Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 21:24:56 +0000 From: robert goater Subject: Tommy 1923/5 Thank you for the comments received all very much appreciated Now, dry your eyes and send a donation to nifty. thanks. ____________________________________________________________________________ A thick cloud of fog. ____________________________________________________________________________ Lord Hunter Morton stood tall and did not show his own emotion. He had been bought up never to show it and now was one of those times that the British stiff upper lip must not fail. Bloody stupid, but it helped Tommy not to show his own emotion. Tommy had no recollection of the next few weeks except he knew he was working and carried on as best he could. Only his master knew what he must be going through, but all thoughts were towards Hunter Morton and not Tommy. Of course they knew he and William were good friends and expressed their sadness at the loss and left it at that. Tommy had to deal with it on his own and it was a terrible struggle. He could not confide in anyone, not even his family who gave him support in that they had all lost a good friend and had no idea that their son and brother had lost the boy he was so deeply in love with. What did help Tommy in a way was for him to think solely about his Lordships loss. He was completely alone now as his wife had died and now his daughter and grandson. Having rejected Cornwallis, he had nobody left. His whole world was in tatters. Tommy could only marvel at his sheer will power in that he carried on with amazing control and would not allow his personal loss to show. They all knew it was an act, but Tommy was sure he would break down in private. That's what he did anyway. The weeks went by as though he was in a permanent thick cloud of fog. The only good thing was he knew his job inside out and he just carried on and pretended he was not anymore effected by the death of William than everyone else on the staff. What nobody knew was for many weeks he slept on a tear sodden pillow. "Hi there. May I look around?" Tommy looked up and saw his first American. "Yes of course help yourself." He was looking at a 6ft well built man who he guessed would be about mid twenties. Not handsome, just an ordinary man with a pleasant face. "I'm Simon Freeman. Nice to meet you." He held his hand out which Tommy held and shook. "I'm Tommy Torrent Under Gardener to his Lordship. Nice to meet you too." Simon Freeman seemed a nice person and Tommy showed him around the greenhouse. No. 5 greenhouse that Tommy loved to work in and for obvious reasons. They chatted for some time and after a while Tommy thought he could ask the question that was on his mind. "Obviously you are American and you are not in the war. My I ask what you are doing here or am I supposed not to ask?" "Well it's sort of uninteresting really. I am just a driver for the American contingent here. There are a few of us as you most probably know. It's a sort of advisory role they are offering. Other than that even I don't know what they are doing here. I just drive them to wherever they want to go and then back." It was the 6th of December 1941, the day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Tommy was now 17. "Would you mind if I come to visit again?" Simon asked. "That will be fine, just wonder around as you want." Simon thanked him and went back to his driving Tommy assumed. America declared war on Germany and Japan and although there would be terrible losses during the next few years it could be said that it was the beginning of the end for both of those countries. Simon showed up a few times over the next couple of weeks and Tommy learnt that Simon was in fact a boxer, but his involvement in England put a stop to a career that was going no where anyway. However he did offer Tommy the chance of training in the make shift gym in the basement of the Manor which Hunter Morton said they could set up. "I would never had made it professionaly Tommy, but I am a very good trainer and I can tell you having some boxing skills behind you, you will never have a problem with other guys trying to fight you. Interested?" It seemed a great idea if for no other reason it would give Tommy something to take his mind off his own private situation and at least he could beat the shit out of a punch bag! Simon was usually free by 7pm most nights and they arranged to start meeting in the gym in two days time and for the next two months Tommy was taught the basics of the art of boxing and after a lot of positive comments from Simon, he improved every time he trained. Simon also gave Tommy a fitness programme which not only improved his strength, but also his physic. After another couple of months he was twice as good and his sparring with Simon was bringing about a reasonable fight. Tommy was beginning to become more settled and although he was still tremendously effected by the loss of William he was fighting to get some sort of life together. Another positive thing in all this was he got to like Simon a lot as he was such a nice person and they were becoming good friends. It was nice to have something normal back in his life. Tommy was seventeen and a half when Simon fixed up his first real fight against a unit of Americans not far from the Manor. The result was a win for the American, but only by points and Simon was more than pleased with Tommy's performance. "Tommy that guy is good