's official functions,
including the Christmas party for the employees' families, were held in the
Hall itself. Set in over 500 acres of historic parkland, Crewe Hall was a
stately Jacobean home, dating back to 1615.  It was built by the Earl of
Crewe to impress and entertain on the most lavish scale, and was owned for
many years by the Queen as part of the Duchy of Lancaster. In its heyday,
there were 20 gardeners and over 100 household servants. The Hall boasted
elaborate reception rooms and 26 bedrooms, including the Royal Suite where
King George V and Queen Mary stayed in 1913.

During the 1970's, wave after wave of redundancies left the town with high
unemployment, low hopes, and increasing social unrest. One particular road,
Badger Avenue, was so poorly cared for that even the tarmac patches in the
road's surface had potholes, and you drove along it at your own risk. The
town council had no money to invest in repairs as this was before European
regeneration money became widely available. Even Crewe Alexandria, the
local football team, languished at the bottom of the fourth division, with
little hope of ever rising. There were plenty of parks for the children to
play in, and one even had a big lake where you could hire a rowboat. Many
of the middle-class and wealthier inhabitants lived in the surrounding
towns and villages, like Sandbatch or Nantwich, nearer to the M6
Motorway. There were some modern suburbs and some inner areas, like
Heathfield Avenue off the Hill Town, where there were large Victorian
Villas occupied by the 'Old moneyed families', but Crewe was definitely a
town in decline.

Beech Street School stood at the foot of the hill, almost on Vernon Way. It
was a junior school for children between 7 and 10 years old. Once children
reached 11, they went up to either the Grammar School, if the passed their
11plus exam, or the local Comprehensive School. Beech Street School itself
was a Typical Victorian brick building, with tall rectangular windows in
symmetrical rows. At one end of the ground floor there was a tunnel that
gave access both to the main entrance and the rear playground. A few feet
in front of the four-story building were old style, black painted, high
metal railings, each with a spike at its tip. The architecture was
utilitarian and bleak, making the building look more like a mill or factory
than a school. It was a forbidding building for the small children who were
compelled to attend there each day. One of these children was Luke
Harrison.

At 10 years of age, Luke was a small child. His thick black mop of hair
always needed cutting and made him look like a little ruffian although, in
reality, he was a very gentle child. This disparity was frequently the
source of much angst, as other children often judged him by his looks and
thought he'd be up for a fight. They seemed to want to fight with him, even
if he had never even spoken to them. He invariably came off worst, with a
bloodied lip or even a broken nose, torn jumpers and trousers and many
bruises. It was because of this that his teachers and parents had come to
believe that the quiet gentle persona they witnessed in the classroom and
at home must somehow vanish in the playground, to be replaced by a
barbarian urge to fight and get into trouble. But they were wrong, and Luke
had to suffer this injustice just as he suffered the physical abuse from
the other children.

His one friend was Evan. Evan was tall and wiry, with brown hair and
eyes. Evan tried in vain to defend Luke at school, but he was no fighter
either and often ended up in just as much trouble as his friend. They sat
together in class, hung around together in the playground and walked home
together until they reached the Hill Town at the top of Beech
Street. There, Luke turned onto Heathfield Avenue, but Evan carried on to
one of the rows of terraced homes that provided the vast majority of
Crewe's housing.

Luke's home was a four story Victorian terraced villa, with a huge garden
in the rear.  At the end of the Garden were six mature apple trees that
provided copious amounts of eating and cooking apples every summer. In the
shade of the trees was his pet rabbit's pen. The rabbit was named Hutch.
During the summer, Hutch had free run of the whole lawn, as all around it
was a high brick wall. At the end of the garden there was a back lane, but
it ran about four or five feet below the level of the garden and the wall
went all the way down, thus eliminating the possibility of the rabbit
digging it's way to freedom. Each afternoon, when Luke got home from
school, it was his job to feed and water Hutch and on weekends he had to
clean the pen and refill the bed space with hay. Next to Evan, Hutch the
rabbit was his closest friend. When he and Evan were playing in the garden,
Hutch would chase them around and try to nip their heels. If the boys lay
on the lawn, Hutch would come and perch on top of one of them, king of the
castle. If Luke took his jumper or shirt off and dropped it on the grass,
hutch would burrow his way in and go to sleep. Hutch was the third member
of their gang.

