Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2024 18:20:41 +0000
From: Jonah
Subject: Of sea and sand  chapter 7

Of Sea and Sand
by Jonah

Simon and Garret are here again,looking after their young family.If you are
unfamiliar with this family,we first met Simon in 'A Letter from America'
back in 2019. He was a teenager then,now he is well into adulthood. Garret
originated in another author's story. I want to thank Jacob Lion, in the
USA for his permission to use his characters in my story. That's one of the
things I want to make plain,all the characters in this,and all my other
stories are wholly fictitious.  They aren't based on real people. The other
thing I want to make plain is that, while Simon and Garret are both gay, as
are some other characters, this is a story about love - not sex,lust,or any
other substitute,but real Christian love. If it's pornography you want,
you'll have to find it somewhere else. Lastly,this story is brought to you
by Nifty,free of charge. Nifty doesn't charge me to publish it, nor you to
read it,but it does cost money to bring it to you. Please consider donating
to Nifty at https://donate.nifty.org/ so that these stories continue to be
available for all to read.

Chapter 7

Bedtime for us came at around tennish and,since the Ryans didn't try to get
rid of the twins,we didn't insist on our boys going to bed earlier. Mrs
Kesteven had allocated us two rooms on the first floor - one of them for
Grev.  Ours had two double beds in it so would accomodate us and three boys
easily. I don't know what was in Grev's room since I don't think I ever
visited it. It was across the landing from ours, as was Mr.Stockdale's
room. The Ryans were lodged on the second floor. If the twins had taken up
tap-dancing,we would have heard them. As it was,we heard not a sound.

By that I mean that we heard no sound until about seven in the morning,from
the Ryans at least. I did have to order Barry back to his bed at about
midnight when he came to wake Garret up to complain about his snoring. I
ordered him back to bed at once and pointed out that nobody else seemed to
have been disturbed. I did,however,turn Garret toward me,which silenced him
for a while.

The noise of childish feet running about upstairs in the morning soon
roused our lot. I got myself showered and dressed and organised the boys to
do the same. Breakfast started at half past eight so we had plenty of time.

Down in the dining room Mrs Kesteven informed us that,since it was
Sunday,she was cooking a full English breakfast. For the rest of the week
it would be cereal and continental breakfast,unless we arranged otherwise
with her the day before.

I took the opportunity to ask her if there was a Methodist Church
nearby. She said that the nearest Church was Anglican. If we wanted a
Methodist Church it was a very long walk,way beyond the railway station,on
the Canterbury Road.

"That's handy," said Garret. "I'm going down to the station to pick up the
hire-car,so we can all go to Church."

"The Church of England will be good enough for me," said Grev. "It always
has been up to now."

"That's fair enough," Garret told him. "After the service, make for the
Lido car-park. We'll pick you up there and go and find somewhere for
lunch."

Mrs. Kesteven had listened to all this in silence.

"Don't forget,dinner's at five," she said.

We assured her that we would remember and then, having breakfasted, we set
off for Margate railway station. It's a good walk from Ethelbert Road,but
we walked briskly and were there in twenty minutes.  The car-hire firm had
turned up a seven-seat people mover which we fitted into easily.

Another five minutes driving saw us at a modestly sized,but pleasantly
modern looking Methodist Church on Canterbury Road. We were on the
outskirts of Westgate-on-Sea and were glad we had the car. The board
outside told us that the Revd. Michael Somebody-or-other was the minister
here,but we never got to meet him. The service was taken by a middle aged
local preacher with a penchant for traditional hymns. I tend to sing the
bass line to these,while both Garret and Barry sing tenor. The other two
boys have clear soprano voices. All this helped us to contribute to "Summer
Suns are Glowing," as an opening hymn.  The local preacher was obviously of
an evengelical turn of mind.  "What a Friend we have in Jesus," was
followed by,"O Thou Who camest from above," and "I Will Sing the Wondrous
Story." For a closing hymn we sang,"And Can it be,"with considerable
gusto. Coffee was served after the service - after singing that lot we
needed it.

Several of the congregation wished us an enjoyable holiday. A couple of
them recommended the Hussar hotel,opposite the Church, for Sunday
lunch. With this in mind,the boys and I continued to drink coffee while
Garret went to fetch Grev.

The recommendations of the locals proved to be sound and we enjoyed an
excellent light lunch. As a way of relaxing and allowing it to settle,
Garret drove us back to the beach area, near Dreamland, and we lazed on the
beach. None of us had overdressed for Church. The boys shed shoes and
socks, as did Garret, but Grev and I didn't bother.  After nearly an hour
of pleasant inactivity we headed for the stairs back up to the road. That
was the point at which a sound stopped us in our tracks.

