This is a work of fiction. It is a sequel to the other stories, beginning with "A Letter from America" that have appeared in adult/youth, young pals, and no sex. Not one single character is , or is based on, a real person. I have borrowed the names of places, and even of some buildings and institutions in those places, but their personnel remain fictitious. They do not represent real people. I have to point out that the story was written in 2020. The year 2020 was largely cancelled due to the Covid19 virus. You will find no reference to that emergency in this story, which represents things that might have happened if the virus hadn't.
I hope you enjoy this story. I'm grateful to Nifty for publishing it. Nifty makes no charge, neither for me to publish, nor for you to read these stories, but it does cost money to publish them. If you enjoy the stories, please consider making a donation to Nifty at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html so that he can continue to bring these stories to you.
A Highland Fling Chapter 8 By Jonah
It was still dark. I had no idea why I had awakened at this time of the night, but Luke snuggled even closer, so he had detected whatever it was that woke me. There was a plaintive whimper from the landing. For a moment my resolve almost crumbled. I was a sucker for crying children or whimpering dogs.
The dog whimpered again and, this time, my resolve did crumble. I slid from the bed and unlatched the door. Immediately something streaked past me and leapt onto the bed just a a low roll of thunder began rumbling outside.
Luke was startled at first, but soon began fondling the dog. I remembered our last thunderstorm, in London, when Luke and I had stood in our window and watched the storm. The artist in Luke had conquered fear as he stood and watched a far greater artist at work. Now the human in him conquered fear as he consoled Lady.
Lightning flashed and the room was lit up briefly. It showed Luke holding the dog tightly as I climbed back into bed. A sudden pattering of raindrops began outside. I could feel the dog quivering but, as I ruffled her fur, she licked my face.
Sleep was about to become impossible as the drumming of the rain on the window pane grew louder. Somebody climbed over in the darkness.
"We thought we'd better check that Lady was alright," said Simon, as Peter slid in behind me.
"Open those curtains Simon," I told him as he clambered over Luke to lie nearest the window.
In seconds all four of us were gathered round the window. Four pairs of elbows rested on the sill, and the duvet, wrapped around four pairs of shoulders, formed a sort of tent, in the bottom of which lay a quivering dog. Four pairs of eyes scanned the window pane, as rivulets of water ran down it.
A brilliant flash lit up the sky, the field, the river,and the railway bridge - a lurid landscape distorted by the raindrops on the pane.
"Wow!" breathed Luke, but any one of us might have said it.
"Would anyone like a cup of hot cocoa? I'm just going to make one for Fergus."
"Yes please, but you're not carrying five or six cups of cocoa upstairs in the middle of the night Janet. Put your trousers on boys. We'll go down."
"Ach, there's no need....."
"Boys!"
There was immediate movement, but I caught Janets arm as she turned to go."
"Best let Lady go first. She's frightened enough that she might knock somebody over."
"Well at least your bairns aren't frightened."
I leaned very close to her and said very quietly,
"The secret is not to let them be."
When we got downstairs, the old clock on the mantlepiece said just three o'clock. The rain was still drumming, but the thunder seemed quieter now. Lady seemed to have got used to it. She was more content now that there were people up and about.
I walked to the back door, which was open, on account of Luke being outside it, enjoying the novelty of watching the rain splashing down inches away, but leaving him untouched on account of the reinforced glass canopy to the bathroom.
"Doing it Kansas City style Luke?" I said quietly, with no intention of explaining the remark to him. I didn't get away with it because Janet had followed me, and she didn't undertand it either.
"You can walk to privies, in the rain, and never wet your feet," I told her, by way of explanation. Still neither of them were any the wiser, but I let it drop.
"There's some fork lightning over there in the hills," said Luke.
"Yes, and it's beautiful isn't it?" I replied.
"Why is it sometimes fork lightning and sometimes sheet lightning?"
Wow! The task of being a father. The man who knows everything and can answer all questions.