and you gave him a good fight. Next time you will win, but only after I tell you what you did wrong." For the first time in months Tommy was able to laugh. Simon was true to his word and after another months solid training Tommy won his next fight by a knockout in the second round. That was followed by four more fights, the first of which Tommy found out what it was like to be knocked out and after Simon gave him a punishing period of even more intensive training he fought and won the other three, one by a knockout and the other two on points. Tommy was more than pleased with himself and Simon hugged him! His boxing had come along so well Simon entered him into the inter forces championships due to take place in a months time. "This is as big as it gets for the time being Tommy and I know if this was peace time, you would eventually go on to box professionally." Tommy would have no more training or boxing under the guidance of Simon. It would come to a dreadful end. Oberleutnant Horst Muller was a bomber pilot in the Luftwaffe and stationed in the north of France directly south of Poole in Dorset in the south of England where there was an RAF base who's Sunderland sea planes were part of Coastal Command and patrolled the Atlantic searching for and attacking U Boats. Muller was one of six Dornier's who were to attack the base on this particular night and took off at 9pm. The flight over the channel was good with no enemy aircraft to trouble them, yet. As he approached his target Muller found himself in trouble as his port engine began to over heat and he had to throttle back and therefore went out of formation with the other aircraft and fell well behind. He had to think fast, go on or turn back. Going on had it's obvious problems in that his port engine could pack up or turning back meant an inquiry as to why he did. Suddenly his luck changed as the engine spluttered a few times, the blockage in the air intake somehow got free and changed the whole situation and the aircraft settled back down and they flew on. Muller had no way of knowing that an RAF night fighter had engaged the other bombers and two were shot down, the others jettisoned their bombs and got the hell out of there. Muller's luck was about to change again as he flew directly into anti aircraft fire and was hit in the starboard engine and damaged the ailerons and most of the flying control had gone. The crew knew they would not make it back, but to make matters worse they were not high enough to bail out either. Muller fought to gain control, but it was impossible and realised it was his last day on earth and as he lost more height he and the crew screamed out their last as the aircraft slewed to port and crashed 15 miles from their target, but still managed to inflict some devastation on behalf of the Fuhrer and his third Reich. Muller and his crew died when they crashed onto a small English farm cottage. All 6x500 kilo bombs blew up and ended the lives of Tommy's entire family. Tommy was woken by the explosion which was heard all over the estate and far beyond and wondered what the hell had happened and knew someone was in trouble. He tried to settled back down, but could not get back to sleep. Lord Hunter Morton was standing at the bottom of the servants stairs as Tommy went down to go to the kitchen for breakfast and the first thing that came into his head was that his Lordship looked really out of place and then he looked at him again and the same expression was on his face and in his eyes when he came to the greenhouse to tell him that William had been killed. He managed to get to the bottom of the stairs as if in slow motion, staring at Hunter Morton all the time willing him not to say his next words. "Tommy I am so sorry. Come to the study, please." Hunter Morton would never call Tommy, Thomas again. An hour later Tommy still sat in the same chair he had sat in when he and William thought they were in for a bollicking all those YEARS(?) ago. He was not only sobbing his heart out for the loss of his family, it could now, finally, include William. There was no funeral, there was no one to bury and so the entire village and everyone from Edward Hunter Morton's farms and estates gathered in the church or stood outside for a memorial service to the Torrent family. Tommy sat with Edward and once again the fog surrounded him. The village people paid their respects to Tommy for his loss, but at the same time realised that they were not as safe as they assumed they would be living as they did in this quite back water of England. All they hoped was that there would never be another disaster as happened to the Torrent family and knowing full well it had been a total fluke. "All I am asking of you Tommy is to give it time and think about what you have said. You are too young to join the Army anyway and your contribution here could not be more important, my dear boy." They were sitting in the drawing room after their evening meal and Edward knew he was loosing this argument. Hunter Morton had moved Tommy into the main house. It had been a month since the destruction of his family. "Thank you my Lord, you have been more than kind, but I must go for all the reasons I have said. I just know that I will be of some use fighting than being safe here. There is no one left of my family and I include William in that and if anything happens to me at least I will be back with them." Tommy told Edward he would try to join