Luke had refilled Hutch's food and water containers and was teasing the
rabbit on the lawn; waiting until he hopped just close enough to nip the
heel of his shoe, and then jumping forwards a few steps. Hutch would hop to
keep up, but as soon as he came close, Luke leaped again. This game went on
for 20 minutes or so, until Luke's mum, Helen, called from the house. He
headed back into the kitchen and on the table was a glass of milk and a
warm scone his mother had baked that afternoon. Helen was an excellent
cook, and Luke couldn't get enough of her scones spread with butter and
jam. She ruffled his thick black hair and sat down next to him with a cup
of tea. She asked him how school had gone? What had he done today? His
answers were normally just one or two words. She was frustrated by his
reluctance to enter into a real conversation, but then she reminded herself
that he was a 10 year old boy, and that was what 10 year old boys were
like, or so her friends told her. The Doctors had told her that, after the
traumatic labour she had suffered with Luke, it would be unwise to have any
more children. Helen would have liked to have a daughter too, but she took
the doctors advice, as he seemed so earnest. So Luke was her one treasure.

Once Luke had finished his scone, he went to his room, changed out of his
school clothes, and went out to call for Evan. They would zoom up and down
the cobbled back lanes on their bikes until it was time to go in for their
dinners. Some times they were allowed to stay at each other's for dinner,
and a couple of times they had even had a sleepover. Evan liked staying at
Luke's because Luke's bed was a three-quarter, whereas his own was just a
single and a bit cramped for two boys to share. Luke had loads of Lego
too. They made boats, spaceships, and racing cars. They had little plastic
soldiers and the Legos became bomb blasted buildings and secret bases. Evan
would bring his own Action Man and, with Luke's two Action Men, The Lone
Ranger, Tonto, and another Action Figure that didn't seem to have a brand
name, the bed became a mountain the figures had to climb.  A string tied
from a shelf to the leg of Luke's wardrobe supported a paper clip bent
around the figures' outstretched hands, and allowed them to zip down at
terrific speeds. The boys had fun together.

Each night around six, Luke's step dad, James, would come home from
work. He worked for Welcome, out at Crewe Hall. He obviously had a well
paid job, as their house was big and well furnished and, although Luke was
not his son, he spent time and money on the boy. James drank a little too
much and had a bit of a temper, but his bark was worse than his bite. He
never once hit Luke or his mum, even when he was drunk. Sometimes, the
neighbours could hear him shouting but he was always sorry when he sobered
up, and Luke knew he would get some new toy or treat to make up for the
previous night's bad temper. It wasn't so bad. Evan's dad had been made
redundant from the Loco works. He'd never done anything else, going
straight from school to work in the rail yard when he was fourteen. Evan's
mum, Sue, worked in the newsagents up at Hill Town, but things were tight
and tempers were always close to the surface. Evan tried to spend as much
time out as possible, and that meant time with Luke.

Tonight, Luke's mum had cooked a roast chicken, potatoes and carrots. James
covered everything with too much HP sauce, and she wondered how he could
ever tell what he was eating, but he always complimented her cooking and
she appreciated that. In most things he set a good example for her son, and
she appreciated that too.  James had come along just at the right time. He
had worked with Luke's real dad before the accident. Her first husband had
been run over by a hit and run driver and no one ever found out who had
done it. James had been there as a friend; he had sorted out the company's
'in service' insurance; he arranged the funeral; and he'd even been the one
to tell Luke when he picked him up from school because his mother was still
at the hospital. She had fainted when the doctors had told her there was
nothing they could do; her husband was going to die. James had been a
constant support for over a year after her husband died, and no one was
surprised when he eventually asked her to marry him. They were engaged for
six months and so, just over eighteen months after the accident, they were
married and Luke had a new dad.

Luke liked chicken. He even liked the skin if it was roasted crisp. His mum
sometimes basted it with honey and butter and then it was even nicer. After
dinner, the family usually settled in the family room to watch an hour or
two of TV before they sent Luke off for a bath and then to bed. His mother
always ran the bath and checked that it was warm enough. She always checked
his ears and nails before he put on his pjs and then tucked him into bed
with a kiss on his fore head. Life wasn't perfect, but Luke was happy. He
had family. He had friends and his bed was always warmed by a hot water
bottle before he got in. He fell quickly into a deep sleep.

More to come...