"There is such a thing as sheet lightning Luke, but it's very rare. Usually, when people say they've seen sheet lightning, what they've really seen is the reflection of fork lightning on the sky. It's very bright, so you can see it for miles further than you can see the lightning itself."
The expression on Luke's face was a fitting reward for displaying such wisdom, but I needed to be wary. I had to remember to be prepared to say "I don't know" when , as often happened, I didn't.
There was a double flash somewhere beyond the mountains.
"Come on Tiger - drink up and back to bed. We've got a train to catch in the morning."
The thunder didn't rumble now. There was an occasional quiet grumble, and the rain had slowed to a steady trickle. Luke turned and padded back indoors. We were all back in our own beds in very short order. Luke and I had Lady for company, since I hadn't the heart to lock her out again. Occasionally there would be a low growl as the thunder grumbled in the distance, but she was only dreaming and, pretty soon, so was I.
I was up before Janet brought the tea in when daylight came. The rain was heavy, but steady now. The river at the bottom of the garden sounded businesslike. I had left Luke and Lady cuddled up together and crept down to shower before anybody else was up. I dressed in the bathroom, which was just as well since, when I returned to the house, both Janet and Fergus were busy in the kitchen.
"You'll want a good breakfast before you travel back in this" said Fergus, who was slicing black pudding.
"I'll go and rouse some people then," I replied.
They were roused and showered pretty quickly, considering. Even Peter couldn't lie in bed with the aroma of Fergus' "Full Scottish" assailing his nostrils.
""A good breakfast" consisted of Fergus' "Full Scottish" followed by a bowl of steaming porridge.
"There! That should stick to your sides," proclaimed Janet.
I helped her to clear away, while the boys fetched their suitcases. Fergus reappeared swathed in oilskins. Having looked like the "Laird o' the Isles" yesterday, he now looked like the old man of the sea. I must have been unsuccessful in suppressing my smile, because he said.
"You can laugh, but we'll see which of us is wettest when we get to the station."
"If you sweat inside that lot, you'll definitely win THAT competition," I told him, availing myself of his permission to laugh.
There were tears. Not so much at our leaving, but because Luke presented them with his pencil sketch of them, in its frame. We all kissed Janet before we climbed into the Landrover, and I promised that we would write soon.
The boys were bemused that the train appeared to be going in the wrong direction, but I told them that we had to go to Inverness to catch the Edinburgh train, because the latter didn't stop at Carrbridge.
As we passed the bridge over the burn, we could see that there was a great deal more water rushing down than we were used to seeing there. It was still nothing like it must have been on that day in 1914.
The HST climbed and climbed through ever more wayward, Highland scenery, until a very fast downhill run brought it into the Highland city of Inverness.
Inverness is a sprawling station, largely given over to multiple units nowadays, but there are large freight yards outside, and a busy diesel depot. In other words, there was plenty for Peter and Luke to get excited about. They did need to be actually chivied to get on board the class 156 Sprinter unit for Edinburgh.
We were soon under way. Travelling back the way we had come. We Crossed over the high Culloden viaduct (I often wondered how you could fight a decent battle with something like that getting in the way), and the other one at Findhorn, then , after we recrossed the bridge over the burn, we were on the Dulnain River bridge and, there in the cottage garden below, an elderly couple and a dog were waving frantically - well the dog didn't wave much, but she would have if she could. We all waved back. They could never have seen us waving back, but they'll have known that we were doing it.
They were soon lost to view, and Luke said.
"When will we see Grandpa and Grandma again?"
Ah! Another question for the all-knowing father to answer.
"I don't know Luke," I replied, "but you'll be writing to them as soon as you get back won't you?"
"Why?" He was genuinely surprised.
"Because Simon and Peter write to them often, but didn't you see how pleased they were that they have another grandson now?"
The rain still ran down the carriage windows as the train braked for Aviemore but, inside our carriage, at that moment, the sun came out.
THE END