up in two weeks and he would like Edward to support that decision. "As much as I don't want to, you know I will Tommy." Simon came to see him as he worked in one of the gardens and wished him good luck. "You are off tomorrow then Tommy?" "Yes Simon. Thanks for the training, I maybe a bit useless right now, but what you taught me i'm sure will come in handy one day." They shook hands and a very sad Simon left Tommy and would never see him again. Simon also thought Tommy was the same as he was and had hoped their friendship would have got closer. He had grown to like Tommy, more than very much. Edward saw Tommy off on the train that would take him to Bournemouth where the nearest recruiting office was and shook his hand as the train pulled in. "Now my boy just take great care of yourself and look after that pocket watch do you hear?" Edward was trying to be light hearted, but felt dreadful. He had asked Tommy to look after the watch he had given to him by his father many years ago. It was a handsome piece, an English Fusee made in 1867 and told Tommy it would keep him safe, just how he thought that he had no idea. He handed Tommy an envelope as Tommy got on the train and wondered if he had seen Tommy for the last time. Tommy in return once again thanked his Lordship and stayed at the window as the train drew out and remained there until it turned a bend and his Lordship went out of sight. He opened the envelope and found the letter from Edward and the wonderful words written. They will remain private to him, but there was one more surprise for Tommy as he counted the 20, one pound notes, an absolute fortune in those days. As I have said in the preamble, how long is a short story? Tommy's recruitment into the British army and all that happened to him in the next few months is a book in itself. During the first three months of training Tommy came to realise that joining the Army and lying about his age by 6 months to get in anyway was the best decision he had ever made. Given his personal loss he knew he would brood and suffer greatly if he was still at the Manor, but now he was in the Army and in a completely different situation he did not have time to think of anything except trying to keep up with the demands of becoming one of His Majesty's newest recruits. It was a mixed beginning and he got a lot of stick from the gentle drill instructors and nearly went deaf as they bawled him out for getting his left and right feet mixed up as well as his left and right arms. Marching and rifle drill was not Tommy's best of performances, but better things were to come for him. They did a lot of physical training and that was one area he excelled being as fit and strong as he had become and with Simon's input was far ahead of the other recruits. Once they were told to put boxing gloves on and within 10 seconds his apponent was flat on his back. Two more followed suit and the rest made excuses to find a way of looking the other way in case they were called into the ring. A week later he was boxing for his unit in inter forces competitions and won the lot. Simon he knew would be impressed. The rifle range was another area Tommy excelled at, not that he knew it until the first time he pulled the trigger. The only thing he had ever fired off was his cock and since William had been killed he had not gone near it except to piss and wash. He had taken special note of the training before the actual firing began, after all that's one reason to join up and a pretty important one at that. He laid in the correct position, aimed, controlled his breathing and pulled the trigger to the first position and after correcting his aim, fired. "Fucking fluke. Try that again Torrent." Nine rounds later you could cover his shots with a side plate. "Good shooting Torrent, you are either a good shot or lucky. Load another 10 rounds and carry on in your own time." Tommy got the same result. Things were said about him without him knowing it, they were all being assessed. Tommy did not think anything about it when he and a few others were taken to the range a lot more than the others in the Company, but realised they were all very good shooters. They were all in their billet one afternoon cleaning up for a full inspection later that evening when the door open and the smallest private soldier came in loaded down with kit bag, full back pack and side packs. You could hardly see him he was so small, but what he lacked in height he made up in mouth. "Where's a spare fucking bed then?" Private Lee Thompson had made his entrance. "Over here mate." Tommy called out. "I'm no fuckers mate." he said to Tommy and dumped his kit on the only spare bed. "You aint fucking homo are you? I don't like homo's. Any of them cunts in here?" Great start Tommy thought. "Shut up and get on with it." Someone shouted out. "We got inspection in two hours. "Fuck the inspection and fuck the cunt who inspects!" Tommy began to feel sorry for the Germans! Private Lee Thompson of course failed the inspection and was charge with lack of attention. But charged again for telling the inspecting sergeant to stick his inspection up his ass! But what really made him really unpopular was the whole billet were told they would be inspected again at 05 00 the next morning. Thompson got 10 days confined to barracks and spent most of it cleaning the shit houses and painting white lines on curb stones. It did not make much difference though as he could not