It was the voice of a child. A cry, not of anguish,temper,petulance, or any
of the other things that chldren commonly cry for. This was a cry of raw
terror - a sound that nobody within earshot could ignore.  I turned and saw
a small boy running to his mother,who was tending a smaller child in a
push-chair. To my horror I saw beyond the boy an inflatable airbed, bobbing
on the waves.  A small figure clung to it, but didn't seem to have the
sense to lie flat and hang on. Sure enough,as I watched in horror,the bed
rose on one end, depositing its human load in the sea. I had already torn
off my shirt and kicked off my shoes by that time but,ahead of me,streaking
for the water,was Barry. He hadn't waited to disrobe before starting to
run,but was shedding clothing as he ran. By the time he reached the water
he was down to his underpants. I lost sight of him momentarily as I started
to run too.  I tried to concentrate on the child in the water.

Several yards separated the child from his air-bed and the gap was
widening. His reaction to that was panic and,for once, that was the right
thing to do. His thrashing about resulted in his treading water.  I had no
way of telling whether he had been taught to keep his lungs full of air for
as much of the time as possible. It looked as if he hadn't but another head
was bobbing nearby. Barry was within arms length of the child and he had
grasped him from behind. I was in the water too,but some way off. I struck
out for the errant air-bed.  Barry seemed to be making for that and I could
usefully arrest its flight so that he stood a chance of making it. It took
several minutes but,once I reached it,it was not a difficult task to propel
it in the opposite direction,toward the two boys.

It was not a big sea,on a cosmic scale of things,but the effort of
propelling the air-bed kept my head low so I couldn't see much above the
waves. I bet the waves looked bigger to the child.

I hadn't seen either of them for a minute or two. My task of propelling the
air-bed took all my concentration. There was a moment when I wondered,what
if they had both gone under? Would I be pushing this thing forever?  There
was a sudden shout.

"Dad! Give us a hand."

Did he call me "Dad" because he had mistaken me for Garret? In his haste to
get into the water had he not noticed which adult was following?  Had he
decided that considerations like that had to take their turn behind the
over-riding priority? If so,he was right,so what was I thinking of?

Clawing my way to the end of the bed I peered around it and saw that Barry
was trying to lift the child's left arm onto the air-bed. The child was
still panicking and the fact that there was nothing on the air-bed for him
to get hold of didn't help. I returned to my side of the bed,grasped its
edge in both hands and,with one mighty kick, heaved myself out of the water
and across the air-bed.

From my new position it was possible for me to grasp the flailing child
beneath his armpits.

"Can you get his legs on?" I shouted to Barry.

"Got them," shouted a new voice.

Grev Kennedy was holding down the end of the air-bed and helping Barry to
lift the child on board.

It was the work of a couple of minutes to get the boy face down on the
airbed with Barry and I holding an arm each.  Grev had got himself at the
end of the air-bed and was kicking fiercely with his feet.

"On your back Barry," I shouted.

I could have saved my breath because Barry already had his back to the
beach and was kicking like a good'un. The only one providing no propulsion
was me. I soon put that right and, as soon as I did, we seemed to get under
way. Not that it is possible to tell when you are facing away from the only
datum, but it was less than five minutes before my feet touched sand.  The
others were still kicking so I shouted.

"Walk chaps"

When will I learn not to waste my breath?  Garret had taken the front end
from Grev and was dragging the air-bed on to the beach. As I stood and
turned around I saw the other boy come running back. Philip had joined the
mother and baby.

"Are you Tommy or Timmy," Grev called to the running boy. "Quickly boy!"

What?  How had I not noticed that?

"T...T...Timmy, " said the frightened boy.

"Thanks son," said Grev in a gentler tone.

He knelt besiide the boy on the airbed.

"Can you hear me Tommy?" he said gently.

The boy did not reply but his body shook with fierce convulsions.  He was
sobbing his heart out.

Grev stood and lifted the chld in his arms.

"It's alright Tommy.  You're safe now," he told the sobbing boy.

 Philip arrived with the boy's mother.  I wanted a word with Timmy while he
was still distracting her. I stepped between Timmy and the others.

"What happened Timmy?" I asked in as matter-of-fact a voice as I could
manage in my breathless state.

The boy looked at me - sheer terror in his eyes.

I dropped myself to his level,made eye contact and asked quietly,

"Whose idea was it to take the Lilo into the water?"

There was no reply, unless you count the flood of tears and the sudden
bawling. I pulled the boy to me and held him in my arms.

"Well you won't do THAT again," I said quietly.

I stood,lifting him in my arms. For a male homosexual,holding an almost
naked boy like that ought to have been pleasurable,but the thought couldn't
have been further from my mind. Turning,I saw Grev holding Tommy the same
way. I strode over to him and put Timmy on his feet.

"You put yours down as well," I told Grev.

He did so and the two boys were immediately in each other's arms. I turned
to Sharon,who was now advancing.

"Look after Crystal," I told her."The boys just need a moment."

She turned and obeyed as if it was the most natural thing in the world to
do.

"Do me a favour Lloyd," I said.

The boy said not a word, but looked at me and waited.

"Pull the plug out of that air-bed and fold it up. I don't think they'll be
using it again today."

Today,everybody is obeying orders.

"I don't know if they'll ever want to use it again," Grev observed.

"Oh, they'll get over it," I replied.  "It would have been a different
story if Barry wasn't quicker than I was."

"He's joining us in September?" he queried.

"Yes, he is."

"I'll look forward to it."