keep his mouth shut for longer than a minute anyway and every time he opened it something stupid came out. Tommy continued to impress on the firing range and even more so as the distance got greater and was now getting good results from 200 to 400+ yards. Next to fire was the Bren gun. Just a brief note about that weapon. The Bren was the main British Army's light machine gun and fired 30 round magazines. It was not the best weapon of the war according to the "experts." I know differently. The Bren was very reliable, light, accurate and in the right hands, deadly. Tommy liked it a lot. Once again Tommy did very well and in fact every bit as good as he was with the rifle. His future role in his Company was already being discussed. So was Thompson, but in a most unexpected way. Driver. As part of their training they all had to either learn how to drive or be assessed to their skill level. By now they had been issued with the American jeep and it's value is already well documented. A brilliant little vehicle and it's fame assured for all time. Tommy was useless and had to undergo driving tuition, but Thompson on the other hand was amazing. He was brilliant and even impressed all those who could not stand him. It turned out he was in fact a professional driver and drove for a top racing club as well as train in the engineering side and was a brilliant mechanic. If it had not been for the war he would have gone on to better things. After his first session he was also being discussed. Thompson's mouth continued to get him into trouble though and he made enemies. The 30 men in his barrack room had by now got used to him and mainly ignored his foul mouth and stupid opinions, but the rest of the company was not so tolerant. Tommy had become quite fond of him actually and wanted to try to help him curb his mouth, but did not know how to go about it. One thing for sure was Tommy found this small tornado very attractive which if nothing else showed Tommy he was coming to terms with his losses and even found he was getting a hardon again when he went to bed. The first time he saw Thompson naked in the showers he saw an 18 year old who was for him a delight. Just 5ft 5, slim as you can get, but lovely to look at as every thing about him was in great shape. He of course was not muscled, but what he had just responded every time he moved, which was most of it. The one thing that Tommy could not keep his eyes off was his wonderful cock and that amazing cute ass. His cock was dead straight and 6 inches of beauty with a lovely bush of fair hair above it. His balls hung very low and would swing every time he moved which did Tommy's own cock no favours what so ever. Lee Thompson was a difficult shit, but Tommy just wished he could get closer to him, not sexually because that was definitely off the menu, but as a friend. Lee did not seem to have any. Private Lee Thompson managed to piss off the guys in the next billet to his when he walked into it after a shower one morning by mistake. Typical of him he was not paying attention and as all billets looked the same he would not be the first guy to go in the wrong one. No body ever took much notice of it except this was Thompson and when told to fuck off he of course could not keep his mouth shut and opened it. The days training had finished and after cleaning boots and webbing as well as other equipment they all began to go off for showers before climbing into bed. Thompson went off and Tommy thought it a good time to go for his shower and also giving him the opportunity of seeing a naked Thompson again. He undressed and wrapped his towel around him and got to the shower block just in time to see five guys beating the shit out of him. To be honest this mini man was giving as good as he was getting at first and as Tommy got into the block saw him kick one of his attackers in the bollocks and the guy was doubled up holding his bits. All that did though was make the others more determined to beat more crap out of him and Thompson was getting a hiding. Tommy shouted to them to stop and of course was told to, "fuck off and mind your own business Torrent or you will get it as well." Tommy shrugged his shoulders and went for the lot of them and did not hold back. Simon had not trained him to fight more than one guy at a time so Tommy more or less made it up as he went along, with good results it has to be said as he beat the crap out of all of them. They REALLY should have remembered his boxing skills. "Is it finished lads or do you want more?" None of them said a thing, but of course Thompson opened his, but did not get a word out, Tommy opened his instead. "Shut the fuck up you thick shit or you will join this lot. You and your stupid big gob got you into this and if you shut your mouth and gave your ass a chance you would get less of this. Open your mouth again and I will fill it." He turned to the guys. "Sorry about that, but i'm not going to stand by and watch five of you on one even if he deserves it. One on one is fine by me though. Help yourselves." Tommy's towel had fallen off and it was only then he realised he was naked and was damb sure Lee was looking! Wishful thinking possibly. Tommy got to bed with his back to Thompson. It was the first time Thompson got into bed without a word. Tommy smiled and fell asleep. "OKAY!? Who the fuck did this?" Sergeant Major Peter Phillips enquired of the full Company who were drawn up in an open square, three sides of 30 men in each section with the forth side open. He stood in the middle of the square with the other drill instructors and the battered men from the fight the night before. Silence. "I REPEAT- WHO- DID- THIS?" He pointed at the five men. Private Lee Thompson came to attention and took two paces forward and the whole company fell apart! This was one time discipline was ignored even the instructors were doubled up! "Private Torrent, are you going to step forward or keep us here all FUCKING day?" Tommy went forward and stood next to Lee. Phillips went over to where Tommy and Lee stood and in a loud voice shouted, "May I remind you Torrent the henemy is over there?" He pointed in the general direction of the United States. " THESE CUNTS happen to be on OUR side and I would appreciate it if you would leave your fighting for the henemy should the Generals ever need your fighting skills?" "Yes Sergeant Major." Tommy was trying to control himself and failing. "What's so funny Torrent?" "Your pointing at America Sergeant Major." Phillips who had not dropped his arm looked at where he was pointing as if to see if FDR was giving him two fingers. He shrugged his shoulders. "What's the fucking difference?!" Once again there was a breakdown of discipline! "Right, you ladies go and put your make up on, you two stay here, the rest of you DIS-MISS!" "Come with me you two." Colonel Smithers, known as "Smiffy" to the Company came straight to the point. "You two are now a team and you will do everything together from now on and I mean EVERYTHING. You eat together, wash and shower at the same time, go to bed at the same time and up in the morning, you will even crap at the same time. You train together and if you get on well enough, go into town and fuck the same women. I don't give a shit so long as you do everything together. You will be sent for two months special training in a week or so on Salisbury Plain and I don't expect you to fail. Dismiss." "What the fuck was all that about Tommy?" "If I knew that we would not have had to see the Colonel would we. All I know is i'm fucking stuck with you. I promise you Lee if you open your mouth I,m going to fill it. Thank you Colonel VERY much!" Lee did not say a word. The next two weeks proved to be much more difficult than Tommy thought it would. Lee on the other hand just went along with it and found it really funny in fact. "Time for a crap Tommy?" "Fuck off Thompson. You crap when I want one, just cram your cheeks together." Tommy was not going to enjoy this, apart from the showering of course. He loved that and allowed himself the thought that Lee did as well. No chance? The Army got it all wrong of course and they were told their training would now be much later. "All you sweethearts have to do is stay as a team as the Colonel said. You and others will be going on a trip in about a couple of weeks. I will let you know. Now fuck off and do something useful." They had no choice, Tommy was stuck with Lee, but it was rifle practise and for Tommy one thing he loved to do. Lee not quite so happy . Tommy loved to see Lee fire and shoot back a foot every time he did! Still, Tommy was impressed, Lee did not cuss once. As yet another weeks passed and the two of them were now getting to where the Colonel wanted them, doing everything together without Tommy killing Lee. Tommy realised his indifferent attitude to Lee was personal as he was worried he was getting too fond of him. Lee's personality was coming through and even the others began to like him now as Tommy was in control. Things nearly got out of hand one night though and it was all down to Tommy's slip of the tongue in one unguarded moment. They were all sitting on their beds chatting when the subject of why they had all enlisted came up. It was Lee's turn to explain. "My nan was killed in the Blitz and I want to kill as many Germans as I can." It seemed fair enough even if a bit violent. "How old was your nan Lee?" One of the guys asked. "98!" Now, honestly no one wanted to hear of any ones death, but Lee saying that bought the whole billet down, they split themselves and all apologising to Lee for seeming disrespectful. "Oh fuck sorry mate, but she did have a good long life." "Another two years and she would have got a telegram from the King, he always sends one to the old folks if they make a 100." Then he said the one thing that stopped all the laughing. "She was the only family I had, my parents fucked off years ago." Someone took the spotlight off of Lee, but only made things worse. "What about you Tommy, why did you join up?" Tommy did not want to answer, all the pain suddenly came rushing back and now knowing about Lee it was it was even more difficult. "It's ok Tommy if you don't want to say." Lee smiled at Tommy. "A German bomber crashed into our cottage and killed my parents and both my brothers." There was complete silence. Tommy found himself back at the Manor at the time it had all happened and completely forgot where he was and in a quite voice said, "And they killed my boyfr........." Suddenly he was back in the billet and in total shock looked around him to see if anyone had heard and when he looked at Lee he knew he had. The look of amazement on his face told him that. The others had not heard anything thank God. "Say anything and I will kill you." He stared hard at Lee and stayed like that for some time. He slowly got up and went outside. Lee had no choice but to go with him. "Fuck off Lee, I don't want to talk and just for your information I don't want anything to do with you in that way, so you wont catch anything. Now go." "You know I cant Tommy we have to stick together. You don't need to talk, I will just keep my distance, but we HAVE to stay together." Lee hesitated. "Besides I want to stay with you." Tommy looked at Lee trying to work him out, but instead broke down in tears. Lee now showed his true character and led Tommy away from any intrusion and waited for him to regain his composure. After some time Tommy got himself together and said he wanted to go and shower then bed. He did not wait for an answer and went to the billet. The looks he got were nothing more than true friendship from his mates. It took some time for him to sleep, but finally dropped off. Lee however stayed awake thinking hard. Nothing was said the following morning and once they were on parade Lee was about to get every thing back to normal and anger Tommy big time. "Right gentlemen I need a volunteer. Any takers?" Before Tommy could stop him Lee said he would. "Well DONE Thompson and that means Torrent has volunteered as well. There gentlemen, we have a first class cunt! You agree Torrent? Tommy shot a look at Lee which told the daft sod he agree with the corporal. "You, my special Private soldiers are in the officers mess, they have a big bash over there ALL day and the crooks need your undoubted talents in the washing up department. Have a nice day as the Yanks say. Byeeee!" "You have got a choice how I kill you and you got all fucking day to make your mind up you prick!" Lee tried to divert Tommy's thoughts from that course of action. "At least we will have the cleanest hands on camp Tommy?" Much to Lee's surprise Tommy burst out laughing! As it turned out it was a brilliant day, well the end of it was anyway. After the last plate was washed up and the lot put away the kitchen Staff Sergeant told them to go to the staff room where they found all the crew and spent the next three hours getting as pissed as neither of them had been before. They lost their way back to the billet and just giggled as they tried to find it. Finally they got to where they should have got to an hour before and stood outside trying to focus on one another. "You can kiss me if you want Tommy." "You are pissed Lee, so am I, time for bed." In another unguarded moment added. "Say that tomorrow when we are sober." Tommy woke up at 05 30 and woke Lee. "Come on you, I need a piss and a shower." "Tommy do this one on your own mate, i'm suffering." "Ok, stay there and I will piss all over you. We suppose to do everything together? Remember?" "Fuck, I hate the fucking Army! War is hell!" Tommy could not help himself and laughed. He pulled the blankets off Lee and looked at this lovely guy laying there with no top on and with a morning stiffy. It stuck up under his PJ's and the effect on his own semi was immediate. He covered up as quickly as he could, but too late, Lee saw it. "Wow! Smiffy would be impressed. Still, he did say we had to do every thing together." Tommy got hold of his arm and pulled him out of the bed. They briefly stood close staring at each other. Lee looking up at Tommy and Tommy looking down 5 inches at Lee. "Come on, i'm busting." He lead the way to the wash block. Once in the shower they soaked and rubbed soap in and neither of them tried to hide the fact they looked at one another and it was obvious both of them liked what they saw. Tommy by now had developed into a great looking teenager. His body had filled out and the definition had been noticed by many more than just Lee. Most wondered how he had got that 6 pack as it was not common in Brits in those days. It was of course all down to Simon's training. Tommy wondered about him and how he was. He was sure he was homo as well. The term gay would not be in common use for some years to come of course. They were towelling themselves dry when Lee dropped another surprise. He had finished and was waiting for Tommy watching his cock swing about as he dried off. "I remember what I said to you last night Tommy. I was not that pissed." Tommy stared at him and was glad others came for their showers. "Morning girls, had a nice shower together have we?" "Two words for you Marshal and the second one is "off." The joys of soldering continued straight after parade when they were informed they would be going on a 10 mile run in full packs and weapons, "Starting in one hour you lucky people. You two," pointing at Tommy and Lee, "will be carrying a Bren, each." It was hard going, but once again Tommy was impressed with Lee who kept up the whole way even though he must have found it very difficult. What Lee lacked in physical strength he made up for in determination and stamina. A good man to have on your side and now he had more control of his mouth, a good man anyway. It did not always work though. They paraded again when they got back and were told by the Sergeant that he and Lee would be going on a very special exercise with 10 others on Monday. They were told to parade here at 21 30 hrs. "You will LOVE it childen I promise." Obviously it was going to be crap. This was Friday and after inspection Saturday morning they had the rest of the weekend off, all of them. The mail was given out. There was one for Tommy. ____________________________________________________________________________ winchesterbornbred@hotmail.co.uk